![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/ARTORDERbadge.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nGreat news \u2014 I won an Art Order Challenge!<\/a> Very cool, but there\u2019s something much larger here than my work being selected in a juried competition.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to share that view with those who care about the future of sf\/f art.<\/p>\n How many of you have loved the work that Arnie and Cathy Fenner<\/a> have done on the SPECTRUM annuals<\/a> over these last twenty years? They built an incredible, definitive legacy. This year, they handed the book over to John Fleskes of Flesk Publications<\/a>, and he\u2019ll continue to evolve the tradition.<\/p>\n Those books are a juried archive of some of the best in sf\/f art for the last two decades. Over that time, they inspired a number of fantasy art retrospectives \u2014 some juried, some not \u2014 that have brought untold amounts of awareness to the sf\/f art industries.<\/p>\n These books share a model where artists submit their work to the publication for juried review. These annuals not only have publication and printing costs, but have to pay for their juries\u2019 time and expenses. And don\u2019t forget about the cost of time to manage a publication of this magnitude. Those artist fees presumably help to cover some of those cumulative costs. The SPECTRUM Annual has credibility within the artist community because of the Fenners\u2019 integrity and track record. (Ditto John Fleskes.)<\/p>\n Other art retrospectives simply expect pro artists to contribute their work for nothing more than \u2018exposure\u2019. Some of these books are credible. Many are not. None of them offer a dime of royalty back to the artists, even though their lone selling point is the inclusion of the artists\u2019 work. Many pros choose not to contribute to this model because it\u2019s not good business for artists.<\/p>\n Along comes Jon Schindehette.<\/p>\n For many years, he was a senior art director at Wizards of the Coast, and he\u2019s now the creative director of Treehouse Brands<\/a>. He\u2019s won a Chesley Award for Best Art Director and has built a rep as one of the most respected ADs in the genre art business.<\/p>\n He runs an ongoing mentorship blog called Art Order<\/a> and through that network, he creates art \u2018challenges\u2019 that encourage new works and build community.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n