These three volumes of Spectrum will sell out this year.
Spectrum 21–Our distributor is down to the last 11 copies of the paperback and we have a few cases available on our Flesk online store. The hardcover is totally sold out. Cover by Rebecca Guay.
Spectrum 23–Our distributor is down to the final cases of the paperback and hardcover editions and we have a few cases available on our Flesk online store. Cover by Android Jones.
Spectrum 24–Our distributor is totally sold out of the hardcover and paperback editions and we have a few cases of both bindings available on our Flesk online store. Cover by Iain McCaig.
Also, our distributor is sold out of the paperback and hardcover of Spectrum 27. We have limited copies of the hardcover on our Flesk online store.
Learn more and order at a special price on our Flesk website:
Spectrum 27 interior spread featuring the art of Petar Meseldzija (left) and Jason Mowry (right) with cover art by Tommy Arnold.
We’re getting low on the paperback edition. I had set the print run for this book back in late-March when we were sheltered in place and facing a very uncertain future. It was very hard to predict how the state of the book industry would look in the fall and winter of 2020. Based on this, I ended up being conservative with the print run. Here we are nine months later and we are very grateful that Spectrum 27 is doing well. The print run turned out to be a little low, which I hope is reflective of an overall healthy book industry. At this rate the Spectrum 27 paperback edition will sell out in the next month or two. If you want a paperback copy for your library, you may want to pick up a copy soon. We still have plenty of the hardcover edition in stock.
Thanks for making Spectrum 27 a success during a very challenging year! Thanks also to all of the artists who participated in Spectrum 27 and who made this such an amazing collection.
We received the Spectrum 27 awards from J. Anthony Kosar and his team at Kosart Studios. We’ve carefully packed them up and are sending them to the 17 recipients today. There are eight silver and eight gold awards, along with the Grand Master award. It was a wonderful experience to work with Anthony and his team to produce these gorgeous awards.
Spectrum 27 will be arriving at your favorite book and comic stores on November 10th!
With the absence of shows this year Kathy and I channeled all of our energy into editing and designing the best Spectrum that we could possibly make. This is a book that we are exceptionally proud of. We can’t wait for you to get your copies and to hear what you think.
Thanks again to all of the artists who submitted to Spectrum 27 and for making this such a wonderful collection. We’re honored that we could have played a role in Spectrum during these last 7 years.
Kathy and I almost forgot what one another looked like. We took off our masks for all of 30 seconds to take some pictures of us with Spectrum 27. We’ve had masks on each day at the office since the pandemic started. We look forward to being able to see you all again once the shows can safely resume again.
For 27 years Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art has
been celebrating imaginative works by creators from around the world.
The Spectrum Awards Ceremony was held live online on Saturday night, April 4,
2019.
The celebration included the presentation of the Gold and Silver Awards for
exemplary art from the previous year in eight categories: Advertising, Book,
Comics, Concept Art, Dimensional, Editorial, Institutional, and Unpublished.
The ceremony was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 450 people
from all over the world connected to bring the community closer than ever. Recipients
from Australia, Canada, China, Japan, and in Europe were able to participate. For
the first time all of the recipients were able to provide winning speeches.
The ceremony introduction was by Spectrum founders and directors, Arnie and
Cathy Fenner. Lauren Panepinto and Dan dos Santos served as the hosts during
the ceremony. Between Lauren, Dan, along with Marc Scheff who ran tech support,
the three of them made it possible to bring the awards ceremony live.
The in memoriam introduction was presented by John English. He gave a
touching tribute about his father, Mark English, and spoke about how each
artist who passed away in 2019 served as mentors and changed people’s lives for
the better.
Presenters included such luminaries of the art community as Ed Binkley (Unpublished
category), Dan dos Santos (Advertising category), Christine Foltzer (Book
category), Karla Ortiz (Concept Art category), George Pratt (Comic category), Cynthia
Sheppard (Institutional category), Yuko Shimizu (Editorial category), and Chris
Sickles/Red Nose Studios (Dimensional category).
The five finalists and award-recipients in each category were selected by the jury consisting of Alice Carter, Craig Elliott, Anthony Francisco, Courtney Granner, Forest Rogers, and Chie Yoshii from over 4000 artworks submitted to the twenty-seventh annual competition.
Also presented at the ceremony was the Muse award, created and presented by sculptors Colin and Kristine Poole and intended to encourage a young artist. This year’s Muse award recipient was Alex Dos Diaz. Muse award finalists included Alex Dos Diaz, Irina Nordsol Kuzmina, and Erin Vest. The Spectrum Grand Master Award was presented by Iain McCaig which honors the career accomplishments of a living artist. This year’s Grand Master recipient was Terryl Whitlatach.
Time lapse art demos were featured in-between each category by Rovina Cai, Donato, Scott Fischer, Justin Gerard, Ron Lemon, Travis Lewis, Rebecca Leveille-Guay, Iain McCaig, Allen Williams, and James Zapata.
The Spectrum 27 awards were designed and made by J. Anthony Kosar and his
team at Kosart Effects Studio.
The award-winning art will appear with over 300 other pieces selected by the judges in the Spectrum 27 book, which will be published by Flesk Publications in November 2020.
Congratulations to everyone who was nominated and to the recipients!
The Spectrum 27 Awards Ceremony was sponsored by Drawn and Drafted, Flesk
Publications, Muddy Colors, and Spectrum Fantastic Art.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for an unforgettable evening.
Spectrum 27 Awards Recipients
2017 GRAND MASTER HONOREE
Terryl Whitlatch
RISING STAR AWARD Alex Dos Diaz
ADVERTISING CATEGORY
GOLD Bartosz Kosowski – The Shining
SILVER Brom – Lilith
BOOK CATEGORY
GOLD Rovina Cai – Ivywood
SILVER Sija Hong – The Three Lords of Shambhala
COMIC CATEGORY
GOLD Tim Probert – Lightfall 1: Walk in the Woods
SILVER Claudya Schmidt – Myre: Flora
CONCEPT ART CATEGORY
GOLD Tooth Wu – Devourer of Ghosts
SILVER Ian Jun Wei Chiew – Island Woodblock
DIMENSIONAL CATEGORY
GOLD Dug Stanat – Space Madness
SILVER Michihiro Matsuoka – Philosopher From The Past Coelacanth
EDITORIAL CATEGORY
GOLD Red Nose Studio – Truth, Lies & Uncertainty: Truth
SILVER Sam Araya – The Forest Yell
INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY
GOLD John Jude Palencar – The Stranger: The Seventh Faith
You’re Invited to the Spectrum 27 Awards Ceremony!
Live online this Saturday, April 4th at 8pm. Please join us in toasting our community and the Fantastic Arts. It’s absolutely free and it will absolutely be fun.
Spectrum 27 Call for Entries poster by Paul Sullivan
The complete list of artist names selected for inclusion into the twenty-seventh volume of Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art is now available!
These creators that work in every style and medium–both traditional and digital–represent the finest in the fantasy, horror, science fiction and the surreal genres from around the world. You will find top industry names who serve as the current definition of excellence and discover the rising stars who are being published for the first time.
Individual emails to those artists accepted will begin to go out this week. Full details regarding the next steps will be provided.
From everyone here at the Spectrum and Flesk offices, we would like to thank all of the artists who submitted to Spectrum 27. We couldn’t do what we do without your support. This includes putting out the Spectrum annual each year, organizing and running the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live event, putting on the Spectrum Awards Ceremony where we hand out the Spectrum awards, and making the artist feature videos that we post online. You have our most sincere gratitude. Thank you!
Spectrum 27 will be available from Flesk Publications in the fall of 2020 at your favorite comic and book store.
A
Mattias Adolfsson Alex Alice Marie Alice Sam Araya Steve Argyle Tommy Arnold
B
Daren Bader Anna and Elena Balbusso Wylie Beckert Ed Binkley Steven Russell Black Michael Blank Paul Bonner Zoltan Boros Bruce Brenneise Brom Laurie Brom Alan Brown Thomas Buchanan Dmitry Burmak Wesley Burt Chris Buzelli
C
DJ Cacouault Rovina Cai James Cain Thomas Campi Bill Carman Milivoj Ceran Lynn Chen Zhiying Chen Ian Jun Wei Chiew Frank Cho Heonhwa Choe Yongjae Choi Jehan Choo Waiji Choo Dan Chudzinski Hilary Clarcq J.A.W. Cooper
D
Daarken Jessica Dalva Galen Dara Bastien Lecouffe Deharme Julien Delval Jie Deng Eric Deschamps Peter de Seve Laura Diehl Daxue Ding Anna Dittmann Daniel Dociu Terry Dodson Hope Doe Dan dos Santos Allen Douglas Adam S. Doyle Chris Dunn
E
Jesper Ejsing Micah Epstein
F
Diego Fernandez Thomas Fluharty Owen Freeman
G
Shaun Gentry Justin Gerard Annie Stegg Gerard Donato Giancola Gary Gianni Cory Godbey Nicholas Gregory Chuck Grieb Oleg Gritsak James Gurney Scott Gustafson Breanna Guthrie Arturo Gutierrez
H
Brian Haberlin Leesha Hannigan Wang Hao Alex Herrerias Ben Hill Sija Hong Alex Horley John Howe Te Hu Steven Hughes Risa Hulett Robert Hunt
I
Alina Ivanchenko
J
Tyler Jacobson
He Jie (Mona)
Romain Jouandeau
K
Jim and Ruth Keegan Edward Kinsella Tatsuro Kiuchi Ki Kline Bartosz Kosowski Sebastian Kowoll Maxim Kozhevnikov Thomas Kuebler Tami Kuo
L
Mathieu Lauffray Elizabeth Leggett Vanessa Lemen Shuxing Li Yangtian Li Kan Liu Jonah Lobe John Loren Travis Louie Ashly Lovett Howard Lyon
M
Felipe Machado Greg Manchess Finnian MacManus Michael MacRae Michael Manomivibul Patrick Masson Michihiro Matsuoka Ben Mauro Iain McCaig Chris McGrath Seb McKinnon Tara McPherson Miranda Meeks Petar Meseldzija Brynn Metheney Brett Mich Aaron Miller Mike Miller Christel Morvan Jason Mowry Reiko Murakami Sean Murray
N
John Nadeau Mark A. Nelson Daniel Newman Cliff Nielsen Tran Nguyen
O
Tim O’Brien Michael Avon Oeming James Ortega Pernille Orum
P
John Jude Palencar David Palumbo Dustin Panzino Andy Park Amirah Patel Angi Pauly Liam Peters John Picacio Lucas Pina Alessandra Pisano Colin Poole Kristine Poole Marc Potts April Prime Tim Probert Vincent Proce Magdalena Proszowska
Q
Wu Qinghao Queen Studios
R
Andrea Radeck Chris Rahn Henrique Rainha Omar Rayyan Red Nose Studio Rob Rey Wayne Reynolds Tooba Rezaei Olena Richards Paolo Rivera Virginie Ropars Feifei Ruan Steve Rude Greg Ruth Grzegorz Rutkowski James Ryman Entei Ryu
S
Karl Deen Sanders Leonardo Santamaria Mauro Santini Axel Sauerwald Steven Saunders Chris Seaman Arantza Sestayo Claudya Schmidt Cynthia Sheppard Allen Song Baiheng Song Dug Stanat Chase Stone William Stout Yuko Shimizu
T
Shaun Tan John Tedrick Thom Tenery Agnieszka Trojanowska
V
Olivier Villoingt Thomas von Kummant Timothy Von Rueden Johannes Voss
W
Sam Weber Jan Wessbecher Sam White Allen Williams Erica Williams Jeremy Wilson Bayard Wu Esther Wu
Y Lixin Yin Leif Yu
Z
Amir Zand James Zaraam Enzhe Zhao Fan Zhang David Zhou Daniel Zrom
The jury for Spectrum 27: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art has nominated the top five artworks in eight categories for consideration for either a silver and gold award. Judges Alice A. Carter, Craig Elliott, Anthony Francisco, Courtney Granner, Forest Rogers and Chie Yoshii debated the merits of hundreds of pieces of art before finalizing this list on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at the Flesk Publications offices in Santa Cruz, California.
Established in 1993 by Cathy and Arnie Fenner, the first Spectrum annual appeared in 1994 from Underwood Books; for over a quarter of a century it has attracted participants from around the world and has set the standards for excellence in fantasy and science fiction art. John Fleskes became the Director and Publisher of Spectrum in 2014 with volume 21.
The recipients will be announced at the Spectrum 27 Awards Ceremony that will be held at the Grand Ballroom of the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, MO on Friday evening, March 20, 2020. The 2020 Spectrum Grand Master Award honoree will also be announced during the ceremony.
Congratulations to all of the artists who have been nominated!
This text only list is followed by the list that includes the art.
ADVERTISING CATEGORY
Anna and Elena Balbusso Twins – The Magic Flute Backstage Brom – Lilith Bartosz Kosowski – The Shining Alessandra Pisano – The Part You Throw Away Bayard Wu – Fighting in the Harpy Nest
BOOK CATEGORY
Sam Araya – Arthur Jermyn Rovina Cai – Ivywood Dan dos Santos – Penric’s Progress Sija Hong – The Three Lords of Shambhala Yuko Shimizu – The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
COMIC CATEGORY
Thomas Campi – L’éveil, page 25 Jessica Dalva – The Dollhouse Family #1 Tim Probert – Lightfall 1: Walk in the Woods Claudya Schmidt – Myre: Flora Leif Yu – Rainforest
CONCEPT ART CATEGORY
Ian Jun Wei Chiew – Island Woodblock Te Hu – la Marcarena Finnian MacManus – Xulith Andy Park – Captain Marvel Binary Powers Concept Design Tooth Wu – Devourer of Ghosts
DIMENSIONAL CATEGORY
Michihiro Matsuoka – Philosopher From The Past Coelacanth Lucas Pina – Guardian of the Forest Colin and Kristine Poole – Spinner of Dreams Dug Stanat – Space Madness David Zhou – Harpy
EDITORIAL CATEGORY
Sam Araya – The Forest Yell Galen Dara – Many Hearted Dog Angi Pauly – Blue Moon Harvest Red Nose Studio – Truth, Lies & Uncertainty: Truth Tooba Rezaei – Blue Hope
INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY
Tyler Jacobson – The Broken Sword/Throne of Eldraine Iain McCaig – Claim the Firstborn Mike Miller – Quest John Jude Palencar – The Stranger: The Seventh Faith Chase Stone – Tymaret Chosen From Death
UNPUBLISHED CATEGORY
Diego Fernandez – 492 Axel Sauerwald – Ascent Jan Wessbecher – Celsius 13: Junkyard Crew Allen Williams – Armaros Daniel Zrom – The Spoon Thief
ADVERTISING CATEGORY
Anna and Elena Balbusso Twins – The Magic Flute Backstage Brom – Lilith Bartosz Kosowski – The Shining Alessandra Pisano – The Part You Throw Away Bayard Wu – Fighting in the Harpy Nest
BOOK CATEGORY
Sam Araya – Arthur Jermyn Rovina Cai – Ivywood Dan dos Santos – Penric’s Progress Sija Hong – The Three Lords of Shambhala Yuko Shimizu – The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
COMIC CATEGORY
Thomas Campi – L’éveil, Page 25 Jessica Dalva – The Dollhouse Family #1 Tim Probert – Lightfall 1: Walk in the Woods Claudya Schmidt – Myre: Flora Leif Yu – Rainforest
CONCEPT ART CATEGORY
Ian Jun Wei Chiew – Island Woodblock Te Hu – la MarcarenaFinnian MacManus – Xulith Andy Park – Captain Marvel Binary Powers Concept Design Tooth Wu – Devourer of Ghosts
DIMENSIONAL CATEGORY
Michihiro Matsuoka – Philosopher From The Past CoelacanthLucas Pina – Guardian of the Forest Colin and Kristine Poole – Spinner of Dreams Dug Stanat – Space Madness David Zhou – Harpy
EDITORIAL CATEGORY
Sam Araya – The Forest Yell Galen Dara – Many Hearted Dog Angi Pauly – Blue Moon Harvest Red Nose Studio – Truth, Lies & Uncertainty: Truth Tooba Rezaei – Blue Hope
INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY
Tyler Jacobson – The Broken Sword/Throne of Eldraine Iain McCaig – Claim the Firstborn Mike Miller – Quest John Jude Palencar – The Stranger: The Seventh Faith Chase Stone – Tymaret Chosen From Death
UNPUBLISHED CATEGORY
Diego Fernandez – 492 Axel Sauerwald – Ascent Jan Wessbecher – Celsius 13: Junkyard Crew Allen Williams – Armaros Daniel Zrom – The Spoon Thief
Congratulations again to all of the Spectrum 27 nominations!
Spectrum 27 Call for Entries poster art by Paul Sullivan
This is an invitation to all professional and student artists, art directors, publishers and artists’ representatives to submit entries to the 27th Annual Spectrum International Competition for Fantastic Art. All artworks in all media embracing the themes of science fiction, fantasy, horror and the surreal are eligible. Fantastic art can be subtle or obvious, traditional or off-the-wall, painted, sculpted, done digitally or photographed: There is no unacceptable way to create art, and there are no set rules that say one piece qualifies while another does not. Imagination and skill are what matters. Work chosen by the jury will be printed in full color in the Spectrum annual, the peer-selected “best of the year” collection for the fantastic arts. Click here to submit.
The Spectrum27 Call for Entries Poster was created by the
renowned artist, Paul Sullivan.
To join our mailing list to receive your complimentary poster, please click here.
The Spectrum 27 jury is comprised of a six member panel of some of the most exceptional artists and educators working in the industry today consisting of Alice A. Carter, Craig Elliott, Anthony Francisco, Courtney Granner, Forest Rogers, and Chie Yoshii. Find out more about the Spectrum 27 jury here.
Clockwise from upper left: Alice A. Carter, Courtney Granner, Craig Elliott, Chie Yoshii, Forest Rogers, and Anthony Francisco.
“I’m delighted to bring such an esteemed group together,” shares John Fleskes.
“Alice Carter and Courtney Granner have mentored and guided thousands of
students through the San Jose State University’s award-winning
Animation/Illustration program that they co-founded. Craig Elliott has had a
hand in designing many of the most popular animated films from the last 20
years for companies such as Disney and DreamWorks, as well as being a
remarkably well-rounded artist and craftsman. His teaching credentials are
equally impressive. Then, we are pleased to have Anthony Francisco join us, who
is the Senior Visual Development Concept Illustrator at Marvel Studios. Anthony
created Baby Groot and the costumes for the Dora Milaje (Okoye and Nakia) for Black
Panther. We are honored to have Forest Rogers, who is one of the most
admired sculptures in the surreal and fantastic arts genres. Finally, we are
fortunate to have Chie Yoshii join the jury, who’s gorgeous paintings have long
been featured within the pages of Spectrum. We’re are grateful to have this admired
group of artists to select the works for inclusion into Spectrum 27.”
For over twenty-six years the Spectrum annual has been a showcase for the
best and brightest creators of fantastic art from around the globe: it serves
as an invaluable resource book for art directors, art buyers, publishers and
agents world-wide. Our purpose and singular agenda is the promotion of the art and
artists. We believe that Spectrum functions as a cost-efficient promotional
forum and provides a bridge between creator, client, and aficionado as well.
Spectrum is all about facilitating opportunities for creators, about growing
the audience for imaginative work in all its forms, without pretension and
without prejudice.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support of Spectrum! Please let us
know if you have any questions.
