Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Spectrum 14 In List

The list of who got into Spectrum 14 is posted. There were nearly 7,000 entries this year, to be included is truly an accomplishment. I'm glad to see a lot of my favorites listed and I'm super glad to see some of the younger people that I've been keeping an eye on listed. Lots of names I don't recognize -- somewhat due to the new concept art category -- which makes the wait for the book this fall all the more exciting. Congrats to everyone!

Medal winners posted here.

5 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Wow, that is alot of entries to go through. Is that pretty typical of a Spectrum year?

Also, I have what I hope isn't a dumb question: how are full page spreads vs. smaller pictures chosen? My friend and I, in our yearly Spectrum ritual (we buy our copies then crack them open for the first time together and critique each and every piece included) always find ourselves thinking, 'I wish that painting was on a full page, etc'.

Thanks.

Irene Gallo said...

Hi Carl -- I should start with my usual disclaimer. I'm friends with Arnie and Cathy Fenner so I have some insider info on Spectrum but I am not an official spokesperson -- don't take what I say as gospel, just my own thoughts and opinions. That said...

Arnie and Cathy have no say in what gets into the annual -- that is entirely up to the jury -- they do, however, design the book. I imagine which pieces get a full page is some combination of their own tastes and what they think is most commercially viable. I also know that, when designing these things, you sometimes love a piece that just doesn't fit into the format -- any extreme proportions might rule out being printed as large as they'd like.

I know from curating the Spectrum Exhibition (which I was officially involved with) that you get stuck making very difficult designs. Any time I picked up one of the annuals I'd find more paintings that I wish we included but just couldn't because of space. I'm sure the Fenners experience that each year when to comes to picking who gets a full page and who doesn't.

I think the entries were up this year. Spectrum's reputation keeps growing each year. They added the new concept art category, that had to add a lot of entries. More and more artists working in the mainstream fields are realizing that the boundaries of SF/F aren't as rigid or stereotypical as they thought. And, Spectrum's international reputation keeps growing as well. I think they had more entries form Asia and other far off lands this year than ever before.

Bob Eggleton (Zillabob) said...

It looks like it will be a monster-sized book. I thought LAST year's was big. CAn't wait to see it, has lots of good people in it!!! If it keeps up, I can see a future of a "Spectrum 30 Volumes 1 &2", slipcased... sort of how some of the old illustration directories became.

Carl V. Anderson said...

I loved this past year's book, because it is massive!!! Woo-hoo
!!!

I hope you're right and that book 14 is HUGE!!!

Thanks Irene, I appreciate the feedback!

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