Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hugo Congrtas

I am late in saying "congrats" to all the Hugo nominees, but a sincere congrats to ya'll, even if tardy.

Since this is the art department, a special nod to Bob Eggleton, Phil Foglio, John Harris, Stephan Martiniere, John Picacio, and Shaun Tan.

For those following the change in Hugo procedure, Donato Giancola, John Picacio, and I proposed and debated the merits of citing specific artwork done within the year as means of making the voters more aware of the work than the artists' reputations. Donato declined a nomination this year in an attempt to hep expand the pool of artists being recognized for their contributions to the field. And you have to figure a nominee list that includes a children's book writer/illustrator, cartoonist, established greats, and younger guns is a pretty good list. (Last year, I had a clear favorite in mind. This year...it's tough.)

I noticed that publishers are starting to mention the artists n their Hugo press releases --
a happy, if unintended, consequence. Normally they do not mention the artists, since there is no direct connection between them and the books they have worked on, but with no prompting from me, Tor's publicity department included John Harris and Stephan Martiniere for the Tor books cited on the ballots. I believe Pyr has done the same.

The conversation is expanding.

3 comments:

ces said...

I'm with you Irene! Last year I had a clear favourite in mind too. And yes, this year it's tough.

Even amongst the works cited for each artist, it's tough to pick a favourite work by the artist. Argh!

Anonymous said...

Hooray for Phil! (And for Kaja, too, who is an much a part of the art team as Phil.)

And I should point out Phil is already a Hugo Winner, for Best Fan Artist. It would be nice if he were to get the set.

cmg said...

Is anyone familiar with an artist / photographer who signs work ARGH. I have a large photograph signed in that way, with the title "call" 1992 1/3. The photo was given to me by my friend the artist Felix Gonzalez Torres before he died. I am not particularly fond of the piece and Felix told me nothing about the artist or how he came to own the piece.
Thanks
Carl George
reallygoodthing@gmail.com