As the saying goes, what a long road it’s been. I am celebrating forty years (starting in 1983) of being a professional illustrator. I am now the “elder statesman,” as odd as that seems.
I find myself stunned that thirty-five years of the Illustrators of the Future Contest have passed—all that I have done, the people I have known, and everything that has happened with the Contest. Let’s go back a few years.…
As we know, L. Ron Hubbard launched the Writers of the Future Contest first in 1983. As I understand it, he always intended to complement it with a companion contest that related to the visual arts. The stories in the annual anthology have been illustrated since Volume 1.
By 1987, the groundwork was being paved for the Illustrators of the Future Contest. I recall the late Algis Budrys calling me out of the blue late one night. He had known me for some time. He told me that the Illustrators’ Contest was being created, and Frank Kelly Freas had been asked to head it up as its first Coordinating Judge. One of his picks to be a judge was … me. Kelly got in touch by old-fashioned mail. We didn’t have the world wide web of email, so it was all “long hand.” He established some ground rules. All the art was photocopied line art, not color as it is now. The Contest was officially cemented into reality in 1988.
A word and tribute to Frank Kelly Freas: He was considered by many to be the “Dean of Science Fiction Art.” Few would disagree. Kelly, as he was known to everyone, illustrated countless science fiction magazines and books, beginning in the late 1940s until the end of his life in 2005. He also created the Skylab patch for NASA back in 1973 and created the iconic cover (and inside spread) for the rock group Queen’s 1975 album News of the World, which was voted among the top ten record album covers of all time. He also popularized Alfred E. Neuman for the humor magazine MAD, from 1958–1962. He literally was a legend and always will be. His work will be the subject of a massive two-volume book set, edited by Laura Freas Beraha and yours truly (!!!) from Centipede Press.
What I have always extolled about both Contests was that when I was “up-and-coming” I wished I had such a contest to submit my own work to.
Noted judges have come and gone over the years … some have passed away, including Kelly himself. But I remember well such names as Frank Frazetta, Paul Lehr, Jack Kirby, Edd Cartier—all legends, even to me, of whose work I consider myself only touching the edges—and I got to meet ALL of them thanks to this Contest. It was an astonishing and even surreal feeling. We had Ron Lindahn who passed away a few years ago. We have Val Lakey Lindahn, Vincent Di Fate, and more amazing talents, all of whom have been willing to give their time to nurture new generations of illustrators.
In the early days, the Contests’ ceremony moved around—Las Vegas, Washington DC, Cape Kennedy, Houston Space Center, Seattle—before sort of settling down in Hollywood near the offices of Author Services (the Contests’ administrator) and Galaxy Press (the anthology’s publisher). Flying around the country was quite the adventure.
The science fiction and fantasy field has changed much since my own beginnings in the late 1980s. Publishing has changed completely, with science fiction being made to look less and less science fictional.…We went from a Golden Age of Illustration in the 1980s and even 1990s to a much more type-design look to things. Books became downloadable and somehow less “intimate.”
I believe what some call “talent” is a form of heightened perception. I think everyone has the ability. In some, it’s nurtured. In others, it’s scorned. Unfortunately, in a world of “practicality,” that talent isn’t always given a chance to develop.
Over the years we have seen some truly amazing talent emerge through the Contest—too many to name.
Sergey Poyarkov from Ukraine was a memorable winner back in 1991.
Shaun Tan from Australia won in 1992. In fact, I presented him his award. He went on to become a critically praised and bestselling children’s book author/artist, winning two Hugo Awards and an Academy Award for his short animated film, and later to become a judge himself. Shaun is something of a force of nature; his work is in seemingly countless books, and he has won many other prestigious awards.
Omar Rayyan, who also won in the early 1990s, went on to become an incredible illustrator with his own unique following. Omar is a good close friend of mine now. Every piece he does astonishes me in its originality and its viewpoint.
Aliya Chen recently won. She produces spectacular work. I recall her asking me what she can do to make it better and I, honestly slightly flummoxed, had no idea what to say to her as it was pretty much perfect stuff.
Brian C. Hailes is simply amazing. He was a winner and is now a judge as well.
April Solomon’s works are not only genius, but inspiring to me personally.
Brittany Jackson, a former winner and now a Contest judge, is another incredible talent.
There are also Kirbi Fagan, Bruce Brenneise, Lee White, Dustin Panzino, Michael Michera, Irvin Rodriguez, and many more I haven’t mentioned.
The bottom line is that the Contest has helped launch a lot of careers in this business.
Illustration is a specialized art. The ability is required to interpret a story element or elements so that the picture dovetails with and tells part of the story. The right illustration brings the reader into the story, which is extremely important. It’s not always easy but, in the end, it’s the voyage and not always the destination that matters. Kelly Freas once noted it was a “good excuse to find out new things about anything because of the research you do!”
The Illustrators of the Future Contest does more than find new talents. It hones skills, including working with an art director, and teaches tools needed to work professionally in the field.
How to start? Simple: the rules are here or at IllustratorsoftheFuture.com. Once you become a quarterly winner, you’ll have a chance to illustrate a story for actual publication, and work with a professional art director. You’ll be working toward a major cash grand prize; more important—I think—you’ll be started on a lifelong career, beginning with your work being published in and paid for by the “Bestselling SF/Fantasy Anthology.”
Personally speaking, one of the side benefits for me is that I learn from the Contest winners. I came up in another generation, and so much has changed since then. Many people now work digitally on a computer, while we used to employ mainly traditional methods. But it is not the medium that matters. It is the skill and talent of the one using a computer … or a pencil or brush. The talent supersedes the media, and that is what is most important.
If you want to see things in the bigger picture … as L. Ron Hubbard said, “The artist is looked upon to start things. The artist injects the spirit of life into a culture. And, through his creative endeavors, the writer works continually to give tomorrow a new form.”
So, looking forward, I can say the Illustrators of the Future Contest with Echo Chernik as our current Coordinating Judge will continue to discover more and more true talents out there that will make our culture ever richer. I’m very happy to be part of it.
I wish the Contests a very happy anniversary. And here’s to many, many more.