Monday, April 30, 2012

Jenny Dolfen

Jenny Dolfen is a German artist.

Bio: Jenny's Sketchbook

Artworks produced in 2012: There Will Be Blood as an example of unpaid 2012 Tolkien fan art; also see Hermione and Crookshanks in her Harry Potter gallery and The Rhyddion Chronicles, Jenny's original, ongoing vision of an alternate 13th century Wales.

Websites: Epilogue gallery, Jenny's Sketchbook at Wordpress


Sunday, April 29, 2012

Christina Hess

Christina Hess is an American artist.

Bio: About Christina Hess

Artworks produced in 2012: "Protect" (below) has been altered and will be displayed at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! 2012; "Next Season" appeared on the cover of (semiprozine) Greenprints Winter 2012 issue.

Websites: http://christinahess.com/, Blog



Kristin Kest

Kristen Kest is an American illustrator who is making the transition to fantasy art.

Bio: Kest Illustration

Artwork produced in 2012: At K2's Website, the following original works are UNPAID and form part of her new portfolio: A Mutiny, Blood For Dogs, Feast For Crows, May The Devil Take You, Neo-Mestiza, Joy Ride, (and most of the stuff under the "Juvenile Fiction" tab).

Kristen will be exhibiting at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live in May 2012 and IlluXCon V in November 2012.

Websites: http://www.kestillustration.com/







Friday, April 27, 2012

What is a fan artist? What is a semiprozine? What is "poorly paid"?

There are some grey areas, here. After this year's Worldcon is over, I'll pester next year's Hugo committee about these questions.

What is a fan artist?

As far as I can tell, a fan artist is a science fiction or fantasy fan who produces art. As far as I can tell, fan art can be in any medium and can be original or derivative.

As far as I can tell, a fan artist does not have to be an artist who produces art related to copyrighted work or franchises like Dr Who, Harry Potter, a Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, though those artists are certainly included. I think that the copyright holders usually object to derivative artwork if it is for sale. I think that they generally don't care if the artwork is not profitable.

What is a science fiction or fantasy fan?

Interesting. Fans are defined for such awards as the Australian Ditmars as "natural persons being active in fandom." Which usually means they have attended or otherwise been involved in fan conventions, production of fanzines, or genre-related websites. Hence the inclusion of artists who exhibit at science fiction or fantasy conventions.

What is a semi-prozine?  (ie. what constitutes poorly paid?)

Fan art must be unpaid or poorly paid, such as in fanzines or semi-prozines. But where is the line drawn between semi-prozines and prozines when it comes to cover art or internal illustrations? SFWA defines a prozine by the amount per word paid to its writer contributors, but I can't find an amount to be paid to the illustrators.

Clarkesworld is considered a prozine by SFWA, a semi-prozine by past Hugo committees, and it pays $100 for a cover illustration. Apex magazine, also somewhere on the border of pro and semi-pro, pays $50 for digital reprint rights for cover art.

Professional artists might ask for something in the order of $1000 and up for an original cover that would make them eligible for the Professional Artist Hugo Category. But it's rude of me to start demanding to know what people have been paid, and so I'm not sure what to do about this rule except to err on the side of caution.

And what about those aforementioned fan artists exhibiting at conventions? What happens when their work sells at the end-of-con auction for more than they might have received from a semi-prozine? How much money to they have to make, or what percentage of their income must be from art, before they are shunted up into the Pro Artist category?

The Pro Artist category definition is "for artists of works related to science fiction or fantasy released in the previous calendar year."

Which includes all the fan artists, doesn't it?

ARGGHHH BRAIN HURTS.

Please correct me in the comments if I've said or assumed wrong things. Like I said, I'll start harrassing actual knowledgeable people once Chicon 7 is over.

Maria J William

Maria J William is an American artist.

Bio: http://www.mariawilliam.net/bio.html

Artwork produced in 2012: Maria is scheduled to exhibit at RavenCon, WillyCon, Duckon and Anime MidAtlantic in 2012

Websites: The Art of Maria J William



Brynn Metheney

Brynn Metheney is an American creature designer, illustrator and artist.

Bio: http://brynnart.com/info/

Artwork produced in 2012: The Red Valley is a labour of love which is an exercise in worldbuilding; Brynn will be exhibiting images of Red Valley landscapes, flora and fauna at Spectrum Art Live in 2012.

Websites: Home, The Red Valley



Thursday, April 26, 2012

Melissa Gay

Melissa is an American gamer and artist.

Bio: About Me at Melissa's website

Artwork produced in 2012: Exhibited at Chattacon in 2012. Although Hypericon 2012 was cancelled due to flooding etc, Melissa produced the promo poster (below)


Websites: http://www.melissagay.com/


Jasmine Becket-Griffith

Jasmine Becket-Griffith is an American artist.

Bio: About the artist at Strangeling

Artwork produced in 2012: Will be exhibiting at Spectrum Fantastic Art LIVE, May 2012

Websites: Strangeling, Zazzle store

Kerry Maffeo

Kerry Maffeo is an American artist and craftswoman.

Bio: Blogger profile

Artwork produced in 2012: "Wraith" (below) won 3rd place at Chattacon 2012

Websites: Fantastic Visions blog, Handmade jewellery at ecrater



Nela Dunato

Nela Dunato is another Croatian artist who will be exhibiting at Kontakt (Eurocon) in Zagreb this weekend.

Bio: see Zagreb Eurocon Programme and Chatte Noire

Artwork produced in 2012: Exhibition at Kontakt, April 2012

Websites: In Obscuro, Chatte Noir, DeviantArt

Nela won Best Illustration, SFera annual award for science fiction and fantasy literature and illustration, SFeraKon 2007, and Best Artist ESFS at Eurocon in 2012.

Dora Vukičević

Dora Vukicevic is a Croatian artist who will be exhibiting at Kontakt (Eurocon) in Zagreb this weekend.

Bio: see Zagreb Eurocon Programme

Artwork produced in 2012: Exhibition at Kontakt, April 2012

Websites: Portfolio, DeviantArt and Etsy


Marta Tesoro

Marta Tesoro is an Australian artist and animator.

Bio: Rabbit Town Animator

Artwork produced in 2012: "Steampunk Fish - Bowler Hat" in Dark Matter fanzine #8

Websites: Rabbit Town Animator, Marta at Design Montage

Marta is shortlisted for the 2012 Chronos Award for Best Fan Artist.



Nalini Haynes

Nalini Haynes is an Australian editor, artist and designer.

Bio: About Nalini at Google+

Artworks produced in 2012: TBA

Websites: Dark Matter fanzine

Nalini is shortlisted for the 2011 Chronos Awards.

Amanda Rainey

Amanda Rainey is an Australian graphic designer.

Bio: See Snapshot 2010

Artworks produced in 2012: Cover design (continuing) for Twelve Planets collection by Twelfth Planet Press, cover design for "Epilogue" (below), Fablecroft publishing

Websites:

Amanda won a West Australian Tin Duck and Australian Ditmar Award for Best Fan Art Work (Swancon 36 logo) in 2011.


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Brittney Lee

Brittney Lee is an American artist.

Bio: Interview at character design blog

Artworks produced in 2012: TBA

Websites: Brittney Lee's Blog, cards and prints on Etsy.

So Youn Lee

So Youn Lee's other blog is in Korean.

But this one isn't!

Bio: see contact page at website

Artworks produced in 2012: Specter, Siren

Websites: So Youn Lee and Blog

Pia Ravenari

Pia Ravenari is a West Australian artist

Bio: Ravenari at DeviantArt or at Wordpress

Artworks produced in 2012: Totoro and many other examples of fan art at Pia's DeviantArt pages

Websites: Ravenari at DeviantArt or Wordpress blog

Kathleen Jennings

Kathleen Jennings is an Australian illustrator and writer.

Bio: About Kathleen

Artworks produced in 2012: Cover Art, "To Spin A Darker Stair," Catherynne Valente & Faith Mudge, Fablecroft Press, April 2012; Continuation of The Dalek Game at her blog, Errantry.

Ever been on the Hugo Ballot for best Pro artist?: No

Websites: Errantry blog, Flickr page

Kathleen has been shortlisted multiple times for the 2012 Australian Ditmar Award in the Best Artwork and Best Fan Artist categories.

Maureen Starkey

Maureen Starkey also appears on the 2012 Hugo ballot for Best Fan Artist.

Again, this is a placeholder for when I pin down her 2012 works.

Bio: Maureen Starkey's DeviantArt page

Artworks produced in 2012:

Website: http://colmahouse.deviantart.com/

Maureen was also shortlisted in 2011.

Spring Schoenhuth

Spring Schoenhuth appears on the 2012 Hugo ballot for her work in 2011.

This is a placeholder for when I find out details of her 2012 work.

Bio: http://www.renovationsf.org/participants/springschoenhuth.php

Artworks produced in 2012: TBA

Media: TBA

Website: Springtime Creations

Eligibility

To be eligible for the 2013 Best Fan Artist, an individual must have:

- Produced fan artworks published or displayed in 2012
- These artworks must be science fiction or fantasy related
- Artworks appeared in non-paying venues or low-paying venues including fanzines and semiprozines or displayed in science fiction convention art shows
- Not ever been on the ballot for Best Professional Artist

From this point, I'll be doing one post per artist. Please comment on those posts if I inadvertently post about someone who is ineligible.

The Hole

There seems to be a small hole when it comes to women in the Best Fan Artist Hugo category.

According to Wikipedia, Maureen Starkey, Spring Schoenhuth and Sue Mason appear to be the only women to appear on the shortlist in the past 10 years. This is from a rather repetetive field of 12 artists in total.

If you go back another 10 years, you can add Sheryl Birkhead, Peggy Ranson, Linda Michaels and potentially the mysterious D. West.

1993 was a good year for the wimminz, with a 6-person shortlist including Peggy, Linda, Merle Insinga, and Diana Harlan Stein.

Can we bring a bit of diversity to the 2013 Hugos?

At the very least, we can find out what wimminz are producing fan art around the world.