Customer Reviews

Spectrum 13: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

C'mon, who doesn't enjoy looking at pretty pictures? SPECTRUM 13, like all the previous SPECTRUM entries, is another great collection of pretty pictures. Once again broken down into various genres (Advertising, Book, Comics, Dimensional, Editiorial, Institutional, and Unpublished), this edition showcases accomplished artistic offerings by old and new reliables Michael Whelan, John Harris, Paul Youll, Kinuko Craft, Donato Giancola, John Palencar, Jon Foster, etc. (whose works many sci-fi/fantasy readers will have seen gracing the covers of their favored novels). We get to see a diverse field of artwork: from the superlative, vibrantly hued renderings of Donato Giancola (whose "Prometheus" lands the cover of SPECTRUM 13), the vigorous surreality of Phil Hale, the technical digital glossiness of David Ho, the comic book pen-and-ink wizardry of Adam Hughes and Michael Wm. Kaluta, the muscular stylings of Justin Sweet, the classicaly-styled oils of Gregory Manchess, to the charming simplicity of inker/watercolorist William Stout. And, of course, many, many more.

This time, the annual Grand Master Award goes to long-time fantasy artist and Frank Frazetta wannabe, Jeffrey Jones. I guess he's deserving. But, compared to the likes of past Grand Master recipients Frazetta, James Bama, Jean Giraud, and H.R. Giger, Jeffrey Jones's selection is dubious. But, certainly, that's just my opinion.

Some of my personal favorites in SPECTRUM 13 are the cute "Worlds Collide" by Eric Joyner, the expressive "Mother Nature" by David Bowers, and the evocative "Empire of Dreams" by Michael Whelan. But while the SPECTRUM collection still continues to enchant and inspire its fans with awesome art, there is a valid concern that, as the series progresses and as the editors continue to expand upon each installment, more and more pieces of lesser quality are able to sneak in. SPECTRUM 13 found me surprisingly disgruntled with several of the art entries and their artists. There is much here that is derivative and humdrum (especially the tech-oriented stuff), and, at times, I found myself disinterestedly flipping thru pages. By the way, for the foreseeable future, I am officially sick and tired of gazing at angelic/sexy folks sporting heavenly wings. So, though I still loved it, this may be my least favorite SPECTRUM.

As someone who professes an amateurish interest in oil painting, I'm a bit cold towards the ever-growing digitalized/computerized art included in this series. I know of several "manual" artists (who deal in actual oil, acrylics, watercolor...) who dub computer art as cheating. But as someone who hasn't actually toiled in computer graphics, I hesitate to dump too hard on this field, not fully cognizant of how truly strenuous or challenging it is, as well as the level of artistic talent actually required. Too, while sculpture is a valid artform, I'm ambivalent about the dimensional portion, though I do get a kick out of Lawrence Northey's whimsical robots.

SPECTRUM 13, in a way, reminds me of some of Stephen King's more convoluted novels: overall, it's still interesting and has merit and style but it could do with a more constructive and ferocious editing effort. As mentioned, there's more than a few paintings that needn't be included here. I'm not a professional art critic, by any means, so, maybe, I don't know what I'm talking about, technically. But, hey, I know what I like. So, from me, SPECTRUM 13 only earns three and a half stars.

There is a reason why every volume of Spectrum seems to garner five star ratings from fans. Each new volume consistently presents the finest in fantastic art but it's more than that. It's not just the quality of the art but the diversity as well. Spectrum presents works from a wide array of genres and artistic styles. From advertising art to comics, from sculpture to institutional, it's a tantalizing feast for the eyes that seems to get better with each new volume.

Spectrum 13 presents its Grandmaster award to Jeffrey Jones, certainly a very deserving recipient. Editor Arnie Fenner does his year in review on all of the different artistic categories and we get a glimpse at the Spectrum exhibition held in New York from Sepetember, 7 to October 1, 2005.

First up in the book is Advertising art as Spectrum hands out its gold and silver awards to Donato Giancola and Andrew Jones respectively. Each piece in the book notes the work's title, artist, medium, and client. My personal favorite was R.K. Post's painting "Lady of Pain" done for Dragon Magazine.

Next up is cover art from books and I was blown away by the gorgeously amusing work of Ragnar and his digital illustrations completed for Baby Tattoo Books. It's old school illustration with a modern flair. Adam Hughes has long been one of my favorite comic artists and Spectrum loves him too it seems as Hughes gets a two page spread of his work including his dynamic cover to Catwoman # 49, and the noir-ish cover to Catwoman #50. Not to be outdone, or missed, is Frank Cho's dazzling cover to Shanna #3 for Marvel Comics. One of my most favorite pieces in the comic section is Hoang Nguyen's cover to Hardboiled to the Max done in the style of an old pulp detective magazine, complete with cover creases.

The sculptures are unbelievable with the highlight for me being Thomas S. Kuebler's piece of an old, three-eyed gypsy fortune teller gazing into a crystal ball. Another standout was Jonathan Mattews sculpt of Batman that was designed by artist Mike Mignola. The Institutional section has a bit of everything from art done for trading cards, posters, games, as well as concept and promotional art. Justin Sweet's rendition of King Kull would make creator Robert E. Howard very proud.

Whatever your preferences...whatever genres you happen to follow, you're sure to find lots of pieces to love in the latest volume of Spectrum.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

I have been collecting the Spectrum series since "Spectrum 6" and I am impressed more and more as each volume is released. This fantastic collection of fantasy art features a wide range of artists, new and old. I particularly like the new size of the book (allowing for more entries). I whole-heartedly recommend this book to any fan of contemporary sci-fi/fantasy art work.

Este libro es realmente una joya. Si estas estudiando ilustracion, arte, o si quieres ampliar tus horizontes, este libro te servira de ventana tanto para inspirarte como para observar como distintos profesionales del mundo aplican su metodologia y resuelven conflictos de composicion, tecnicas, etc. Son solo imagenes, no hay tutoriales de "como lo hizo", si buscas ese tipo de libros esta no es tu opcion... solo te sera util si tienes el deseo de analizar, y observar por cuenta propia. definitivamente una joya, un profesor en casa.

The Spectrum annuals have become a must buy for me each year. I started with Spectrum 7 and haven't been disappointed yet. The Fenners and crew pick their favorite art from science fiction, horror, comics, advertising, and sculpture. These are great book to pull out out and look at every 3 months or so.

I was told the book arrived on time and that it was in great shape. Thank you for your speed and great price.

This volume continues the Spectrum tradition, collecting the year's most amazing fantasy art. The hundreds of works displayed here cover just about any style, medium, and mood you'd care to name. Royo's pinup babes appear a few times. McKean's otherworldly collages (?) appear too, capturing images that appeared in his brilliant Mirrormask movie. The superhero genre has plenty of representation, but so do gothica, heroic fantasy, space stuff, and more. Orbik gives a conspicuous nod to Norman Rockwell, but styles span a vast range.

Although a few pieces display real humor it tends to be of a dark kind, as in Stahlberg's "Psycho Girlfriend." The exceptions lie largely in the Dimensional (sculpture) category, with Keubler's "Myron Klinefelter's Revenge" and Northey's beautiful "Jim and George" leading the way. Dozens of other works tend toward the thoughtful, or pointed, or moving, ... well, pretty much every direction that art can lead.

You might look to this book for inspiration, for a snapshot of the evolving world of fantasy art, or just for the pure fun of the pictures themselves. Whatever your reason, go ahead and indulge it. Catalogs of fantasy art just don't get better than the Spectrum annual editions.

-- wiredweird

These series of books, Spectrum, are a brilliant set of collector's items if you like fantastical concept art. The artists represented are a highly talented set of individuals. This particular book, Spectrum 13, is my favorite selection so far from the series. I highly recommend the purchase.

Staggering levels of talent in this arcane collection. Contains every imaginable fantasy style and sub-genre.

This is a high-quality volume with a wide variety of science fiction and fantasy art from many talented artists.