2013 Hugos: Best Professional Artist
The deadline is drawing nearer, and it's time to quickly look through the Hugo nominees in a couple of the other categories. I was struck by how many of the Best Professional Artist pictures were sketches just of sultry individuals looking sultry; then the question is, how much circumstantial detail can be fitted in to make this image more memorable than that? It is very much a matter of individual taste and mood. I feel pretty sure of my first and fifth rankings, but the middle three placings are much more difficult because I found them so similar to each other.
1) Vincent Chong grabbed me at once with dynamic use of line and colour; all three of these are just interesting works of art.
2) John Picacio submitted four studies of individual figures; he shades it for me over the others by this rather good fiery disintegration.
3) Chris McGrath again had a sequence of sultry figures, of which I liked this the best.
4) And Dan Dos Santos had a similar set of works, all in much the same style as each other.
5) I feel a little bad at putting Julie Dillon last, especially since her pieces were generally much busier and varied. But I didn't always feel that they were balanced, and the colouring didn't grab me. Not that these are bad artworks: here's a lovely detail from one of them.
There you are: my carefully considered judgement. Or something.
See also: Best Novel | Best Novella | Best Novelette | Best Short Story | Best Related Work | Best Graphic Story | Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)