The 2018 Hugo and 1943 Retro Hugo finalists for the Artist categories
Sometimes these are quite easy categories to sort out - it's always helpful if there is one artist that stands out from the crowd for good or bad reasons. This time for Best Professional Artist (2018) I have found it much more difficult - all of the artists on the final ballot are very good, and sufficiently distinct that it's quite difficult to give them a comparative rating. So I'm actually going to go from top to bottom of my ballot, rather than bottom to top, because I don't have much to say about any of them but I have more to say about the ones I like.
1) Kathleen Jennings; I found the anthropomorphic Kenneth Grahame style creatures very attractive, and an interestingly low-powered contrast with the rest of the field.
2) Bastien Lecouffe Deharme; some striking female faces and figures, all very full of character.
3) Sana Takeda; mostly slightly manga-ish figures related to Monstress, but here it's Sherlock and Watson brooding.
4) John Picacio; nice interplay of faces and shapes.
5) Victo Ngai
6) Galen Dara
I found it much easier to rank this year’s finalists for Best Fan Artist.
1) Geneva Benton; I voted for this piece for the BSFA Award and I like the rest of her work.
2) Maya Hato; gave last year’s Worldcon a striking visual identity.
3) Likhain; striking use of colours and textures.
4) Spring Schoenhuth; as ever, good to see the medium of metalwork getting on the ballot.
5) Grace P Fong
6) Steve Stiles
Most of the 1942 artists are easy enough to track down on ISFDB, which helpfully holds copies of all the magazine covers in its archive. The exception was Edd Cartier, who I had to hunt through the annoying interface of Pinterest, but it was worth it.
1) Edd Cartier; vivid interior illustrations with strong characterisation.
2) Virgil Finlay; great use of space, and you feel that there is a good story with every piece.
3) Hannes Bok; nice clean lines, characters sometimes awkwardly positioned.
4) Margaret Brundage; appears to have had only one professional publication in 1942.
5) Howard W. McCauley; perhaps he should try something other than busty screaming women?
6) Hubert Rogers; vivid colours and shapes, but his human bodies don’t look all that human!
Your mileage may vary.
2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist
1) Kathleen Jennings; I found the anthropomorphic Kenneth Grahame style creatures very attractive, and an interestingly low-powered contrast with the rest of the field.
2) Bastien Lecouffe Deharme; some striking female faces and figures, all very full of character.
3) Sana Takeda; mostly slightly manga-ish figures related to Monstress, but here it's Sherlock and Watson brooding.
4) John Picacio; nice interplay of faces and shapes.
5) Victo Ngai
6) Galen Dara
I found it much easier to rank this year’s finalists for Best Fan Artist.
1) Geneva Benton; I voted for this piece for the BSFA Award and I like the rest of her work.
2) Maya Hato; gave last year’s Worldcon a striking visual identity.
3) Likhain; striking use of colours and textures.
4) Spring Schoenhuth; as ever, good to see the medium of metalwork getting on the ballot.
5) Grace P Fong
6) Steve Stiles
Most of the 1942 artists are easy enough to track down on ISFDB, which helpfully holds copies of all the magazine covers in its archive. The exception was Edd Cartier, who I had to hunt through the annoying interface of Pinterest, but it was worth it.
1) Edd Cartier; vivid interior illustrations with strong characterisation.
2) Virgil Finlay; great use of space, and you feel that there is a good story with every piece.
3) Hannes Bok; nice clean lines, characters sometimes awkwardly positioned.
4) Margaret Brundage; appears to have had only one professional publication in 1942.
5) Howard W. McCauley; perhaps he should try something other than busty screaming women?
6) Hubert Rogers; vivid colours and shapes, but his human bodies don’t look all that human!
Your mileage may vary.
2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist