Spectrum 12: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (Spectrum (Underwood Books))

Spectrum 12: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (Spectrum (Underwood Books)) | Cathy Fenner, Arnie Fenner | this is a review...yeah....

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Spectrum 12: The B...

	Spectrum 12: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (Spectrum (Underwood Books)) Cathy Fenner, Arnie Fenner Underwood Books, 2005 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The increasing popularity of fantasy and science fiction themes in art is celebrated in the annual Spectrum series. The premier venue for such art, each lavishly illustrated volume is an invaluable resource, eagerly awaited by art directors, illustrators, and readers alike. Drawn from books, comics, magazines, art galleries, advertisements, and portfolios, the collection represents a who?s who in fantasy today. With a wider reach than any previous edition, Spectrum 12 features 350 works by artists from Germany, England, the Netherlands, Korea, Australia, Japan, Canada, France, and the United States. Divided into seven categories, including one each devoted to comics and graphic novels, the illustrations expand the boundaries of the imagination and explore new realms of creativity. Among the artists included are Justin K. Sweet, Brad Holland, Greg Ruth, Lawrence Northey, Arthur Suydam, and H.R. Giger. A handy index provides contact information for each artist.

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The annual of fantasy art

As always, the annual Spectrum compiles hundreds of samples of the very best of 2004's fantasy art. The work is divided into categories that reflect the generally commercial origin of each work: ads, comics, books, etc. Every category displays a range of subjects and style. Lush realism predominates, including two of Royo's fantasy pinups. Other styles appear, too, including ink paintings by Vess and Kaluta, Justin Sweet's Rorshach-like watercolors and some raw, expressive work from the "Blood" comic.

Some of the most remarkable work appears in the sculptural (dimensional) category. That group includes a few pieces based on standard comic superheroes. Works by Davis and Northey are clever, and one by Loroux is clearly a work of great affection. A political piece by Ross, in the editorial grouping, displays chilling wit.

With roughly 250 artists represented, and multiple works by many, there's an exciting assortment of topics and approaches. Although I recognize only a few of the names, the quality and wit meet very high standards throughout. I recommend this to anyone that values fantasy images, as a spectator or as a creator.

//wiredweird

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this is a review...yeah....

This is a dandy of an issue. It really allows the artists to be able to showboat thier talent in a fabulous format.

Spectrum....need I say more

You simply CANNOT beat Spectrum for the wide variety of art it displays and the quality. I hope to grace it's pages some day! I own this copy and #10.

Compelling and superior.

Any interested in science fiction and fantasy art will find all the masters represented here, from Michael Whelan and Brad Holland to Linda Bergkvist and Daren Bader. Each artist's works are rendered in full color and includes contact information plus notes on clients, medium, and picture size. A jury selected the 2005 Spectrum winners, surveying over 4,000 works both individually and in light of overall fantasy artist accomplishment to cull the best: the result is a winning pick of top winners any involved in fantasy art will find compelling and superior.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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Another Delightful Visual Odyssey

I discovered my love of science fiction illustration about ten years ago when I perused a book by an artist named Boris Vallejo. Different epochs in time, different places in the universe, epic battles, astonishing spacecraft, beautiful women, courageous warriors, gothic weapons...all fused together into simply beautiful, dramatic art. From Vallejo I followed what I presume is a pretty common route of exploration: Frazetta, Chesley Bonestell, and assorted others, and then compilation books like "Infinite Worlds" and "Tomorrow and Beyond" and then the "Spectrum" series. Unfortunately I discovered Spectrum too late and didn't get in until Spectrum 7. The earlier editions are out of print, and used they are selling for prohibitive amounts, often into triple digits. They did do a reprint of Spectrum 1, which I bought in a heartbeat and I keep hoping there will be reprints of the other editions.

As the other reviewers have mentioned, this is just amazingly beautiful and exciting art. Some images are total exotica, some progressive and avant garde, and some appear to be well within classical conventions. Almost all of these artworks are astonishing and will have your imagination just buzzing. Most are paintings, many are photos of sculpture and other media. I find myself gasping as I flip the pages, saying "Unbelievable!" You really just have to see this work to fully grasp it. I implore my six year-old to look at the pictures, hoping to inspire neurological pathway formation with the colorful pictures of the stuff of our wildest dreams , but I slap her little paw whenever she tries to touch! Spectrum books are a peanut butter-free zone!

I personally do not see this edition (12) being that different from its predecessors in terms of content. Every volume I have is first-rate and a stone-cold must-have. This is exactly in that tradition in terms of quality and quantity of art.

Why the four stars instead of five: Okay, I should have griped last year. With Spectrum 11 they switched over to a cheaper cover. It is a shiny cardboard cover which will get dinged up and scuffed over time. The book loses its high-quality outer lustre with the downgraded binding and I think the Fenners (the wonderful people who produce this series and several other magnificent books) have made a significant mistake by allowing this to happen. As someone who went through a twenty-year phase of haunting used bookstores I can testify as an expert: this cover does not come close to matching the quality of the work (and paper, for that matter) on the inside. These books deserve the high quality cloth "buckram" covers which earlier editions had. Those covers will last forever and preserve these works as the historical momentos which they are indeed. If the price has to be raised a few bucks, so be it. I suspect demand will only go up; people who appreciate this type of art obviously are discriminating, and they will gladly pay for the extra attention to quality. Please, put Spectrum 13 back in a high-quality cover. Otherwise, keep up the fabuluous work.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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