Spectrum 10: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

The Spectrum series is a collection of contemporary and fantastic art illustrations. I recommend it to anyone looking for discovering interesting work and contemporary artists. The work ranges from cover illustrations, paintings, sculptures to some toys, action figures and graphic novel work. The selection is usually very well done. I think the sculpture section is not as good as the graphic and painting area. It is interesting to notice in the volume 10 the diversity of techniques presented. There are some pure digital art, but most of it is made of traditional media, or a mix with digital tools and some other technique. I imagine that the next volumes will gradually include some more digital art. From this series I ended up finding some artists I looked for entire work monographs like the sci-fi ilustrator Stephan Martinieri.

I recently purchased Spectrum 9, 10, and 11. These books are absolutely wonderful, and I would recommend them to any artist or fan of fantasy/sci fi art. They are extremely well put together, of high quality (reproduction wise), have a large number and variety of artists, and contain some of the most beautiful works of art I have seen. Some of the subject matter can be disturbing or somewhat sexual in nature (certainly nothing explicit, but not exactly innocent either), so I wouldn't recomend them for the very young (12 or under?) if you are a parent. These books are worth every penny and highly recommended.

This is a wonderful book and I would recommend this to anyone interested in sci-fi/fantasy art. This book is even better than it's predessesors also. I think anyone who enjoyed the other spectrum books will enjoy this.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy artists have always seemed like illustration's poor step-children, often ignored (and sometimes sneered at) while the historical and Western painters wore the mantel of respectability. Thank goodness Spectrum came along to point out to the naysayers that Art is Art and that the practitioners of "fantastic" art are as gifted as anyone working today (if not better). Spectrum 10 is chocked-full of beautiful and imaginative work by veterans and fresh faces alike. Personal favorites include the previously unpublished gallery paintings by jillion-times-Hugo-winner Michael Whelan, the Expressionist-flavored space ships by John Berkey, the monsterously proportioned toy robots by Eric Joyner, and the fantasy scenarios of Paul Bonner. There's art for films, paintings for books, sculptures (which I personally enjoy seeing), and work from comics; serious, mature pieces followed by wonderfully whacky and whimisical images. There's really something for everyone. It's fun to go through the book and compare the judges' selection of award-winners in each category with what *I* think should have won.And thank goodness someone has finally acknowledged Michael Kaluta (#10's Grand Master Award recipient) as one of the most worthwhile illustrators working today. Kudos to the Spectrum Board!About the only downsides are the occasional typos and several pages with cramped lay-outs, but all-in-all a must-have book for anyone with an imagination--and at a bargain price at that!