Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

Spectrum #25

by John Fleskes (Editor)

The best-selling Spectrum series―often imitated but never equaled―continues with this lavishly produced 25th annual. Spectrum is the premier showcase for imaginative fantastic arts in the book, comic, film, horror, illustration, sculpture, conceptual art, fine art and video-game genres. With exceptional images by extraordinary creators, this elegant, full-color collection showcases an international cadre of creators working in every style and medium―both traditional and digital. This volume features nearly 500 works by more than 275 diverse visionaries, including Paul Bonner, J.A.W. Cooper, Olivia De Berardinis, Annie Stegg Gerard, Scott Gustafson, Edward Kinsella III, Gregory Manchess, Victo Ngai, Tran Nguyen, Greg Ruth, Yuko Shimizu, and many more.

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

304 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2018

Reviews

[Timothy Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

What kinda art do ya like Statues, painting, sketches? Well you will find that and more in any Spectrum art book. Tons of amazing and fantastic Fantasy and SiFi art of all types. Grab a copy and sit back and be astonished. Highly recommended

[reherrma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der neueste, jährlich erscheinende, opulente Bildband der zeitgenössischen phantastische Kunst zeigt wieder ein großes Panorama des Schaffens von großen Künstlern, ob Buch-Cover-Kunst, ob Comic-Kunst oder bildende Kunst. Naturgemäß machen die Gemälde, Skizzen oder Comics ein Großteil der Abbildungen des Buches aus, die Hochglanz-Bilder sind allesamt kleine Kunstwerke.
Wie immer werden in diesem jährlichen Band Preise an verdiente Künstler vergeben, so wurde dieses Jahr die Illustratorin Claire Wendling mit dem SPECTRUM Grand Master Award geehrt.
Der Herausgeber John Fleskes läßt das Jahr der phantastischen Kunst in einem Artikel Review passieren, Greg Ruth (hierzulande als Cover-Artist für die Romane von Nnedi Okorafor bei CrossCult/Ludwigsburg bekannt) wird mit einem Advertising Gold Award beehrt. Wie immer werden die Geehrten mit Beispielen aus ihrem Werk im Buch präsentiert, weitere Preisträger sind Laurel Blechman (Comics) und viele andere mehr...
Schade, daß deutsche Künstler in diesem Jahr nicht in SPECTRUM vertreten sind, das war in vergangenen Jahren anders, als z.B. Thomas Thiemeyer oder Ralph Voltz vertreten waren...
Für jeden, der Spaß an phantastischer Kunst hat, ist dieser Band zu empfehlen...

[Trike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent art as always. If there is anything resembling a theme, I’d say it’s birds and winged creatures (humans, giants, angels, cats). There’s an entire section that is essentially all Wizards of the Coast/Magic the Gathering art, so if you’re into that then this is the edition for you.

Again, surprised by the lack of superhero art outside of the Comics category, given that this was the year of Marvel, and there is almost no Science Fiction represented. That said, I have added a number of books to my TBR pile due to the cool paintings here.

You can never go wrong with a Spectrum collection, that’s for sure. I can’t believe this is the 25th year. I’ve been reading this series since the beginning, and I own all of them. That’s a lot of hours happily spent perusing fantastical worlds and phantasmagorical creatures.

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the 25th volume, you can be confident the people behind the Spectrum collections have their format down. This is a wonderful collection of art, whose diversity of style and inspiration seems increased in this collection (an improvement). There is fantastic art as always, as well as images that leave me curious as to what the judges saw in the pieces, which is also appropriate. The quality of the art reproduction is great (although a few images seem a bit dark, but that might be reflective of the original image). This book includes the year in review section, which has decreased in its value - it is now basically just listing the sources of the art in the book rather than examining the impact of the art on the larger culture. While it's shorter and easier to read, it seems to have lost some of its value.
But that's a minor complaint and doesn't really affect the primary purpose of the book, which is to be a coffee-table book of exciting and new fantasy-inspired art.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another year, another Spectrum to explore. 2018 was a fantastic year for Sci-Fi and Fantasy artwork, and this book is full of imaginative content that was a true joy to peruse. I noticed with this latest edition that Magic the Gathering and Wizards of the Coast are almost single-handedly keeping fantasy art alive, and I have to thank them for their service because the works they commission are some of the strangest and most inventive creations. Finally, this may be the first Spectrum I have read that I felt truly interested in purchasing or, at the least, re-reading. I'm looking forward to next year's offering.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectrum never disappoints when it comes to I was introducing and reintroducing great artist of fantastic art! Quite a few new ones that I'm going to have to look up and see their online galleries of. And of course there are the older ones that have returned with new works of art that add to their amazing portfolios. Some have inspired me to also explore their graphic novels with glimpses from the book's illustration Gallery, such as the Castle in the Stars series (a brilliant merging of Steampunk and Studio Ghibli art). Definitely a great volume!

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reproduction quality was excellent, as always, but aside from a few standouts I was already following (Victo Ngai, Greg Ruth, et al) nothing that blew my mind. Maybe I should look at less fantasy art...

Also, a number of pieces didn't seem to have any spec fic element. How does the selection work?