Sci-Fi Bytes: Artist News...

Here's a quick round up of  the work some SciFi Art Now artists have been engaged in recently...

• Nelson Evergreen is one of seven artists who has work featured in Dreams Are The Genus, a new collaborative project edited by alternative photographer and illustrator Tigz Rice. It features seven dark artists and one truly terrifying writer, and Nelson says this book is "bound to give you the chills!"

The other artists involved are Audrey Newhouse, Matt Grundy, Tigz Rice, Peter Tinkler, Kirsty Greenwood and Natsuki Otani.

"This book is both designed and printed in the UK to show support for the creative industries. £15 UK/18£ US (includes post and packing). "We need a certain amount of pre-orders before the book can go to print," asks Nelson, "so please do snap one up at Tigz's site."

• Duncan Long has just posted an interesting commentary on the Vanity Press and Self Publishing. "There’s a lot of confusion as to what a small publisher is and what constitutes self publishing," he notes. "Part of the confusion results because many of these terms are used incorrectly (and I am guilty of this myself sometimes). But part of the problem is that publishing itself is in a flux with technology offering new opportunities. This new technology also makes some of the old terms less applicable than they once were."

• Bill McConkey is challenging art directors to have fun with his Hallowe'en Mask and win a prize. All entrants get a gruesome goody bag and the overall winner will be sent there extra special prize. The aim seems to be to gather photos of art directors in weird poses. "I've already had a couple of entries," he says. "The more creative or just plain weird the better the chance of scooping top prize."

• Over on the 2000AD comic forums, the monthly art comp is something Kev Levell usually intends to contribute to... but he seldom find the time these days. This month, it's such a good theme - mash-ups/crossovers and Kev had what I thought was a pretty good idea. A twitter spoof! Check out the result on his blog here.

• Finally, Tim Perkins reports on his trip to Malta Comic Con on his blog, which also saw fellow SciFi Art Now artists Liam Sharp, Gary Erskine and Dave Windett enjoy some winter sun. Lucky blighters! (Still, we're not sure the Windett Curse was that much fun...)

• Of course, if the Curse involves bad throats, John Royle and I have just the thing -- Benylin. John drew a new press ad featuring their Mucous Monkey character lettered by me. The agency is JWT in London, creatives Laurence Quinn and Mark Norcutt. Check it out here on Creative Review.