Corel's Quest for the Best Challenge

'The Calm Before the Storm', SciFi Art Now contributor John Malcolm's entry for Corel's contest.

Illustrators in North America, the UK and Germany still lhave time to both enter software maker Corel's Quest for the Best Creativity Challenge.

The challenge is part of the company's 25th aniversary celebrations: their way of saying thank you to all of their customers, partners and employees who have helped them grow from a tiny startup in Ottawa, Canada, to a global software company with customers on virtually every continent.

The Quest for the Best Creativity Challenge is offering over $25,000 in prizes in a search for the next great digital artists. Entrants, whose work is initially judged by popular, registered vote and then by a panel of professional judges, could win the ultimate design studio (valued at $9,500 US), a Nikon D700 SLR camera, a Wacom Cintiq tablet, an iPad, a Flip UltraHD Camcorder or other great prizes.

Current entrants include ace artist and SciFi Art Now contributor John Malcolm, whose 'Calm Before the Storm' is a fun piece of fantasy art.

Corel are posting a regularly updated 'Most Liked Overall' gallery on the contest web site, as well as daily favourites and most recent entries.

Artists should simply enter your best illustration, painting or image made with Corel software before 31st August 2010 for a chance to win. Anyone who wants to vote for their favourite art in the competition needs to register on the site - and anyone eligible to vote is in with the chance to win for a chance to win one of 10 HP Mini Netbooks.

The contest is open to residents of the United States, Canada (excluding the province of Quebec), the United Kingdom and Germany only.

• Visit www.corelquestforthebest.com for full contest details

Sci-Fi Art Now Covers Revealed

ILEX Press have released the covers for their UK and US editions of SciFi Art Now - and they look superb.

The UK cover, above, is by the brilliant World Fantasy Award winner and Hugo Award-nominated artist John Picacio. This art was first seen gracing the cover of Pyr Books brilliant SF anthology Fast Forward 2, but you'll have seen his art on many book covers for a huge range of publishers including Subterranean Press, Golden Gryphon Press, Pyr, and Star Trek novels for Pocket Books. (The tryptych he did for their Terok Nor trilogy back in 2008 is just knockout).

John tells me he's honoured to be on the cover and likewise, I'm grateful to Pyr Books editor Lou Anders for putting me in touch with John: I've admired his work for ages, and I'm very grateful he gave us permission to use his work.

The US cover is artwork created specifically for SciFi Art Now by Brighton-based artist Steve Sampson, who I first encountered back in the 1990s when he provided me many covers for the Marvel UK weekly comic, Overkill.

Working with Ghy Kurabayashi, Steve is well known for combining their illustration and graphic design skills with their love of colours, manga, games, vinyl toys, comics, music, pop, urban art and all things Japanese!

Also known as Sampson Art, their clients include ILEX Press, Barnes & Noble and Brazil's Editora Abril. Their manga illustrations are sold worldwide through Getty Images.

"I'm almost lost for words," Steve told me on learning his art, titled Stone Fish, was being considered for the book's cover. "That's stunning news and a great honour – I couldn't be more excited!

"I really enjoyed doing the image and it was well worth taking the time and thought to do something
specifically for the book."

• SciFi Art Now is on course for publication in October 2010.

With Great Power is now... Masked

My friend Lou Anders, who used to work for me on Star Trek Magazine and Babylon 5 Magazine, but these days is an award-winning editor for Pyr Books, and who very kindly introduced me to artist John Picacio whose work features in SciFi Art Now, has a new short story superhero anthology title on the way. One good turn deserves another, so I'm giving it a plug here.

To be published by Gallery Books, Masked features a cover by Trevor Hairsine, artist on such titles as 2000AD, Captain America, Wisdom, Ultimate Galactus, Black Panther and many other comics.

"I think the new title -- and title design -- works quite well," says Lou.

The stories in this 384 page collection are 'Cleansed and Set in Gold' by Matthew Sturges, 'Where their Worm Dieth Not' by James Maxey, 'Secret Identity' by Paul Cornell, 'The Non-Event' by Mike Carey, 'Avatar' by Mike Baron, 'Message from the Bubblegum Factory' by Daryl Gregory, 'Thug' by Gail Simone, 'Vacuum Lad' by Stephen Baxter, 'A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows' by Chris Roberson, 'Head Cases' by Peter David & Kathleen David, 'Downfall' by Joseph Mallozzi, 'By My Works You Shall Know Me' by Mark Chadbourn, 'Call Her Savage' by Marjorie M. Liu, 'Tonight we fly' by Ian McDonald and'A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)' by Bill Willingham.

A 2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2007 Chesley Award nominee and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction imprint Pyr, as well as the editor of anthologies Fast Forward 2, Sideways in Crime and more. In 2000, he served as the Executive Editor of Bookface.com, and before that he worked as the Los Angeles Liaison for Titan Publishing Group, writing a huge number of brilliant articles for me on STM and other Titan Magazines, as well as authoring The Making of Star Trek: First Contact.

Due for release in July, Masked looks to be another great collection from an editor who's a dab hand at assembling great anthologies (but never let him try and make you drink grass).

• Buy Masked from amazon.co.uk


• Buy Masked from amazon.com