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Spectrum #9
Spectrum 9: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
Drawn from work created for books, comics, magazines, art galleries, advertisements, and the portfolios of some of the finest contemporary artists in the field, Spectrum 9 has a wider reach than any previous volume, with work from the U.S., Germany, England, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Canada, and France. Divided into seven categories, including one devoted to comics, the book includes James Gurney (Dinotopia), Brom (designer of the films Sleepy Hollow and Scooby-Doo), Michael Whelan (ten-time Hugo Award winner), Leo and Diane Dillon (Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Award recipients), and many more. Contact information for each artist is provided in a handy index, and the editors’ lengthy illustrated “Year in Review” preface puts the entire field in focus. 300 full-color images are featured. “A feast for the eyes and the imagination.” — New Times
176 pages, Hardcover
First published December 10, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 1, 2019
i remember first coming across the Spectrum art books in my twenties, when i would buy books simply for their dust jackets and hope the story inside wasn't too awful... the art in these books is amazing, creative, imaginary, dreamlike, fascinating, and ultimately full of life and the love of wonder and wondrous things... i would own them all if i could... extremely highly recommended...
December 29, 2025
I used to own this and gifted it to a friend who was starting painting.
May 12, 2012
From my review in the March 10, 2005 Alibi http://alibi.com/art/11107/Spectrum-9... http://underwoodbooks.com/
alt.press
By Kane S. Latranz
Spectrum 9
Cathie and Arnie Fenner (editors)
[http://http://underwoodbooks.com]
The term fantasy art might call to mind a buxom, fur-thonged damsel clinging to one muscular thigh of a sword-wielding barbarian who grimaces at an assortment of menacing beasties. While that—cough!—subtly Freudian staple continues to be replicated ad nauseum, there is little of it in the annual art collection, Spectrum, which Kevin, at Addicted to Comics (2935 Monte Vista NE, 255-3234), directed me to.
In February 2002, artists working in advertising, book publishing and comic books, and for such clients as The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, descended on Kansas City in the hope that their work might grace the pages of the ninth installment of this modest-sized coffee table book. During the arcane process of judging the best work from 2001, the showroom was changed out five times.
Arnie Fenner's introduction addresses facets of the 9-11 experience with aplomb. Then he dares the hopeful perspective that, ultimately, nothing changed. We go to work and raise our kids, and, for those whose lives revolve around creative endeavors, "Art goes on." What follows are 173 pages packed with imagery to prove Arnie's point.
In the advertising category, Douglas Smith's poster for The Mystery of Edwin Drood is rendered in watercolor and scratchboard. The medium is crisp, vivid and seems three-dimensional, employed here for the arresting image of a skull-faced fellow in top hat and tails holding a stunned lady in a swoon, the startling scene lit from below on a stage.
Overall, I think the artwork in the book category is the most intriguing. (Precisely why that should be the case, I don't know.) Shaun Tan's dream-like oil painting, "Darkness Overcomes You," depicts a city at sunset, adults and children going about their lives, none of their faces quite visible. The only startlingly prominent face is that of a gape-mouthed, building-high fish emerging, unnoticed, from between two skyscrapers just above the street to cast its shadow on the pavement.
There are a lot of fascinating sculptures in the 12-page dimensional category, such as Lawrence Northey's plucky gold and silver robot, "L-roy," cleverly constructed from metal and glass with ray gun in hand.
The editorial category is my second favorite. Rafal Olbinski's contribution to Entertainment Weekly, titled "The Year that Was," features a rosy-cheeked boy dressed as a harlequin in white, a tear falling from his eye. The background is a blue sky, his chest open with cupboard doors depicted as the two halves of an American flag, his hand holding a red rose over the area where the heart should be inside his dark interior, a crescent moon suspended in the background of his internal night.
There are more categories and 173 pages of images representing work rendered in various media by professionals in the world of imaginative art, including a high percentage of the archetypal, the dream-like and the Jungian. Along the way, of course, is the occasional buxom, fur-thonged damsel, and some wearing even less ... not that there's anything wrong with that!
alt.press
By Kane S. Latranz
Spectrum 9
Cathie and Arnie Fenner (editors)
[http://http://underwoodbooks.com]
The term fantasy art might call to mind a buxom, fur-thonged damsel clinging to one muscular thigh of a sword-wielding barbarian who grimaces at an assortment of menacing beasties. While that—cough!—subtly Freudian staple continues to be replicated ad nauseum, there is little of it in the annual art collection, Spectrum, which Kevin, at Addicted to Comics (2935 Monte Vista NE, 255-3234), directed me to.
In February 2002, artists working in advertising, book publishing and comic books, and for such clients as The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, descended on Kansas City in the hope that their work might grace the pages of the ninth installment of this modest-sized coffee table book. During the arcane process of judging the best work from 2001, the showroom was changed out five times.
Arnie Fenner's introduction addresses facets of the 9-11 experience with aplomb. Then he dares the hopeful perspective that, ultimately, nothing changed. We go to work and raise our kids, and, for those whose lives revolve around creative endeavors, "Art goes on." What follows are 173 pages packed with imagery to prove Arnie's point.
In the advertising category, Douglas Smith's poster for The Mystery of Edwin Drood is rendered in watercolor and scratchboard. The medium is crisp, vivid and seems three-dimensional, employed here for the arresting image of a skull-faced fellow in top hat and tails holding a stunned lady in a swoon, the startling scene lit from below on a stage.
Overall, I think the artwork in the book category is the most intriguing. (Precisely why that should be the case, I don't know.) Shaun Tan's dream-like oil painting, "Darkness Overcomes You," depicts a city at sunset, adults and children going about their lives, none of their faces quite visible. The only startlingly prominent face is that of a gape-mouthed, building-high fish emerging, unnoticed, from between two skyscrapers just above the street to cast its shadow on the pavement.
There are a lot of fascinating sculptures in the 12-page dimensional category, such as Lawrence Northey's plucky gold and silver robot, "L-roy," cleverly constructed from metal and glass with ray gun in hand.
The editorial category is my second favorite. Rafal Olbinski's contribution to Entertainment Weekly, titled "The Year that Was," features a rosy-cheeked boy dressed as a harlequin in white, a tear falling from his eye. The background is a blue sky, his chest open with cupboard doors depicted as the two halves of an American flag, his hand holding a red rose over the area where the heart should be inside his dark interior, a crescent moon suspended in the background of his internal night.
There are more categories and 173 pages of images representing work rendered in various media by professionals in the world of imaginative art, including a high percentage of the archetypal, the dream-like and the Jungian. Along the way, of course, is the occasional buxom, fur-thonged damsel, and some wearing even less ... not that there's anything wrong with that!
April 23, 2015
Spectrum always seems to outdo themselves in the upcoming years! This is a prime example of amazing projects pulled together for a wonderful edition. The years of 2001-2002 were hectic times, and that is discussed here along with how art transitioned following 9/11 events and the decrease in business. On a lighter note a personal favorite illustrator, Kinuko Y. Craft, was given with the Grand Master Award for this 9th volume. Still artists are thriving here! I loved the works of Shaun Tan, Daniel R. Horne, Tony DiTerlizzi, Omar Rayyan, David Bowers, Ian Miller, Emily Fiegenschuh (whose "Thor" is numbered wrong in the book), Donato Giancola, Todd Lockwood, John Howe (putting my watercolors to shame), Stephen Youll (Benjamin Franklin + Aliens = Awesome!), Peter de Seve (love those character designs), Peter Clarke, Michael Whelan, and Sandy Collora (I have a signed print of that one!). Keep up the good work, artists!
January 25, 2016
If you love fantasy and SiFi art of any type; paintings, drawings, sculpture, cartoons then this is the book for you. Fantastic selection of the years art. You can't help but find something you like inside. Highly recommended
August 6, 2011
Fantastic compilation of fantasy art. Comes out yearly (every Novemeber). Awesome series!!!!
May 29, 2017
Picked this up at the big sale at HalfPrice Books
December 23, 2007
Fantasy / Sci-fi art at it's best.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews