I’m really excited to announce a project I’ve been working on for months now with a great gallery, some fantastic artists (some of whom you’ll know as fellow Muddy Colors contributors), and an expert jury of Art Directors. In fact, some of you might have already seen some of the works in progress on social media, but here’s my official announcement and some of the final pieces:
Marc Scheff
I met Julie Baroh (half of Krab Jab Studio) last year at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, where she volunteered to give a great seminar on how illustrators can break into the gallery world. (She has since posted the material here on Muddy Colors for you: Demystifying the Gallery World Part I, Part II) Since then we’ve kept in touch and she asked me to guest curate a show for Krab Jab. Now I know I literally wrote the article on Saying Yes, but I was still super intimidated by the idea of curating an entire show. I know I’ve gained some experience with Every Day Original and Visionarium over the past year, but I have to admit, Marc Scheff is the muscle behind most of EDO and Visionarium is a small show, where the artists can do anything they want. What the hell did I know about seriously curating anything?
Dave Palumbo
Jeremy Wilson
Julie has been a champ hand-holding me through the process, and over time we mulled over a lot of different themes and concepts for the show. As much as I do love collaborating with the entire Orbit team to produce book covers, there are a lot of artists whose work I love that I don’t get to use frequently enough, and I was very excited to get to work with them on a gallery show. In a way I was making a Dream Team of illustrators. But what theme should I have them create pieces on?
After a while I finally realized I should play to my experience and my strengths. I would have my Dream Team illustrate covers for their Dream Book Cover Assignments.
Dan Dos Santos
Scott Fischer
Now, I could have picked a Dream Team of 50 (if not 100) illustrators, and getting to just 20 artists was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. There are artists that were unable to fit the show into their schedules, and there are artists I wish I could have fit into the show that I unfortunately had to leave out. And for once I couldn’t blame my editors for the choices. Curating is hard.
Allen Williams
Rovina Cai
Over the months it has been really thrilling to see the work come together. I loved hearing what books each artist chose (and in some cases re-chose once they changed their minds) and the reasons behind their choices. I’m not going to put in these captions what book goes with each illustration – for now I want to see what people will guess.
Wylie Beckert
Chris Buzelli
Although I did see most of the thumbnails for the pieces, I did very little art direction. And I loved seeing how the artists played to their strengths, but also how many of them have decided to push the envelope a bit and use this as an opportunity to get experimental with their work. I’m so excited that Julie, Krab Jab, & I were able to give them that opportunity.
Julie Bell
Anthony Palumbo
Right now all the pieces are on the way to the gallery to be hung, and I’m working on the catalog for the show. I’m going to be turning all the illustrations into proper book covers, with typography, to accompany each original. (Yes I promise there will be some Muddy Colors process posts to come on that.) Let me tell you, I’m used to performance anxiety when doing covers for high-profile authors. The pressure is worse now. I don’t want to screw up anyone’s gorgeous illustration with less-than-amazing type!
Rebecca Yanovskaya
Vanessa Lemen
And to add some fantastic icing on the cake, we have a jury of Art Directors judging the final illustrations. Thank you to Irene Gallo from Tor Books, Jon Schindehette from Treehouse/ThinkGeek/GamesStop, and Zoë Robinson from Fantasy Flight for lending us their professional eye. The top choice will be getting the cover of the catalog!
Winona Nelson
Tran Nguyen
Last but not least, I’ll be headed to Seattle for the opening, but the night before Krab Jab is hosting an artist talk with Brom, Laurie Lee Brom, Jeremy Wilson, & Marc Scheff, with me as moderator. If you’re going to be in Seattle April 9th or 10th, definitely come visit. Tickets to the artist talk are available here.
Well, back to getting all the book covers done for the show. Stay tuned for process posts on that here on Muddy Colors! And thank you to Julie & the Krab Jab team, and most of all thank you to my jury and my artist dream team!
Brom
Boris Vallejo
Kim Kincaid
Laurie Lee Brom
Take a look at all these gorgeous pieces and see if you can guess what book each artist has illustrated…Post your guesses in the comments below…
After 17 years designing and art directing book covers, Lauren Panepinto has worked in every publishing genre and collaborated with artists of all disciplines. As the Creative Director & Vice President of Orbit Books for the past ten years, she has been trying to merge the worlds of genre and commercial publishing and figure out what SFF publishing looks like in the present world of mainstream "geek" media.
After an amateur career in punk rock show posters and 'zines, Lauren received a B.A. in Graphic Design from The School of Visual Arts. She has worked in fashion (Perry Ellis), television (MTV), and for boutique design firms, but found her calling in book publishing. She has worked at St. Martin's Press/Picador Books, at Doubleday/Random House, and now at Hachette Book Group, the parent company of Orbit.
In addition to traveling all over the place giving portfolio reviews at conventions and writing for Muddy Colors, you can also find her art business education projects at www.DrawnandDrafted.com, and www.MakeYourArtWork.com, and all of her many projects and www.LaurenPanepinto.com.
I'm speechless; this is amazing! Unfortunately, I'll probably be closing up booth at Emerald City Comic Con that night (ends at 7), or I'd be buying a ticket in less than a heartbeat. I'll definitely get myself to the show the following night, though.
This sounds like it's going to be awesome! All of these amazing works in one place, and a gallery full of artists with whom to rub elbows. And I'll be out of town for the opening.
It'll still be great to see all the art in a gallery space, but my real hope is that the event is so successful that you'll come back and do another.
I wish I could see these in person, but it's a bit of a trek from Ohio. What a fantastic show! I'm just…wow, covetous! I want to eyeball them all, first-hand.
What a cool idea!! I wish the plane ticket from Australia wasn't so expensive! Will there be an anthology of the artworks anywhere after the show is done? I'd buy a book of it for sure!
aarononFun with Pencils!Howdy Justin, I'm sorry you had to miss the convention. Also about your experience having your artwork "scraped" (a dead-on expression). These are gre…
It's going to be one of the most buzzed about shows of 2016! B-R-A-V-O!!!
Dave Palumbo – The Right Stuff
Dan Dos Santos – Dune
Scott Fischer – Lord of the Flies
<3 thanks Arnie!
I'm speechless; this is amazing! Unfortunately, I'll probably be closing up booth at Emerald City Comic Con that night (ends at 7), or I'd be buying a ticket in less than a heartbeat. I'll definitely get myself to the show the following night, though.
Marc Scheff – The Little Prince
This sounds like it's going to be awesome! All of these amazing works in one place, and a gallery full of artists with whom to rub elbows. And I'll be out of town for the opening.
It'll still be great to see all the art in a gallery space, but my real hope is that the event is so successful that you'll come back and do another.
Bail early, Bruce. Totally worth it.
I am very much looking forwards to this, wouldn't miss it for the world. :}
That Tran Nguyen piece is a jaw dropper. Stunning!
Rovina Cai's Silmarillion one is just gorgeous.
I wish I could see these in person, but it's a bit of a trek from Ohio. What a fantastic show! I'm just…wow, covetous! I want to eyeball them all, first-hand.
Looks fantastic. Do it again. Wish I could make the opening Lauren.
haha Dream Covers II? I'm game. Up to the gallery! If everything sells out then definitely ; )
Is Wylie Beckert's “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell”? Love it.
The premise for this show is just amazing good fun. What a glorious collection of art!
Jeremy Wilson–The Great Gatsby (guessing here); Chris Buzelli–American Gods.
What a cool idea!! I wish the plane ticket from Australia wasn't so expensive! Will there be an anthology of the artworks anywhere after the show is done? I'd buy a book of it for sure!
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