Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art Paperback – Illustrated, 27 Nov. 2014

Finally got my copy, though it came from another supplier after Amazon surprisingly cancelled the order. So how does this new volume compare to the last?Well, very little has actually changed.The only immediately recognisable alteration is that it has a better presentation on the medal winners, which is a nice touch as artists often struggle to gain much of a recognisably personal association with their creations and thus remain the "invisible" presences behind much of their work. And given just how few actual awards there are here and for the few extra pages it involves, its hardly a world altering addition.The standard layout and page presentation of the catagories is pretty much unchanged,as is the sheer volume of work on display.Its still an impressively weighty book, infact as you line all the previous editions by their yearly release date they gradually seem to have acquired an very notable thickening of the waist as their pages have obviously been swollen by the glut of talented submitions! The variety and standard of work on display remains incredibly high and as imaginative as ever. It does seem to have a slightly higher proportion of less vibrant studies than some past volumes and an ever increased bias towards more surreal work,rather than harder and more traditional sci fi and fantasy illustration but this does seem to go in phases when you look at the others in the series.I guess it all depends on the judges. There seems to be an absence of work by some regular contributers but this is actually cause for a bit of a celibration!!! Some of the artists that frequently featured their work in earlier competitions have gone on to do incredible work in the film , gaming and other media industries. It was particularly gratifying to see how much influence they had visually in many of the current blockbusters such as "Guardians of the Galaxy" . For that reason alone Spectrum deserves the wide respect in gets and should continue to do so long into the future. It is a showcase and there are few that come close to delivering annually the spectacle of talent that it does.

These series of books are, for me, an annual must buy, the art work contained in them is always an inspiration, giving me new ideas of my own and sending me down new avenues of creativity (and getting me out of the creativity doldrums that I periodically find myself in). While the books themselves revolve on the science fiction and fantasy genres this doesn't always mean laser guns and sword wielding barbarians. The work varies wildly to the extremes of the genres and includes horror or simply worlds that only exist in the imagination of the creator. I'd always recommend these books, I've bought a fair number of these books over the years and haven't been disappointed with one yet.

The Spectrum Series has managed to stay fresh since I started collecting them at No. 2 and even with the new competition of such books as Fantasy+ and Expose', it has managed to remain not only the best, but also the most diverse and interesting. I am especially pleases that in 21 there seems to be a return to good representation of traditional media like oil and acrylic rather than just digital. A very happy member of the Spectrum Collectors Club!

Fantasy art was sidelined and regarded as 'low brow' when I studied art way back in the 80's. Since then it has become the main inspiration for the look of all the major fantasy and sci-fi movies, not to mention the huge global games industry. It's probably still derided in most art schools but the Spectrum series of books showcases the remarkable skill of these international artists. Great production values with page after page of startling imagery.

If you're in to Fantasy, Sci/Fi and all other kinds of imaginary and escapistic artwork, there really isn't any equal to Spectrum. Through the years, and I've been following them since year one, these books have only grown in size, magnitude and brilliance. A truly work of wonder -In any way you can imagine. Simply the best, and just getter better year by year.

Ok

Great glimpse at the fantasy art of a year or so ago.

Amazing art as usual