I, Hugo set down my feelings about my upcoming first experience in nominating for the Hugo Awards. In the brief time I have left before the nomination period ends, I would like to discuss the candidates that I believe have earned a nomination, starting with the Best Professional Artist category. This is the first of five posts that will spotlight my nominees.

It might have been easy to overlook John Picacio for the Best Artist category this year. Notice that I wrote might have been and not would have been. I suppose some might look at the fact that John Picacio is the most recent back-to-back Hugo winner and feel that the spotlight should turn elsewhere.

But then John Picacio did what one would expect a two-time Hugo Award winner to do: he upped his game. So no, it would not have been easy to overlook John’s contributions to the realm of fantastical art in 2013. He made sure of that.

John Picacio created a number of amazing works of art in 2013. Some of these were cover illustrations for novels, including the striking painting featured at the beginning of this post for Brenda Cooper’s novel, The Diamond Deep.

In addition to book covers and editorial illustrations, John Picacio’s focus turned to a very personal project through his recently launched company, Lone Boy.

That project is the realization of his own interpretation of the Loteria card deck.

Loteria is a Mexican game of chance, comparable to the game of Bingo. In this version a deck of 54 cards are used, each bearing an iconic image.

It is John Picacio’s vision to create his very own Loteria deck, each bearing an image born from the combination of his imagination and his ability to capture that imagination on paper. Over the course of 2013 John Picacio created a number of gorgeous pieces, each representing a specific Loteria card. The one pictured above is El Arpa, The Harp.

And this one is entitled El Paraguas, The Umbrella.

It would be fair to ask what my criteria is for considering an artist worthy of receiving a Hugo for Best Professional Artist. My newness to the process notwithstanding, I believe my answer would be first and foremost that the art speaks to me on a personal level, and secondly that it demonstrates a level of skill and passion that I equate with my own passion for works of science fiction and fantasy.

I have a firm conviction that John Picacio’s work has met this criteria for a number of years; however, my esteem has risen markedly with the Loteria project. For in the creation of his own unique Loteria deck, John Picacio is creating art on a number of levels. His plans, some of which I have admittedly heard in person and others I am aware of because of what he has shared on his blog and Facebook page, indicate that he is putting his artistic touches on more than just the deck images. He is designing a product that will be a work of art in and of itself, apart from the gorgeous and thought-provoking images he is painting.

One of the other reasons I feel that the Loteria work is deserving of a Hugo Award is that John has shared many of his original pencil work, prior to the application of color, and they speak volumes of his artistic skill. Each of these works is built upon a foundation of pencil work that is intricate and beautiful.

I am repeatedly changing my mind about which Loteria image is my favorite, but for the moment it is this one, La Luna. This painting makes me want to stand outside and gaze at the moon, letting my imagination run free. I like it so much that I recently took advantage of this offer to get my very own original pencil sketch of La Luna.

John Picacio made it easy for me to nominate him for what would be his third Hugo Award in a row: he created amazing work in 2013 that cannot be ignored.

I consider John Picacio a friend, but I can unequivocally say that it is his inspired artwork that has captured my nomination. This isn’t a popularity contest for me, it is all about the art. And John Picacio will be in good company this year.

Congratulations on an amazing year of creation, John. I await the rest of 2014 with great anticipation, excited to see what you have in store for us.

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John Picacio will be exhibiting his latest work at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 3, May 9-11, in Kansas City, MO. There will be nearly 200 artists in attendance, showing their work. It would be worth your time just to see John Picacio’s pencils up close and in person.