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My Best Professional Artist Hugo Nominations: Julie Dillon

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There was never any worry that my nominations list for Best Professional Artist this year would be 100% male-centric, despite the many male artists who consistently produce work that leaves me in awe. Not with artist Julie Dillon and the number of stunning works she produced in 2013.

I am not exaggerating in stating that it felt like every time I spent any significant time on the internet in 2013 I was coming across a Julie Dillon piece that a) I had never seen before, and b) raised her another notch in my already high esteem.

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It is difficult enough making a decision between many worthy artists which I feel should make up my five allotted nominees, but in the midst of the agonizing back-and-forth I am grateful that I don’t have to narrow my nominated artists down to just one particular work to nominate.

That would be a tall order.

If pressed, I think the first image featured in this post would be the one I would choose…

…just don’t ask me the question again before the end of this post, ha!

That first image, the cover for Llewellyn’s 2014 Astrological Calendar, encompasses so much of what impresses me about Julie Dillon’s work: the vibrancy of color and the light that seems to emanate from her paintings.

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Julie Dillon is a digital wizard, painting pieces that have such a brilliant glow that you would swear they were somehow opaque works lit from behind.

And those colors…wow! How else to describe them but vibrant? Even in images like the one to the left, which has a largely muted color palette, the greens of the woman’s cloak are incandescent.

There is a warm, dare I say it, magical quality to the color she produces that I have not seen repeated by any other artist working in the same medium.

Julie Dillon made the short list for the Best Professional Artist Hugo last year, among a truly outstanding stable of artists, and like John Picacio, I feel she has upped her game this year with the pieces she created both for personal and professional reasons.

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Lest you get the impression that Julie Dillon’s work is strictly in the fantasy realm, let me assure you that her science fiction pieces are equally attention-getting.

This cover for Clarkesworld Magazine, from the August 2013 issue, is one of her personal works that was later used as a cover image.

One of the many reasons Julie Dillon’s work was in front of my eyes throughout the last year was because of the commissions for works for Clarkesworld, Lightspeed and Tor.com, places I frequent to satisfy my desire for contemporary short genre fiction.

Julie Dillon earned her nomination last year, and I believe she has made an even stronger case for herself with her 2013 output.

I highly encourage you to take a moment to check out this recent interview with Julie Dillon conducted by my friend Andrea, Little Red Reviewer, and be sure to spend some time over on Julie Dillon’s website to see even more of her Hugo eligible work.

Two more nominations to unveil! Stay tuned for more great art!

12 thoughts on “My Best Professional Artist Hugo Nominations: Julie Dillon”

    1. Yes it is. She is very talented, and not just in the digital realm, which would be amazing in and of itself.

    1. Isn’t it? I had missed it the first time around and was glad I found the link when I was getting the post ready.

  3. I’m crazy about Julie Dillon’s work. I have a folder full of my favorite visual artists – frankly, there are so many of them, it would be impossible to pick.

    As a side comment, one thing that’s really interesting about paying attention to visual artists (maybe something that’s facilitated by the internet, unlike the old days, when I just said “nice cover” and moved on) is how much over time I get a feel for what I like.

    Okay, that’s not fully true. In the old days I knew who one artist was: Frank Frazetta.

    1. I am in the same place, Steven. Although all 5 of my choices are ones I am very secure with, there are so many others I feel are worthy contenders. Its a good problem to have, it means the SFF art field is alive and vibrant.

      Julie Dillon’s work is so amazing, I can see why you too are crazy about it.

      I’ve always been drawn to cover art, although I didn’t have the resources to keep as good a track of the ones I liked as I do now. Frank Frazetta was an easy one to know, his work was…is…iconic.

      1. Now that I think about it, there were plenty of covers – LotR, C.S. Lewis, the Dragonrider books – that I liked, but it never would have occurred to me to pay attention to who the artists were. Glad that’s changed.

        1. I am as well as I enjoy seeing cover artists get their due. 🙂

  4. I love it. Especially the first one. Looks great. Even the sf image has fantasyish (magic) feeling to it. It looks like fishes in the sea. 😛 But I like it.

    1. Glad to hear it, Kama. She does wonderful work. That first piece is a calendar cover that is for a calendar of astrological signs and kind of encompasses the various single month images that are inside. She did some beautiful work for it.

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