SPECTRUM 20!

Congrats to Arnie and Cathy Fenner on TWENTY years of founding, shaping, and masterminding one of the premier art annuals on the planet. A gorgeous copy of the brand-new SPECTRUM volume just arrived on my porch the other day, and it's a masterpiece.

Also -- it's a swan song. They're retiring from the book, and have handed the reins to Flesk Publications.

I'm gonna take my sweet time savoring the pages of #20 and I hope that the industry will recognize what a monster legacy the Fenners have created. They didn't just change the game. They elevated it.

That's what great ones do.

They'll be running the 3rd Spectrum Fantastic Art Live in Kansas City this year. If you care at all about science fiction and fantasy art of any shape or form, this is Art Woodstock. You need to be there. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Thanks for twenty amazing years, Cathy and Arnie!

(And hey -- I garnered a full-page in the Book section for my cover art for Brenda Cooper's THE CREATIVE FIRE (pictured left, with layout mate Dave Seeley on the right! Hooray! My Tars Tarkas art for John Joseph Adams' UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS also made it too. :))

THANK YOU

To everyone who made time to climb aboard my 2014 Calendar's Kickstarter and made it a success -- HUGELY GRATEFUL to you! 

I'm looking forward to fulfilling all of your packages and dialoguing with you in the coming days and weeks.

'Appreciated!

Approximately 3,987,548

Apologies in advance for the rounded math there, folks -- but I think that's the approximate number of times I tweeted, FBed, blogged, interviewed, pimped, mentioned, namedropped, and screamed from the rooftops about the 2014 John Picacio Calendar and its rewards, and the fact that they were exclusive to our 30-day Kickstarter Campaign. :)

Clearly stated that they would not be available anywhere else? Check.

Clearly stated that they would not be available in stores? Check.

Implored everyone every day to please come aboard and join our campaign before the 30 days expired?

And yet.

I've already handled scores of you AFTER the deadline expired today who are now asking how to purchase calendars and rewards. What happened, people? How did we miss each other?

The best I can do for you is this -- email us at info (at) lone-boy (dot) com. We'll put you on our list so that next time, you won't miss out on the news. If you're really wanting one of these 2014 calendars, let us know and if someone's credit card defaults and they depledge (happens to every campaign), then maybe a spot or two will open up. You never know. It's unlikely, but stranger things can happen.

Or if you prefer, you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook, and you won't miss one of the 3,987,548 times that I share the news of the next exclusive offering on those conduits.

You can't say that we didn't try. :)

The Tree of Life

I've known Jay Lake for most of my professional career. He's one of my generation's most prolific and beloved writers in the science fiction/fantasy literary scene. For me, his formidable bibliography and the critical respect he commands are not the first things I think about when I hear his name.

It's the color blue.

As in blue collar.

All of us work hard in this sf/f business. You have to, if you want to sustain a pro career. Hard work is not special. Being 'blue' is beyond just being hard-working, but possessing a seemingly bottomless wellspring of willpower to overcome long odds and to keep succeeding, despite setbacks, while being true to self.

That's Jay.

He's very publicly battled terminal cancer in recent years. He's allowed all of us to share in his journey in an uncommonly transparent way. He's a shaman, a showman, a magician, a poet.

He's a force of nature.

As many of you know, I'm working on one of the major art feats of my career as I create 54 new artworks that re-engineer and reimagine the Mexican game of chance called Loteria for modern audiences. The first dozen of those artworks will appear in my 2014 John Picacio Calendar.

'El Arbol' means 'tree' in Spanish, and that icon is one of the 54 in the traditional Loteria game, as pictured here, from the classic Pasatiempos Gallo / Don Clemente version that I played when I was a kid.

Jay has agreed to be the inspiration for my version of this icon.

Tomorrow, the terrific D. Scott Frey has very graciously agreed to be an accomplice in this act of madness, as he shoots a few reference photos of Jay for me long-distance, so that I can use those as a springboard toward creating an original drawn/painted illustration. I'll work like a demon in the coming days to make this art a reality before the calendar goes to press.

I can't say what needs to be said to Jay in words, so I'll try to do it in an illustration.

Jay's days are numbered. Same for you. Same for me. Life is a deadline.

The Tree of Life lives forever.

El Arbol.

Let's do this.

BE A LOTERIA CARD!

We've all seen famous and not so-famous people glorified and celebrated in paintings, statues and artwork throughout history and pop culture.

Why shouldn't one of those people be you? Or someone you love?

I'm offering that opportunity for the next four days in my 2014 John Picacio Calendar Kickstarter. Check out the Loteria Legend level.

You, or a consenting someone that you select, receives the opportunity to model for one of my 54 Loteria card artworks, and will be immortalized forever as a piece of art. We'll have fun discussing choices, and then I'll utilize their likeness for reference and incorporate them into a unique drawn and painted mixed-media Loteria artwork to be included in the final game deck.

The buyer also receives:

• An original 6" x 9" pencil sketch of the artwork
• One 17" x 22" archival print of the final artwork
• Your name printed on your birthday in the printed version of the 2014 Calendar
• Five signed 12" x 12" 2014 John Picacio Calendars
• Five Grande 'La Sirena' Loteria cards
• Five signed 2014 John Picacio Calendar sketchbooks
• One signed pencil
• One remarque (a small, simple drawing of a Loteria icon of the artist's choosing)

Free shipping within the continental USA. For international destinations -- please add $25 for shipping.

Have a look at the selections pictured above and see which ones strike your fancy. These are the ones available for this opportunity. There are other Loteria cards available that are not shown because I have ideas for them. However, if you have a particular passion for a card not-shown, please feel free to inquire and let's discuss availability and possibilities.

Opportunities like this do not occur often in life. I'm asked all the time to take on a private commission, and this is one way to fulfill some of those inquiries via the conduit of a major passion project. A win-win!

PLEASE NOTE though -- the campaign is over this Thursday, November 14th at 11:58pm, and with it, so is this opportunity! Inquire today. Reserve your place in art immortality. :)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1143812835/the-2014-john-picacio-calendar

SEVEN

There are barely SEVEN(!!) days remaining to score a 2014 John Picacio Calendar, and begin collecting your very own giant Mexican Tarot cards (AKA 'Grandes').

After November 14th?

You're out of luck. :(

They won't be available in any retail outlet or via any online dealer. Lone Boy will print as many as are ordered. We'll spend the holiday season fulfilling orders for all of our backers.

Where do you get your calendars and rewards?

Exclusively, and nowhere else but here.

One of the toughest parts about running last year's Kickstarter campaign was saying 'no' to all of the people who come looking to buy calendars AFTER the campaign is over. Time will be of the essence this year because we'll be too busy fulfilling orders for holiday giftgiving, and I'll be busy working on new art to complete an entire 54-card Loteria deck by the end of 2014. One of the reasons I'm using Kickstarter to share these calendars and collectibles is because it provides a simple way of managing preorders. We're using that to make sure we print just enough of this item, within budget, as we did last year. Once the campaign is over, that preorder system is closed, and I'm unable to add anyone to the funding number.

I've seen last year's calendar selling on the collectible market for up to $100. I suspect the 2014 Calendar will have similar collectibility down the road -- and the Grande Loteria cards? THOSE collectibles are going to be very hard for non-Kickstarter backers to acquire.

Jump aboard today! :)