Shaun Tan: Artist Hugo nominee spotlight

First off, I’d like to say congratulations to all five Professional Artists Hugo nominees—Daniel Dos Santos, Bob Eggleton, Donato Giancola, John Picacio, and Shaun Tan. It’ll be exciting to see who wins at this this year’s World Con, Anticipation. Each of these guys are great artists, and (bonus!) they are all awesome people. I’ve got a set of fingers crossed for each of them.

I’ll be making a series of quick posts to highlight each artist, one a day until Friday. Hopefully the voting membership, typically more geared toward the writers of the field than the artists, will take a moment with each of these nominees, visit their websites, and take a fresh look at the work they have been doing and their contributions to the field.

Since I have posted various interviews and spotlights on these guys before, I decided to keep it simple. I asked them to share three recent paintings with us and to tell us a little about the work they have been doing over the last twelve months.

First up...

Shaun Tan
Website
Tor.com gallery

“It’s been a very busy year, particularly in responding to overseas interest toward two illustrated books, The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia, which have both been widely translated, and mark my first significant exposure to a U.S. readership.

The rest of my attention has mainly been focused on the development of a short animated film, The Lost Thing, producing storyboards, character and set designs, and hand-painted textures for the CGI world being meticulously constructed, as well as directing animation.

I also enjoyed a few unexpected collaborations, including a project with the Australian Chamber Orchestra that involved combining a classical score with large images from my picture book, The Red Tree, projected on stage.”