I’ve just been spending an hour or so writing an article about the Best Professional Artist Hugo for SFAW (hopefully to be posted tomorrow) and I followed it up by taking my own advice and looking at the Locus Online directory of cover art. I now have a list of people I’m intending to nominate, and given all the fuss about the same people getting nominated each year I through I’d share my picks with you.

I am, of course, going to nominate John Picacio. I don’t think it has been one of John’s best years. Nothing has quite grabbed me the way his covers for The Empire of Ice Cream and A Canticle for Liebowitz did. And for next year his black and white Eric illustrations are just awesome. But he has still done a lot of good stuff. My favorite Picacios tend to be his wraparound covers, and this year is no exception. I very much life his cover for Lou Anders Fast Forward, but my pick for the year (shown here) is his cover for George Alec Effinger’s A Thousand Deaths.

Stephan Martiniere appears to be flavor of the month with art directors right now, and it is easy to see why. He has graced the covers of a number of fine books, most obviously Ian McDonald’s Brasyl. However, if there was a Best Original Artwork Hugo still I suspect that it would go to Martiniere this year. Some credit should obviously go to Jay Lake for coming up with the scene in the first place, but Martiniere’s cover for Mainspring has to be one of the most memorable cover images of the year.

I’ve been a fan of Steve Stone ever since he produced the magnificent cover for Justina Robson’s Natural History. He continues to be a regular choice for cover art, and yet he never seems to get a nod in the Hugos. He appears to be one of those artists whose work everyone knows, but whose name they don’t. According to Locus he was the second most prolific cover artist after Martiniere. You must have seen some of his work. I’ve picked his cover for Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies to jog your memory.

Another artist who produces a lot of covers but whose name appears to be unknown is Larry Rostant. His heavily-detailed Celtic-inspired fantasy covers are instantly recognizable. Pictured here is the one he produce for Robert Holdstock’s The Broken Kings. But Rostant is a lot more flexible than you might think. It wasn’t until I look at the Locus list that I realized he was responsible for another set of favorite covers of mine. Which is why he is getting two covers shown in this post.

Yes, Larry Rostant is responsible for the public image of Lila Black. Larry, should you ever read this, I still want my Lila Black costume. (And my Lila Black bike.) You and Justina need to license the designs. There should be action figures. Why can’t we buy them at The No Shows’ Cafe Press shop? You are missing out on a huge market here.

(Rosant is also responsible for the very fine cover of another of my favorite books of the year, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Ysabel.)

Finally someone I am nominating on the strength of an entire book. I am very much hoping that Shaun Tan’s The Arrival makes it into the Best Related Book category. However, it being a book composed entirely of pictures, Tan is also a natural for the Best Professional Artist. I know that lots of people out there really loved the book. Please don’t forget Shaun when it comes to your Artist nominations.

There are a whole bunch of people I have left out. Obviously Bob Eggleton and Donato Giancola, both of whom continue to produce great work. Also Todd Lockwood whose continued absence from the Hugos amazes me. I would love to have nominated Kinuko Craft, but she doesn’t seem to have produced a lot last year. There were also two covers that I thought were really striking: Frederic Cayet’s for Ekaterina Sedia’s The Secret History of Moscow, and Darius Hinks for Adam Roberts’ Splinter. There is a wealth of talent out there, folks. Go nominate well.