Opening a new decade of digital excellence with Expose 11

Expose is one of those annual art publications that just about every digital practitioner, 2D and 3D, beginner and elite fantasies about having their work accepted into. With Expose 11, the book has just wrapped up its first decade of publication, and bound to be a fine addition to coffee tables and bookshelves in the homes of digital art lovers everywhere.

Giving some idea of just what sort of quality you can expect from Expose 11 you only need to take a peek at some of the names on the judging panel – names like: Syd Mead (‘Blade Runner’, ‘Tron’, ‘Aliens’, and ‘2010’), Chris Perna (Epic Games Art Director), Chris Sloan (award-winning Art Director from National Geographic), Alex Morris (arch vis guru), and joining the team this year is Don Seegmiller (trad/digital painter with many books and gallery appearances under his belt).

Together the panel of judges painstakingly whittled the submission stack, some 8000 images deep, down to just 587 images from 405 artists. One can only imagine the slowly ramping up level of difficulty and pressure when it came to picking the best from the best at this level. Surely a holiday would be in order after such a task!

Many readers will undoubtedly find familiar works in the pages of Expose 11 (and any other volume of the publication). The artists in the pages of Expose are not mythical beings passing their works on to the masses through favoured servants. Many of these artists frequent art hotspots like CGSociety, CGHub, deviantART, and are responsible for high-profile works that are instantly recognisable by many. Their works adorn countless movies, novels, pen-and-paper and video games. Some of these guys will be on your friends lists and even more will be on your watch lists, and if they aren’t then they sure will be after you recollect the fragments of blown mind. To me, this familiarity is definitely part of what attracts me to these books.

The works are collected over 23 categories, including: Comic/Manga; Portrait (Painted & Rendered); Fantasy; Fantasy Femmes; Architecture (Exterior & Interior); Concept Art; Environment;  Matte Painting; Science Fiction; Robotic/Cyborg; Warriors & Conflict; Whimsical; Surreal; and Transport. Discounting the Arch Vis guys, of the remaining 13 artists specifically mentioned just two have a 3D heavy portfolio, Daniel Bystedt (new favourite of mine as of now) and Yong Soo Choi. Doubtlessly there are many more 3D artists of rather large calibre within those 288 pages, and I look forward to finding out just who is in there.

Where do I buy?

Expose 11 is currently in pre-order from Booksamillion with a release date of August 6 (paperback), and October 15th (hardcover). Strangely both versions, paper and hard, are priced very similarly, at least that’s the case at Booksamillion. Similar prices are also available at Amazon. Expose 11 is also available direct from Ballistic Publishing, though not at the discounts of amazon and Booksamillion.

While you’re waiting for the release of Expose 11 why not check out some of the back catalogue (assuming you don’t already own each and every volume): Expose 10 Expose 9, 8, 7, 6, 5,

Or check out the Exotique series. Viewing by the editor, Daniel Wade, reveals many of the Exotique and other Ballistic Publishing books.

Expect a full review sometime after the pre-orders go out, and before the end of the decade.