The prestigious contest earns him an exciting trip to Hollywood for a week-long master-class workshop, an awards event and best of all, his winning art will be published in the international bestselling anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 40, which will be officially released in May of 2024.

In an interview with The Portugal News, artist Pedro N shared that he is a self-taught artist and that his passion stems from childhood, influenced by one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century, artist Frank Frazetta also known as the “Godfather of fantasy art”.

Pedro explained that he has always been avidly interested in comic books and creating fantasy art but that classical art is another one of his interests. “The history of art has always sparked my interest and when I was young, I found the art of oil painting fascinating and I studied the works of older painters, exemplifying Da Vinci. My interests have also been a bit of everything and I have definitely had a more classical phase but more recently I have focused on fantasy.”

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Pedro Nascimento;

Pedro shared some more details about the three illustrations he submitted, “the illustrations I submitted were very diverse, I focused on meeting the criteria and I just wanted to show my capabilities as best as I could.”

Adding that, “The first art piece was one I loved creating and it focuses on rituals and offerings and I did use a different colour palette that I would not normally use but I was happy with how it turned out. I feel it was a good example of what I can do. The second one was inspired by classical art which I have studied more but I have incorporated fantasy into it. Finally, the last one was truly dynamic and I used dynamic colours, it is of the Galeão ship in the ocean as I wanted to do something new.”

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Pedro Nascimento;

When asked about his fantastic win, he enthusiastically said “I couldn't believe I won especially as previous illustrators and judges are so well established so I was obviously so happy. I also did not realise that there was a gala and that the prize included the trip to Hollywood when I entered the contest but I was very happy when I found out and I am looking forward to the event and the workshops to improve my work and utilise it for the future.”

Pedro revealed he had never done any official competitions but felt his work had reached a level of quality in which he felt he could compete. “I never competed with the intention of winning and I was very relaxed as it was my first competition, on whether I won or not but now that I have won, I don't know how I would feel if I did not win. I always hope to improve my work but if I have something new that I am happy with I will compete again.”

Writers of the Future Award

The Writers of the Future Award is the genre’s most prestigious award of its kind and has now become the largest, most successful, and demonstrably most influential vehicle for budding creative talent in the world of speculative fiction. Since its inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 39 anthology volumes (with this event) and awarded upwards of $1 million in cash prizes and royalties.

To keep up to date with all of Pedro’s artwork and for enquiries about commissions please follow Pedro N at https://www.instagram.com/pedron.art/ or visit https://pedronart.wixsite.com/pedronart. Similarly for more information about the contests, please visit www.WritersoftheFuture.com.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes