East Boston native and artist Jim Zaccaria will be honored in Hollywood next month as the winner of the international Illustrators of the Future Contest. Zaccaria will accept his award at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles on Friday, April 8th.
In addition to being named the winner of the contest, Zaccaria’s art has earned him a cash prize and will be published in the international bestselling anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 38. Prior to the black-tie awards gala, Zaccaria will attend a week-long workshop with some of the top professionals in the industry.
Future Contest.
The contest, one of the most prestigious writing and illustrating competitions in the world, is currently in its 34th year and is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction.
Zaccaria was born and raised in Eastie and worked varied jobs in graphic design—first as a printer, then a print buyer, and then as a graphic designer specializing in book cover design.
His work has won acclaim from Bookbuilders of Boston, The New York Book Show, and the Boskone Art Show.
His work has appeared in the annuals from Bookbuilders of Boston and Infected by Art.
Zaccaria said much of his daily work is book cover design for publishers and independent authors, though he feels the pull toward image creation.
“Over the last several years, I started to build his portfolio and exhibit at various conventions, squeezing in new art every chance I get,” he said. “I was drawn to the arts from an early age. Music is an immense inspiration for ideas, and much of my work is influenced by a song title, lyric, or mood.”
Zaccaria said other subjects that motivate and spark his imagination are mythology, poster design, and artists working in imaginative realism. Most of his art is produced digitally, and he sees that as a perfect medium for commercial works, but he also enjoys working in traditional methods as well as a blending of the two.
Following the 1982 release of his internationally acclaimed bestselling science fiction novel, Battlefield Earth, written in celebration of 50 years as a professional writer, L. Ron Hubbard created the Writers of the Future in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers of speculative fiction to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writers of the Future Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was inaugurated five years later.
The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 382 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,000 illustrations, 360 comic books, graced 624 books and albums with their art and visually contributed to 68 TV shows, and 40 major movies.