Boston resident Sidney Lugo will be heading to Hollywood as part of being a winner in the Illustrators of the Future Contest. After a week-long workshop, she’ll be honored at an awards gala on April 8.
The contest, one of the most prestigious illustration competitions, is in its 29th year and judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction.
Lugo’s winning illustrations have earned her a cash prize, at trip to Hollywood for a week-long intensive workshop, a gala awards ceremony which draws in excess of 1,000 attendees as well as a short at winning the Golden Brush Award and $5,000 cash prize.
Her art will be published in the annual bestseller, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 34.
Lugo was born in 1994 in Guarico, Venezuela. She grew up most of her life in Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to Boston at the age of 19 to study Interactive Design at Bunker Hill Community College.
Her childhood memories serve as inspiration for many of her drawings. She had an interest in fantasy and sci-fi from a young age. Lugo spent a lot of time looking at French comic books and stories especially those from the comic anthology, “Metal Hurlant.” These kind of surreal sci-fi and fantasy stories stimulated her imagination and inspired her path as an artist.
After her time at school in Boston she moved to Puerto Rico for a brief time but, returned after the hurricanes hit the island.
“I lost pretty much everything in the hurricanes,” said Lugo. “But I bought a ticket, grabbed my computer and came back to Boston.”
She had forgotten that she applied to the competition last summer after she worked with a writer to illustrate a sci-fi story.
“Then I got into the finalists and won!” said Lugo. “Getting published is really crazy.”
Outside of her studies she continues to learn and pursue her interest in art, as well as study and improve her skills in order to work as a storyboard artist and an illustrator for her own comic book.
Lugo is currently a graphic designer working as a freelancer for private clients.
“Even when I’m not doing anything I’m drawing,” said Lugo.
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 contemporary fiction.
Since inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 33 anthology volumes and awarded a nearly $1 million in cash prizes and royalties.
Thousands of winners have had successful careers in art and illustration following their win and publication in the anthology.