Jamaican-born artist Clarence Bateman will enjoy a career highlight when three pieces of his artwork will be published in L Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39 set to be released on May 2. Bateman’s inclusion in this international best-selling anthology comes about as he was a winner in the L Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest.

“It’s exciting to be a winner in this prestigious contest that’s been around for about 40 years and has a long history of involving some of the top artists in the country as judges and workshop leaders. For some winners it’s a springboard for entry into the world of movie-making, advertising, and book illustration,” Bateman told the Jamaica Observer.

As part of the prize package, Bateman will be flown in Hollywood, California, ahead of the book’s launch, for a week-long workshop and the awards ceremony.

Bateman entered three themed pieces — two fantasy and one science fiction — after finding about the contest on social media.

“I’m a member of a few art pages on Facebook. I was just going through and looking at sci-fi and fantasy art on one of the pages and came across a comment about the contest. From there I did a Google search and found the Illustrators of the Future Contest website,” he said.

The L Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest, now in its 40th year is one of the most prestigious illustration competitions in the world, with 382 of the past winners having produced over 6,000 illustrations, 360 comic books, graced 624 books and albums with their art, and visually contributed to some 68 TV shows and 40 major movies.

As this was Bateman’s first time entering the competition, he had no real expectations of winning, despite feeling the contest was a good match for his preferred genre of artwork.

“Being that this is a worldwide contest, and would most likely draw a lot of entries, I didn’t actually think I would win anything. I was just hoping to be a finalist or at least get an honourable mention.”

Bateman’s three pieces, Blue Dragon, Battle at Dawn, and Return Fire trace their history back to his time in Jamaica, where he was inspired by comic books at an early age to seek a career path in illustration. He dropped out of high school to attend Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston. Three years later he left the island for New York, where his passion for art refused to die.

Holding down a full-time job, he eventually enrolled in the New York City Technical College, after which he moved into the advertising field. Over that time he has seen the technological shift from pen and paper to computers.

“Before computers were a big thing in the art world, I used to do my art with colour pencils and acrylic paints. Now, I do all my art with the computer in Adobe Photoshop. The process is pretty much the same. I do a few loose thumbnail sketches. I pick the one that I think best suits what I’m looking to achieve, and then I go about adding colour until I get the final result.”

Bateman considers art a constant learning process and is happy to be a part of the workshop. He also hopes the exposure will have a positive effect on his career.

“I’m hoping that the exposure will land my name and art in front of some of the art directors in publishing, advertising, and movie pre-production, and that my work will be strong enough for them to consider giving me work.”