WOMEN DESTROY FANTASY! a roundtable discussion.

Julie Bell, Irene Gallo, Rebecca Guay, Lauren Panepinto, Zoe Robinson, Julie Bell, Elizabeth Leggett

It was my extreme honor to gather a few of the most amazing brains in SF/F illustrating, and ask them a few questions about being a women in the field today.  I give you the Women In Fantasy Roundtable discussion with Julie Bell, Irene Gallo, Rebecca Guay, Lauren Panepinto, Zoe Robinson, Julie Bell, and Elizabeth Leggett.  A powerful line of of highly influential art directors and award winning artists. 

"There’s been a lot of talk about gender parity in the SF illustrating field, about how few women, percentage-wise, are working as illustrators—especially since at least half of art students are female. Did your gender ever come into play in your careers? What are your thoughts about what causes this attrition?

Panepinto: These are definitely conversations Irene and I have had before, trying to think of all the female names, who’s working and who’s not, and it seems like there are so many female students that are into it right now, but then where are the working artists?

Robinson: I think it’s just recently that it hasn’t been just the hardheaded girls toughing it out. It’s been very recently that generally, girls are aware that this is something that they’re invited and allowed to do.

Panepinto: I think that it also comes out of the YA fiction. Harry Potter’s got such strong characters—Hermione’s such a great female character—and The Hunger Games.

Dillon: I’ve done most of my work online, working by myself at home, so it’s difficult to gauge sometimes if gender has come into play in terms of my career path. Early on, it felt pretty isolating not seeing many other women in the big art forums at the time, but there have been more and more women becoming more visible in the field over the years...." ~read more

art work by Rebecca Guay, Julie Dillon, Elizabeth Leggett, and Julie Bell