By ED MCMENAMIN emcmenamin@shawmedia.com
Lucas Durham Artist a freelance artist for several companies, including the Bradford Exchange and Fantasy Flight Games, among others. He has been drawing since as soon as he could hold a pencil, he said, and remembers an
equal love for sci-fi at a young age, when his mother would read him Robert Heinlein novels to put him to sleep. Following high school, Durham graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 2011, and he also
took an exchange trip to the Florence Academy of Art to further hone his water coloring and drawing chops. That classical training is put to good use in his compositions — huge robots and other fantastical imagery are made real and almost touchable in detail. On Sunday, Durham’s skill is taking him to Hollywood, where he is among 12 winning artists and 12 winning writers from around the globe who will be honored during the 29th annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards.
Each of the artists and writers are paired up for a collaborative contest, the winner of which gets $5,000. For being named one of the 12 artists, Durham already gets a $500 prize. Judges for the contest included luminaries in the sci-fi galaxy, including Orson Scott Card, author of the classic “Ender’s Game.” “I’m very lucky to be at the point where I’m able to talk to some of the famous artists that have influenced me over the years,” Durham said.
We’re creating wireless sensor technology to monitor the structural safety of bridges in real time. • Our debate team is the third-best team in the nation. • We’re taking the pulse of the planet by studying the deepest rock samples ever extracted from far beneath the sealoor. • When wildlife managers in India needed to protect villagers from tiger attacks, they came to us for help. • Three times in the last four years, our student-run news program, alt.news 26:46, won a national College Television Award. • The Integrated Assessment Program was created here to minimize kids’ time in foster care. • For the last ive years, Professor Emeritus Reed Nelson’s paper on entrepreneurship has been the work most cited by social science experts around the world. • Our Advanced Energy Institute was created to focus our collective energy on developing real solutions. And new energy. • We’re using our land (the best soil on Earth) to help countries around the globe develop their own. • We’re helping coal go green. With our proposed patent, we’re turning yesterday’s fuel source into tomorrow’s energy solution.
siu.edu
WSD • Wednesday, April 10, 2013 • mysuburbanlife.com • Reporter
DOWNERS GROVE – Lucas Durham’s parents didn’t name him after “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, though it would have been fitting. “I wish I was,” the 23-yearold Downers Grove native said. “My parents are geeky enough that they might have, but they didn’t.” Durham, a Downers Grove South High School grad, draws and paints impressive science fiction and fantasy images as
“I’m very lucky to be at the point where I’m able to talk to some of the famous artists that have influenced me over the years.”
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Downers Grove native, artist headed to Hollywood
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