It’s time to return to Seattle for the second conversation I captured at Worldcon, following my soup dumpling lunch with Eugenia Triantafyllou. Now it’s time to head out for BBQ with John Picacio, one of the most acclaimed American artists in science fiction and fantasy during the past decade.

Picacio is the winner of three Hugo Awards, nine Chesley Awards, five Locus Awards, two International Horror Guild Awards, the World Fantasy Award, and the Inkpot Award. He’s created best-selling art for George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series, the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, as well as over 150 book covers. His body of work features major book illustrations for authors such as Leigh Bardugo, Rebecca Roanhorse, Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, James Dashner, Brenda Cooper, Frederik Pohl, Mark Chadbourn, Sheri S. Tepper, James Tiptree, Jr., Lauren Beukes, Jeffrey Ford, Joe R. Lansdale, and many, many more.

He is the founder of the creative publishing imprint, Lone Boy, which has become the launchpad for his Loteria Grande cards, a contemporary re-imagining of the classic Mexican game of chance. He is the founder of The Mexicanx Initiative. He’s the co-author — with Leigh Bardugo — and illustrator of The Invisible Parade, which released September 2, 2025, by Little, Brown for Young Readers.

We discussed how he’d never have gotten where he is today without comics, why he initially turned down what ended up being his first science fiction book cover (and what made him change his mind), the reason he thinks of a book as a person he needs to introduce at a party, whether he pays attention to the artists who preceded him when updating the look of a book, why one of the most important skills for a cover artist is listening, the catalyst for his creator-owned, self-published projects, how his style and his skills have changed over the years, how his recent collaboration with Leigh Bardgo began, why he’d rather be a marathon runner than a sprinter, how to avoid getting caught up in the trope of the year when it comes to cover art, the reason he launched the Mexicanx Initiative, how stabilization isn’t the same as stagnation, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us at Jack’s BBQ — (more…)