|

2025 Featured Artist

Meet Sejuti Bala

Each year, Clarion West works with a new artist to create an image that is used across the Write-a-thon, on our website, and for the Summer of Science Fiction & Fantasy reading series poster. The poster illustration is custom designed by the artist with their personal interpretation of speculative fiction.

In 2025, we are pleased to feature the work of Sejuti Bala, an award-winning artist whose accolades include the 2023 Illustration of the Year from the Speculative Literature Foundation and the 2023 First Place Winner for Solarpunk Magazine. Sejuti is a concept artist specializing in sci-fi / fantasy character design & illustrations for TTRPG projects and publications. 

Here’s the beautiful 2025 illustration that Sejuti designed! 

Illustration featuring a large city at night with tall buildings and their windows lit with bright lights, a river of whales floating through the sky, tree fruits hanging from above, and the image of an omnipresent face peeking through the center of the buildings. 

We asked Sejuti a couple of questions: 

What interested you about working with Clarion West? 

As a lifelong lover of science-fiction, fantasy and horror, I have always found myself drawn to fiction that is strange, evocative and inquisitive. I believe we all have the power of imagination, and by implementing our imagination skillfully, we have the capability to create something that is truly impactful! Having worked as a concept artist and illustrator in several video games and TTRPG books, the focus of storytelling in art is very important to me as well, as is the ability to grab people’s attention and evoke emotions that resonate strongly, and make us feel connected.

Tell us a little about yourself and your style of art. 

I am very interested in making art that explores the incurable condition of human curiosity, be it the lofty height of the far-flung stars or the unfathomable depths of our own emotions — and I love to do so with vibrant colors. 

As an artist who has significant experience painting posters digitally, my style is semi-painterly and I have a soft corner for characters captured in a snapshot of a moment, be it joy, love, wonder or despair. I am always trying to make art that is thoughtful, kind and bursting with energy, and I love using bold colors and expressions to get me there.  

In a year where we all need hopeful futures and more beautiful art to inspire us, we are thrilled to highlight Sejuti Bala’s work for our 2025 Featured Art.

You can find Sejuti’s work on Art Station: https://fiovske.artstation.com

Similar Posts

  • Write-a-thon 2023 Information

    Looking for information about the Write-a-thon and other summer programs in 2025? We are now open for 2023 Write-a-thon registrations!!! The Write-a-thon is a great opportunity to make progress on your writing goals in community, while participating in fun sprints, classes, social hours, and more. It’s also our biggest fundraiser of the year — we’ll…

  • Thank you to our generous sponsors!

    With heartfelt gratitude, we thank all of the businesses and organizations that have sponsored Steamy in Seattle 2025! Our sponsors help ensure fundraising success while reaching an inclusive community of writers from Seattle and all over the world. Interstellar Sponsor Milky Way Sponsor In-Kind and Supporting Sponsors Benjamin Sands Reads Canlis Restaurant Cassie Alexander Books…

  • The 2019 Worldbuilder Scholarship

    The 2019 Worldbuilder Scholarship to attend Clarion West Writers Workshop has been awarded to Tim Chawaga of Brooklyn, New York. The Worldbuilder Scholarship covers tuition, fees, and lodging for one student each year, and is funded by George R. R. Martin and blind-judged by Martin’s team. The scholarship is awarded to a student with strong…

  • Remembering Bob Brown

    “I’m always happiest when I’m killing things.”  That’s how Bob Brown captioned the accompanying photo when he gave it to me. I don’t think this self-appraisal of his was completely accurate.  At least, it wasn’t just killing things—fish, to be specific—that made him happy.  Bob adored fishing, yes, and he went on at least two…