Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2026: INPRNT Digital Art Award Finalists Announced

Judging the INPRNT Digital Art Award was a formidable challenge, given the exceptional diversity and technical skill of this year’s entrants. We extend our sincere gratitude to our esteemed Jury Panel, with special thanks to Arts Champion Joshua Zika, founder of INPRNT, and esteemed digital artist Bastien Lecouffe Deharme, for lending their invaluable expertise to the selection process.

The huge increase in Ai generated art makes the judging process even more difficult. Our stance on Ai art is simple – we stand with the artists, and believe their rights and work should be protected, and not used by Ai image generators without their express permission and compensation. All Finalists entries have been run through various Ai Detectors which showed that they are all original works and have not used Ai image generators in their creation.

As per the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Entry Criteria: Art created using Ai image generators of any kind will not be accepted. Whether entirely made by Generative Ai, or partly made by Generative Ai – this work is not eligible to enter.

As always the quality and diversity of entries has been exceptional! We have received digital artworks created in a variety of software and hardware including: Escape Motions Rebelle Pro, ArtRage, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fresco, Compound Light Microscope, Corel Painter, Autodesk, Canon Camera, Affinity Photo, Substance Painter, Redshift, Cinema 4D, Daz3D, Blender, Krita, Marvelous designer, After Effect, Substance Painter, Arnold, Clip Studio Paint, Infinite Painter, Medibang Paint, CaptureOne, Procreate, Ibis Paint, iMac, Lightroom, Apple Pencil, GoPro Hero 3, Wacom One, Wacom Cintiq, Nikon Camera, SAI, Scanner, Neewer SK300 Strobe Flash, Photomosh, Intros Pro, XPPen, Zbrush, Mac Studio, Prisma, SNote, iPad, iPad Pro, Macbook Air, MacBook Pro, Notebook MacBook, Sketchpad, Sketchbook, Huion Kamvas Tablet, Surface Pro 6, Wacom Intuos Pro, Samsung Tablet, and Lenovo Ideapad.

The Prizes

INPRNT Digital Art Award Award

The INPRNT Digital Art Award 1st prize winner will receive:

• $3,000 USD cash generously donated by INPRNT, printers of high quality art prints. INPRNT is run by artists, for artists.
• Kamvas Pro 24 (Gen 3), the latest flagship model generously donated by Huion, features a 23.8″ immersive 4K display, dual-pen support powered by PenTech 4.0, and Canvas Glass 3.0 for enhanced performance, with a factory colour calibration report included.
• Creative Package Pro (containing Rebelle 8 Pro, Flame Painter 4, and Amberlight 2) and Creative Mix Bundle (16 art surfaces for Rebelle) worth $380, generously donated by Escape Motions. Empower your artistic skills with Rebelle painting software, known for its true-to-life wet and dry media behaviour. Accompanied by Flame Painter painting software offering exciting particle systems, and Amberlight, a unique art tool that creates beautiful computer-generated images and animations.*All software comes with a perpetual license, but Rebelle offers 1 year of updates for free. Then, there is a possibility to either pay a fee for another year of updates or keep the current version.
• A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
• Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
• 3 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social platforms).
• Winning artwork printed in the December 2026 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, as part of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize editorial.
• Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
• Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
• A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

2nd prize winner will receive:

• $1,000 USD cash generously donated by INPRNT, printers of high quality art prints. INPRNT is run by artists, for artists.
• Kamvas 16 (Gen 3), generously donated by Huion, optimizes its size to 15.8 inches and upgrades the resolution to 2.5K QHD from its predecessor, offering incredibly sharp details. With revolutionary PenTech 4.0 technology and exceptional colour accuracy, it delivers a highly responsive and immersive drawing experience.
• Rebelle 8 Pro, Flame Painter 4, plus 1x Rebelle full-colour paper generously donated by Escape Motions. Paint digitally with Rebelle, an award-winning, hyper-realistic painting software with phenomenal oils, acrylics, watercolours, and other wet and dry media. Or pick up Flame Painter and paint with life-like particle brushes. Its groundbreaking Particle Systems open a whole new world of possibilities, nowhere to be found in other software.*All software comes with a perpetual license, but Rebelle offers 1 year of updates for free. Then, there is a possibility to either pay a fee for another year of updates or keep the current version.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
• Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
• Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
• Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
• A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

3rd prize winner will receive:

• $500 USD cash generously donated by INPRNT, printers of high quality art prints. INPRNT is run by artists, for artists.
• Kamvas 13 (Gen 3), generously donated by Huion, offers comprehensive features and continued affordability, making it the first choice for beginner artists seeking a high-quality drawing tablet.
• Rebelle 8 Pro, worth $150, generously donated by Escape Motions. Rebelle is an award-winning, hyper-realistic painting software with phenomenal oils, acrylics, watercolours, and other wet and dry media. Paint pigments colour mixing, oil thickness, watercolour diffusion, and NanoPixel technology, convincingly mimic the way natural media interact with the canvas and itself. *All software comes with a perpetual license, but Rebelle offers 1 year of updates for free. Then, there is a possibility to either pay a fee for another year of updates or keep the current version.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
• Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
• Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
• Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
• A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

The Winners in each Award category and the Grand Prize Award Winner will be invited to participate in the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine curated exhibition ‘Glimmer’ at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA, United States later this year, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists!

A glimmer is the exact opposite of a trigger. Glimmers are small, everyday moments that make you feel joy, happiness, peace, or gratitude – which can help cue your nervous system to feel safe or calm. [The term was coined by Deb Dana.]

From the 200 Finalists across all Award categories, the Jury Panel will select the Grand Prize Award Winner.

The Grand Prize Award Winner of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will receive:

• 10,000 USD cash, donated by our Platinum sponsors Catherine K. Gyllerstrom, Bearwolf Books, INPRNT, RAYMAR, 33PA and MPB.
• A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
• Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
• 10 page in-depth interview editorial published in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine December 2026 issue.
• Winning artwork printed in the December 2026 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, as part of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize editorial.
• Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
• Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
• 12 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social media platforms).
• A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award

The Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award Winner will be selected by popular vote from the 200 Finalists. The Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award Winner will receive $1,000 USD cash, generously donated by Art & Fable Puzzle Company.

Voting will open on 2 September [AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time]. To ensure you don’t miss your chance to vote, please join our email mailing list here.

Additionally, the Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award Winner will enjoy a year’s worth of social media advertising through the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine to ensure they are able to connect with the right audience, raise their profile, and of course to grow their social media following. They will also enjoy a Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months, a 12 month Beautiful Bizarre Magazine print subscription, and an in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize websites, giving readers an insight into their vision and practice!

In addition, each sponsor will choose one outstanding work from their award category to receive an Honourable Mention. Stay tuned to learn more! The 33PA Drawing Award, Catherine K. Gyllerstrom Imaginative Realism Award, and RAYMAR Painting Award Finalists will be announced later this week. See the BearWolf Books Emerging Artist Finalists here, the Sculpture Award Finalists here, the MPB Photography Award Finalists here.

So without further ado we are proud to announce the INPRNT Digital Art Award Finalists of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize…

INPRNT Digital Art Award Finalists

2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize

When there is no hope – you turn to despair as your salvation.

The ugly, the dark, even the grotesque looking creatures are not necessary evil; I like to blend this concept into something beautiful to show the hidden side of this creature, who only loves his music.

The piece is about the acceptance of imperfections. Despite the artwork being imperfect, it needs to be finished so it can live on its own.

This illustration explores the Buddhist concept of the “Three-Thousand Great Worlds” while reflecting on my perceptions of dream, illusion, and reality. As a fleeting flash within the vastness of eternity, life often captures only the appearances of the world, which are, in truth, the projections of the inner self. I translate these dual philosophies into a visual meditation.

The Nachtgiger is a nightmare figure from around my hometown area of Nuremberg. It can be translated as something like night creeper and is a dark creature haunting the world at night. This version is my own interpretation of this creature as a dark knight glitching in and out of reality building a bridge between modern design and ancient folklore.

This artwork was created as a personal exploration of the themes of unfamiliarity, mostly in regards to being away from home. It was done during a period of my life when I lived nomadically and had no clear idea of when, or if, I would return. I wanted to translate in an image what it feels like to search for a new home in an unfamiliar place, and the bittersweetness that comes with it. In the end, I never did come back to my home country, and instead built a life abroad. This piece remains as an account of a very strange period of my life.

I wasn’t trying to illustrate a specific story when I started this piece. I was more interested in creating a quiet, mysterious moment that felt open to interpretation. The image gradually came together around the contrast between a calm figure and a sacred object breaking apart. I enjoy creating paintings that suggest a larger world without explaining everything, leaving space for viewers to imagine their own narrative.

This is a photo-illustration; I manipulated one of my photographs that shot in Downtown LA, mixing it with other photos I took. In this piece, I use an alley as a miniature and try to visualize how Los Angeles in 2080 will look like.

A heavy anchor weighs on your heart. You’re the only one who can lift it, but you can’t. Slowly, the sea level rises. Water floods your mind and blinds your eyes. I wanted to capture the feeling of emotional overwhelm—the desperate attempts to escape, crawling out of the cracks like thick roots seeking the light. Time stretches into an eternity as your thoughts cloud, your vision blurs, and you quietly lose yourself. The kind of grief that lodges in your throat and presses into your chest until you can’t breathe. And yet, a small part of you still wants to believe there is hope.

You have made it through another day. You have taken care of your chores and obligations. You have breathed, walked, and worked hard. Now it is time to rest, so you can start all over again tomorrow. Good for you. But are you truly alive, if autopilot is running your life for you? The artwork Autopilot tells the story of the “autopilot mode” we often slip into to cope with life’s mandatory duties and the daily grind. The piece’s vintage electronics represent the deeply ingrained habits that steer us toward this kind of behaviour. Towards the mindsets we are taught: that we must simply keep going. That work is paramount. That hard work eventually pays off. The work’s vivid colour palette and the deranged expression of the multi-headed wolf illustrate the absurdity of the system.

​Being away from my homeland during war and crisis brought profound challenges, making creation feel nearly impossible. Yet, every time I held my brush, I knew I had to remain steadfast and never cease to create. Art and hope became my sanctuary—reshaping me like a butterfly undergoing rebirth within its cocoon. This artwork visualizes a grueling path toward the light, proving that victory must first take root in our hearts. It captures my experience of displacement and despair, counterbalanced by an unyielding hope for renewal. It is a true reflection of myself: weary, yet standing tall. Bringing this piece to life was filled with tears and sleepless nights—but I prevailed. This work stands as a testament to collective resilience: we can endure, and we will not grow weary.

This artwork depicts a lord of the Unseelie realm. The moon is high in the sky, he’s opening his eyes, unleashes his minions: the night is theirs.

To Her Luminous Majesty, Queen Titania, Empress of April Drizzles, Sovereign of the Summer Moon, and Governess of Time Lost… On a midsummer night, Queen Titania crashes rival Queen Mab’s masquerade disguised as a white dragon and exhibiting a forged invitation. While a goblin guard sceptically checks it, Titania’s valet casts a mesmerising light to distract him. Surrounding them, a motley crowd swirls amidst deceptive blooms of angel’s trumpets and mandrake, oblivious to the impending coup. Yet, as you seek to decipher these hidden clues, the illusion fractures. Two figures turn their piercing gazes towards you and break the fourth wall. In the tradition of ancient folklore, no mortal may witness the fairy court. You have been spotted; the uninvited faerie is you.

In the classic tale of St. George and the dragon, the dragon is always cast as the villain and St. George the valiant hero that comes to save the day. I wanted to show that in some cases the hero and villain of stories are a matter of perception and sometimes what we see as “good” or “bad” is about how you approach the situation.

“What the Birds Know” explores the space between perception and intuition. Two birds act as silent witnesses, simultaneously concealing and revealing, inviting viewers to question whether truth lies in what we see or in what we choose not to see. Suspended between vulnerability and awareness, the portrait suggests that identity is shaped as much by absence as by presence. Rather than offering answers, the work invites each viewer to discover their own meaning.

This artwork explores illustration as a space of departure from ordinary reality. I want the image to feel less like a description of the real world and more like an entrance into another realm—somewhere immersive, unfamiliar, and emotionally charged. By combining narrative with illustration, I aim to create an image that functions like a cinematic still: a single frame that suggests a larger story beyond itself. In this work, the encounter with a presence far greater than oneself evokes reverence, maternal power, and a sense of humility before nature. Through fantasy, atmosphere, and scale, I hope to draw viewers into a world that feels distant from daily life yet emotionally immediate.

First illustration for my fairy tale interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood in a fantasy, horror, noir setting. In this scene, Red is performing on the stage. It’s the moment she struggled toward and dreamed of. She doesn’t notice the darkness closing in around her, or how her teacher is quietly manipulating her and pushing her deeper into despair.

This piece is an ode to the intellectual freedom in a time when the capitalistic forces are collectively trying to raise a generation on consumerism. People rely on machines to finish their sentences, write their books, draw their comics, and give them a sense of proudness for something that’s training their brains to stay co-dependent on a digital hand. I think the true failing of a creative person is not the moment they make a bad work, but when they give away their own thoughts and feelings for a “good” one.

This digital illustration was inspired by nature and symbolism. While creating this piece, I reflected on love and human bonds—beautiful yet fragile and uncertain. I emphasized this delicacy and melancholy with a subdued colour palette.

See also

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Under a traditional chiaroscuro aesthetic, “A look at the future” captures a magical moment: an open window connecting a Renaissance past with our present. In a mysterious scene filled with symbolic alchemy —a white raven escaping its pictorial slumber, a glowing red stone, books, and jars— two Tudor women react to an extraordinary phenomenon they may have caused. One turns away in fear; the other, bold and driven by curiosity, stares directly forward —she can see us! Through this duality, the piece reflects our own reaction to the unknown, proving that painterly craft can build imaginary worlds and build bridges across time and space.

This piece is part of a broader project exploring issues related to power and supremacy, myth and religion, and how cultural shifts can be approached and retold through fantasy. The Ubiquitous itself represents a larger presence, all-seeing and detached, but not entirely alien to good and evil. However, in oppressive contexts, blindness and impartiality favour none but the oppressor. What does it feel to be constantly watched and judged, even under the premise that the judge is unbiased? How does it relate to current states of hyper-surveillance and hypervigilance?

Her presence embodies a beauty that mirrors the infinite mystery of the cosmic void. In this piece, I wanted to express the female form as a celestial anchor and life-giving force around which the world rotates. The gravitational pull of her warm heart draws the universe toward her luminous center. She is the gravity that holds the chaos of space in place, the singular force around which the entire world rhythmically rotates.

This reinterpretation of Swan Lake captures the grief of growing up. This white swan represents the innocence of youth: a romantic view of life where death does not exist, possibilities are infinite, and love is an absolute. Betrayal, loss, fear, pain, doubt, and finitude arrive as the executioners of this stage, transforming us into someone else. Maturity appears as a hard truth that, if embraced, can tend to our wounds and keep us from sinking.

Cynefin is a Welsh word referring to a place where one feels they ought to live and belong, a place of multiple, intertwined connections, where nature embraces them and whispers its welcome. This work explores that profound sense of belonging through a dreamlike, liminal space in which the boundaries between the human and the natural begin to dissolve. The flowers and the cicada evoke transformation, emergence, and renewal, while the figure seems to become part of the world surrounding her rather than simply inhabiting it. The work reflects on the intimate connection between identity, nature, and the search for a place that feels instinctively like home.

“The Oneiric Wanderer” comes from my fascination with dreams and childhood imagination. The polka dots on the cloak evoke something playful, familiar and slightly strange, like images that remain after waking. The rider crosses a suspended landscape on an imaginary creature, accompanied by a dark bird. I wanted to create a quiet, mysterious journey between the real world and an inner world shaped by memory, imagination and wonder. The work is open to interpretation, allowing each viewer to create their own story.

The 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is proudly sponsored by:

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