Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025: Digital Art Award Finalists Announced

With such a diverse pool of entrants both in style and technique in the Digital Art Award category, the judging has not been easy! We are very grateful to this year’s Jury Panel and particularly our esteemed digital artist juror Matthew Stone for giving his time and expertise to the judging 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, not used by AI art apps without their express permission and compensation. All Finalists entries have been run through various AI Detectors and the analysis shows they are all original works and have not used AI 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 AI, or partly made by AI image generators – 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, 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

Digital Art Award

The Digital Art Award 1st prize winner will receive:

• $1,750 USD cash generously donated by Platinum sponsors.
• $1,250 USD cash, generously donated by 3dtotal, an industry-leading art-book publisher. Renowned for creating high-quality, inspirational, and practical art books and tutorial books, 3dtotal works with some of the world’s best artists.
• A US$375 gift card to use at GelaSkins.com, and the opportunity to have a collection with the brand, all generously donated by GelaSkins. GelaSkins create artist-designed premium cases and skins, supporting independent artists since 2005.
• Artist Pro 22 (Gen 2), generously donated by XPPen. Founded in 2005, XPPen is a leading global brand in digital art innovation under Hanvon UGEE. XPPen focuses on the needs of consumers by integrating digital art products, content, and services, specifically targeting Gen-Z digital artists. XPPen currently operates in 163 countries and regions worldwide, boasting a fan base of over 1.5 million and serving more than ten million digital art creators.
• Creative Package Pro (containing Rebelle 7 Pro, Flame Painter 4, and Amberlight 2), plus 1x Rebelle full-colour paper set, generously donated by Escape Motions. Empower your artistic skills with Rebelle painting software known for its true-to-life wet and dry media behavior, accompanied by Flame Painter painting software offering exciting particle systems, and Amberlight, a unique art tool that creates beautiful computer-generated images and animations.
• A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ 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 2025 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 Platinum sponsors.
• Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) generously donated by XPPen. Founded in 2005, XPPen is a leading global brand in digital art innovation under Hanvon UGEE. XPPen focuses on the needs of consumers by integrating digital art products, content, and services, specifically targeting Gen-Z digital artists. XPPen currently operates in 163 countries and regions worldwide, boasting a fan base of over 1.5 million and serving more than ten million digital art creators.
• Rebelle 7 Pro, Flame Painter 4, plus 1x Rebelle full-colour paper set, generously donated by Escape Motions.  Paint digitally with Rebelle, an award-winning, hyper-realistic painting software with phenomenal oils, acrylics, watercolors, 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. 
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ 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 GelaSkins and Platinum sponsors.
• Magic Drawing Pad generously donated by XPPen. Founded in 2005, XPPen is a leading global brand in digital art innovation under Hanvon UGEE. XPPen focuses on the needs of consumers by integrating digital art products, content, and services, specifically targeting Gen-Z digital artists. XPPen currently operates in 163 countries and regions worldwide, boasting a fan base of over 1.5 million and serving more than ten million digital art creators.
• Rebelle 7 Pro, plus 1x Rebelle full-colour paper set, generously donated by Escape Motions. Rebelle is an award-winning, hyper-realistic painting software with phenomenal oils, acrylics, watercolors, and other wet and dry media. Paint pigments color mixing, oil thickness, watercolor diffusion, and NanoPixel technology, convincingly mimic the way natural media interact with the canvas and itself.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ 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 of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will be invited to exhibit a work in the ‘Reverie’ exhibition in October 2025 at Haven Gallery. Winners may exhibit their prize winning entry if it was created within 12 months of the entry date, and not hung in any other exhibition or prize previously. Work already exhibited or hung in a Prize will not be accepted to the ‘Reverie’ exhibition. If the prize winning work is not eligible to be exhibited in the exhibition, or if the artist chooses, they may create a new work for the exhibition.

From the 175 Finalists across all Award categories, the Jury Panel will select the Grand Prize Award Winner.

The Grand Prize Award Winner of the 2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will receive:

• $10,000 USD cash, donated by our Platinum sponsors Catherine K. Gyllerstrom, MPB, RAYMAR, Yasha Young Projects, Victoria Olt Gallery, and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Seibert.
• A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
• The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Haven Gallery in Northport, NY, USA, alongside 70+ 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 2025 issue.
• Winning artwork printed in the December 2025 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.

People’s Choice Award

The People’s Choice Award Winner will be selected by popular vote from the 175 Finalists [25 per Award category: Drawing, Digital Art, Photography, Sculpture and Emerging Artist Award, and 50 for the Painting Award category]. The People’s Choice Award Winner will receive $1,000 USD cash, generously donated by the Co-Founders of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and a Deco Pro (Gen2) MW, generously donated by XPPen.

Voting will open on 22 August [AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time]. To ensure you don’t miss your chance to vote, please join our email mailing list here.

Additionally, the 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, plus 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 RAYMAR Painting Award and Victoria Olt Gallery Drawing Award Finalists will be announced later this week. See the Emerging Artist Finalists here, the Yasha Young Projects Sculpture Award Finalists here, the MPB Photography Award Finalists here.

So without further ado we are proud to announce the Digital Art Award Finalists of the 2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize…

Digital Art Award Finalists

2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize

“White Raven” explores the quiet strength of those who walk a different path. The pale raven becomes a symbol of otherness, of solitude imbued with quiet resilience and unspoken meaning. Nature in this scene is both shelter and mirror, enveloping the character in a soft, haunting light. It is a space where melancholy meets beauty, it’s a moment that feels like a half-remembered dream. The white raven, both guide and omen, blurs the line between the natural and the supernatural.

This artwork juxtaposes life and death. A contemplative figure rests within a skeletal bramble, yet blossoms emerge, challenging the darkness. The branches represent grief, while the flowers signal enduring life and beauty. The piece evokes themes of entanglement, mortality, and beauty amid loss, posing questions of reflection and the interconnectedness of life, death, and the choices we make in between.

This image is part of a series of done for a gallery show where I took the idea of a concept album, (Think, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” or Genesis’s “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”) and turned it into a series of works. Each piece can stand on its own but when taken together there is an overarching connectivity in the characters and symbols present to suggest a larger story.

The piece “Who Inhabits” explores how people experience depression and which are the spaces that we inhabit in our psique, stating, if depression is something that develops inside of us without us knowing, like a parasitic intruder, growing and reclaiming more and more of us and our lives, creating a line that divides our healthy being and the depressive state that we experience. we are left with the question “Who is the one who inhabits the psique when depression is around?”. The objective of the artwork is to visualize the disorder and create awareness of mental health.

I wanted to explore a re-imagining of the tragic character of Shakespeare’s Ophelia with this piece. Her gaze fixed upward at a haunting reflection of what will be, or perhaps what has already come to pass. She in a way reflects on the fragility of mortality, suspended in a liminal state bathed in a heavenly light.

This image is part of an ongoing project, “To The Stars”. I’ve been nourished all my life by the images of science fiction, but like Ballard I consider that the space age is over and that mankind will never explore the stars. The dreams of that period are as beautiful as ever, but they’re dead, empty of hope. I wanted to depict them this way, like specimens ripped from their natural environment, forever fossilized. “Good news from Betelgeuse” represents a heroic charge similar to those I read as a child in space-opera books. But there’s no enemy army, no exotic landscape, no context in which to place this scene. The future has erased all that, leaving only the dream.

Blade Banquet Digital Painting (Created with Zbrush, Blender,Photoshop) 2048*2048 pixels a digital painting that portrays a sword-wielding deity standing amidst a field of blooming flowers. This artwork draws inspiration from the Celtic goddess Macha, a multifaceted figure embodying both war and fertility.I want to express the determination and resilience of women, illustrating how they embody both creation and destruction. I employed unconventional color palettes and applied a textured lighting on her that are inspired from how light passes the colorful glasses on decorative church windows. This piece was sculpted using ZBrush, rendered in Blender, and underwent final editing and paint over in Photoshop to achieve a harmonious blend of realism and artistic expression.

This artwork depicts the emotions/last moments of lovers as they drown.

This painting is a depiction of the Greek goddess Artemis, I used symbolism often associated with her such as her hound and bow. I hope to create an unfamiliar and lonely feeling with my work.

Alabörü: A shaman of ancient times, lost without a trace to sorrow, on a journey to retrieve what is lost through the guidance of shadows of the cold winter night.

Styled like a product shoot, this piece is created from images of rubbish found on the streets of Fitzroy, Melbourne. Our waste practices have transformed the Australian White Ibis from a wetland bird into an urban scavenger. This graceful and beautiful bird has migrated away from its wetland home en-masse, in some places vacating their native habitat and leaving a hole in the local ecosystem. Aquatic birds are especially impacted by our plastic waste, birds on Lord Howe Island were recently found having more than 20% of their body weight being plastics, their bodies crunching when scientists held them. This work seeks to come at these disturbing issues with a sense of humor and character, as a way to get under the audience’s the radar in a way that photojournalism sometimes can’t.

Protector II. Created for 数码巨龙 | Whirls of Vapor – Chapter II A tribute to the Year of the Dragon, Protector II channels the spirit of guardianship, transformation, and inner fire. Rooted in the reverence of myth, the dragon is a vessel of wisdom, strength, and cosmic rhythm. A moment caught in stillness—where protector and protected become one.

Sharon Covert creates evocative self-portraits rooted in dark fairytales, myth, and the unseen. Weaving symbolism, surrealism, and anonymity, she explores the healing power of art through emotional narratives that blur reality and dream. Her images often portray hidden beauty within darkness, inviting the viewer into intimate, otherworldly realms. Deeply personal and profoundly imaginative, Sharon’s work reveals the unspoken, making space for mystery, vulnerability, and transformation.

I Love Sushi explores the play of light as seen in paintings of the Romantics. It also tips a hat to the translucent skin tones of classical portraiture, evoking a sense of intimacy and vulnerability. At its heart, it’s a surreal love story between a woman and her goldfish, Sushi – equal parts tender and absurd. Set in a softly lit, dreamlike space, the moment hovers between affection and ambiguity. Is she adoring him, or about to eat him? This piece balances emotional depth with a wry sense of humour, blurring the line between beauty and the bizarre – my favourite place to be.

The End of Eden is a contemplative still life that brings together threatened Australian flora and birds from every state and territory, arranged in a bouquet within a vessel. Accompanying the arrangement are an hourglass, a pair of reading glasses, and the book The End of Eden, symbolizing the passage of time, observation, and the fragility of our natural world. Created over the past six months, this work is part of my six-year exploration into photographing endangered species, aiming to highlight Australia’s alarming extinction rate. By presenting these elements together, the piece serves as both a memorial and a call to action, urging viewers to recognize and respond to the biodiversity crisis unfolding around us.

On a southbound hike on the Appalachian Trail, I passed out and had a fall. It was 3 miles to the nearest shelter and even setting up my hammock – finding trees off-trail in the dark while trying not to faint again – felt well beyond my capabilities. As it began to rain, I tossed the shell of my hammock onto the ground and crawled inside. I spent the night on the wet ground, soaking wet and covered in mud. I’d done a lot of night hiking, but I’ve never been scared on trail until then. The darkness, solitude, and sense of dread were overwhelming. The noises, in the distance and far too near, became terrifying. I knew, beyond all reason, that something in the darkness was coming to get me. This piece is my interpretation of the woods that night.

Hajime is a pivotal portrait that brings together the visual language of my previous series Kodama and The Masks We Wear. As the first Naiad in a new body of work, she represents a turning point, embodying purity, wisdom, and love as guiding forces. Rather than serving as a distant symbol, Hajime is an active presence. She invites the viewer into a quiet yet urgent relationship with the natural world, offering a vision of renewal. Through her, this work speaks to our shared responsibility to protect and reconnect with the Earth, not only as caretakers but as participants in its living consciousness.

“Embark” is about escaping the ties that hold us back, overcoming the weight of the past, and the act of learning to let go. With a hopeful gaze fixed firmly on the open expanse, our subject’s body propels itself forward and away from the sea creature, the octopus, that clings steadfastly. Employing digital tools, I’ve deliberately chosen a palette of bright, contrasting colours to amplify the drama and emotional intensity of this struggle and triumph. Shape and form are also important components, with sharp lines and fluid curves delineating the subject’s determined movement against the creature’s embrace.

“Bzythryx Premiums” imagines a beauty icon from a world that evolved differently—where a mutant is fashionable. She’s their Marilyn Monroe, selling something glamorous and probably hazardous, posing for ads in a culture that worships the grotesque. This piece blends sci-fi, body horror, and satire, exploring how beauty, status, and identity get twisted through marketing—no matter what planet you’re on. Somewhere, this creature is on a billboard. And somewhere, they think she’s perfect.

I’ve always been fascinated by the mystery and beauty of underwater fantasy worlds. Inspired by India’s unique and ethereal features, I envisioned a character born of water and strength. I handcrafted both the headpiece and the sculptural glass-like body piece, photographing every element used in this composition. The Ice Stone: The Power of Water shows transformation and resilience. Fluidity becomes form, and beauty comes from the deep.

I painted this based on a scene from Westworld, as a way to study lighting and character mood.

Jihae Naomi draws inspiration from films and comics and enjoys exploring ornamental patterns and framing devices. Her works aim to engage the viewer while maintaining an ornamental consciousness within each piece. Inspired by works of William Morris and Franz Stassen, the artist’s illustrations have a specifically feminine lens and story.

‘Pause’ was created to capture and remember that self-liberating moment. I recall the moments when I felt light and whole – when I let myself release from the need to repress my most authentic self. From the urgent but dragging feeling of having to compromise who I am to fit societal norms, pressures to live up to the roles that were put upon me, or meet the standards I set up just to keep up with the world. At some point, I began to sense that something more essential was hibernating within me, waiting to awaken and grow. With a bit of courage, I began to release it, taking off a shell that had been wrapping me, repressing what was inside. It was the moment I found my genuine self. It was liberation. This work will give me another nudge at the moment when the same courage is needed.

This was created as an exploration into a new creative challenge I have decided for myself. I have been searching for a creative direction, a north star that I could point myself towards. Psychology and emotion have always driven my work, but I have always wanted to incorporate fantasy elements. I love the idea of seeing mythical and fantastical imagery in modern mundane settings. The juxtaposition just feels enticing and creatively satisfying to use those unique elements to bring interest to potentially boring scenes otherwise.

I think of relationships like gardens, this painting is based on my relationship with my partner who brings so much love and colour into my life. Even my darkest days are significantly improved because of him lifting me up.