Portfolio: The Complete Various Drawings

Various Drawings #1-5

by Mark Schultz (Illustrator), Zander Cannon (Introduction)

During an impressive period—2005 through 2012—Mark Schultz turned his attention to producing a body of personal works and private commissions. The results, collected in the five Various Drawings volumes, focused on subjects about which Schultz feels most passionate. Among them are characters and tableaux pulled from mythology, science-fantasy and pulp adventure, featuring steely warriors and femme fatales—his popular pulpette women included. Schultz's Xenozoic world is profusely explored through a series of dynamic compositions with his protagonists, Jack and Hannah, placed in a variety of impossibly dangerous situations. In addition to his self-generated pieces, there are many examples of Schultz's commercial works done for comics, film and books, as well as renderings of newly discovered dinosaurs and more.

The Complete Various Drawings compiles the 275 drawings found in the original five volumes as well as the cover illustrations and special bookplates. Reformatted into this oversized version, the scan for each image has been reviewed and meticulously adjusted. All images originally reproduced in black-and-white are now presented in full color.

Found within are fully rendered drawings executed in brush-and-ink, carbon or graphite pencil. In addition, Schultz shows his process with a wealth of preliminary sketches done for a range of projects, including his upcoming Storms at Sea illustrated novella. Add to this rare sketchbook material and Schultz’s increasing exploration of color-tinted imagery , and you have one fascinating and diverse portfolio!

Genres: Art

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 11, 2015

About the author

Mark Schultz is an American writer and illustrator of books and comics. His most widely recognized work is the creator-owned comic book series Xenozoic Tales, which describes a post-apocalyptic world where dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures coexist with humans. In 1993, Xenozoic Tales was adapted into an animated series titled Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and a video game of the same name. Schultz's other notable works include various Aliens comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse and a four-year run on the DC Comics series Superman: The Man of Steel. In 2004, Schultz took over the scripting duties of the Prince Valiant comic strip.

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautifully produced art books I have ever seen. Each piece gets a whole page to itself, so it is easy to see all of the details in Mark Schultz's incredibly detailed illustrations. If you're a fan of the adventure heroes of the pulp era, you owe it to yourself to pick up this volume. There are plenty of illustrations of Conan the Barbarian and of heroes from the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Also, there are lots of pieces from Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales, which are just amazing. No one draws dinosaurs like Schultz. The book itself feels really sturdy, so it seems like it will last forever. This is a must-have for all comic art fans.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous artwork, gorgeous presentation.