Saturday, February 9, 2008

Mark Schultz, Modern Master!

Another break from my artwork today...

It's no secret that I think Mark Schultz is one of the finest comics artists of the last 30 years (oh, hell, EVER). An incredible draftsman, superb storyteller and excellent technician, Mark is the real deal.

And the latest volume of the terrific TwoMorrows Modern Masters series (vol 15) celebrates Mark's talents.

Every volume of the Modern Masters series is top-notch, and I'm now at the point where I buy each one regardless of my familiarity with the artist. I think there are a lot of people who are that dedicated to this series.

And therein lies my one gripe about this book. I would have preferred to see TwoMorrows include notations of the media for each piece (pencils, inks, etc) in the cut lines next to the illustrations. While I know the level of inking ability Mark has, I'm not sure that someone first exposed to Mark's work would realize that some of the tonal pieces featured in the book are not pencil drawings, but incredible drybrush pieces created 100% in ink. The b/w piece that accompanies this entry is an example. No pencil. All brush and ink.

Aside from that, it's a beautiful book.

If you enjoy this book, be sure to check out Mark's Various Drawings series from Flesk Publications, as well.

Today, at the Ursula Wilde Production Diary, we continue our look at the character designs for the upcoming series.

Over at the Athena Voltaire Blog, we get a glimpse of what might have been, with the Jason Millet's and my cover to the aborted mini-series, The Legend of Mu-King.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Scott Conner said...

Did you know there had been a Modern Masters book on Mike Kaluta, but it got cancelled?

Steve Bryant said...

I didn't know that.

I wonder if it has something to do with the forthcoming Kaluta book from Desperado.

Here's a link to the solicitation for the Desperado Kaluta book (in the current issue of Previews):

http://www.dcbservice.com/category.aspx?id=6

I absolutely LOVE the Modern Masters series. It's chock-full of artistic goodness, and I always come away from each volume ready to draw!

The next volume in the series is Mike Allred, followed by Lee Weeks!

Steve Bryant said...

Crap! My link above just goes to a random part of the "Other" publishers at DCBS...apparently, they don't allow for direct linking.

Go to Desperado Publishing and you can preorder the hardcover Kaluta book there.

Sorry for the mix-up!!