Mark Zug (born 1959) is an artist and illustrator, who worked with the Septimus Heap series and Harlan Ellison's adaptation of I, Robot. Zug has illustrated many collectible card games, including Magic: The Gathering and Dune, books, and magazines. He lives in Pennsylvania.

Biography

Early life

Zug began drawing as a child. As a teenager, he was influenced by authors such as Frank Herbert and J. R. R. Tolkien. He later worked as a class-A machinist at a factory while exploring a musical career.

Rise to prominence

Inspired by Frank Frazetta and the illustrators of the Brandywine School. Zug returned to art in 1985. He attended the Pennsylvania School of Art and Design, however he did not graduate. He capped his tutorial by ghost-painting covers for Western novels and doing penciling work on historical comic strips. His first big break came in 1992 illustrating Harlan Ellison's I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay, for which he also did 160 pages of fully painted comics. He fulfilled a long-held dream of illustrating Frank Herbert's Dune universe in the form of Last Unicorn's collectible card game of the same name, which proved a springboard into game illustration.

Present

Zug's works have appeared on the covers of novels by authors such as Tanith Lee, Diana Wynne Jones, and Hilari Bell, as well as series like Dragonlance. His work can also be found on the covers of Star Wars comics and the magazines Popular Science, Dragon, Dungeon, Duelist, Inquest, Star Wars Gamer, and Amazing Stories. He is associated with many fantasy game products and brands, like Shadowrun, Battletech, Dune, and Magic: The Gathering. His work is included in the book Masters of Dragonlance Art. Zug's first work with children's novels was illustrating the cover art and the inside pictures for the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage. Zug has illustrated all seven released novels.

Critical acclaim

Zug has received a number of awards for his artwork. His work for the Nancy Yi Fan novel Swordbird was acclaimed, saying that "Mark Zug's black-and-white drawings repeat strategically, offering a visual underpinning to the characters and storyline." He was nominated for a Chesley and received the Jack Gaughan Award for Best Emerging Artist in 2001.

Awards

Mark Zug has won the following awards for his outstanding works: