Home

Naturalistic Fantasy Art

image by Veronica V. Jones

Mark Zug

A small woman with wild brown hair and leather skins crouches.
A desert nomad with blue on blue eyes crouches.
A young woman with long black hair and a shotgun stands.
An orc in a trench coat and a bowler hat smokes a large pipe.

The act of creation involves balancing many disparate impulses and inspirations. Mark Zug somehow manages to draw from both the highest potentials of human achievement, and the wildest energies of the natural… and unnatural worlds.

Mr. Zug’s works are raw studies of confidence and determination, and span many worlds of fantasy and science fiction, including early forays into Frank Herbert’s Dune and Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot.

An oddly enjoyable trait of Mark’s works are the unusual settings these characters inhabit: the backgrounds are nearly inseparable from the figures they frame. It seems almost that the subjects of Mark’s imaginations have spirits so powerful that they cannot be contained within their bodies. Their insistent will radiates out into their surroundings, molding and bending their environments. Perhaps this is a trait they share with their talented creator.

Written by in December of 2007. Last edited September 2014.

Related Features

Catching up to the Apocalypse and Southland Tales

Dwayne Johnson as Boxer Santaros / Jericho Cane. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Krysta Now / Krysta Lynn Kapowski. Seann William Scott as Private Roland Taverner / Officer Ronald Taverner. Justin Timberlake as Private Pilot Abilene.

Jericho Survives Armageddon, Succumbs to CBS

Jake (Skeet Ulrich) sits frowning. The cast of Jericho.

Arne aka Ratscape

A lovely blue woman's face with white white markings, aka Zhaan. Batman holds Catwoman's arm as Catwoman holds a string of pearls. Circa 1967 Rosario Dawson as a Vulcan wearing a blue Starfleet uniform. Jemma Simmons smiles, carrying six blue test tubes with a shield logo visible within the tubes. Spider woman standing tall, with hands on hips.

Michael Dashow

A well-dressed gentleman in a steampunk spacesuit gazes at a martian mountain. A hapless man is berated by a well dressed tentacled horror in the office. Amanda, a steampunk beauty in a leather corset and elaborate tattoos. A woman coyly stands in the forest while a hooved and horned creature approaches. A woman with long red hair and wearing burnished leather brandishes a smoking gun.

Alan Pollack


  • D. Zug - February 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm

    You have no idea! How I love his work … but have seen it since he first picked up a pencil. LOL
    Your writing is remarkable. Thanks. ~ Hizmom

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *