Mark Nelson
| Mark A. Nelson | |
|---|---|
 Mark Nelson | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Born: | 1953 |
| First Greyhawk work: | MC5 Monstrous Compendium GH Appendix |
Mark A. Nelson (born 1953)[1] is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games[2] and comic books. Nelson's style has been described as "carefully articulated".[3]
Nelson is an accomplished artist and educator, having taught at Northern Illinois University for two decades and worked at Raven Software and Madison Area Technical College. He later served as art director/head concept artist at Pi Studios and now runs Grazing Dinosaur Press with his wife. Nelson has illustrated numerous Dungeons & Dragons books, other games, and comic books for various publishers since the 1980s. Additionally, he has contributed to Eureka Productions' Graphic Classics series and authored an instructional book, Fantasy World-Building: A Guide to Developing Mythic Worlds and Legendary Creatures, published in 2019.
Biography
Nelson attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan.[1] He taught at Northern Illinois University for twenty years.[4] One of his students was Tom Baxa.[5]
From the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, Nelson worked for Raven Software doing conceptual work, painting digital skins, and creating textures for computer games. During this period, he was an animation instructor at Madison Area Technical College.[4] Nelson was art director/head concept artist at Pi Studios in Houston from 2008 to 2011. He now runs his own studio (along with his wife, Anita), Grazing Dinosaur Press.
Works
Illustrator
Nelson has produced interior illustrations for many Dungeons & Dragons books, and both interior illustrations and numerous covers for Dragon magazine since 1985. He has also produced artwork for other games including Villains and Vigilantes (Fantasy Games Unlimited), Earthdawn and Shadowrun (FASA), and Orpheus (White Wolf Publishing), and illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.
Greyhawk works
Nelson is perhaps most well known for his work on MC5 Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Adventures Appendix. Along with his former student,Tom Baxa, Nelson did all of the interior artwork of the iconic monsters and creatures native to the World of Greyhawk. Most notably:
- Beastman
- Bonesnapper
- Cloud dragon
- Dragonnel
- Greyhawk dragon
- Grung
- Hook horror
- Horgar
- Ingundi
- Mist dragon
- Mist wolf
- Mite
- Norker
- Shadow dragon
- Son of Kyuss
- Taer
- Taer
- Wraith
- Yeth hound
Comics
Nelson has worked extensively in the comics industry since the mid-1980s, for publishers such as NOW Comics, First Comics, Eclipse Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Kitchen Sink Press.[1] His comic book work includes the series Aliens.[6][7] He contributed to the magazine Hero Illustrated.[8]
Nelson illustrated the cover of Joe R. Lansdale's novel Blood Dance.[9]
Nelson has made numerous contributions to Eureka Productions' Graphic Classics series, including H.P. Lovecraft, Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, Bram Stoker, Horror Classics, O. Henry, Adventure Classics, Fantasy Classics, and Native American Classics. He has also illustrated stories in Eureka's Rosebud #18 and The Best of Rosebud.
Instructional Books
Nelson authored Fantasy World-Building: A Guide to Developing Mythic Worlds and Legendary Creatures published through Dover Publications in 2019.[10]
External links
Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.
- Official artist's website
- Mark Nelson :: Pen & Paper RPG Database. Archived from the original on February 15, 2005.
References
Notes
Citations
- ↑ a b c Nelson entry, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999. Accessed Mar. 3, 2013.
- ↑ "Artist's Statement," Grazing Dinosaur Press. Accessed Mar. 3, 2014.
- ↑ Sangiacomo, Michael (December 29, 1998). "Hot on the stands", Newhouse News Service.
- ↑ a b Mark A. Nelson in GRAPHIC CLASSICS. Graphicclassics.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-04.
- ↑ Portfolio. Baxaart.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-04.
- ↑ Broeske, Pat H. (October 30, 1988). "Eggstraordinary", Los Angeles Times, p.20.
- ↑ Szadkowski, Joseph (October 12, 1996). "The Dark Horse decade: A long, cool reign of mature and diverse comics", The Washington Times, p.B4.
- ↑ Szadkowski, Joseph (April 8, 1995). "Hero chats with cartoon creators", The Washington Times, p.B4.
- ↑ Nelson, Mark. Blood Dance. Joe R. Lansdale. Retrieved on 24 August 2013.
- ↑ Nelson, Mark A. (13 February 2019) Fantasy World-Building: A Guide to Developing Mythic Worlds and Legendary Creatures, Courier Dover Publications ISBN: 978-0-486-82865-7.