Artist Mark Zug found his calling after being transfixed by N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, J. C. Leyendecker and other luminaries of the Brandywine illustration tradition. After leaving art school he painted his portfolio while working as a machinist, penciling historical comic strips for cartoonist Pat Reynolds, and assisting painting western novel covers for illustrator Ken Laager. In 1992 he quit all other work and embarked on the life of a freelance artist. His work was first published in 1994 with I Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay by Harlan Ellison. Since then, his artwork has appeared on the covers of novels by Tanith Lee, Diana Wynne-Jones, Timothy Zahn, Peter David, those of the fantasy imprints Eberron and Forgotten Realms; the magazines Popular Science, Dragon, Dungeon, Duelist, Inquest, Star Wars Gamer; the comics of Star Wars; many, many fantasy game products of the brands Shadowrun, Battletech, Dune, Magic: The Gathering and World of Warcraft – as well as the frontispieces of the prestigious Easton Press leather-bound science fiction classics. In recent years he has become the illustrator of the best-selling Septimus Heap and TodHunter Moon series of fantasy novels by Angie Sage, and along the way, garnered a Jack Gaughan Award, a Chesley Award, and an Illie Award.