Category: Flesk Book Updates

A few people have written me asking if there will be a hardcover edition to the new Xenozoic book by Mark Schultz. No, there is no hardcover edition planned. I will always list all editions of a new title on the product information page on my website when the book is first announced.

As far as the interiors go, this book features all of the stories written and drawn by Mark Schultz to date. These twenty stories are each accompanied by new title page illustrations. There are also a handful of new spot illustrations to decorate the first and final pages. I wrote a blog previously about the new cover art and Schultz’s coloring process that can be read here.

With the exception of two stories, “Green Air” (11-pages) and “The Rules of the Game” (10-pages), all of the artwork has been reproduced from the originals. These other two stories were scanned from original proofs. I should mention that if anyone owning original art pages for either “Green Air” or “The Rules of the Game” would be willing to scan the pages for us for future editions, both Mark Schultz and myself would greatly appreciate your time and help. You will be listed in the acknowledgments section and receive a free copy of the future edition. The “Green Air” story was sold through Heritage Auctions in November 2006. Unfortunately we were unable to get scans of sufficient resolution for reproduction prior to the sale of the individual pages. Those willing to help can contact me here.

I’m very excited about this Xenozoic book and having all of Mark Schultz’s material to date all in one big 352-page volume. I have approved the proofs and the book is currently being printed and bound. It is on schedule for its early November 2010 release date.

For more details on the book, please visit our website here.

Best,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

The new Flesk Publications online store is now open for business! You can shop for our latest books and pay securely with a credit card 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The store will be made public through the home page of our website on August 23, 2010. Visit our shop by clicking here.

From now until Sunday (August 17 to August 22, 2010) you can get a free copy of Mark Schultz Blue Book if you place an order through the Flesk online shop. As with all things new, there is bound to be some tweaks and adjustments needed to make the store easier to use. If you have any feedback, I’d sure like to hear from you.

We’ll have all of our Flesk titles still in print available. We’ll also occasionally list out-of-print books that we may have one or two copies left of.

The full link to the shop is here: http://www.fleskpublications.com/shop/. You can visit our contact page to get a hold of us by clicking here.

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

When we initially conceived this new Mark Schultz Xenozoic book, Mark decided he wanted to color his cover art himself. What he ended up doing was hand coloring his art using watercolors on a separate board, and then doing a series of technical steps to make it all fit together.

To begin, the original brush and ink art was scanned into the computer. It was then printed out on clear acetate. This black and white art overlay was set over an art board and taped at the top edge allowing for easy lifting to view the board with or without the art guide.

Using the overlay as a guide for where the line art would reside, Mark flipped the acetate guide over and colored the art board underneath. He could easily set the art over the watercolors to make sure he colored the proper areas. When asking Mark more about the process, he provided me with the following additional details:

“I printed a 15% gray image of the blackline art on the board to be colored. This matches the acetate overlay image and is the guide I follow as I’m applying the color. When I flip down the acetate overlay, I can see what the color looks like together with the blackline, as it will appear when printed.”

Once the hand coloring was complete, the color art was scanned and placed underneath the brush art in Photoshop. Mark drew the cloud shapes in pure black using a brush, then this was scanned and the color adjusted on the computer, then added to the art digitally.

After the cover artwork was complete, Mark informed me that he was not quite satisfied with the cover design. He gave me a quick synopsis of what he wanted to do, then he and designer Randy Dahlk tweaked and adjusted the design to what you see above as the final cover for the book.

Xenozoic is currently at the printer. It will arrive in the stores around mid-November 2010.

Enjoy,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

Flesk Publications has three upcoming titles listed in the August 2010 Previews Catalog. Orders are due by August 14, 2010. See our full-page ad on page 285. The three titles are Xenozoic by Mark Schultz, Jungle Girls by Jim Silke and Inspirations by William Stout.

Previews order codes are the following:

AUG10 1027 – Xenozoic Complete Coll TP (page 284)

AUG10 1254 – Jim Silke Jungle Girls SC (page 338)
AUG10 1255 – Jim Silke Jungle Girls LTD SGN HC (page 338)

AUG10 1261 – William Stout Inspirations SC (page 339)
AUG10 1262 – William Stout Inspirations S&N HC (page 339)

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

There is a couple of nice write-ups on William Stout’s Hallucinations online. The First can be found on Charley Parker’s Lines and Colors blog. You can read his posting by clicking here. Second up is by James Gurney on his daily Gurney Journey blog. You can find Jim’s comments by clicking here.

If anyone has seen another review, please let me know. I’ll share the link.

As for the hardcover edition of Hallucinations—it is sold out! With only 500 limited signed copies at $30.00 I’m not surprised. I warned people ahead of time with my prediction that it wouldn’t be available for long. If you would like a copy of the limited William Stout’s Inspirations, the companion volume focusing on Stout’s female fantasy renderings, you can pre-order a copy direct from us now. The books will ship in early November.

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West and The Legend of Steel Bashaw are listed in the July 2010 Previews Catalog. Orders are due by July 10. I appreciate all of your help by letting your local comic shops know about the availability of these books.

Here are the Previews order codes:

JUL10 1228 — Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West (page 348)
JUL10 1275 – Legend of Steel Bashaw (page 355)

Click on the title names for full details on the books. Both are in full color. The denoted “PC” in Previews for partial color is incorrect.

Best,

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

At the moment I am wrapping up The Legend of Steel Bashaw with Petar Meseldžija. We’re fine-tuning the remaining details, then it will be off to the printer in a week or two. I’ve included a few sample pages of the “Making of” section. There are 20 pages of sketches and notes chronicling the 15-year process of the conception of this book.

Enjoy,

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

William Stout’s fantasy art book collection, Hallucinations, will be arriving in the comic shop and bookstores on or around July 1. Outside of the 50 copies of the hardbound signed deluxe edition I have held back for Flesk direct orders and the San Diego Comic-Con International, the rest of them are already reserved. Between the store orders and pre-orders, this is all I have left. This edition is limited to just 500 copies. I have no doubt they will be sold out by the time the San Diego show is over. You can reserve your copy now to guarantee you get one. Visit our website for details.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, Stout will be signing at the George C. Page Museum (La Brea Tar Pits) on June 19, 2010. He will also appear at the Famous Monsters Convention in Indianapolis from July 9-11, followed by Comic-Con International from July 21-25.

And speaking of Comic-Con International, we’ll be set up again this year. Same spot with two booths and right across from Stuart Ng Books. Mark Schultz will be making signing appearances each day. There will be some other artists making appearances, too. I’ll post the schedule as we near show time. I will have copies of Al Williamson Archives for the show. This will be the debut for the book!

Charley Parker wrote up a nice book review of our James Bama Sketchbook on his Lines and Colors blog. He writes, “Underlying both phases of his career is Bama’s skill as a draftsman, and that aspect of his art is brought out beautifully in a new book from Flesk Publications.” You can read the entire book review by clicking here.

Enjoy,

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications