Illustrator Report on Skottie Young's Illustrations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the work of Skottie Young, a prominent comic book artist and illustrator. It begins with a biography detailing his background, influences, and career highlights, including his work with Marvel Comics and adaptations of Frank Baum's Oz books. The report delves into the cultural, historical, familial, social, and creative influences shaping Young's artistic style. It then provides detailed image analyses of several of his key illustrations, including covers from Ozma of Oz, New Warriors, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, and Rocket Raccoon. Each analysis examines the use of color, line, and composition, as well as the narrative implications of the artwork. The report concludes with a bibliography of sources used. This report is a valuable resource for understanding Young's unique contributions to visual arts, particularly his distinctive digital art style and his ability to convey complex narratives through his illustrations.

Illustrator Report on Skottie Young’s Illustrations
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Illustrator Report on Skottie Young’s Illustrations
Biography
Skottie Young is comic book artist and a children’s books illustrator based in America. Today,
he is best known for his work with various Marvel comic characters. Additionally, he is also
known for his comic adaptations of Frank Baum’s Oz books and a series of novels with Neil
Gaiman.
Skottie Young was born on April 3, 19781. He grew up in Bristol, Tennessee but later moved to
Chicago. He moved to Chicago shortly before he started working for Marvel Publishing. He
owns a ranch in Illinois where he lives with his wife and two children.
Over the years, Young has gained critical acclaim for his work. His earliest projects included
illustrating the Spiderman Legend of the Spider clan mini-series, the Human Torch. Furthermore,
he has illustrated the New X-Men. In 2005, the artist illustrated a six issue mini-series on New
Warriors written by Zeb Wells. Additionally, he has drawn covers for many books among them
Deadpool Cable and Deadpool, Iron Man and Spider Man2. It is, however, important to note that
his work has not been exclusive to Marvel. He has also provided art for Hack/Slash from Dark
Stalkers, Devil’s Due and Street Fighter II.
Aside from working with Marvel and other Publishers, Skottie has also self published two art
books. The books are named ‘Junk’ and ‘B-Sides’. Notably, both books contain non-published
artwork comprising of scrapped ideas and sketches. Due to the fact the ideas were self-published;
they were made available for purchase over the internet. Today, he continues to communicate
1 Van As, Artist of the Week.
2 Interview: FAIRYLAND With Skottie

with fans and other comic book creators through online platforms including twitter and his
personal blog. Thus, he uses the internet share his work.
Influences
Cultural influences
Historical influences. Many of Young’s creative influences can be seen in his early life and work
experiences. In his early life, he grew up listening to hip-hop and skating. In an interview,
Skottie Young reveals that before knew that comic books existed, he was a great hip hop fan and
MAD Magazine lover3. He also spent a lot of time skate-boarding. Through these experiences, he
has been able to draw ideas from his childhood.
Familial influences. Additionally, the experiences of fatherhood also influence his art ad has
inspired him to work on novels and graphic ideas that are specifically designed and intended for
kids4.
Social influences
Creative influences. Young’s previous works also act as significant creative influences and
inspiration for his art4. For instance, the success of his work on the Wizard of Oz has inspired
him to create his own original graphic novel.
Political Influences
3 Jordan, Marvel Artist Skottie.
4 Jordan, Marvel Artist Skottie.

Throughout his work, Young has received a limited influence from political events and
ideologies in the society in creating his art5.
Image Analysis
Ozma of Oz 4 Cover Illustration
The Ozma of Oz 4 cover is an illustration drawn as part of the story of the Ozma. It arises from a
series of illustration from previous issues of the book. From the layering of its gradient and the
flat cell foreground elements, one can note that the art has been drawn digitally. This reflects a
detailed line work and a harmonious color palette6. In this illustration, Ozma uses color to draw
focus to his areas of interest. Particularly, he draws focus to the fears that the young girl, Dorothy
Dale feels about the hungry tiger. The light amber color implies a midmorning setting and
creates an atmosphere of anxiety and tension between the characters. The uniformity of the
background’s color and its low intensity also suggests a general mood of unsettledness, nervous
and mixed emotions in the book.
Young also employs line in this illustration to direct the eyes of the viewer through the story. His
strong use of horizontal and diagonal segmentation allows him to successfully focus on the main
objects, the young girl and the hungry tiger7. The positioning of the girl’s image at the center
guides the viewer’s eye towards the right end towards the tiger and then upwards towards the
chicken coop. In this case, his effective utilization of a leading line and color ensures that the
viewer of the art focuses on the awkward interaction between the two characters and the possible
narrative that surrounds their story. From the name of the illustration, it is rather difficult to
5 Jordan, Marvel Artist Skottie.
6 Skottie, Ozma of Oz
7 Skottie, Ozma of Oz

insinuate the meaning of the art. Even so, this piece of art allows for imagination as to what the
main story is about. Therefore, through this piece of work, the artist is able to draw his
audience’s attention to the main story.
New Warriors 2010 Cover illustration
Just like in the Ozma of Oz, the New Warriors is an illustration drawn as a means to portray the
narrative of the story. It rises from a series of illustrations that explore the different journeys of
the comic book. In this artwork, Young tries to relay the narrative of a civil war and contention
among the characters8. The layering of gradients and the shaded foreground elements suggests
that this piece of art was drawn digitally. It reflects Young’s new signature style, a sophisticated
line work with a discordant color palette.
It is worth pointing out that Young utilizes color in this illustration to draw focus to his areas of
interest, which is the tense atmosphere in the narrative. The blue green color on one of the
characters brings out the charge of emotions in the book. Similarly, the grey window panes on
the background suggest a strained relationship between the characters in the narrative story9.
Noteworthy, the artist has utilized a variance in the color scheme and intensity to create an
illusion of atmospheric perspective and create more detail. The intensity of the green blue color
at the forefront highlights it as the focal point and creates an illusion of restlessness and the need
for action.
In this illustration, Young also utilizes thick vertical lines to direct the eyes of his audience
through the narrative. The strong vertical segmentation at the background divides up the page
8 Skottie, New Warriors
9 Skottie, New Warriors

content. Given that this work is intended mainly for the western audience, it is best read from the
center then to the bottom left and finally towards the upper left10. The eye first focuses on the
humongous angry man, then the frustrated average bodied man before finally landing on the
alien-like soldiers on the upper-left side. From the name of this illustration, one could conclude
that the new warriors are seeking justice or change in their society.
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz Cover Illustration
In this illustration, Skottie Young presents a subtle setting that symbolizes a magical world with
fantastical landscapes. Similar to other images, this illustration is also developed digitally. The
artist uses color to set and create an atmosphere for the narrative. Specifically, Young uses a light
blue shade on the background to illustrate an atmosphere of softness, healing and tranquility in
the narrative. The colour is further reinforced by the happy Dorothy floating halfway through the
air, and alongside her a rather unhappy wizard11. In the foreground and the middle ground,
Young utilizes horizontal and vertical line segmentation to help the viewer focus on the main
idea of the illustration situated at the middle of the paper12. Thus, he uses the line technique to
draw the attention of viewers to the interaction between the two characters and the possible story
behind the art.
Rocket Raccoon Illustration
The Rocket Raccoon is an illustration drawn from the story of a hero raccoon with a high-flying
of adventure. The artwork clearly portrays a fun loving super hero and star. This image, like the
ones before has been drawn digitally. Notably, this is evident due to the layering of gradients in
10 Skottie, New Warriors
11 Skottie, Dorothy & the Wizard in Oz
12 Skottie, Dorothy & the Wizard in Oz

the art. In this piece, Young utilizes colour to draw attention to his main areas of interest. The
main focus of this art is the Rocket Raccoon posing superhero moves on a dying tree13. The artist
uses various colors to set up the atmosphere of the narrative. The background is made of a dark
brown color, with some light shades of brown. In this case, he uses the color to create a sense of
nostalgia in the narrative, to a time when things were better.
In addition, he employs in his illustration of the raccoon. He uses this technique to draw the
audience’s eyes through the narrative. The intense vertical segmentation in the illustration lets
the viewer focus on the most fundamental components of the artwork. Furthermore, the
positioning of the raccoon at the centre of the drawing ensures that the audience focuses on it,
thereby focusing on the intended narrative14. The image is read best from the centre then
upwards. Therefore, through this effective use of a leading line, the attention is focused on the
actions of the rocket raccoon and the possible story behind the artwork. Considering the name of
the illustration, one could suggest that the raccoon is drawn towards the achievement of justice,
but faces multiple obstacles. Otherwise, the art work is a masterpiece.
13 Skottie, Rocket Raccoon
14 Skottie, Rocket Raccoon

Appendix
Figure 1.1
Ozma of Oz 4

Figure 2.1
New Warriors (2010)

Figure 3.1
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz

Figure 4.1
Rocket Raccoon

Bibliography
Interview: A First Class Ticket to Fairyland With Skottie Young. Comicosity. Accessed Mar. 21,
2018. http://www.comicosity.com/interview-a-first-class-ticket-to-fairyland-with-
skottie-young/Skottie, Young.
Jordan, C. Marvel Artist Skottie Young Talks Comics and Hip Hop. Mass Appeal. Accessed
March 21, 2018. https://massappeal.com/marvel-artist-skottie-young-talks-comics-and-
hip-hop/
Ozma of Oz. Marvel, 2010. Accessed March 21, 2018. https://read.marvel.com/#/book/19111
Skottie, Young. Dorothy & the Wizard in Oz (2010) #1. Marvel, 2010. Accessed March 21,
2018. http://marvel.com/comics/issue/36921/dorothy_the_wizard_in_oz_2010_1
Skottie, Young. New Warriors. Pinterest, 2005. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/477874210432434985/
Skottie, Young. New Warriors. Wikimedia, 2005. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Newwarriors1june2005.jpg
Skottie, Young. Ozma of Oz. Deviant Art, 2010. Accessed March 21, 2018.
https://skottieyoung.deviantart.com/art/Ozma-of-Oz-4-cover186456128?q=gallery
%3Askottieyoung%2F8988733&qo=22
Skottie, Young. Rocket Raccoon (2014 - Present)). Marvel. Accessed March 21, 2018.
http://marvel.com/comics/series/18806/rocket_raccoon_2014_-_present