Scott Kolins

Scott Kolins is an American illustrator, writer, and creator of multiple different superhero and science fiction comic books. His main credits are as a penciler but he is an established inker as well as colorist and has some credits as a writer.

Kolins' interest in drawing and comics began when he was around 10 years old as an avid comic book reader in the late 1970s. He studied at The Joe Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey for two years, beginning in 1991.

Kolins other influences include Barry Windsor-Smith, Michael Golden, Jack Kirby, Mike Mignola, and Frank Miller. "These five are the core artists who teach me something almost every day when I look at their work and 'listen' to their 'storytelling voices'. They each have a pronounced style of conveying a story. Something about how they do it works for me and informs me on how I want to do it." The day Jack Kirby died he took his (namesake) dog for a walk because, "It felt like something huge had ended." Other artists Kolins names as influences include Frank Frazetta, Bill Watterson, Alphonse Mucha, Patrick Nagel, Bev Doolittle, J.W. Waterhouse and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

In the 1980s, he worked under Dennis Jensen, and then under Kim DeMulder and Bart Sears. After studying at the Kubert school, Kolins got a job with Valiant Comics. He was then hired as a Romita Raider (in house art corrections under John Romita Sr.) at Marvel Comics. Kolins announced his move from Marvel in 2007 and that he had been talking to Geoff Johns about a future project.

Style and approach

Most of Kolins' credits are as penciller, following the modern tradition of "tight penciling". Since his work on The Flash, he has a tendency to do fewer shadows and varying of the weight and width of lines—-the impact is also partly to shift some of the content of the page from the responsibilities of penciller to that or inker or colorist (fewer lines and definition by line and more by color contrasts). This tends to make the art very "clean." To help fill out the page more Kolins developed a compensating quality of adding extra detail to the background. The whole pattern of emphasis has been the subject of discussion.

In addition to his penciling and inking work, Kolins studied comic book coloring. Each comic book has its own particular qualities and Kolins seeks some nuanced approach in his art to each comic book. He has drawn over two dozen different titles and develops some variation organically with the demands of the story and the history of the character or freedom from that history sometimes.

Scott Kolins was a 2003 nominee of the Wizard Fan Awards 'Favorite Breakout Talent' for his work on The Flash and rave reviews from fans.

Characters created

Kolins is also credited with the creation (or co-creation) of several comic book characters, including Peek-a-Boo, Iron Maniac Gear, Tar Pit and others.

Kolins lives with his family in Austin, Texas.

Kolins has illustrated numerous comic books for Marvel from 1992 to 2008, including Excalibur, Hawkeye, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Thing, The Avengers, She-Hulk, Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, and others. He has also illustrated many DC comics from 1993 to 2010. Works included Green Lantern, Superboy, Legion of Superheroes, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman/Batman.