Mark Beachum is an American comic book artist,[1] writer, painter, publisher, photographer and filmmaker known for renditions of the female figure.
In New Talent Showcase, Mark is said to be influenced by Frank Frazetta, Hal Foster, Trevor Von Eeden, Michael Jackson, Neal Adams, and Alex Toth.
[6] Mark Beachum, notorious gangster deadline breaker, had a standing deal with me: I NEVER gave him anything on a schedule because I knew it'd bring us into conflict.
[5] In 1981 he came up to DC Comics and showed his portfolio to then-art director Dick Giordano, a short time after he was commissioned to draw a Batgirl story that was never published.
He became most notable for drawing the Samuree story while there; at the same time he also worked on Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial storyboards and animatics.
[4] Peter Stone, editor and writer at Continuity describes Beachum's dynamic in the studio:[8] ...Mark would doddle around with and decide if he would finish it or not.
[9] At the time of its existence Penthouse Comix had the highest paying rate for comics and was priding itself on hand picking the best artists[10] and in mid 90s Beachum painted the futuristic story Backlash written by Tom Thornton for them.
Then he published his art portfolio FemmErotiSexiVision in the magazine as well as two stories Nightclaw and Latex Diva, which appeared in later issues of Penthouse Comix.
Around the time of working for Continuity and Penthouse, he began submitting fully painted art thus eliminating the need for either inker or colorist.
Here is what Beachum had to say about his history with the character:[17] I was about 10 or 11 when I discovered Warren and that international cast of artists expanded my interest in art beyond the bandwidth of mainstream superheroes.
Esteban Maroto, Jose Gonzalez, Jordi Bernet, Gonzalo Mayo, Frazetta, Vaughn Bodé, Sanjulián, and Enrich Torres were like a huge crew of brilliant art teachers showing me what was possible.
This is what inspired, has sustained and continues to instruct me to this day.Sometime in the 90s Beachum started holding photo shoots for art reference and to include in his multimedia creations.
Over the years he created numerous album covers and promotional photo shoots for artists and bands, among them: Mark Wood, The kHz, Natasha Komis, Illuminated ft Zen, Soco Fa Sho.
He showcased some of his film work on his websites, which appear to be between neo-noir and art-house that look inspired by Helmut Newton, Bob Carlos Clark, David Lynch, Shinya Tsukamoto.