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The Artists of TSR
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98 posts in this topic

I spent a lot more time reading comics than I did playing D&D, but TSR's art takes up a lot of shelf space in my mind.  I only had one Dragon magazine (I still can't believe someone bought it for me).  I read it to death and stared at the cover a lot.  I look forward to losing an auction for it one day!

 

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That 111 is a great one too.  Odd how I barely remember that one and that speaks more to the fact that post issue 100 I was getting older and each issue just didn't have the gravitational pull that ones from the 50s through 80s did for me. That murder mystery sounds interesting--I might need to dig that one out and see if it would be fun as a one-shot played by adults.

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22 minutes ago, HouseofComics.Com said:

That 111 is a great one too.  Odd how I barely remember that one and that speaks more to the fact that post issue 100 I was getting older and each issue just didn't have the gravitational pull that ones from the 50s through 80s did for me. That murder mystery sounds interesting--I might need to dig that one out and see if it would be fun as a one-shot played by adults.

 

4 hours ago, Bubb Rubb said:

I spent a lot more time reading comics than I did playing D&D, but TSR's art takes up a lot of shelf space in my mind.  I only had one Dragon magazine (I still can't believe someone bought it for me).  I read it to death and stared at the cover a lot.  I look forward to losing an auction for it one day!

 

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For all us fans of Dragon, and you especially, this book is required ownership...

 

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Dragon-Magazine-Including-Cover/dp/0880385375

 

 

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Was big fan of Jeff Dee's art from D&D to V&V, always thought that he should get into comics.

I also was into Willingham's art. I met him at a con a long, long time ago and brought up his TSR work. He didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but I loved it nonetheless.

 

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5 minutes ago, feder241 said:

Was big fan of Jeff Dee's art from D&D to V&V, always thought that he should get into comics.

I also was into Willingham's art. I met him at a con a long, long time ago and brought up his TSR work. He didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but I loved it nonetheless.

 

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee NJ writes...

A no prize for anyone who gets that reference! Besides feder241 of course.

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22 hours ago, comix4fun said:

He's my #1 favorite, and most nostalgically well-remembered, artist but the OP mentioned pre-83 and the Otus work I love is all 78-81.

Erol Otus. :cloud9: 

His cover painting for the 1981 Basic Set box/manual has got to be a Top 5 all-time pop culture art piece for me, nostalgia-wise.  

The 1981 version of the Tomb of Horrors module is also a personal favorite.  I believe the art is by Jeff Dee (?) 

 

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7 minutes ago, delekkerste said:

Erol Otus. :cloud9: 

His cover painting for the 1981 Basic Set box/manual has got to be a Top 5 all-time pop culture art piece for me, nostalgia-wise.  

The 1981 version of the Tomb of Horrors module is also a personal favorite.  I believe the art is by Jeff Dee (?) 

 

My favorite Module. I remember it being a ballbuster to beat but the art image of the front cover was burned into my brain then, still is. 

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4 minutes ago, comix4fun said:

My favorite Module. I remember it being a ballbuster to beat but the art image of the front cover was burned into my brain then, still is. 

I'm pretty my character died trying to beat it. :sorry: 

The module also plays a prominent role in the awesome nostalgia romp "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. (worship) 

As I mentioned in Bronty's 1980s-up non-comic illustration art thread, many of the most enduring images from that era for me are non-comic book related, including these D&D illustrations.  So, so memorable. :cloud9: 

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Thanks for the plug Gene.     The thread went over like a lead balloon lol but I was probably way too ambitious with the list.    

But yeah.    Around this time other illustrations start being just as interesting, and then later, IMO, more interesting.    Lots of great pop culture art in the 90s... it just wasn't in comics unless you like characters with no feet :insane:    but more so in D&D modules and album covers and MTG cards and video game boxes and pinball (and  in the mid and late 80s action figures) etc etc.

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The early 80's TRS images are definitely high on my nostalgia list.

1 hour ago, delekkerste said:

The module also plays a prominent role in the awesome nostalgia romp "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. (worship)

Yes! a must-read for any child of the 80's

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For me the D&D images are only truly memorable because they happened to be on the cover. I thought that they were cool but the quality of the art didn't grab me but instead slowly leaked into my visual memory due to always being there. Monster Manual (the first one) is a good example. The Player's Manual had a great illustration for sure, one I remember as well, but mostly the top part of the image and not the lower part which was covered by lettering and darker. The art I love from my younger days was stuff that made me go "WOW", Heavy Metal covers maybe. But the D&D covers didn't do that for me.

The Narnia books fit in this category for me as well. They are cool to look at and remember what they meant to me at the time but the images themselves are secondary to the content of the books they covered.

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3 hours ago, delekkerste said:

I'm pretty my character died trying to beat it. :sorry: 

The module also plays a prominent role in the awesome nostalgia romp "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. (worship) 

As I mentioned in Bronty's 1980s-up non-comic illustration art thread, many of the most enduring images from that era for me are non-comic book related, including these D&D illustrations.  So, so memorable. :cloud9: 

 

1 hour ago, Hekla said:

The early 80's TRS images are definitely high on my nostalgia list.

Yes! a must-read for any child of the 80's

 

Totally in agreement with Ready Player One - the book doesn't do near as well with younger people. It really has a sweet spot with regards to audience. I tore through it in two days, and it only took that long because it wasn't during the weekend.

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Agreed there is some great stuff from this era, but it's becoming very difficult to find much of anything, and the prices have skyrocketed because of a 1 man wrecking crew / black hole.

But Collector's Trove once in a while will have some random prelims and the odd finished image from inside a module, but all lower end stuff, nothing that would "get me".

Plus more of my DnD days are in the 3 / 3.5 era.  I have not been able to find a lot of that stuff either.

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1 hour ago, Bronty said:

I hope Matt completes the museum he was talking about.   All this stuff might end up on display one day.

Agreed, it would be amazing.  Just makes collecting in that space very difficult.  it's like going up against a BSD on almost every comic page =)

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that's the fun irony.    Prices have gone up and yet there are no collectors of the material left because they've been priced out.

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Yeah, it's really weird.  the whole RPG art market, there's almost no circulation of the art.  I find it really weird coming from comic art.  And I see that there is some demand for it, but it's not easy to track down.

But on the flip side, there are chances you can reach out to an artist and they'll have stuff stashed in their closet from 30 years ago.

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16 minutes ago, Pete Marino said:

Yeah, it's really weird.  the whole RPG art market, there's almost no circulation of the art.  I find it really weird coming from comic art.  And I see that there is some demand for it, but it's not easy to track down.

But on the flip side, there are chances you can reach out to an artist and they'll have stuff stashed in their closet from 30 years ago.

Welcome to my world!    From my experience that's how it is with most good non-comic pop culture art.     Waaay harder to find and you can't just sit on your soft behind and wait for heritage to find it for you.   But, more chance of a deal.

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