The Art of the AD&D Game

I he

The

:i3

of the

Advanced Du

Fantasy Game

Stephanie Tabat
Roy E. Parker

Design

Mary Kirchoff

Editor

of hte-

-DwF-%-!mFantwasyG=amee-

"1 989 TSR, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction
or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the
express written permissionof TSR, Inc.

Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for
English language products of TSR, Inc.

Distributed to the book and hobby trade In the United Kingdom by TSR, Ltd.

Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.

DUNGEONS a DRAGONS, ADVANCED DUNGEONS a DRAGONS, ADaD, FORGOTTEN REALMS,

DRAGONLANCE, DRAGON and GEN CON are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. The TSR
logo and SUPER ENDLESSQUEST are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

First printing: September 1989

I Printed In the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-5 1734

ISBN: 0-88038-605-3

9876543

TSR, Inc.

PO.Box 756

Lake Geneva, WI 53 147

TSR Ltd.
120 Church End, Cherry Hinton

Cambridge CB I 3LB

United Kingdom

Clyde Caldwell

Jeff Easiey

67

85

93
Keith Parkinson

111

T h e introduction to a n artbook should whet the appetite a n d tempt t h e
palate, like hors d’oeuvres before t h e main meal. In that spirit, I’m about to
tell you s o m e of my own observations a b o u t t h e amazing, talented artists
represented in this book, things they aren’t willing to tell o r haven’t recognized
in themselves. As t h e managing editor of TSR’s b o o k department, it has k e n
my pleasure to work with e a c h of these artists over t h e years, a n d they have left
m e almost as many personal impressions as their art has created for us all.

Something about Clyde Caldwell reminds m e of a swashbuckler. I can see him
in my mind’s e y e at t h e bow of a sailing ship, saber in hand, his brightly
colored tunic wafting in t h e salty breeze. Yet his hands a r e not t h o s e of a
pirate-they are fine-boned artist’s hands. He has a ready, distinctive laugh, a
slow, southern drawl, and h e seems to thrive o n popcorn and yogurt. The
women in his paintings a r e t h e dreams of many men a n d cause depression
a m o n g us women. We know that t h o s e women really exist somewhere because
h e works from photographs of his models.

I haven’t been able to s h a k e t h e image of Jeff Easley as a Middle-Eastern
sultan since Clyde painted him into t h e cover of t h e novel, Red Sands. Or t h e
image of Jeff with a bloody a x e wedged in his forehead-part of his homemade
Halloween costume of a couple of years ago. He’s a quiet, gentle man w h o
s e e m s able to a b s o r b t h e c h a o s of TSR’s art room a n d sum it all u p with s o m e
incredibly witty observation. While interviewing TSR’s staff artists for The Art of
the DRAGONLANC€@SagaI,tried to pry from him s o m e juicy tidbit about his
painting entitled “Lair of t h e Live Ones,” which is t h e o n e with Raistlin standing
near a pit, surrounded by all sorts of g o o p y eyeballs a n d slimy creatures. I said
something pithy like, “It looks as if you really got into this piece a n d had fun
creating t h e s e weird creatures. Did you enjoy painting it?” Jefflooked at t h e
photocopy of t h e painting, glanced a w a y thoughtfully, stroked his thick, red
beard once, a n d said in a deep, mock-serious voice, “Yes, I did.” That w a s it. I
like to time my noon meal in t h e cafeteria to coincide with his, mainly to see
what incredibly weird concoction he comes up with from the nearby grocery
store. Whatever it is, from sardines to chicken, it’s bound to be covered with
liberal dashes of t h e hot sauce h e keeps near his drawing table.

If you can picture it, Larry Elmore reminds m e of a cross between Larry’s own
sexy renditions of Tanis Half-Elven from t h e DRAGONLANC&@saga a n d a slightly
befuddled Yosemite Sam. There’s a genuine warmth a b o u t Larry that radiates to
his co-workers a n d his fans; h e gives you t h e impression that h e doesn’t t a k e
himself o r his accomplishments too seriously, though h e is very serious a b o u t his
art. He’s filled with funny stories, but my favorite is t h e o n e a b o u t his beloved
hot rod burning u p just three feet beyond t h e jurisdiction of t h e local fire
department. And don’t let him tell you that that curly dark-haired woman in
many of his paintings isn’t his wife. He vehemently denies it, as does she, but t h e
rest of us know better.

My impr of Fred Fields has b e e n colored by two events. The person

w h o introduced u s n o t too long ago said, “This is Fred Fields, o u r new

artist. Doesn’t h e have t h e blackest hair you’ve e v e r seen?” So n o w every time I

see him my e y e s settle o n his hair a n d I unconsciously think, “Yeah, it is really

black.” The other event c a m e u p just yesterday, when Fred told m e that h e had

been wanting to include a self-portrait in o n e of his pieces a n d he’d managed it

in t h e piece entitled “Art Warriors.’’ I secretly thought Fred was far nicer looking,

not so severe a n d brutish, a n d t h a t t h e g u y in t h e painting looked m o r e like Lyle

Alzado. But Fred entered t h e “Unflappable Illustrator’s Hall of Fame” during a

meeting when we w e r e discussing t h e subject of his first b o o k cover for TSR.

The art director a n d I, t h e two fastest talkers in t h e world, had discussed t h e

look we had in mind for t h e c o v e r a n d were both excited by this shared vision.

Speech speed set at 78, we slammed into Fred with o u r enthusiasm, knocked

him to t h e floor with endless detail, a n d then jumped o n his lifeless form by

announcing a n impossible deadline. While we caught our breath a n d waited for

t h e protestations, Fred calmly lifted his eyebrows a n d said, “I c a n do that, yes.”

Stunned, I retreated to my office, whereupon Fred arrived n o t two hours later

with a sketch that proved h e had heard every w o r d we’d said. So far, h e s e e m s

to eat relatively normal food, but I suspect that extended e x p o s

artists will s o o n c h a n g e that.

Keith Parkinson has always looked m o r e like a n athlete than

a n d I think it’s because of his hands. There a r e calluses o n them, n o t just paint

beneath t h e nails, as if he’s n o t afraid to use his hands f o r things other than art.

He’s a very focused person w h o s e e m s to k n o w w h o h e is a n d where he’s going

with his lifea n d his work. And y e t in every mental image I have of Keith he’s

smiling, a n d his smile always leaves a twinkle behind in his eyes. The other thing

that c o m e s to mind a b o u t Keith is his painting moods. Suddenly he’ll feel like

doing a western scene, so he’ll search a n d search f o r a w a y to slip s o m e aspect

of that into a n assignment. And then there was his “gray period,” when he was

using a lot of s o m b e r tones. I liked to tease him a n d a s k if t h e paint s t o r e had

run a special o n gray paint a n d h e was trying to c u t costs.

onderfully quirky, yet amazingly focused, these artists h a v e succeeded in
showing us just what t h e world of t h e ADVANCED DUNGEONS 8. DRAGONSO
fantasy g a m e looks like. Their compelling work places t h e m a m o n g t h e finest in
t h e fantasy a n d science fiction genres. But I’m sure you already know that. And
now, I h o p e you’re all very hungry, because dinner is served.

Mary Kirchoff
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

30 August 1989

As a n only child growing u p in a small
town in North Carolina, I found plenty

of opportunity to read, daydream, a n d

draw-I can’t remember not drawing. My
father w a s a printer, a n d o n e of his
co-workers was Sam Grainger, a commercial
artist w h o did a r t for Marvel Comics o n t h e

side. So every Friday afternoon my dad

would bring home comic books and read
them to m e while I studied the colorful
panels, especially “The Batman.” Afterward,
I’d do ink drawings of super heroes a n d send
them to work with my dad, w h o would get
Sam to critique them.

Around t h e age of fourteen I discovered
t h e adventure fantasies of Edgar Rice
Burroughs that sported the fantastic artwork
of Frank Frazetta a n d Roy C. Krenkel. I read
tons of SF a n d fantasy literature a n d could
conceive of nothing m o r e satisfying than to
illustrate for authors w h o s e works w e r e so
fascinating to me.

I w a s already in college studying a r t when
I b e c a m e a w a r e of fanzines, a n d for t h e next
six years I did drawings a n d logo designs for
many obscure publications. By this time I
had decided t h a t “fine art” was not for
me-I had set my sights o n a career in
illustration. I had been submitting work to
s o m e of t h e New York publishers a n d
gathering a lot of rejection slips when I got
my first professional SF assignment from a
small magazine called Unearth. An a r t a g e n t
spotted my work there a n d helped m e get
my foot in t h e door at s o m e of t h e New York
paperback publishers a n d at Heavy Metal
Magazine.

9

“The Forgotten Realms,” 1989

IO

k D uring this time I
L began doing

covers for DRAGON@

Magazine, and TSR
asked me to join
their art staff. I was

amazed t o find a
group of kindred
sdrits-artists with
similar outlooks and
Interests-after hav-
ing been so isolated

11

I

I

I-

"The Principallties of Glantri." 1987

I
I

13

“The Kingdom of lerendi,” 1987
14

“The Elves of Alfheim.” 1988

I

“The Dwarves of Rockhome,” 1988 ~~

15

1

I
I

“The Minrothad Guilds,” 1988
16

“The Northern Reaches,” 1988

~

c

17



'he Orcs of Thar," 1988

19



"The Jewels of Elvish," 1989 x

I

.

21

r1r

"Fire from Heaven," 1988

I took the job at
TSRandbegan
working alongside,
among others, Jeff
Easley, whose work I
had admired and
whom I had com-

A peted for space with

& - back in my fanzine
days, and Larry

ii Eimore,who had
also been doing
work for-Heavy
Metal.

IB

I

"Tantras," 1989

23

-

"The Dark Queen," 1988
24

Larry and I often
laughed about the
issue of Heavy Metal
in which a really
grotesque painting
of mine was selected
for the front cover (it
wasn’t very good),
and Larry’svery nice
painting was rele-
gated t o the back
cover because it
wasn’t “weird”
enough.

I

‘Artifact of Evil,” 1986

c

25

4

“The Price of Power,” 1987 i
26

"The Demon Hand," 1988

27

I

c
I

..

I

"Red Sands," 1988

“Waterdeep:’ 1989 I focus my art on
the characters. I
love to take an au-

lthor’s character and
flesh it out, make the
character visually
real for the reader. I
remember having
vivid images of char-
acters and monsters
after finishing a Bur-
roughs story, but
when I would go
back to take notes
for an illustration, I
was often amazed at
how little description
was actually present.
I The author had given
me that vision with-
out getting bogged
down in detail.

I

29

I i

'T

"Streams of Silver," 1988

30

-.-

k

h

I

“Needle,” 1987 I

i

I

I

"fizure Bonus, I roo

32

I
I

1

"Faeriemound of Dragonkind," 1987

33

34

A For me, filling in that
detail as an illustra-
C tor helps me recap-
ture those magical
moments in my
youth, when I first
discovered fantasy.

A

"Unconquered," 1986

I t all started in a 5,000-watt hospital near
Nicholasville, Kentucky. I, like every other
artist in every other personal reminiscence,
started drawing at a n early age. My parents
were, a n d remain, a constant s o u r c e of
encouragement. I still h a v e a number of my
old n o t e b o o k s from t h e ages of four a n d
five, a n d strangely enough, m o s t of t h e
subject matter revolved around ghosts and

monsters and various other creepy-crawlies.
So t h e die, such as it is, was cast at a n early
age. I used to c u t monster-movie ads o u t of
t h e paper a n d k e e p t h e m in a s h o e b o x (I
still haven’t s e e n t h e m all, but I’m getting

there).
A few other pertinent thrills from my

.&rmative years include a local N station’s

-night movie series “Terror in t h e Night,”
my first copies of “Famous Monsters of

Filmland,” a n d Creepy Magazine. Creepy #2
was especially pivotal in t h a t it gave m e my
first look at a Frazetta (capital letters)
’painting. And, also like so many other
artists, it m a d e m e what I a m today.

My interest in t h e fantastic w a n e d
somewhat during my high-school years. I
went into Murray State University with t h e
v a g u e intention of becoming a n artist. But
after a couple of years of classes t h a t
consisted of doing left-handed gesture
drawings in t h e d a r k while listening to

Spanish guitar music, I began looking
toward t h e future, having married fellow art
major, Cynthia Edwards. I started
contributing to s o m e Edgar Rice Burroughs

fanzines just about the time Frazetta’s first

artbook came out, and suddenly the future I
was looking at a few sentences ago b e c a m e
clear to me.

A- Jeff Ensley

37

I

"Empires of the Sands," 1988
38

"Wizard and Draaon." ,,,3

-

“Verrninaard,”1988
40

A

A

‘“1

41

111

"Mages' Battle," 1988
42

A

"Astral Encounter." 1988

43

"Griffon Flight," 1988

A’A(

C’

“The Dark Citadel,” 1988 Y

45

I

“Vengeanceof , .

46

47

r

"Darkwell," 1988

48

F... .U..l...,..3:.....-.. J

h

“UnexpectedEncounter,”1987
50

'Dungeon Horde,' 1986

51

L-

“The Magister,“ 1988
52

3own of Power," 1988 I finished college
and managed to
d o a bit of Freelanc-
ing, which included
some covers for
g o o d 01' Creepy
Magazine, fun stuff,
indeed.

4

f

"Lordsof Darkness:' 1988