I’ll be doing a follow-up to this article in December. I’ve shared some of my favourites and encourage you to do the same. As with any artistic discussion there’s never a right or wrong answer. The internet makes finding these works easier and easier. With so many artists producing work for D&D over the years, I can’t even guess at how much is actually out there.

I also really liked the AD&D 2nd ed DMG cover. The first Easley cover I ever saw was for the AD&D Monster Manual, so this is one of my favourites. With an artist who produced so much it’s hard to pick just one favourite. He was probably the most prolific of these five artists. You couldn’t pick up an official rule book with seeing one of Easley’s painting. He also painted the covers for most of the AD&D 2nd ed. When the AD&D hardcover source books were given new covers in the early 80s, Easley painted new ones for every book including the PHB, DMG and Monster Manual. TSR knew that when your game is called Dungeon’s & Dragons you need to get the artist who paints dragons the best to represent your product. The covers for the Bloodstone modules have been favourites of mine for years, but Parkinson’s work “Lone Watch,” used as the cover for Dragon magazine #137 which featured a Ranger atop the lizard is probably my favourite of all his works. The man may be gone, but his work will live on. I was shocked to learn of his death when I was researching this article. On October 26, 2005, Keith Parkinson lost his battle with Leukemia and died. Of all his work, my favourite is the cover for the novel “Red Wizards.” It was still great, don’t get me wrong, but there was something about his style that I didn’t care for. Of these five giants, Fields is the one whose work I liked the least. My favourite Elmore work has always been the cover for the first Dragonlance novel, “Dragons of Autumn Twilight.”

In addition to Dragonlance, Elmore may be remembered by the some of the older games for painting the cover of the original red D&D boxed set. When I found a painting I liked I’d make a PC who fit that image. When I created new characters I often looked to his work to draw inspiration. Although I never really got into the Dragonlance setting of the books, the cover art always fascinated me.Įlmore’s attention to detail was unmatched by his peers. This was in fact my introduction to his work. He painted the covers for all the early novels. If you’re a fan of Dragonlance then you know the work of Larry Elmore. He did a lot of work for the Forgotten Realms too, including the memorable cover for the novel “Curse of the Azure Bonds.” But for me, the work I’ll always remember Caldwell for are the covers of the original Ravenloft and Ravenlot II adventures. Clyde CaldwellĪ lot of old school gamers will remember Caldwell’s work from the covers of the Gazetteer adventures. You’d look at the heroes in their paintings and think, that’s what I want my character to look like. The images that these five created set the stage for D&D. In the heyday of AD&D Caldwell, Elmore, Easley, Fields, and Parkinson were the best of the best. For the first time they didn’t depict dragons or adventurers. I don’t know all of the details and I wouldn’t bore you with them if I did, but 3e D&D paid less attention to the art and more attention to the new rules. I’m sure money was a factor and I’m sure there were internal politics. The artistic giants of AD&D were, unfortunately, left behind when the game was reinvented as 3e D&D. With these works gracing the covers for D&D rule books, modules, magazines and novels it made you want to buy these books. The weapons and armor were authentic and accurate. You believed that this scene could really exist. The heroes of various races and classes were shown battling these monsters of fantasy. This realistic approach was applied to more than the monsters.

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