Saturday, September 18, 2010

Formative Images


James at Grognardia's question got me thinking back to what imgages capture the spirit of DnD for me. Mostly I think of the 2nd edition booksthat came out just as I was getting into the game. And firstand foremost of the artists that rocked those books was Larry Elmore.

Here are a few of my favorite images from Larry:



This first image from the 2nd Edition Players handbook probably sums up DnD the best for me. The party, the dead dragon, the treasure, and the the little details like the scratches on the fighters legs, and an arrow in the dragon from the elf! This image is pure AWESOME.



The death of Sturm... Reminds me of the deaths of some of my favorite characters. Some of them died stupidly, but others died valiantly.


Larry always drew awesome dragons... this one always made me want to make a character that was powerful enough to somehow get a dragon to ride. It happened once, and only once, and if I remember correctly right after I got the dragon the DM at the time decided I needed to retire that character.


2 comments:

  1. Elmore was always my favorite of the Dragon Lance artists, and the image with Laurana and the dead Sturn was one of my personal favorites, too (I had a DL calendar, back in the day...that was November, my birth month!).

    The first image (from the 2E PHB, I believe?) I also remember and was one of my wife's favorite pictures...until I sold the book (she didn't play D&D back then anyway...).

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  2. I think the last image of the dragon rider is by Keith Parkinson instead...

    Larry did paint awesome outdoor "riding" scenes though.

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