D&D General Art that defined D&D for you

[Retreater]

That's a Larry Elmore. His women tend to have the same face.

Larry Elmore lives not too far from my small town in Kentucky. One of my friends modeled for his fantasy art (years after his TSR days). So the more contemporary "Elmore look" might be my friend.

 

[Retreater]

Morgan Ironwolf. The original Iconic Character.
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And this was the first cover art I commissioned for a new Mystara book. Wanted to do the setting right.
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I've been watching the teasers for this Mystara book on YouTube. Can't wait.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

That classic TSR mid to late 80s art: Elmore, Easley, et al.

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The slain green dragon wyrmling is my pick!

I do wonder just how much impact the art in the books has on player's conceptions of what D&D is all about. From this thread, I'm thinking it probably has quite a lot.

 

[Stormonu]

Well, I suppose I should first show the one my avatar is based on....

Or, as I like to call it, Ringlerun the later years. (I associate with Ringlerun more than Kalak)

But this will be the one that always comes to mind

Players: "We slew a dragon!"
DM: "Suuure you did."

In fact, it sort of reminds me of the scene in Jaws where they've strung up the "wrong" shark.

 

[Jack Hooligan]

I'm double dipping into this thread, but I wanna share one more piece that influenced me a lot in the early years. As a fan of the Rankin-Bass LotR/Hobbit cartoons, haflings were something I wanted to adventure as. The following Jeff Dee image set up the idea that they could be athletic/heroic in build which was a cool new take for my young mind. I ran all sorts of halflings after this.

Coming back to the game after many editions away...I'm less than plussed about the appearance of the 5e halfling.

 

[cmad1977]

Cover of the Red Box.