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

[Eltab]

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

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i wonder if the upcoming "frozen horror" adventure will have a nod to the pic of the skeleton(?) bursting out of the snow?

 

[Laurefindel]

Hum, hesitating between something from the Paterson/Dragonlance series for the first impression of « so this is what D&D is about » and something from DiTerlizi/Planscape for the later « this is the game for me » moments.

 

[SkidAce]

 

[Mercurius]

Too many to count, but a sampling:

And those are just "old school" stuff.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I must say, to the 11 y-o me who got the 3.X PHB as a loan by an older neighbor so I could use it as inspiration for my (bad) drawings, the art for the iconic characters are forever branded on the surface of my brain. They were cool, sexy (yes, even Tordek!), had a ridiculous number of belts and, for a kid who did not speak muck of english back then, explained better than any word the world of D&D.

I had a huge crush on the druid:

 

[Greg Benage]

How has nobody cited this one yet? This is THE iconic D&D image as far as I'm concerned, right down to the party puzzling over their map while the two rogues in the back are prying out a gemstone from an idol and you just know something bad is going to happen when that gem pops loose.

After 40 years, I'm still not sure. Is he holding something or giving them a thumbs up? "Like, hey man, I know I was out of spells and wasn't much help, but I knew you guys could do it."

 

[The Glen]

Morgan Ironwolf. The original Iconic Character.

And this was the first cover art I commissioned for a new Mystara book. Wanted to do the setting right.

 

[Quickleaf]

I think this was a Jim Holloway from the Basic D&D set... but maybe I'm misremembering? I think it was the same era as Bargle and Aleena, when Mystara was the default setting. Something about that simple daily life image of "demihuman" PCs stuck in my mind; even today, it inspires me to imagine a story explaining what they're talking about.

 

[The Glen]

I think this was a Jim Holloway from the Basic D&D set... but maybe I'm misremembering? I think it was the same era as Bargle and Aleena, when Mystara was the default setting. Something about that simple daily life image of "demihuman" PCs stuck in my mind; even today, it inspires me to imagine a story explaining what they're talking about.

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

 

[DND_Reborn]

Did we just do this thread a few months back?

Anyway, this is the defining image for me:

I bought one of the poster prints from Elmore's website, but am waiting to get it framed.