D&D General Art that exemplifies D&D to you.

[Reynard]

What art really feels like D&D to you, that get you feeling pumped to run D&D? This can be anything from the great works of the Renaissance to the most recent official WotC cover art, and does not need to actually be related to D&D at all.

For my part, Frank Frazetta -- particularly his Conan work -- is definitive D&D art. Much of it is NSFW due to gore or nudity, but "Snow Giants" is a good evocative piece for anyone who doesn't know Frazetta.

 

[Oofta]

 

[basaipete]

Elmore defined D&D art for an entire generation.

Jeff Dee also had a distinctive style that I always enjoyed.

 

[teitan]

That last is Erol Otus but Dee was a classic. Willingham also. Old school D&D I think defined D&D as a genre and while later were superior on a technical level, they weren’t tasked with delineating a new idea. Don’t get me wrong, I love Easley and Elmore. Two of my top five D&D artists, but many seemed to be painting statues while Otus, Dee, Sutherland, Trampier and company seemed to be expelling life from their pens and brushes and the crazy designs and surreal illustrations ignited the imagination in ways only the likes of Kirby & Ditko has previously done with Marvel.

 

[Reynard]

Keith Parkinson was as iconic to me as Elmore.

 

[basaipete]

That last is Erol Otus but Dee was a classic. Willingham also. Old school D&D I think defined D&D as a genre and while later were superior on a technical level, they weren’t tasked with delineating a new idea. Don’t get me wrong, I love Easley and Elmore. Two of my top five D&D artists, but many seemed to be painting statues while Otus, Dee, Sutherland, Trampier and company seemed to be expelling life from their pens and brushes and the crazy designs and surreal illustrations ignited the imagination in ways only the likes of Kirby & Ditko has previously done with Marvel.

D'oh. Good catch. To make up for it I will now include an actual Dee piece...

 

[Reynard]

And of course John Howe's Tolkien work speaks to me since I like to feel of Tolkien in my D&D.

 

[BrokenTwin]

I was introduced to D&D in the 3.5 era, so the dungeonpunk aesthetic that was popular at the time (and continues to be popular with Paizo products) is what most evokes the feeling of D&D to me. Characters covered with enough random trinkets and stylistic flair to make any runway show jealous.
The black and white pieces of the older eras brings to mind the OSR movement as a whole rather than D&D specifically, and the modern stuff is mostly... generic fantasy art? Good, high quality, but still generic fantasy art.

 

[cmad1977]

 

[ccs]