D&D General One Piece of Art IX (Wildcard)- What NON-D&D Art Inspired You to Love D&D?

[roger semerad]

Apologies for a second bite at the cherry but I can’t help thinking that the piece of non-D&D art below has had a pretty significant role in our wonderful game.........

View attachment 260029

I'm not familiar with this particular picture, but I'm guessing that's Smaug? That's a good pick. The Hobbit was the first fantasy anything I can remember interacting with. I think I was in the 4th or 5th grade? It was a long time ago, my memory is really hazy. The Hobbit definately had a large impact on my love of fantasy. I can't say any of the artwork itself really stuck with me. Later on in the 6th grade when I read the Lord of the Rings some of the art there really impressed me. Most people focused on the art of people, for me it was the backgrounds and environments that stuck with me. I stuggle to remember any specific piece though. Since you brought it up I'll go looking through my old books and see if I can find one I remember really connecting with.

Edit:

Nope, more faulty memory. My old books were cheap paperbacks that didn't have any art other than the covers. Two of the three books don't even have their cover anymore. I read those books multiple times and they're falling apart. I was probably mixing up some of my old memories of being enthralled with the world with art from later editions I've bought, or maybe the movie concept art. They did have the maps printed in them. I do remember looking at those and tracing the path of the Fellowship through the story. Thinking about what else was going on in world. Tolkien was massively influential on me because of the printed word, not the art. There are tons of great art out there of course, they just weren't very influential to me.

 

[GuyBoy]

I'm not familiar with this particular picture, but I'm guessing that's Smaug? That's a good pick. The Hobbit was the first fantasy anything I can remember reading. I think I was in the 4th or 5th grade? It was a long time ago, my memory is really hazy. The Hobbit definately had a large impact on my love of fantasy. I can't say any of the artwork itself really stuck with me. Later on in the 6th grade when I read the Lord of the Rings some of the art there really impressed me. Most people focused on the art of people, for me it was the backgrounds and environments that stuck with me. I stuggle to remember any specific piece though. Since you brought it up I'll go looking through my old books and see if I can find one I remember really connecting with.

Edit:

Nope, more faulty memory. My old books were cheap paperbacks that didn't have any art other than the covers. Two of the three books don't even have their cover anymore. I read those books multiple times and they're falling apart. I was probably mixing up some of my old memories of being enthralled with the world with art from later editions I've bought, or maybe the movie concept art. They did have the maps printed in them. I do remember looking at those and tracing the path of the Fellowship through the story. Thinking about what else was going on in world. Tolkien was massively influential on me because of the printed word, not the art. There are tons of great art out there of course, they just weren't very influential to me.

It is Smaug. The artist was Tolkien himself, so it carries that little bit of extra resonance.

 

[ephemeron]

Apologies for a second bite at the cherry but I can’t help thinking that the piece of non-D&D art below has had a pretty significant role in our wonderful game.........

And this related image that really captured my young imagination:

 

[Argyle King]

I had to think about this more than I expected.

When I was young, I read the Dragonlance books -without knowing they were D&D. So, they would have been early influences on me (along with The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia). However, Dragonlance is D&D, so that don't count.

I also grew up within reasonable driving distance of where Frank Frazetta was located, but his influence on me would have come later.

I wanted to post something from Riddlemaster of Hed or the Lonewolf series. But, ultimately, I think one of the biggest early influences on me was this:

Ghosts & Goblins

 

[Emirikol]

What people wore by Gorsline had great knight etc. I traced them all in grade school

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Source: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (of the Chronicles of Prydain)
Artist: Jean-Leon Huens
Explanation: I got into the Chronicles of Prydain in the 3rd grade of elementary school, being the first "classic fantasy" book that I ever read on my own (my mother read the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter books to me before I was old enough to read on my own, though). I fell in love with classic fantasy tales and this book helped me expand into other fantasy books. If I had to name a single book that set me on the path to fall in love with D&D, it would probably be this one, even though there are other books and shows that influence my current campaigns far more than the Chronicles of Prydain does.

 

[J.Quondam]

View attachment 260064
Source: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (of the Chronicles of Prydain)
Artist: Jean-Leon Huens
Explanation: I got into the Chronicles of Prydain in the 3rd grade of elementary school, being the first "classic fantasy" book that I ever read on my own (my mother read the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter books to me before I was old enough to read on my own, though). I fell in love with classic fantasy tales and this book helped me expand into other fantasy books. If I had to name a single book that set me on the path to fall in love with D&D, it would probably be this one, even though there are other books and shows that influence my current campaigns far more than the Chronicles of Prydain does.

I came ---->this<---- close to choosing this exact image, and for very similar reasons.

 

[aco175]

My original love for hobbits halflings.

 

[Hussar]

This probably had as much impact on my D&D as anything, although, to be fair, Lloyd Alexander would easily take this spot as well:

Source: Swords of the Horse Clans
Artist: Ken Kelly (1981)

The combination of SF and fantasy has always been strongly ingrained into my brain about how D&D should work. The series has been a huge impact and is probably one of the bigger influences in the post-apocalyptic fantasy genre. Hmm.... I should hunt these down and reread them, but, I'm afraid I'd probably not like them as much as I did at ten or twelve years old.

 

[Sacrosanct]

@Snarf Zagyg , that Wizards art was by Mike Ploog (one of my favorite artists by the way)

For me, Brothers Hildebrandt in their Sword of Shannara work