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

[Charlaquin]

What people wore by Gorsline had great knight etc. I traced them all in grade school View attachment 260062

Oh, wow, I use this book at work when developing new characters! (Part of my job is historical reenactment).

 

[roger semerad]

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

View attachment 260050

Now you got me thinking about video games influence on me. There are so many to chose from, but for inspiring the spirit of adventure nothing beats the Legend of Zelda. The First game in the series I played was A Link to the Past. My love of exploration probably started here. Exploring every nook and cranny of the world looking for new NPC's, artifacts, and power ups. If I had to pick a single moment with the most artist merit from the game it would this:


The mysterious ambiance of the Lost Woods, the clearing where the Master Sword rests, the mist clearing when you pull the sword and the heroic overworld theme playing afterwards. Just chef's kiss.

 

[Fenris-77]

The non D&D artist that probably influenced me most is Ian Miller. He did a lot of work for WHFRP and his stuff is pretty iconic.

 

[Radaceus]

I think it was both* of these I bought in the summer of 1979/1980 that turned my attention to the Red Box further down the aisle:

*I realize it is two pieces of art, but they are intertwined as one in the menage le trois that became my obsession with D&D,

a few short years later and my love deepened, as a new artist cover appeared on the shelf next to where the first two had seduced me from:

 

[Argyle King]

Now you got me thinking about video games influence on me. There are so many to chose from, but for inspiring the spirit of adventure nothing beats the Legend of Zelda. The First game in the series I played was A Link to the Past. My love of exploration probably started here. Exploring every nook and cranny of the world looking for new NPC's, artifacts, and power ups. If I had to pick a single moment with the most artist merit from the game it would this:


The mysterious ambiance of the Lost Woods, the clearing where the Master Sword rests, the mist clearing when you pull the sword and the heroic overworld theme playing afterwards. Just chef's kiss.

NES video games introduced me to rpgs.

I posted Ghosts & Goblins both because of the game and because of the arcade cabinet artwork. When I was very young, my dad owned a small arcade. Something about the artwork on the machine spoke to me.

Golden Axe was also a big influence on me. Lizardfolk are a big part of my fantasy vision because of Golden Axe.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Although I'd learned to play D&D long before I read the book series, Louis Royo's cover art for the first book in the Hawk & Fisher series got me into Royo's art, which very much matched my visions of D&D at the time, nevermind the fact that it was on the cover of what was essentially a D&D buddy-cop novel by one of my favorite authors...

 

[Sacrosanct]

Oh yeah, and the art for all of these books

 

[Rabulias]

The Invisible Thief
Artist: Steve Hickman

 

[Radaceus]

I couldn't find the image I really wanted, but this will do:

View attachment 260000

This reminds me of another piece of Art influential in my love for RPGs:
'La Belle Dame sans Merci' by Frank Dicksee

along with other Pre-Raphealite artists like E Blair Leightons ' The Accolade'

 

[Smackpixi]

View attachment 259868

Mercer Mayer's Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo.

This was a particular favorite book of mine as a young child.

Monsters. Lots of really visually cool monsters. Adventuring investigations with surprises and twists.

It laid a foundation.

I came here to post the same thing. It was my favorite book as a child…maybe second favorite to Richard Scarry’s Cars And Trucks And Things That Go…but I loved it. Here’s the bestiary.