Keith Parkinson (died 2005)Daniel R Horne
Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, Keith Parkinson and Daniel R Horne......
These were arguably the most prolific and popular artists in D&D during the 1980s and 90s. Most of the D&D manuals, source books, adventures, novels and magazines of the 80s and early 90s featured the works of one of these four artists on their covers.
Each edition of D&D had a different type of art that was unique to that version of the game. Art of the original D&D consisted of a lot of line drawings. They were two dimensional and simple. With AD&D, the art was taken to a whole new level. It took on a realism that was, until then, uncharacteristic in role-playing games. Artists working to illustrate AD&D understood that just because dragons don’t really exist doesn’t mean they can’t be depicted as if they do.
This realistic approach was applied to more than the monsters. The heroes of various races and classes were shown battling these monsters of fantasy. You believed that this scene could really exist. The details were exquisite. The weapons and armor were authentic and accurate. With these works gracing the covers for D&D rule books, modules, magazines and novels it made you want to buy these books.
The artistic giants of AD&D were, unfortunately, left behind when the game was reinvented as 3e D&D. The artistic direction changed.Third editionD&D paid less attention to the art and more attention to the new rules. Just look at the covers of the 3e books. For the first time they didn’t depict dragons or adventurers.
In AD&D Caldwell, Elmore, Easley, Parkinson and Hornewere the best of the best. The images that these five created set the stage for D&D. You’d look at the heroes in their paintings and think, that’show I want my character to look like.........
Clyde Cadwell
For almost 10 years Clyde's work graced the covers of TSR, Inc.'s game and book lines. For TSR he did paintings for the 1985 through 1993 calendars, including the covers for the 1987 Dragonlance Calendar and the 1990 Forgotten Realms Calendar. He was also the cover artist for the D & D Gazetteer module series, and the popular Ravenloft series, and has had work included in several TSR Art Books.
In 1992 Clyde left TSR to pursue a freelance career.
