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Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) artwork collections A number of books have focused on works from different artists created for packaging & promoting the products surround this roleplaying game system. The ones gathered here are shown best-scoring first and least-so at the bottom. Dungeons & Dragons - Lore & Legends (2023 - Ten Speed Press) (by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson & Sam Witwer) This follow-up to 'ART & ARCANA' is subtitled "A Visual Celebration" and its art-display score is indeed the better of the two, but I'd report that it's equally uncomfortable in its heft. Also, I was actually more chagrined with its seemingly lackadaisical regard in supplying artist credits-I mean, there is a *lot* of art captioned adequately, but that still left me roughly 40 dominant pieces to try and identify the artist by other means (you can see below that I failed in about a third of them). Note that this volume is meant as an overview of just the ballyhooed Fifth Edition of the roleplaying game and its ephemera, while trumpeting its pinnacle superiority. By the numbers, you will find here 202 pages featuring large reproductions and then another 119 that gather together multiple images. (Among all that are 36 instances of large art laid over the significant gutter, but surprisingly almost none out-&-out fail in that presentation). The artists found here getting 'well-presented' treatment are: Joy Ang, Alexey Aparin, Chris Balansca, Wylie Beckert, Mark Behr (2), Eric Belisle, Zoltan Boros, Christopher Bradley, Bruce Brenneise, Aleski Briclot (3), Sam Burley, Ekaterina Burmak, Wesley Burt (2), Clint Cearley (4), Jacob Chabot, Sidharth Chaturvedi (4), Jedd Chevrier (2), Daarken, Alayna Danner, Kent Davis (2), Tony DiTerlizzi, Simon Dominic, Piotr Dura, Jeff Easley, Edge, Evyn Fong, Caroline Gariba, Justin Gerard (2), Ilse Gort, Sja Hong, Ralph Horsley, Lake Hurwitz (3), Minttu Hynninen, Tyler Jacobson (16), Jaime Jones, Julian Kok (6), Michael Komarck, Kekai Kotaki, Mike Krahulik, Guido Kuip (4), Karl Kuschul, Katerina Laden, Olly Lawson, Troy Little, Daniel Ljunggren, Lindsay Look, Adrián Ibarra Lugo, Titus Luntner (2), Antoinio José Mazanedo, Macel Mercado (2), Robson Michel, Christopher Moeller, Scott Murphy (2), David Auden Nash, William O'Connor, Ben Oliver, Hector Ortiz, Keith Parkinson (2)***, Klaus Pillon (2), Anna Podedworna (2), April Prime, Vincent Proce (2), Chris Rahn, Jason Rainville (2), Chris Rallis, Nick Robles, Grzegorz "Greg" Rutowski (6), Wesley Schneider, Chris Seaman (2), Sean Sevestre, Cynthia Sheppard (4), Craig J. Spearing (3), Greg Staples, Anna Steinbaur, Chase Stone, Philip Straub, Dave Sutherland, Raymond Swanland (6), Wisnu Tan, Thom Tenery, Cory Trego-Erdner, Brian Valeza, Cyril VanDerHaegen, Svetlin Velinov, Magali Villanueve (2), Jack Wang, Richard Whitters, Shawn Wood, Kieran Yanner (3), and UNKNOWN ARTIST (13). *** - Note that in regards to the 'well-presented' pieces here by Parkinson, one, but not both, can additionally be found so in his own collections on The List. Dungeons & Dragons - Art & Arcana (2018 - Ten Speed Press) (by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson & Sam Witwer) You'll find this volume subtitled 'A Visual History', which might tip you off that the proceedings here won't quite be the same as those inside 'a visual celebration' which indeed this book's companion, Lore & Legends, is subtitled. I'm not saying there isn't a *lot* of art thrown around the book, but the thrust is indeed "the history and evolution of the beloved role-playing game . . . and visual ephemera behind its creation, growth, and continued popularity". Specifically, out of the book's 448 pages, 299 can be said to be dominated by art, both original works or that displayed on exhibited products - those pages consisting of 126 gatherings of multiple images and 173 each focusing on large featured reproductions. Now let me flag that this book is too big by our lights - twice as big as what we consider optimally manageable for most. At the same time, we found fascinating the book-length explication of the ins-and-outs of this phenomenon and the company that originated & continued it through the years, even through its own failure and then rebirth through others who took up the baton. The focus on pure business choices, and their consequences, would seem to create a basic lesson useful to any commercial endeavor. Not every exhibit is equally assiduous in identifying the artists behind them, especially when what's displayed are the efforts of other companies partnering to get in on the D&D action, but the large index in the back was very welcome, in my own coverage, for navigating those many, many exhibits (though I suspect the huge panoply of them accounted for the several names which I detected having slipped through that net). The artists found here getting 'well-presented' treatment are: Alexey Aparin, Adriano Batista, Greg Bell (4), Paul Bonner, Brom (7)***, Clyde Caldwell (6)**, Stephen Daniele, Darlene (3), Jeff Dee, Dave Dimery, Tony DiTerlizzi, Jeff Easley (14), Jesper Ejsing, Larry Elmore (9)***, Emmanuel, Fred Fields (2), Bill Hannan, Randall S. Harju, Henry Higginbotham, Daniel Horne**, Ralph Horsley (3), Greg Irons, Tyler Jacobson (4), Jennel Jacquays, Ken Kelly**, Dana Knutson, Michael Komarck (3), John & Laura Lakey (2), Todd Lockwood (3), Roger Loveless, Don Lowry, Howard Lyon, William O'Connor (5), Ben Oliver, Erol Otus (9), Keith Parkinson (8)***, RK Post, Keenan Powell (2), Jason Rainville (2), Wayne Reynolds (8), Jim Roslof (4), Robh Ruppel, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jim Steranko, Dave Sutherland (9), Raymond Swanland, Ted Szczudlo (2), Dave Trampier (6), Cyril VanDerHaegen, Tyler Walpole, Tom Wham, Bill Willingham (2), Robin Wood, and UNKNOWN ARTIST (11). ** - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Caldwell, Horne, and Kelly, cannot additionally be found so in their own collections on The List. *** - Note that in regards to the 'well-presented' pieces here by Brom, Elmore, and Parkinson, some, but not all, can additionally be found so in their own collections on The List. other Fantasy Art collections Terror ! / A Pictorial History Of Horror Stories / The Art Of Horror Stories Collectors Press's Fantasy & Horror art collections SEND US A COMMENT (goes via e-mail - all info kept anonymous, but comment itself may be shared . . .) |