This second Dungeons and Dragons ad is a more "advanced" ad with updated graphics reflecting those of the new Basic Edition Boxed Set. While I like Elmore's work, this is around the time that D&D art work started becoming too polished for my tastes and started to lose some of the magic for me.
I believe this ad started appearing around 1986
Yes, I know what you mean. I was 21 in 1986 and had already been gaming for seven years, so my mid-teens, at which point illustrations tend to make the strongest impression, were filled with PHB, Trampier and Sutherland.
ReplyDeleteAnd does that say 2 million in the text? I wonder if there has ever been an analysis of the numbers playing the various iterations of D&D (including the current OSR) - it'd be interesting to know just how many of us are out there, doing it Old School.
It is funny how age plays in to our perceptions. This was the first version I encountered as a very young child. After that I moved on to 2ed. Thus, Elmore is my definitive artist for the look and feel of D&D.
ReplyDeleteI think the artists we first experience are the ones we associate "real" D&D with. I started playing in 1979 so those are the artists I associate with, whereas @DeadGod, you associate Elmore with the "real" feel...some of the new people I'm sure think the new artists (Brom, Reynolds etc.)are what D&D is all about.
ReplyDeleteBut I think everyone HAS to agree the Otus is a god amongst artists :)