The FANTASY TRIP Artwork

[Skarg]

Did I dream it, or has the artwork on the cover of ITL/AM/AW been used on other unrelated things as well? I thought I remembered seeing it elsewhere some years ago.

(I really like almost all of the TFT art: Roger Stine, Pat Hidy, Liz Danforth, Robert Phillips...)

[Steve Jackson]

Originally Posted by Oneiros

Did anyone ever think the namesake wizard in the Stine covers (including ITL) was modeled after Mr. Jackson?

Not just you :) It might be a coincidence, because a lot of people look generally like me, but that looks more than generally like me in the SCA days. I don't know!

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Skarg

(I really like almost all of the TFT art: Roger Stine, Pat Hidy, Liz Danforth, Robert Phillips...)

Hidy's work was very good. A little Marvel Comics, perhaps, with regard to anatomy and costume, but the graphic quality was very strong. Phillips's work had a little less punch, graphically, but was also very good. I'll posit that B&W is the best choice for this kind of illustration; by eschewing the seductive distraction of colour, it more compellingly fires the imagination, which is rather the point.

Someone said it above, I think: posters of any of the classic art (or even new art that was consistent with the aesthetic) would be really cool as part of the deluxe TFT.

[Kirk]

For those who haven't been tuned in for the whole 40 years, Liz Danforth is a Tucson-based artist who is probably best known for her Magic cards. She's done a lot of fantasy, SF, and steampunk illustration for gaming and other markets. When she's not making art, she is a writer and a librarian. She's also the very first artist whom I art-directed, and one of my oldest friends. So I'm very excited to be working with her again.

You might ask why I'm asking such a skilled illustrator to do something as simple as game counters. Two reasons. First: she did the original ones, fans have asked for something like that in the new edition, and who better to do that than the original artist? And second: Counters may be simple things, but they can be bad, good, or very fine. I'm going for "very fine." You deserve that, and so do I.

– Steve Jackson

This is very, very satisfying news! I have always thought Danforth's work was excellent and gave that professional, mature feel to TFT, as opposed to some of the tending juvenile or just downright poorly drawn artwork of other game systems. That gargoyle cover was instrumental in my seeing and buying Melee as a high school senior discovering the start of a great game system, having tried D&D and liking very little about it, including the art.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Kirk

This is very, very satisfying news! I have always thought Danforth's work was excellent and gave that professional, mature feel to TFT, as opposed to some of the tending juvenile or just downright poorly drawn artwork of other game systems. That gargoyle cover was instrumental in my seeing and buying Melee as a high school senior discovering the start of a great game system, having tried D&D and liking very little about it, including the art.

I could not agree more with this sentiment -- or with the gargoyle cover being the one that first got me into this back in high school when I was also a senior!

[Skarg]

I had a middle school teacher who looked through In the Labyrinth and observed that it had better-looking women than D&D. ;)

The dead-gargoyle-cover Melee was my first TFT (or RPG) book, though I had Ogre and Ice War before it (and various Avalon Hill & other wargames before tha).

[wolf90]

Originally Posted by Skarg

The dead-gargoyle-cover Melee was my first TFT (or RPG) book, though I had Ogre and Ice War before it.

What exquisite taste!

(Me too!)

D.