I just remembered that this is mine. It was on the cover of my first RPG, "Drager og Demoner", and I loved this scene, whatever it was. The game was based on Basic Roleplaying. A few months after, when friends realized I was into fantasy, someone suggested I read Lord of the Rings, and I was hooked.

 Took me a long time to realize that the illustration by Whelan was actually showing Moorcock's character Elric (the illustration for the book Stormbringer). I enjoy Moorcock, but I still like Tolkien better. A lot of credit goes to Michael Whelan here though.
 

I loved the artwork especially of the original Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (C1) and Ravenloft (I6). Those two had a really rich style that really brought the setting of the modules to life for me. If I had to pick one piece, I'm torn between these two, but it's more the collection of art.

The Relayer album cover has launched many an adventure back in the day.

Quote from: jhkim on March 30, 2025, 01:40:58 AMI loved the artwork especially of the original Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (C1) and Ravenloft (I6). Those two had a really rich style that really brought the setting of the modules to life for me. If I had to pick one piece, I'm torn between these two, but it's more the collection of art.

If I hadn't seen your provided context to these images, I think I would have guessed that you were into settings like Glorantha or even Tekumel or something like that. Is that something you have checked out?

Here's a second piece from the Michael Whelan series of illustrations for the Elric series. When I was a kid they put this one on the "Expert" version of "Drager og Demoner", which I would argue is actually an excellent roleplaying system, with some unique tweaks to Basic Roleplaying.

I have also read this Moorcock short story, it's called "Kings In Darkness". This is one of the Moorcock stories that I actually like quite a lot.

The oldest piece of fantasy art I can remember being exposed to is this absolutely dreadful cover for The Hobbit:


I wouldn't call it influential, but it sure stuck with me.

Let's see, what other bits of art do I remember sticking out to me...

There's the album cover for Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth:


I've always liked this illustration from the 3rd edition PHB. It's rare that you see adventuring portrayed in such a practical way, and I remember looking at it as a kid and enjoying thinking about how my characters would wear all their equipment.


There was an awesome black & white battle scene I remember from one of the 3rd edition books, too, but I can't find it now.

EDIT: Found it! I had to go find my physical copy of the original 3.0 Dungeon Master's guide and take a photo.


I absolutely loved this illustration when I was younger, and apparently it got cut from the 3.5 version of the book. Tragic.