After looking at two artists I discovered in the early 90s—between what I had termed the Early-Years and the Middle-Years—let’s travel back to the Proto-History. Let’s look at the art that inspired me before 1986, long before I even considered myself a gamer.
I discovered some of this art through a large coffee-table book my mother bought for me:
National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe
Published in 1980, the book was honestly too long for me to read on my own. My mom and uncle read it to me, and I managed some of the smaller captions myself, but my English was limited back then. The illustrations, however, completely captured my imagination. Throughout the early 80s, I kept returning to that book, reading more of it as I got older.
There was a “What if?” section early on about what life on other planets might look like. I absolutely loved this part. I had no idea the art was by Michael Whelan until I started writing this post!
Each celestial body also featured an illustration of the mythological figure that gave it its name, also painted by Michael Whelan. I was completely unaware of how much his art influenced me so early on!
(You can borrow the book on the Internet Archive at this link: https://archive.org/details/nationalgeograph00gall)
Another large book in that same style was:
Published in 1978, this one belonged to my uncle, and I would peruse it every single time I visited him. He eventually gifted it to me, and I kept it for years.
The art by Zdeněk Burian, a Czech illustrator and palaeoartist, fascinated me. I asked so many questions about evolution and the origins of humanity just by looking at those pages that I know my mom had to scramble to explain it all to me in terms my younger self could understand.
To this day, when I picture early humans and lost worlds in my TTRPG campaigns, these are the exact images I conjure up.
(You can see the book online here: https://archive.org/details/dawnofman00wolf/mode/2up)
I mentioned this next comic series in my post on comic books that inspired my worldbuilding, so I won’t rehash what I said there, but it is definitely worth mentioning that the art style inspired me greatly:
Polish artist Bogusław Polch illustrated this. I found the art I originally shared in that post over on the We Are The Mutants site, which includes some great details about how the books were published in Britain: https://wearethemutants.com/2020/04/30/ancient-astronaut-comics-the-gods-from-outer-space-1978-1982/
Fantasy calendars were also a huge thing for me! I would frequently get one as a Christmas gift. Often, they were Tolkien-themed, even before I had read the books. But none were quite as influential as this one:
The Brothers Hildebrandt 1982 Atlantis calendar.
I’ve mentioned this wall calendar in posts throughout the year. Yes, it was genuinely that influential.
Here’s a video of one of the artists talking about the project, and another featuring some of the art from it:
Another calendar I vividly remember was this one:
I remember this one distinctly, even though it wasn’t the only Vallejo wall calendar I got. The Atlantis calendar told a cohesive story through its art, so I remember the narrative more vividly, but this Boris calendar might have been the first time I ever read the name “Red Sonja” or saw “Doc Savage.”
Of course, Vallejo’s art was also prominent on the covers of the movies I rented at the local video club, even if I didn’t make the connection at the time.
Another influence I have mentioned often in many posts is perhaps my favorite fantasy movie:
I believe this was my true introduction to Frank Frazetta. I later explored his other work—his Conan, John Carter, and especially Death Dealer were awe-inspiring—but I first discovered his art right here in this movie. Outside of the original Star Wars trilogy, Fire and Ice might be the film I’ve rewatched the most in my life.
There were also some video game tie-in comics whose artists deeply impacted young me:
When I got the game cartridge for Yar’s Revenge, it came with a mini-comic that told the background story of the game. According to the internet, Atari’s in-house creative team of Frank Cirocco, Ray Garst, and Hiro Kimura created the art.
(You can read the comic here: https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=48)
I got the Swordquest: Fireworld Atari cartridge. I honestly don’t remember playing it much, but I do remember the included fantasy comic and how George Perez’s art completely blew my mind. I returned to that comic many times, long before I even knew what D&D was. I only ended up reading parts 1 and 3 years later via the links I’m sharing below.
- Swordquest Earthworld: https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=45
- Swordquest Fireworld: https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=46
- Swordquest Waterworld (no connection to Kevin Costner!): https://atariage.com/comics/comic_thumbs.php?MagazineID=47
And the final entry on this list of artists that inspired me before I played TTRPGs is cheating, because it’s actually a book featuring the work of multiple artists:
This was written by Stewart Cowley under the pseudonym Steven Caldwell, with art from various contributors. All the art seems to be reused from other sources, but despite the disparate styles, Cowley’s writing really ties it all together. (You can see the full list of artists if you follow this link.)
I borrowed this book from the school library, and along with the Terran Trade Authority Great Space Battles book, it fundamentally shaped how I conceived sci-fi beyond just Star Wars or Star Trek.
Now I want to ask you, dear reader, what art inspired you before you became a gamer?
