Just in time for the holidays, I thought I would share with you all some cool art I picked up some years back. I figure I'll post every so often and try to include some info on the piece, especially in the case of the prelims and proposals.

This first post is kind of a two-fer, since I'm not sure whether any of you caught the "TSR Logos" page update from earlier in the year or if some of you who attended the NTRPG con saw this in the artist panel.

First, take a look at Darlene's original logo proposal write-up here to get the back story:
TSR Logos

There were three artists who submitted proposals in the fall of 1980 for what the TSR management would ultimately choose for their next logo at the time (what would become the "Face" logo). This was a combination of two of Darlene's proposals.

On this page, you'll see seven of Jim Roslof's proposals
TSR Logos

I'm still not sure who the third artist was that submitted proposals.


Here is the second item I'd like to share with you all. Only a few people on this forum in the past have seen this -- and I'm sure a lot of you will love it as much -- the Bill Willingham proposal for an updated cover to the Monster Manual, circa 1981.
(the image is watermarked, obviously)



Btw, I believe that the following illustrations were a part of that proposal in updating and finishing out the interior illustrations that were originally skipped over. (these are not mine. The images were posted in the past by Zenopus, Burntwire, and Scribe..not sure if I'm missing someone else). I'm fairly certain there were more interior illustrations done to fill in the gaps, but who knows where they exist now…unfortunately.




I'm not sure why this particular update to the Monster Manual never occurred. Maybe Frank might be able to shed light on it?

It's incredibly inspiring though, right?

Great stuff, Mike!  Can  you please post some detail pics from the proposed MM cover?---some of the images are hard to see well due to the angle.

grodog wrote in Vault of the Draw(ings), Paint(ings) and Ink(ings):Great stuff, Mike!  Can  you please post some detail pics from the proposed MM cover?---some of the images are hard to see well due to the angle.

Zenopus wrote in Vault of the Draw(ings), Paint(ings) and Ink(ings):I love the works of Willingham, Otus and Roslof from that time period, and that alternate cover is a real gem. I'm so glad that it has been preserved!

I'll get another photo taken and post it. Glad you liked it! I thought I'd start off with something extraordinarily good. Not to say that the other ones I post won't be good, but this is definitely something I don't think many people had seen.

btw, this proposal was done in pen and marker.

Zenopus wrote in Vault of the Draw(ings), Paint(ings) and Ink(ings):In the original auction with the Masher, Slithering Tracker and Shadow there should also have been a Giant Skunk by Willingham. I hadn't seen the Shadow before, and didn't know it was by Otus (Are we sure about that? It doesn't look distinctively Otusian to me, though it could be a result of the subject matter. The eyes look like some of Willingham's to me).

Scribe had the shadow (listed as "spector") up on his photo site, so I assumed he had some other info about it (maybe on the back of the piece?). I actually agree with you that it doesn't come completely across as Otus'. I know that Otus did use marker on some illustrations, but I see what you're saying about the eyes. Also Otus has a way of doing pointy/sharp things like nails that this one doesn't really come across as having in the same manner. It could be Willingham's, or maybe Dee's? it does have that zipotone (not sure if I spelled that correctly) thing in the background, like the Slithering Tracker has. Willingham and Dee were using that back then, too.

Zenopus wrote in Vault of the Draw(ings), Paint(ings) and Ink(ings):Did Willingham leave TSR in 1981? Perhaps the redesign was part of the process that led to the new 1983 cover by Easley, and Willingham left before it was finished?

Yes, Willingham left in the Spring of 1981 along with Dee during the whole Orange B1 production turmoil. Otus was still there, but he had given his notice that he was leaving. (there were also some game designers who were let go at the same time...I think this may have been the time when Kevin Hendryx bailed too)

You're welcome, here's another photo of it

misterspock wrote in Vault of the Draw(ings), Paint(ings) and Ink(ings):You're welcome, here's another photo of it

Wonderful piece, thanks Mike!

This is great. That MM picture is incredible.
Thanks!
--Ron--

Speaking of Erol Otus, here's another illustration. This one hung in the TSR Development department (aka the DEVO units) during the 1980/81 era. They needed a Development team mascot illustration commissioned and chose a badger (after the University of Wisconsin, Madison's Bucky the Badger). The team had previously devised a mutant badger in the Gamma World game, so Otus whipped this illustration up...

Cool thread. Thanks for sharing this

1979 ... (Paul) Jaquays ... CAVERNS OF THRACIA module cover illustration!



rendered in Dr. Martin's dyes and guache

Jaquays provided this description
"The cover art depicts the main "beast-man" monster enemies from the original game adventure, a "dog-brother", a minotaur, a lizard man, and a gnoll. The art was created as a component piece for the camera-ready paste-up art used to create the book cover. Jaquays had a reduced size half-tone PMT (photo mechanical transfer with a half-tone dot pattern) made of this art. The PMT was pasted into the mechanical art used to make the cover, along with type, logos, and an ink drawing of a scene from the caverns behind them. Color (blue) was added with overlays, a blue tint for the book, and a solid blue over the figures. Dr. Martin's Dyes were an intense water-based media with properties similar to watercolors and inks."