Vote for your favourite TSR Artist
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Poll: Who is your favourite TSR artist?

Poll ended at Tue Dec 10, 2002 11:59 pm
Erol Otus 38%       38%  [ 5 ]
Jeff Dee 15%       15%  [ 2 ]
Dave Sutherland III 0%       0%  [ 0 ]
Jim Holloway 8%       8%  [ 1 ]
Jeff Easley 8%       8%  [ 1 ]
Stephen D Sullivan 0%       0%  [ 0 ]
David S LaForce 0%       0%  [ 0 ]
Jim Roslof 0%       0%  [ 0 ]
Bill Willingham 0%       0%  [ 0 ]
Larry Elmore 31%       31%  [ 4 ]
Total votes : 13

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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 3:58 pm 
 

Seems like a plan to me . . . . the only thing is that you won't have much in the way of auction results or pricing index if you stick to the truly vintage stuff. Most of that hasn't been auctioned and has only been sold once -- you'll get a wild swing in pricing from item to item, with one cover showing up at $1500 and one showing at $200.   I'd probably be inclined to stay away from pricing stuff altogether and just go with showing what is extant and where it is.  If you decide to run with the idea, let me know where your cutoff date is going to be in terms of age -- I'd recommend either 1982, which is when Jeff Easley joined the staff, or 1987, which is when Keith Parkinson left, unless you want to cover the whole gamut through 3E.  Alternately, you could do a split -- cover EVERYTHING pre-1982, and then just index cover paintings for later stuff, ignoring interiors (since there would be WAYYY to much).  Pat


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:37 pm 
 

Hello Pat and Scott,  May I recommend the museum to be split into 2 galleries. Lets say all 1st edition in one and 2nd and beyond in the other. It is a broad scope but it is tough to not include all. Early first edition, while not as technically tight stylistically, I think it typifies the spirit of the game in its origins. Most of the later edition material is too sweet to not include also.  I would also recommend exhibiting each painting by Artist and Title, overall prepub dimensions, medium, and collector credits. If the collector doesnt want to be listed they can be known as private collector like museums do. Collector credits would be the essence of the museum to hopefully incourage the effort to submit.  Adam


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:49 pm 
 

Adam --  That sounds like a good plan to me. That covers just about everything that one would need to know, except possibly place(s) of publication -- I have a Parkinson that's been a module cover, a t-shirt, part of an art book, and a poster (at least), and it might be nice to know about other pieces that have been used numerous times.  What do you think we should do about the many pieces that still remain in the hands of the artists? VERY little of the old stuff is there, but a lot of the newer work has never been sold. I think Jeff Easley has a hundred or so paintings still in his attic, for example. Should we ignore those, or try to fill them in as best we can? I can ask the artists to supply a list of what they have, but knowing them as I do, the odds of GETTING said lists this millenium are fairly slim. :o   I do know a lot of the TSR stuff that people still have, though, since I've gotten lists from most of them at one time or another, and if we stick with cover art on the newer guys, it shouldn't be TOO hard to get a decent list.   In the case of the artists, we might even be able to make some kind of a notation indicating whether the piece is in the artist's permanent collection (i.e., not for sale), or just hasn't been sold yet (i.e., available to suck away your paychecks). That kind of "running catalog" benefit might help inspire the artists to be more forthcoming with info about what they currently have when I don't know.  Pat


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 8:05 pm 
 

Hi Pat,  Yes! publish location is critical...thanks for reminding me. The museum should also be limited to published material. Those guys made plenty of art that never saw the publisher. Publish date and/or completion date is important too. It could read as Circa if dates are not certain like museums would.  I think an open invitation to exhibit to obvious holders of art would be good enough. I contacted Jim Roslof about his available stuff and he sent me a few images of drawings that he had no idea where it was published if at all. It seems as though Larry Elmore has long ago lost track of where his stuff was published too. Part of the fun of collecting the art is trying to figure out where it was published...know your hobby like I failed to do on the Dragon 11 piece :oops: . The museum would be a work in progress like other areas of this site with submissions trickling in over a long period of time. Sooner or later Jeff Easley is gonna move the items in his attic to collectors and they can submit to the site if Jeff E. doesnt have the gumption to submit now.  I have some perspective on legal issues concerning copyright and ownership of this material. The ownership of the art was surrendered by the artist when they made the stuff if they were staff employees. If the TSR chose to throw the material away or misplace it when moving etc. then I cant see how they can claim ownership of the material any longer. It is not as though the material was stolen such as Nazi loot in WWII Germany. The virtual museum only has images too so I can't foresee any problems on that end.  Adam


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Post Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 9:27 pm 
 

Adam --  I agree. I thought about it over dinner, and including works still in the hands of the artists would be a logistical nightmare, not to mention a moving target. Collectors it is!  Copyright should be no problem -- all the TSR copyrights are now owned by WotC, and they're very liberal about not-for-profit use. Ditto for the artists -- the only one I know who is anal about NO ONE putting his stuff on the web is Michael Whelan, and if you want to get around that, you just post digital photos of the ACTUAL physical painting -- then you're reproducing the physical object, not the "image." I never had any problems with my Drow's Vault site, so I'd say there shouldn't be any problems.  I know probably 15 or 20 collectors who have original TSR artwork in their collections -- where should we invite people to submit?  I also run the websites for a couple of TSR or TSR-related guys (Todd Lockwood, Fred Fields, and Alan Pollack) and I'll see if they'll ok the posting of a little note about the museum on their sites.  Pat


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2003 4:39 am 
 

All of this sounds great!  My leanings on this are as follows (note I say "leanings"; I can be swayed):  1) In the spirit of The Acaeum, all original artwork (covers and interiors) is valid for inclusion, that appeared in a TSR item 1989 and earlier (1st Edition).  I'm sure there's tons of great 2nd / 3rd Ed stuff, but let's limit ourselves until we're sure we can handle what we've got.  2) Information provided:  Artwork title, scan (if avail) of the artwork, internal Acaeum link to the item the artwork appears in, sale price history of the artwork, ownership history of the artwork, publishing history (date artwork was created, date published as a D&D item, and/or other items that the artwork appeared in), artwork dimensions, artwork medium.  Also, any other trivia on the piece is good too ("did you know that this piece was rescued from the great TSR fire of 1987?")  3) I wouldn't get into any estimation of value; it's far too subjective.  I think the auction / sale history is important, however, because it's interesting -- who wouldn't love to cringe when they see that the DMG cover sold for $50 in 1984, or that the cover to IM3 sold for $6,000?  4) I totally made those two prices up as an example.  Thoughts?  Foul

  


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Post Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2003 7:47 pm 
 

1) First edition is a great place to begin.  2) I would add Artist name; a digital photo of the actual piece is essential for the museum, one idea is to create guidelines that specifically require the work be shot in daylight outside during an overcast day (to reduce glare), this will ensure best uniformity in lighting quality of each piece during gallery viewing, some scanners wont accept the sizes of some of the imagery;  Perhaps limit ownership history to current owner and leave it up to new owners of the same piece to come forward and submit their name on the same piece if interested;  Digital photos are a great way to authenticate an item, include outer border publisher notes and details that didn't make it onto the final published image; I would also include what substrate the piece was made on such as poster board, canvas, canvas board, tracing paper (the collector will have a good idea);  All other details are excellent including the trivia portion.  3) The issue of costing is a bit more sticky. I think placing purchase costing on these objects might discourage submissions by collectors for privacy reasoning. Price and values are best left to auction platforms and other public/private sales environments. Being able to enjoy the image and knowledge that it survives would be quite satisfying in these galleries. If the collector would like to post it in the trivia area in the gallery they could do so.  Adam


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Post Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2003 1:30 am 
 

It all sounds good to me, with two exceptions . . . .  1) If we limit the gallery to pieces dating from 1989 and earlier, it will greatly limit the number of pieces that I have access to. I only know a couple of people with pre-89 TSR art, and only two or three that have more than a couple of pieces. I think I have three 1st edition pieces (two Easleys and a Parkinson), and one friend has three (an Easley, a Widing, and a Horne). I know of the odd piece here or there, and then two big vintage collections (mostly ink interiors), and that's it.  Most of the major Elmore/Parkinson/Caldwell pieces were sold years ago to people who don't seem to be active collectors any more, or at least collect in circles that I've never crossed.  2) We're going to have to be content with pictures of paintings in frames in many cases -- I don't think most collectors are going to be willing to de-frame their stuff in order to show the borders. The notes and such are neat, but in a lot of cases there's nothing there anyhow.   Pat


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Post Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 2:28 pm 
 

Since I've been away, wow adam and pat, your getting a section for tsr art? Sounds wonderful!   To make it easy, just go by authors last name and when you click on their name it will take you to a page of all their paintings. Definitely no pricing on the items.  I'd love to see pictures of all the wonderful vintage 1st ed pictures, as well as 2nd. I think some may want to see 3rd ed stuff too!  So is it gonna happen? It'll be a lot of work but I and other collectors would love to see it happen.

  

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Post Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2003 12:59 am 
 

Agreed with all of the above posts.  1) Art we'll cover:  ALL art (interior/exterior) pre-1989; cover art only on artwork 1989 and later.  2) Whatever picture / scan the owner can submit, we'll work with.  3) List of information displayed:   - artwork title   - artist name   - photo / scan of artwork   - scan of artwork from the published item   - publishing history (date artwork was created, date published as a D&D item, and/or other items that the artwork appeared in)   - artwork dimensions   - artwork medium / substrate   - trivia (to include sale price history / ownership history, at the current owner's discretion)  Anything I'm missing?  If not, let's roll with the submissions.  At first, I'll set up the new section in a private area (i.e., not linked to any of the main pages), so everyone (everyone who's reading these posts, that is) will be able to take a look at the section and make some preliminary comments before it goes "public".  Thanks for everyone's help and enthusiasm!  I think this will be a great addition to the site.  Foul

  


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Post Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2003 12:02 am 
 

Kewlness! I'll send an email around to the collectors that I know, and then start shooting the necessary pics of my stuff. Including 2E, I should have around 15 pieces or thereabouts, and I think my two best friends should have another 15 or 20 between them, so that should get us off to a good start!  Pat


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Post Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2003 4:50 pm 
 

The Acaeum Artwork Museum is now online!  Since it is in "beta", it is not visible or reachable from the main site; view the Museum directly at:  Page Not Found  At the moment, only two pieces of artwork are up, but this will give you an idea of how it will look.  Comments and criticisms appreciated.  I'm headed out of town again for the next few weeks, but when I return, I'll look at incorporating any changes and then merging the Museum into the site with the next publish.  Foul

  


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Post Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2003 4:55 pm 
 

Looks great!  I need to get my butt in gear and send my pics in . . . . I'm in the process of getting snowed in right now, so this might be a good time. I'll see how much I can get shot and put together today and tomorrow and send em on in. I'll also send out some reminders to other people I know . . . .   Pat


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Post Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2003 10:42 pm 
 

I'm wondering why Dave Trampier (my personal favorite) isn't on this list.

  


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Post Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:24 pm 
 

The gallery looks great. It is tough to criticize any effort to compile all the original art in this hobby.  Probably the next item is organizing all the various entries as they come in but I have no doubt they will be handled well as all of the site is well layed out and easy to navigate. I especially like additional comments and information provided by the artist or collectors. Perhaps even the artist could be periodically invited to comment on their work as it goes on display. Additionally, for example, it may or may not help for the viewer to understand the Dieties and Demigods piece on display now is a basic mockup, preliminary or trace for transfer onto finish inking board and is not the actual ink drawing. Which would mean the final ink may or may not still exist for informational purpose.  Thanks. Adam


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Post Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:36 pm 
 

Adam --  Agreed!  And the final of "Hecate" DOES exist . . . . I sold it to a BIG collector a little less than a year ago. Hopefully, he'll contribute his stuff . . . .   Pat


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Post Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2003 7:17 pm 
 

The format looks great! I can't wait to see how much product surfaces once it goes live.  I would only mention a small thing, which is the use of the term "Sale price" in the description. I have a feeling that it could be misinterpreted as an offer for sale which could result in some unnecessary inquiries. It might be better to use something like 'Sales history' or if you wanted only one value to appear, 'Latest sale information'.  Cheers, Curt

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