Dragonlance Week: The Art of Dragonlance

Welcome to Dragonlance Week! This week the Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub blog will be celebrating all things to do with this amazing fantasy series. Be sure to enter the giveaway (here) for a chance to win one of two Chronicles Trilogy sets.

Dragonlance is different from your average fantasy series in several ways. One of the things that makes Dragonlance stand out is the truly incredible artists that have lent their talents to the art of Dragonlance throughout the years. From Larry Elmore to Brom, the range of artists, and the varied artistic visions are definitely worth taking a closer look at. Here are just a few of the excellent artists you can find sharing their work with Dragonlance:

Larry Elmore: Like most readers, I immediately think of Larry Elmore when Dragonlance artists come to mind. His artwork has graced the covers of the Chronicles, as well as many other novels, calendars, full sized prints, etc. In my mind, he’s synonymous with Dragonlance.

Clyde Caldwell: With a very distinctive style, Clyde Caldwell contributed much to the art of Dragonlace. His scenes tend to be action packed and his dragons are pretty stinking cool.

Jeff Easley: Another artist that comes to mind when I think of the art of Dragonlance (or fantasy art in general) is Jeff Easley. I’m not able to use correct terminology when it comes to art since I’ve actually had my toddler tell me my happy faces look wrong, so I’ll just stick with saying it’s awesome. He won the E. Gary Gygax Lifetime Achievement Award this year, and it is definitely deserved.

Todd Lockwood: I am sure Lockwood’s art is pretty recognizable: not only has he done many pieces for Dragonlance, you can also find his work on the covers of R.A. Salvatore’s books. He’s done some of my favorite Dragonlance covers. I’m a huge fan of the way he portrays Raistlin in particular.

Brom: Most fantasy aficionados know who Brom is. His art has a dark and gothic feel to it. While Brom mostly lent his talents to the Dark Sun gaming setting, he has contributed to Dragonlance every now and again.

Matt Stawicki: Matt Stawicki has done a ton of Dragonlance art. Fans of the Magic: The Gathering card game can find his work there as well.

The following artists aren’t quite as prolific in the Dragonlance setting, but their contributions are nonetheless fantastic. A few of them are personal favorites.

Kevin Mccann:

Keith Parkinson:

Jennell Jaquays: I love this particular piece so much that I have a stained-glass version of it. Yep, I’m a nerd.

This is in no way a complete list of the amazing artists who have contributed to Dragonlance. A great book to check out for more excellent artwork is Masters of Dragonlance Art. There is some seriously incredible talent in the world of Dragonlance.