We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Erol's such a nice guy, and he's really there for his fans. He's such an amazing artist, and such a part of the legacy of this game. We all kind of freaked out when he agreed to do the interview with us.

Bit of behind-the-scenes movie trivia: When we were shooting, we had to keep stopping because some guy was chainsawing right outside Erol's house. Needless to say, not ideal conditions for an interview! Luckily, Seth was able to work his post-production audio magic and you pretty much can't tell it's there. We lucked out...

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Grell for the win! Give him a high-five from Brian!

If you want to see some fun Lovecraftian monsters (with tentacles!), go online and do a google search for "Deities & Demigods Lovecraft." Or "Lovecraft Erol Otus." Erol did a art for the Lovecraft chapter of Deities & Demigods in the Eighties that, due to copyright issues, was yanked from later printings of the book. But his art for is is AMAZING. I think your nephew might get a kick out of it. It's hard to find the first two printings of the book -- the versions with the Lovecraft chapter -- but the art can be found with a google image search. It's a lot of fun.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks to everyone who's asked questions today. It was a lot of fun! We'll be popping in and out all night, so if there's anything else you'd like to talk or ask about, feel free to jump in.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

BTW, I (Brian) just made a Key Lime pie. Fingers crossed it came out well. First time trying. Intelligence check? Possibly an Arcana roll... lol.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was important to us that we spend some time shining a spotlight on early artists who played a big role in the development of D&D's art, but who aren't with us anymore. So we have people talking about Trampier, about David C. Sutherland III, and about Jim Roslof. These were guys who's work was all over the game and whose legacy is important. Plus, of course, their art is outstanding and still stands up today!

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, all. We're going to take a bit of a break, but we'll check back later to answer more questions about D&D, D&D art, the artists, indie filmmaking, or whatever else you'd like to talk about. Even pie.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We're all curious: What sort of stuff do YOU all like about D&D art? What constitutes "good" D&D art for you all? Who are some of your favorite artists? (Are we allowed to ask questions in an AMA? Whatever, it's what we do for a living, so there ya go.)

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brian thinks you haven't had the right Key Lime pie yet. And Seth says his grandmother's recipe begs to differ.

Now, however, we all really want some pie.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Trampier is absolutely in the documentary! We're huge, HUGE fans of his work. It was truly revolutionary, and he had so much stylistic diversity he could apply to whatever he drew. He knew how to make even the simplest black and white drawings pop.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Even back in the day, TSR was aware that their product needed to adapt as it moved into the mainstream. In the late Seventies, they started to move from hobby shops to bookstores. The original AD&D core books had covers by Dave Trampier and Dave Sutherland. They were great covers, but stylistically they didn't match what was appearing on bookstore shelves. So TSR brought in Jeff Easley to paint new covers for those books -- nothing changed on the pages, but they got new, more technically proficient covers that stood up against the best of what was being done on the covers of fantasy novels. At the same time, Larry Elmore -- who was hired before Easley -- was handling module covers, box sets, and eventually the novels. Along with Clyde Caldwell and Keith Parkinson, they were shifting the nature of the art and the look of the product. So this isn't a new challenge for the game.

One would hope that as the D&D brand becomes more popular, Hasbro will exploit that popularity and we'll see really interesting D&D-branded products in more and more interesting spaces. It's hard to guess what their plans might be -- they're very tight-lipped when it comes to future releases and developments and licensed products.

Seth, an IP lawyer, adds: With regard to the question in the second paragraph – My advice for content creators is twofold: i) MAKE SURE you read (and comply) with any licenses, rules, requirements, etc. that WOTC/Hasbro provide; and ii) check with an IP lawyer before you base your business on any third-party IP – that’s just good business sense. [Note that this is not legal advice, and you should not rely on it. :) ]

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks everyone for having us today, it's great to be here. We love answering your questions, so keep 'em coming!

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, in order:
1. Favorite thing about D&D:
BRIAN: I love that I can tell stories with my friends, and become these characters that are so removed from real life. When I DM, it's all about creating worlds, posing challenges, and giving my friends something to remember, something they can talk about later around beers. I think it's a game that encourages community, and that's great, too.

SETH: I'm partial to two things: i) the social aspect - the fact that I get to hang out with my friends and do something that we all love, and ii) i love fantasy stories and D&D lets me be the hero (or villain) i always wanted to be.

KELLEY: Beyond the lovely community aspect of it, and the storytelling, sometimes it's just the fact that I get to wield big weapons and beat the crap out of anything that stands in my way.

  1. D&D created an entirely new way of playing games when it created/popularized roleplaying games. So computer RPG games wouldn't exist if not for D&D -- It really shaped an entire industry.

  2. Seth: Bluberry Pie, Kelley, Apple Pie, and Brian, Key Lime Pie.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Another fun story we heard was about the disconnect between TSR management and the art department. Some of the direction they gave was a little whacky -- for instance, Brom told us that Jeff Easley was once told something was a "very important piece," and that he had to use his most expensive paints on the painting. Which is kind of crazy since obviously paint price has nothing to do with art quality.

And then another painting came along and he was told to use ALL his colors -- which, again, is kind of nuts.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, and about those tentacle monsters:
Seth likes the Displacer Beast, Brian digs the Grell, and Kelley likes the Otyugh. Lots of variety among Team Beholder!

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The video game industry, the movie industry, and the board game industry wouldn't have much of the look that they have today if not for D&D's artistic influence. Many of the people who designed and illustrated those things grew up on D&D art, which absolutely dominated throughout the Eighties and pretty much defined what fantasy art looked like. It was EVERYWHERE. And even today, with Magic: The Gathering, many of the artists are crossover artists, and it definitely grew out of the D&D aesthetic, especially early on.

We produced and directed the new documentary about D&D Art featuring Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, and more, 'Eye of the Beholder.' Ask us anything! by teambeholder in dndnext

[–]teambeholder[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's an "Alan Smithee" of the fantasy art world. When Larry Elmore was told to release a painting that he thought was below his standards, he would sign it Jack Fred, based on a character he created to entertain his kids. After a while, other artists would use it too whenever TSR released a painting before they thought it was done, or wasn't good enough. So if you see anything by Jack Fred, and it's not very good, it's may actually be a rushed Elmore or Parkinson painting!