... here's a link to the always-interesting blog, Monster Brains, whose post today includes some very high-quality scans of pages from the The Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album, illustrated by famed underground comics artist Greg Irons. I've talked about the Coloring Album before but the accompanying images were usually small and only a portion of the page from which they came. The post linked above presents the artwork in its full glory and it really is something to behold, if you've never seen it before.
Thanks to Jason Juta for the pointer.
A lot of these are great, but "Surprised By A Bulette" stands out as the first decent picture of a bulette I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteYou can see a lot of this '70s underground comic' style (Skull, Zap, Weirdo) in Trampier's work (and Otis for that matter). Ok, maybe it's just me, but it's an influence I like even If I'm making it up.
ReplyDeleteOk, maybe it's just me, but it's an influence I like even If I'm making it up.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're making it up. Underground comix definitely had an influence early D&D. I don't think it's a coincidence that the game was often sold in head shops alongside roach clips, rolling papers, and posters that looked really cool under black light.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the game was often sold in head shops alongside roach clips<<<
ReplyDeleteWas that in the 70's? Because in the early 80's I started visiting many and never saw rpg's.
Was that in the 70's? Because in the early 80's I started visiting many and never saw rpg's.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. I can't say from first hand experience, but this is what has been reported by many people I know or have known who did visit such places.
Nice scans on that blog! And timely - I recently wrote a few things about the Coloring Album:
ReplyDelete-Side-by-side comparison of the map with the Holmes Basic Sample Dungeon map.
-Summary of the included board game, "Adventures in the Dungeon"
-Green Dragon Inn in Greyhawk, featured on the first page of the coloring album.
And I still enjoy calling it a "Coloring Album". It makes it sound so much more adult and important than "Coloring book".
ReplyDeleteJust like using graphic novel rather than comic book...
Oh, Gary. The art of the book is great. And the text is... classic Gygax. A colouring book, accompanied by text obsessively dictating how to colour each and every item depicted on the page. In baroque language that no child would ever be able to decipher. "The fighter opposite, gesturing with his flagon, wears jodhpurs of deepest magenta under his umber gabardine" and so on. Who, exactly, was going to benefit from these directions? Maybe the same people who used the AD&D unarmed combat rules.
ReplyDelete