Really Old Old-school Artist: Austin Molloy (aka Austin Ó Maolaoid, AóM)

Many of you may notice that the art of today's featured artist Austin Molloy (1886–1961) bears a striking resemblance to illustration legend Harry Clarke. So it may come as no surprise that Molloy was friends with Clarke; they met at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (now named the National College of Art and Design) as students, then Molloy went on to teach there. Tell me the last image below doesn't reek of Harry Clarke.

Molloy (aka Austin Ó Maolaoid, AóM) had a pretty prolific career, serving An Gúm (The Scheme), a government initiative in Ireland started in 1925 to publish books in Irish, as his main client for many years. All the images below pre-date 1925, but many of them could have been done in the last 40 years by someone like Russ Nicholson (specifically the boy fighting the hound, or the Grummsh-looking mother-effer below it).

I can't remember exactly how I stumbled across his work, but I do know it was during a recent "Archive.org expedition" (what I call those times I sit front of the TV with my feet up, my laptop in my lap, and I just keep poking around Archive.org until I find something relevant-but-previously-undiscovered-by-me).

SO DIG THIS STUFF!!!

Really Old Old-School Artist: Dora Curtis

It's been a while since I've done one of these "Really Old Old-School Artist" posts, but it's also been a while since I stumbled across someone with whom I was unfamiliar. Like a few of the other artists I've featured here before, there is little on the Web about her (and her Wikipedia entry mentions only her participation in an anthropological/naturalist expedition, with no mention of her art at all, or even her dates of birth or death).

Luckily for us in the OSR community, the things we do have of Dora are here illustrations from the books The Lances of Lynnwood (by Charlotte M. Yonge), Stories of King Arthur and His Round Table (by Beatrice Clay), and Granny's Wonderful Chair (by Frances Brown). There is a version of Fairy Tales of the Arabian Nights (by T.H. Robinson) that includes Ms. Curtis's illustrations. While an illustrated version is available as an ebook, and the book itself is in the public domain, there is unfortunately no copy at Archive.org with the illustrations included (though there is a version with the illustrations stripped out). There is, however, an online version with low resolution versions of the images at kellscraft.com. I've found a physical copy for sale that's not terribly pricey, so I hope to be ordering that later today, and possibly posting images when I receive it in the post.

Okay, so let's get on with it. Here you go...

Fifty Fiends

One of the things I've been doing over the last couple of months, as I've had a spare few minutes here and there (between working on Kickstarter stuff, dealing with work stuff, and living up to family commitments), is draw some fiends.

Originally, the drawings were just things I had planned on piling up into the material that may (or may not) eventually become the Creature Compendium II. But having 50 lower planes natives in CC2 seemed a bit to weighted toward one type of creature (since my CC goal has always been a good mix of stuff that fits all types of adventures/campaigns), so my objective shifted a bit.

My new goal was to come up with 50. That's enough drawings to do that alliterative thing that I (and Stan Lee) seem to love so much, allowing me to name them as the "Fifty Fiends," with a potential (but-as-yet unconfirmed book... Fifty Fiends). Some are based on demons from historical sources (like Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal), and a couple are based on PD comic book images, but most are just of result of my placing pencil to paper and drawing until I was done.

I was originally planning on dual-statting them (as with the Creature Compendium. However, I realized how textually cumbersome that would become with the need to add resistances, immunities, psionics, etc. Instead, I'm planning on going with the basic B/X stat block, an additional stat block for immunities/resistances (e.g., damage from fire, ice, etc.), and a B/X psionics stat block. This does a couple of things that I like. First, it makes things pretty easy for Oe and 1e players to convert (e.g., I'm planning on including some info so Oe/1e players using first gen psionics can convert the psionic stats). Second, it helps keep things in line with any information that might be included in the Basic Atlas of the Planes (which itself may take years to finish).

So a week or two ago, I finished the drawings. Then, in those spare few minutes here and there over the last week or two, I've been naming them, assigning them a native plane (and planar layer, where appropriate), and noting who (or what) they serve (or their place in an existing planar hierarchy).

So to whet your appetite, here are all 50 illustrations compiled into a handy-dandy visual overview (that is roughly alphabetically by fiend name!

As a side note, if the book does publish, I am considering auctioning off all 50 original illustrations as a single folio.

1 more illustration down, 8 to go!

This is one of those illustrations for the Creature Compendium that I've putting putting off for a while. It's a re-do of a re-do. I think that's why I've been pushing this one off for so long. Then yesterday, while hanging at Starbucks and sipping my grandé nonfat 2 Splenda latte, I decided to abandon my original intention for the illustration and just sketch from scratch. Seems to have worked out pretty well. This leaves only 8 illustrations to finish before I feel like the book is pretty-close-to-complete. 7 of those will be easy/no-brainers. The eighth, well, it's actually a full page illustration that will feature 7 different monsters on the same page (the animal mummies).

BTW, if you want the stats for the creature in the illustration below(the carriage worm), or if you just want to see the original illustration (before the first re-do), you can find them here.

That leaves only 8 illustrations to finish before I feel like the book is pretty-close-to-complete. 7 of those will be easy/no-brainers. The eighth, well, it's actually a full page illustration that will feature 7 different monsters on the same page (the animal mummies).

New Illustration: Linnorm (for Creature Compendium)

I usually don't have the patience for full-page illustrations. But in working on pagination for the Creature Compendium, I knew I really needed a full-page illustration for the linnorm.

The stats for my version of the linnorm (and its variations) will actually appear first in Dragon Horde Zine #2, but will be accompanied by a vintage public domain illustration (which is the vibe I like to give the DHZ when I can).

Since I'm trying to do all the illustrations for the Creature Compendium myself, I knew I'd have to undertake this at some point. The other day, I made myself a list of the illustrations that had yet to be done, and this begged for me to do it first. So...
here 'tis.

Another illustration from the upcoming Dragon Horde zine #2....

This is the image for the title page of the adventure for the issue.
The adventure is tentatively titled Vifillmein ("beetle plague").

BTW, I'm not sure why I love putting halfings in my illustrations. I just do.

New Illustration: Völva (Before & After)

No... "völva"... with an umlautted "o" (not a "u") - a Norse shaman/seeress. It's an NPC character class I'm working on for issue #2 of The Dragon Horde zine. I was really looking for an old public domain illustration from the lat 1800s or early 1900s that would fit the bill, but to no avail. In lieu of that option, I decided to do my own. My first stab (bottom) was really an attempt to start using my brush pen again. While I like the line quality, it just didn't have the visual punch I wanted (and felt a little to "new school" for what I wanted visually, especially the punkish haircut). So I took another stab, attempting to give it that woodcut inspired look with which I've had some success (see my Bartleby illustration for reference). The new illustration makes her look older, but that's intentional. The further I got into the development of the class, I realized making her a tad older made more sense (and was more in line with the traditional image of a völva).

AFTER...


BEFORE...

Really Old Old-School Artist: Edward Burne-Jones

First off, I can't believe it's been so long since I did one of my "Really Old, Old-school Artists" posts. Second, cannot believe I have not heretofore covered Edward Burne-Jones.

One of my earliest posts on this blog (back in my second-ever month of blogging) I wrote an article entitled "How the Industrial Revolution Inspired the Original Fantasy Game: A Brief Timeline." In that post, I spoke about the importance of writer/type designer/book publisher William Morris, and how his book The Story of the Glittering Plain was a direct influence on Tolkien, and through Tolkien was an influence on Gygax, and through Gygax was an influence on modern RPGs. Edward Burne-Jones was one of Morris's right-hand men. Not only was Burne-Jones a co-founder of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (a furnishing and decorative arts manufacturer), but one of Morris's main book designers for the Kelmscott Press (founded by Morris in 1891 to publish limited-edition, illuminated-style print books).

Burne-Jones (or, more formally, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet) was an artist/designer with toes in many pools (painting, stained glass, book design & illustrator, et al.), and his work in those pools was directly tied to the late Pre-Raphaelite movement. The Pre-Raphaelites were seeking to bring more realism to the "contrived" (my word) nature of the classical approach favored by the Mannerists that succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. Eventually, some of the PR's romantic fascination with medieval culture started to clash with this realism, leading to a falling out between the realists and medievalists among their number, Burne-Jones siding with the latter when the group split.

Why do I go through this whole bit of background before I show you some cool old illustrations? Because if Burne-Jones were more of a realist than medievalist, I doubt I'd be featuring him at all. Why? Because I'd rather see Burne-Jones illustrate the works of Chaucer (see below) than Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some very cool illustrations by Burne-Jones's contemporaries for works by Coleridge, and at some point will most likely feature a few of those illustrators on this very blog. But... when you look at BJ's images below (all of which were taken from The Kelmscott Chaucer, published by William Morris's Kelmscott Press in 1896), you can see how most of the illustrations almost suggest encounter or plot points for an adventure.

I'm also including a couple of full page designs, so you can also see Burne-Jones's incredible ornamentation and lettering design. The only person that I think worked as well (actually better) at Morris's book-side was Walter Crane. To me, Crane's work has a bit more "energy" than Burne-Jones's. But Burne-Jones's work is very cool nonetheless. See for yourself...

New Illustration: Troll "Family" Attacking

From a personal project I'm working on right now. It's a troll attack where two young male trolls are egging on the troll that may or may not be their father. Any resemblance between the young troll at the upper left and the character Beavis (from Beavis and Butthead) is purely coincidental.

New Oe/1e/BX Monster: Skunkbear

DESCRIPTION This malodorous cousin to both skunks and bears (but not owlbears) is found in a range of climates from temperate to sub-arctic, and in a variety of terrains (including light-to-heavy forests, mountainous areas, and tundra regions). While they will often take shelter in their dens and sleep for extended periods during winter months, they are not true hibernators, waking often to hunt and forage before returning to sleep. Typically, skunkbears are solitary in nature, but will sometimes den in close proximity to other skunkbear dens when centered around an important food source. In these instances, a hierarchy of dominance is established, with adult males taking the place of dominance. Ironically, it is the females with young that are actually the most aggressive, especially in combat (given them a +1 bonus on all “to hit” rolls when fighting aggressors in the presence of their young). This mother-young bond is the sole social relationship among skunkbears. Since skunkbears are mammalian in nature, they birth live (as opposed to owlbears that lay eggs). In combat, if a skunkbear makes successful “to hit” rolls with both of his claw attacks, then he succeeds in capturing his opponent in a bear hug, in which case the skunkbear’s bite automatically hits (with no additional “to hit” roll necessary). Once a victim is in the bear hug, the skunkbear will automatically do 3d6 in squeezing damage and 1d8 in bite damage per round to the victim (no “to hit” rolls necessary) until the victim is dead or the skunkbear has been killed. Once per day, a skunkbear is able to use a spray attack, in which a horrific smelling spray is used to disable a victim. On a successful “to hit” roll with this spray attack, the victim must save vs. breath weapon or stand stunned for 4d6 rounds. Furthermore, if the saving throw is failed by 10 or more points, the victim is also knocked unconscious for that duration. Anyone within a 20' range of a sprayed victim must save vs. breath weapon or suffer a -1 “to hit” penalty while they are within range and the victim is still soaked with the spray. This overpowering smell will remain with the victim for 4d6 days unless the victim washes thoroughly (at least 3 times with a very strong lye soap) or being cleaned through magical means (e.g., a purification spell). Description: Skunkbears have fur ranging in color from brown to brownish-black, with younger skunkbears being marked by white stripe down its back, and the stripe tending to run silver in older skunkbears. The eyes of a skunkbear are jet black.

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Very rare NO. APPEARING: 2-5 ARMOR CLASS: 5 MOVE: 12" HIT DICE: 5+3 % IN LAIR: 35% TREASURE TYPE: C NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6/1-6/1-8 SPECIAL ATTACKS: Bear hug, spray SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard INTELLIGENCE: Low ALIGNMENT: Neutral SIZE: L (8' tall) PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 5 HIT DICE: 5+3 MOVE: 120' ATTACKS: 2 claws/1 bite DAMAGE: 1-6/1-6/1-8 NO. APPEARING: 2-5 SAVE AS: Fighter: 3 MORALE: 9 TREASURE TYPE: C ALIGNMENT: Neutral

Really Old Old-School Artist: A. Garth Jones

Every so often, I get lucky and stumble across a really old old-school artist of whom I've never heard. In the case of (Alfred) Garth Jones, I found his name in a minor entry in Modern Book Illustrators and Their Work—which in a few weeks will be officially 100 years old, so... uh... not so modern now as when the book was published. This is a book I've used before as a starting point for seeking out more really old old-school art. Somehow, I've heretofore missed the mention of Garth Jones. It's no wonder, though. Take a look at the book yourself, and you'll see how much great illustration is in there, and how you could research any number of artist represented therein, and not realize you'd missed a couple.

I happened to get the Google ebook result for this book (as opposed to the Archive.org link above) while searching for another illustrator's work (but at this point I couldn't tell you who that was). A short paragraph that begins on page 11 and finishes up on page 12 speaks of illustrations for "Poetry, fantasy, and romance." Jones's name is mentioned alongside the likes of Edmund Dulac, Byam Shaw, and OSR favorite John D. Batten.

Just a couple of biography bullet points and I'll get on to showing some of Jones's work.

Jones starting using his middle name of Garth (Alfred is his given name) to distinguish himself from artists with similar names. (Although I can't find specifics, I would imagine this includes Edward Burne-Jones, Alfred Roller.)

Demand for his work as a book illustrator declined after World War I. (In an age where folks like Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok were creating new dialects for the evolving language of illustration, I imagine that Jones's style was become a bit unfashionable.)

Compared to the quantity of work Jones produced before World War I, his post-WWI output seems to pale by comparison.

I love the look of the penwork, and how even his pen and ink feels like woodcut.

Really Old Old-School Artist: Harry Clarke

In pulling together today's images from illustrator Harry Clarke, I thought to myself, "Damn! I never realized how much Russ Nicholson's work reminded me of Harry Clarke's." And well it ought to. Nicholson remarked in a 2009 interview at Sci-Fi-O-Rama, "...my gods were such as Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke, Edmund Dulac and Sydney Sime." Yup. I can TOTALLY see that. I think that's one of the reason I dig Nicholson's work so much.

I've featured Dulac here before, though the pieces I showcased were limited. I've never showcased Beardsley here, though I've mentioned his name several times, and his Merlin illustration graces the title page of the d30 DM Companion. Syndey Sime is someone I've been considering showcasing here, particularly his work for The Gods Of Pegana by Lord Dunsany's, with whom Sime had a long-standing partnership. But I digress.

Like a lot of the illustrators I've mentioned here before are from the "golden age of illustration" (approximately 1880-1920), Clarke was influenced by Art Nouveau. His father was a craftsman, and at that time, his profession was experiencing a rebirth with the Arts & Crafts movement (a reaction to the "cheap and nasty" mass produced goods of the Industrial Revolution), leading into Art Nouveau. That actually puts Harry Clarke a slight generation behind Aubrey Beardsley; Beardsley's influence on Clarke is obvious; but then, Beardsley was one of those guys that influenced a generation of folks. But again, I digress.

These first four are taken from the 1923 edition of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination.




The one below left is from The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault,
and the one on the right is from Years at the Spring.



These final two are taken from an edition of Goethe's Faust.



Now, partially because you'll see the influence,
but mostly because I love his work, go check out Russ Nicholson's blog.