Dungeons & Dragons Artist Dead at 56

A university professor involved with "D&D" development helped Sutherland find his way to Tactical Studies Rules, at the time an emerging Wisconsin publisher of "D&D."

Sutherland's illustrations include the famed scene of a dragon, a wizard and a bow-flexing knight on the first "D&D" boxed set that brought the game into the mainstream. Images on the covers of "Dungeon Masters Guide" and "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual," were his as well. Sutherland also worked as TSR's artistic director, but felt more at ease doing his own illustrations.

-- Dungeons & Dragons illustrator, Minneapolis native, dies [grandforks.com] via BoingBoing

Dave's list of illustrations for that seminal RPG is quite long. Apparently he is also the father of the wemic. My brother and I were just looking at Vault of the Drow this last weekend, in fact. He had been diagnosed as terminally ill and had an auction to help pay for the bills and leave an estate. As we talk about graphics in computer games, we shouldn't forget the impact of graphics in paper games as well. David's illustrations helped capture the imagination for a game which was all about imagination, and his artwork was instrumental to the process.

Best wishes to his family.