I’m feeling nostalgic with all this anniversary hubbub, so I’m making a partial list of (certainly geeky) art that inspired me in days of yore. Let me begin with:

1) The Book of Conquests - This weird book wins my personal award for AWESOMEST cover ever (see picture below). It looks like a Men’s Mag you’d pick up off of Thulsa Doom’s coffee table. Jim Fitzpatrick is the artist who drew this collection of mythological, warp-spasming berserkers. For a kid who thought Thundarr was cool, this book was worth its weight in platinum.

2) Classic Star Wars Trilogy Sketchbooks - Forget the Force, I was enthralled by the technical illustrations of McQuarrie, Johnston, & Rodis-Jamero. Those movies owed a serious debt to the artists and ILM craftsmen.

3) Art of Michael Whelan - I’d buy my Sci-Fi literature based in part on the book cover. Whelan is the Zeus of book cover painting. Now you know how the “Dragonrider” Healbot strip came about…

4) Monster Manuals - Sometimes, you get tired of drawing the Heroes. That is when you reach for the hard-cover Fiend Folio and start drawing zombie-dogs with bat wings and shit. Just about every monster in EVERY computer game can be linked to a 30 year old drawing from one of these RPG classics. Truly, 10d8s worth of inspiration.

Next time on the Codex, some more recent influences…like Dragon Half MUWAHAHA!