Russ Nicholson | |
|---|---|
 Nicholson at a book signing session. | |
| Died | 10 May 2023 |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Fantasy art |
Russ Nicholson (died 10 May 2023) was a British illustrator, best known for his black and white fantasy art.
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Russ Nicholson | |
|---|---|
| Nicholson at a book signing session. | |
| Died | 10 May 2023 |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Fantasy art |
Russ Nicholson (died 10 May 2023) was a British illustrator, best known for his black and white fantasy art.
Nicholson was born in Scotland, and studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (which later became part of Dundee University). He moved to England in the 1970s where, save for a brief sojourn in Papua New Guinea, he lived for the rest of his life.
Following graduation, Nicholson became a freelance illustrator, but found "the work was meagre, so I had to find a weekly paying job, this came in the form of an advertising sweatshop (so to speak) in London, with very little money. It was not the best of times." In order to survive, Nicholson took post-graduate training in order to become an art teacher and art college lecturer, which became his full time occupation for much of his life. [1]
Nicholson became an important contributor to early fantasy game-related titles such as The Warlock of Firetop Mountain , the first in the illustrated series of Fighting Fantasy game books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. [2] As the Fighting Fantasy series grew in popularity, he illustrated sixteen more books in the series. He also illustrated many creatures in the Fiend Folio , the original UK contribution to the first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons , [2] including the cover art.
He illustrated the six original published "episodes" of the Fabled Lands created by Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson. He also lent his distinctive style to numerous Games Workshop products, including Warhammer Fantasy Battle , Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay , [2] Warhammer 40,000 and in their house magazine White Dwarf . [3]
For over forty years Nicholson produced work for a wide range of companies and publishers, including Puffin, Pan, Collins, Hodder and Stoughton, TSR, [4] Games Workshop, Hoggshead Publishing, DC Thomson, Le Grimoire and Scriptarium . His work has been reproduced in over twenty countries. In addition, he drew the album cover (False Weavers) for Santa Cruz anarcho-folk punk band, Blackbird Raum.
From 2011 to 2020, Nicholson regularly published The Gallery: Art of Russ Nicholson, an illustrated blog of his work including explanations of his creative processes. [5]
Nicholson died on 10 May 2023. [6]
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the 10th and current edition was released in June 2023.
Games Workshop Group is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is aesthetics, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out.
Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of Speed Racer. Amano later became the creator of iconic and influential characters such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman, Honeybee Hutch, and Casshern. In 1982 he went independent and became a freelance artist, finding success as an illustrator for numerous authors, and worked on best-selling novel series, such as The Guin Saga and Vampire Hunter D. He is also known for his commissioned illustrations for the popular video game franchise Final Fantasy.
Fiend Folio is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). All three are collections of monsters.
Warhammer Quest is a fantasy dungeon, role-playing adventure board game released by Games Workshop in 1995 as the successor to HeroQuest and Advanced HeroQuest, set in its fictional Warhammer Fantasy world. The game focuses upon a group of warriors who join to earn their fame and fortune in the darkest depths of the Old World.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the title is the first gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002, and Scholastic Books in 2017. As well as launching the Fighting Fantasy series, the gamebook inspired two direct sequels and five novels, and has been adapted into a board game, an audio drama and a video game.
Gary Chalk is an English illustrator and model-maker.
Tony M. DiTerlizzi is an American fantasy artist, children's book creator, and motion picture producer.
Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor.
Graeme Davis is a game designer, writer, and editor in the tabletop role-playing game industry.
Ian Miller is a British fantasy illustrator and writer best known for his quirkily etched gothic style and macabre sensibility, and noted for his book and magazine cover and interior illustrations, including covers for books by H. P. Lovecraft and contributions to David Day's Tolkien-inspired compendiums, work for Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and various role-playing and wargaming publications, as well as contributions to the Ralph Bakshi films Wizards and Cool World.
John Blanche is a British fantasy and science fiction illustrator and modeller who worked on Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar games and was the art director for the company and illustrated various game books and Fighting Fantasy publications.
Chris Pramas is an American game designer and writer, as well as a founder of Green Ronin Publishing. He is best known as the designer of the Dragon Age RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and Freeport: The City of Adventure.
Melvyn "Mel" Grant is an English artist and illustrator. Trained traditionally, he originally worked with oil paints, but in the late 1990s Grant switched to creating most of his work digitally with a digitizing tablet and the software Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Mel now lives and works on the coast in the Southeast of England, although the bulk of his work is commissioned internationally.
James Pavelec is an American artist who started as a freelance illustrator creating artwork for fantasy role-playing games and collectible card games before moving to creating artwork for himself. He is also the co-founder of Professional Artist Client Toolkit (PACT).
Jim Bambra is a British designer and reviewer of fantasy roleplaying games (RPG), and a former company director. He is particularly known for his contributions to Dungeons & Dragons, Fighting Fantasy, Warhammer, and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game which was based on the Star Wars films. Later he became head of design at MicroProse, then managing director of Pivotal Games, a publisher of video games including Conflict: Desert Storm.
Martin McKenna was a British artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics, mainly of horror and fantasy genres.
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