D&D: Keep on the Boderlands (Jim Roslof Passing)

[Tawmis]

Graciously borrowed from WOTC Site.


Jim Roslof, former TSR illustrator and art director, passed away on Saturday, March 19.



As an illustrator in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Roslof had a major influence on the developing visual style of the Dungeons & Dragons game. His cover illustration for adventure B2, The Keep on the Borderlands, is one of the most iconic and widely-recognized D&D images from that period.

As art director, Roslof’s guiding hand was less apparent to players, but his influence was even more profound and far-reaching. It was Roslof who hired and shaped TSR’s famous “pit” of color illustrators: Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Jim Holloway, Keith Parkinson, Tim Truman, and Clyde Caldwell. Under Roslof’s direction, their paintings defined Dungeons & Dragons for a generation of players and DMs.

All of us at Wizards of the Coast are saddened by this loss, and we extend our heartfelt sympathy to Laura Roslof and to their children and grandchildren. We invited Jim’s friends and colleagues to share their comments, and include some of them here.

“Jim Roslof was the man among the boys during my time at TSR Hobbies in the early 80s. A solid and reliable artist, mentor, friend, and father.”

“I have never forgotten Jim’s generosity of spirit or his support when morale was low or the winters of discontent grew too cold in Lake Geneva. He was a kind kinsman on our shared journey, and no matter how much time has passed since those days, in my memory those moments live on, unaging. Rest easy, old pal, and walk in light until we meet again.”

“Jim’s work always contained a strong sense of fun and enthusiasm for the game, even when he was conveying danger and dread. When you look at his illustrations, you see that there’s a story going on, and you want to be part of it.”

“Jim didn’t often join in on our foolishness, but he took it all in stride. He was the one who could stay at his drawing table, calmly sketching away, while everyone else was shrieking and racing up and down the hall.”

“There was seldom a week went by that we didn’t learn something from Jim.”

“We asked a lot of Jim, in terms of expertise, talent, and patience. It was a never-ending source of amazement to me that he delivered all three so consistently.”

“He had a real eye for talent. Maybe someone else could have assembled an artistic team with the same amazing energy as that one, but no one else did. Only Jim actually made it happen.”

“You can’t think about that period in D&D’s development, or look at a single one of those products, without seeing Jim’s influence. He raised the artistic bar for the whole industry much higher than anyone really thought it could go at that time. He ‘changed the game’, literally and figuratively.”

R.I.P. James Paul Roslof
1946-2011

[Tawmis]

When I read the news, I was blown away. Not that I was - knowingly - the biggest Jim Roslof fan in the world. Sadly, I didn't know of Jim - but I definitely knew of his work. The module for D&D entitled Keep on the Borderlands was one of the first modules I ever played in terms of D&D. And what caught my attention - and made me excited to play it - was the cover.

The cover seemed to convey this story of heroes against these hobgoblin creatures. It's not the "best" cover in the world - if you're looking at the art. But for me, when I was 10 or 11 years old - that cover literally pulled me into D&D. Even more strangely, being 10 or 11 when this thing came out - I was a young boy - concerned about my masculinity and wanting to be tough. (Oxymoron to those who were "D&D Geeks" back then!) But regardless of always trying to wear dark blues and look manly as an 11 year old kid can look - I had no problem carrying this module around. Strange, because aside from the middle art - the rest of the module's cover (and back) is this pinkish color. But this module was just too cool to be denied.

I am sad that it took his death for me to even reflect back and learn who it was that pulled me into D&D so much with a simple module cover. I am probably not alone in thinking that Jim Roslof probably unlocked the creative mind of many young men (and women!) and opened the doors to Dungeons & Dragons with his fantastic covers.

I hope it's never too late to do anything - because I'd like to thank Jim Roslof for opening those doors wide.

And inviting me into my own imagination.

And the countless adventures that awaited there - even today.

[Tawmis]

Some more links about him and such:

http://networkedblogs.com/fEjTS

http://networkedblogs.com/fDcQZ

EDIT: Add here rather than a new post...

The more I read about him - the more mind blowing it becomes...

In 1979, Roslof had joined Erol Otus, Bill Willingham, Jeff Dee, Paul Reiche and Evan Robinson as a staff artist at TSR, Inc. in Lake Geneva WI. Over the next year, he provided interior art for

* Lawrence Schick's White Plume Mountain (1979)
* Gary Gygax's Slave Pits of the Undercity (1980) and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980)
* the hardcover rule book Deities & Demigods in which he provided illustrations of the entire Greek pantheon (1980)
* various issues of TSR's Dragon magazine, commencing with issue #42 (October 1980)

Roslof also provided the cover art for some of AD&D's greatest adventures:

* Queen of the Demonweb Pits (voted the single greatest adventure of all time, in compilation with the rest of the GDQ series, by Dungeon magazine in 2004)
* Ghost Tower of Inverness (ranked 30th greatest adventure in the same Dungeon article)
* Secret of the Slavers Stockade
* Keep on the Borderlands (ranked 7th greatest adventure in the same Dungeon article)

The last of these is perhaps Jim's best known work, since the adventure was included in later printings of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, of which over one million copies were sold.

In May 1981, despite the large amount of artwork needed for an ever-increasing number of company products, temperamental TSR manager Kevin Blume fired two of the six staff artists, Paul Reiche and Evan Robinson, on what TSR editor Steve Winter described as "trumped-up charges of insubordination".

When Bill Willingham and Jeff Dee complained, they were also fired, leaving only Roslof and Erol Otus as the art department. Roslof was promoted to Art Director, but instead of simply staying with the style of art that had defined TSR products since 1975, Roslof hired a cadre of brilliant artists whose artwork would define TSR to a generation, and who would all go on to successful careers as fantasy artists: Jim Holloway, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, Harry Quinn, Keith Parkinson, Tim Truman and Clyde Caldwell. Parkinson recalled how he was hired: "I drove up one day to see if I could do some freelance work. Jim Roslof, who was the Art Director, hinted that I could join the staff full-time, but I missed the hint. A few days later, I called him about a job, and he had just hired somebody else the day before, but he’d keep me in mind. The next day, he called back, and had an opening."

The artists gathered in what TSR staffers called "the pit". As Scott Taylor recalled, the pit was "a place of creation for all the onsite artists of the growing company. Here countless worlds were born among rubber-band wars and constant deadline pressure. Still, the pit was a place of ultimate creation, a venue where artists worked together for inspiration, guidance, and commiseration in a time before the internet gave purchase to a web of greater connection."

In addition to giving direction to many disparate projects, Roslof also continued to provide artwork for TSR, including In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, the hardcover book Fiend Folio published by TSR UK, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Dwellers of the Forbidden City and the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. He also provided some of the artwork for TSR's Monster Cards, including original depictions for monsters such as the wemic, and in 1986 produced illustrations for the first issue of Dungeon.