Dawn of the 80's & D&D

So let's dig back, my fellow grognards, to the beginning. For me at least! I'm guessing it was 1980....
Middle school...12 years old, or there aboots, and I begin to hear rumblings of a new game people are playing. Most likely passed down from older siblings (some of whom had played the original D&D game and even the legendary Chainmail!) to guys my age. The Basic & Expert box sets were out...as well as all 3 core hardcover books....by I distinctly remember a guy in one of my classes bring this tomb to school...
"THE ROGUES GALLERY"

I was already a budding artist, drawing is something I have always done....so I was immediately drawn to the art in this book. Jeff Dee, Erol Otis, Darlene and DSL(David S. LaForce!)
As a matter of fact...I remember a couple of  drawings in particular that stuck with me for all these years...it wasn't until my recent quest to acquire as much of the "old school D&D material" as possible that I found them again...the 1st..."The Illusionist"

 For some reason this one sticks out in my minds eye...the crafty Illusionist casting his spell to trick the gullible...just a simple charcoal drawing, but it really resonated with the 12 year old me.
#2....."The 3 amigos"...specifically the Assassin 

Now this is a great drawing by Jeff Dee. The fighter with his crossbow & disdain for heavy armor is one thing....the awesome looking Lizardman is beyond cool....but I was completely fixated on the Assassin "Lassiviren the Dark"! My very 1st D&D character was an assassin...and I drew a picture(which has not survived the years!) of him that looked remarkably like the one above. Except that my assassin used a magic hammer...provided by the kid who owned "The Rogues Gallery" that I was so engrossed with....

I always appreciated the art of Darlene...its a bit more mature than the others....a bit more ethereal...yet brilliant all the same.

And Erol Otis...the guy is a genius artist of the highest caliber! I really started grabbing up these old D&D books in an attempt to reconnect with some of the art that inspired me as a youth!

And even though the RG was published in 1980 it bore the TSR "Wizard" logo....which really dates it for an "Old School" guy like me. Never really used the pre-fabricated NPCs in the book in any of our campaigns...but, the art contained in it inspired us to created are own drawings of our characters....but that's for another day & blog entry!