What I particularly like about this collection is difficult to put into words. I guess I'd sum it up as verisimilitude. First, I like the precise rendering of the Mythos beasties; it lends a certain reality and "heft" (for lack of a better word) to their alien presence. Second, I like that Holloway has rendered the human subjects clearly as residents of the game's default 1920s setting. It appeals to my inner history nerd, what can I say. I particularly like the first picture, set among the prosaic surroundings of an urban alleyway.
Fever-dream, hallucinogenic representations of the Mythos are all well and good, but sometimes I like a little concrete representation.
I know that some old school hard asses don't like him, but I think he's great. He's hand a hand in illustrating some of my fave rpgs. Heck, he even did a lot of work in Mechwarrior, which we played a lot in the late 80s.
ReplyDeleteThat style looks familiar from some of my favourite illustrations in Dungeon mag as well
ReplyDeleteI still think some grognards like to bag on Holloway because his art doesn't look like a hippie nightmare or a goddamn blacklight poster.
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate the other TSR guys now, but when I was a kid, Holloway's art in Monster Manual II was my favorite of my older siblings' D&D books.
I'm not a grog or a hard-ass, but I can't stand Holloway's art. Takes me right out of whatever it adorns. Different strokes. :)
ReplyDeleteScott, obviously we're going to need to have a scaffold match to settle this once and for all.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Holloway's style.
ReplyDeleteWasn't my favorite by any means, but it was refreshing. : )
I used to be a newspaper photographer and some of my thoughts on photography are reflected in my thoughts on gaming and fantasy art. I like clarity. I like clean lines. I dislike overly stylized technique (but I'm alright with the subject matter being strange). So, I like Holloway's work. That monster in the top image looks kind of like the jabberwoky to me.
ReplyDeleteJim Holloway has always been one of my favorite old school artists, and my admiration for his skills has only grown over the years. One of the many reasons I always liked his work was because of the historicity he incorporated into his characters - while even favorites like Elmore were painting guys in Generic Fantasy Armor, Holloway was drawing his characters in armor obviously inspired by 13th century plate, 9th century Viking helms and mail, and so on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, notably, his female characters were most often just as sensibly clad as his male characters. He didn't often go the cheesecake route.