Bradley W. Schenck

Bradley W. Schenck is an American artist and game designer.

Schenck's art is widely recognized for its strong themes and rigorous structure applied to fantastic subjects that is reminiscent of the work of members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His work has been strongly influenced by traditional Celtic art and the Art Nouveau style. Nonetheless, while his style contains elements and motifs from these styles, Schenck has developed a style which includes a wide range of elements from art both classic and modern which he executes with his own strong sense of line and space.

Schenck began his work as an artist at an early age, as a result of moving out of his parents' home to live on his own at the age of 14. He had a strong network of friends that assisted him through his connections in the Society for Creative Anachronism and the role playing game community. He also had a strong work ethic and was stubbornly self-reliant.

Some of Schenck's earliest published work can be found in the Arduin role playing game book Welcome to Skull Tower. Schenck's early work can often be identified by his artist's signature "Morno" or the sigil of the moon with an inscribed letter 'M.' All of the art in this volume was produced by Schenck except for a couple of pieces produced by Erol Otus. Schenck's work also appeared in other role playing game publications of the day. His early work displays Schenck's strong sense of scene composition, dramatic shading, and effective use of line weight. However, at this point there is still some uncertainty in his execution of form.

This changed rapidly, however, as the work presented in The Runestaff and various publications of the Society for Creative Anachronism in the early 1980s attests. His control over form, particularly of people, had improved dramatically. During this time his command of further detail in his work grew with each piece produced. For example, with one piece he became unsatisfied with an idealized presentation of the moon. He reworked the piece after researching the actual appearance of the moon in different phases to present the moon in the piece with a realistic appearance which also bore the stamp of his personal style. During this time his artist signature changed to his monogram: 'BWS'.

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