Jim Roslof
| Jim Roslof | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 21, 1946 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | March 19, 2011 (aged 64) Elkhorn, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Fantasy art |
| Spouse(s) | Laura Roslof |
James Paul "Jim" Roslof (November 21, 1946 – March 19, 2011) was an American artist and graphic designer particularly well known for cover art and interior illustrations of fantasy role-playing games published by TSR, Inc. during the "golden age" of Dungeons & Dragons. As Art Director at TSR in the early 1980s, he was also responsible for hiring many of the young artists who would go on to prominent careers in the fantasy role-playing industry.
As a fantasy artist, one of Roslof's best known pieces of artwork is his cover for Keep on the Borderlands, of which more than one million copies were sold.
Jim Roslof was born November 21, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois to Edward E. and Gertrude (Kibitlewski) Roslof.
Early in his career in the late 1960s, Jim Roslof was a contributor of cover art to the counterculture underground newspaper Chicago Seed.
By 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
Roslof also provided the cover art for some of AD&D's greatest adventures:
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."
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