This week is special in that you get two great pieces by Trampier. Both feature the Remorhaz. I love the detail of the mouth on the "head shot" as you can see the feet of an unfortunate person and what might be a piece of rope (the creature swallows it's target on a to hit roll of 20). This is an excellent example of Trampier's use of "implied narrative", additionally, the feet provide a sense of scale.
According to the Monster Manual the Remorhaz is a 21' to 41' foot long creature colored ice blue everywhere except for a white stripe that runs the length of it's back. Much of the white stripe would be an orangish-red due to the intense heat generated by the monster.
Trampier is very consistent with the look of the Remorhaz. Both drawings are very similar although there is no telling how far apart in time they were created. Most people are probably more familiar with the bottom image from the Monster Manual. It almost appears as if the top image is merely a zoomed in view of the bottom image seen through a camera that turns everything into old school black and white line art goodness. Enjoy!
The coolest thing about the remorhaz art is that you can see Erol Otus's take on it in The Dragon #2. He drew it up and sent it in, and Gary Gygax statted it up and published it. DAT later did the illustration for the Monster Manual and then for module G2. So you get a great artist's take on another great artist's invention.
ReplyDeleteI love the Otus version as well, the coloring in it really is spot on. That one is so "old school" it's insane. It looks like something from the 1500's or thereabouts.
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