There was something vastly different the fantasy artwork of P Craig Russell who tackled Sword & Sorcery subject matter. But his artwork has the sweeping style of 'high fantasy' artwork & this artwork also an operic feel to it!
The Sword & Sorcery feel of P Craig Russell came across hard in his 'Curse of the Ring' Portfolio from '79. The exposure of this artwork was instrumental in my love of all things weird & high fantasy.
P Craig Russell cityscapes feel like they belong in an old school adventure. They have a dreamlike quality to them & these dreamscapes feel like one could step through them into places where the dark alleys have teeth to them.
If you were a reader of Marvel's Epic magazine then most likely you will slaim into P Craig Russell's monsters & demons. His work graced Dr.Strange in the 90's & they were so good.
Back in the early Eighties it was definitely P Craig Russell's version of Elric of Melniboné that really helped to cement the Michael Moorcock character in my mind. His version of Elric has a tragic alien boy prince quality that wavers over time into the cynical displaced mercenary prince that trails deeper & deeper into evil.
The surrealist & weirdness of P Craig Russell makes his artwork feel like some ancient occult other dimension landscape. His artworks transcend reality allowing a DM to show his players supernatural landscapes beyond the furtherst bounds of their imagination. And this is one of the ways that I've used his artwork over the years.
Killraven that Sevenities Marvel post H.G. Well's Martian invasion tale was defined by the work of P Craig Russell. The artwork oozed with surrealist elements & alien strangness. These were influencial & instrumental in many of my HG Wells campaign runs.
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