Darlene the Artist

DARLENE

Classic 1980s Fantasy RPG Artist
“Our Lady of Gaming”

During the classic period of the 1980s, at the dawn of Role Playing Games (RPG), DARLENE(1) used her skills in drawing and painting to create fantasy illustrations for this new genre. As a student of the medieval art of illumination and having learned calligraphy in London from one of the Craft members of the prestigious Society of Scribes and Illuminators, she drew upon historical sources for inspiration. In her work with TSR Hobbies(2), she brought with her a keen historical knowledge and the talent for rendering letters, both drawn and written. For this reason, DARLENE often refers to herself as a “medievalist” when she looks back upon her work during this period.

DARLENE’S WORK IS INFLUENTIAL TO EARLY RPG

As an informed creator of letterforms, DARLENE’s work lent a feel of “authenticity” to the projects she did for TSR Hobbies. Since 1978, she’s regularly combined illustrations with words. She admired William Morris and William Blake who both advocated the thoughtful integration between illustration and the written word. DARLENE’s calligraphic and lettering skills–in concert with fantasy illustration–were useful for a variety of RPG projects like article titles, column mastheads, RPG cartography, calendar headings, logos, art, etc… Darlene designed TSR’s wizard head logo. The first editor of The Dragon magazine, Tim Kask, immediately recognized the advantages of someone who could do both fantasy illustrations and lettering at the same time.

But at the beginning, DARLENE’s art was influential because it was ever-present. For many years, the first module that came with the basic D&D set was “In Search of the Unknown,” (B1). Every person introduced to the genre saw her work on the front and back covers of this module.

Also, the headings she did for The Dragon magazine appeared monthly. Additionally, she illustrated and hand rendered the calendar information for both the 1980 and 1981 “The Days of the Dragon” calendars. So the possibility is great that her work was seen every day. In 1983, she designed and created “The Guide to the World of Greyhawk” book to appear like an illuminated manuscript. DARLENE also contributed lettering for the 1983 and 1984 Realms of Wonder calendars and the 1985 Dragonlance calendar. Thus, the visual context for RPG came through her filter, making DARLENE’s art directly responsible for imparting a “mood-an authentic gothic sensibility”to those early RPG materials.

DARLENE MAINTAINS A PUBLIC PRESENCE AT GEN CON

Additionally, DARLENE always maintained a presence at Gen Con, TSR’s Annual Gaming Convention. Her fantasy illustrations usually appeared on the cover of Gen Con’s Convention Booklets. Her art was used for Gen Con t-shirts, Gen Con certificates and Gen Con coupons. DARLENE was accesible. Every year at Gen Con, she had a booth where she sold her fantasy art. In addition to her display of original fantasy paintings, she offered a series of fantasy tablets, fantasy book plates, game-related certificates, and other items for sale. In April 1982, she created a series of images for Moira Collins (The Rubberstamp Queen) and her company, The Griffin. These Fantasy Stamps are now collector’s items.

OUR LADY OF GAMING

Perhaps the most obvious reason why DARLENE’s early work held such sway may be in the fact that she was the only woman artist offering her talents to RPG fantasy illustration. She is the only female associated with D&D in a public way. DARLENE’s artwork within the DMG-especially the female figures-has consistently had a profound effect upon many young gamers. A working theory on why this could be is simply that DARLENE possessed the feminine component. She was a living, breathing woman. In Jungian terms, she served as an anima figure, a catalyst producing the spark that allowed a masculine, testosterone-drenched industry to ignite. Many people agree. “Our Lady of Gaming” is a title bestowed upon DARLENE in June of 2006 at the 2nd Annual Geneva Lake Gaming Convention where she was invited to appear as a guest (Lake Geneva, WI).

Before DARLENE arrived on the scene, TSR Hobbies’ published materials looked noticeably different. Much of DARLENE’s artistic influence may not be immediately apparent as she often worked invisibly, behind-the-scenes. When she moved on, RPG’s look of magic and whimsy left with her… but the seed had taken root. Michael Varhola addressed the subject in 2004 when he wrote: “It would be appropriate for us to acknowledge the contributions of Darlene–she is a fantasy illustrator whose work has appeared in gaming books for more than a quarter century and, as a result, has profoundly influenced much of the art that has followed it.” (3)

LOGOS & THE “LOOK” OF TSR

DARLENE created the visual backdrop for the RPG genre, the subtext that helped the world understand and better relate to Gary Gygax’s world known as D&D. Collectively, her work carried a significant impact. She also shaped the look, the identity and the public face of TSR in another significant way. In October 1980, she designed TSR’s “wizard face” logo. An article about the origins of this logo appears in Scripsit(4). She’s also responsible for the logo, letterhead, business cards and advertising materials for TSR Periodicals and Dragon Publishing.

RPG FANTASY ART

Beginning with tenth issue of The Dragon Magazine(5), DARLENE’s art fired people’s imaginations. Particularly noteworthy is her the title page for the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Many people now consider this 33-year old image, a depiction of a fat unicorn, to be an icon, a wistful symbol of a time gone by, past pleasures fondly remembered.

Highlights of DARLENE’s Fantasy art (sans lettering) include: the cover for THE DRAGON magazine #37, The Ice Barbarian in the 1981 Days of the Dragon Calendar and The Green Dragon in the 1982 Days of the Dragon Calendar, Monster Card art, The Dragontales Anthology, all interior art for RPGA Rahasia (R2) module, all interior art for One-On-One game “The Amber Sword of World’s End.”

RPG MAPS

DARLENE is most renowned for creating two large color maps (each measuring 22″ x 35″) for The World of Greyhawk.(6) Gary Gygax has always thought these renditions as the “best gaming maps ever created for this genre” and believes they are still an “unrivaled classic.” This is because she approached the drawing of the maps as if it were an illustration. She drew individual pictorial representations of individual mountains, trees and other geographical features and integrated these organically with different styles of lettering to produce a masterpiece of cartography.

The overall effect of her Game map cannot be reproduced by anyone who doesn’t have a feel for spatial relationshop or can understand and appreciate the subtle nuisances of letterform design. That’s why these maps set the standard for future RPG Fantasy Game maps and cannot be easily replicated. That’s also why these maps deserve a mention in the development of role-playing game art.

THE STORY OF JASMINE™ FANTASY ADVENTURE

She’s also a writer, known mostly for her illustrated fantasy adventure, The Story of Jasmine™ saga(7) that ran for a year in The Dragon magazine. But most significantly, she’s the creator of the first role-playing card game in history and invented the practice of using fantasy illustrations on cards. DARLENE is also remembered for the twelve episodes (17 panels) of an illustrated fantasy-adventure, The Story of Jasmineâ„¢ saga that ran in The Dragon Magazine from May 1980 to April 1981. When The Dragon editors failed to renew The Story of Jasmineâ„¢ adventure for another year, she developed her Jasmine saga into a game.

JASMINE: THE BATTLE FOR THE MID-REALMâ„¢ COLLECTOR CARD GAME>

DARLENE’s card game sprang directly from the interactions of her characters. She sorted them into four factions, each possessing different and unique strengths and attributes. Since the card game was initially character-driven, it is natural for players to ad lib assuming the personae and traits of their faction during play. Hence, a role-playing card game!

In August of 1982, she published Jasmine: The Battle for The Mid-Realm™ collector card game(8) just in time for Gen Con XV. This officially marks the first appearance of: 1) a role-playing game using playing cards and 2) a game-related collector card game that is heavily illustrated. The card game system DARLENE was the first to develop defines three types of playing cards–faction cards, event cards, and special cards–each with unique actions which can change depending upon what other cards are in play or which factions are holding them. This was unique, both then and now. In 1982, she was honored at the Ninth Annual Strategist’s Club Awards for creating the “Most Outstanding New Game in an Open Category” and received a plaque.

For this collector card game, DARLENE lavished much attention on the details of the fantasy artwork. Unlike most card decks in use at the time, she illustrated all 112 playing cards. The event and special cards were printed in two colors. But she went through the expense to create full color miniature portraiture paintings for the Faction cards. Thus, Jasmine: The Battle for The Mid-Realm collector card game is the first card game to combine card actions with full color paintings in the context of playing cards.(9) In his review of the game in August 1983, Merle Rasmussen wrote: “JASMINE incorporates a few old ideas with many new ones to create a fresh approach in card-gaming.”(10) Another positive review of her game appeared in Avalon Hill’s Gameplay Magazine.(11) Unfortunately, her plans to publish the expansion deck she was developing never materialized.

DARLENE REVISITS RPG

Like a comet on an elliptical path, DARLENE returned to RPG in 2002 after Gary Gygax contacted her. This gave her a reason to revisit the World of RPG and she discovered a lot of history happened to the industry during her absence, including the willful violation of her copyrights. On the plus side, she has been pleasantly surprized to learn she has many devoted fans who fondly remember her and the work she has done.

DARLENE had an opportunity to team with Gary Gygax again in 2004-5. Nostalgia was the motivating factor when she created his “Yggsburgh and the East Mark” and “The Town of Yggsburgh” gaming maps (for Troll Lord Games) only this time she did them entirely on computer. In 1980, the original game maps were laboriously created, to size, on illustration board with color applied evenly by applying different Pantone adhesive color sheets on separate acetate overlays. She found the computer made the editing process easier but it also took a great deal of time to assign vector points to all the individual geographic features, such as trees and hills. It’s not impossible, but the computer cannot easily replicate the feel of something hand-rendered. In addition to the 2-map gaming set for Gary Gygax’s CASTLE ZYGAG mentioned above, DARLENE has also designed four issues of Troll Lord Games’ THE CRUSADER Journal as well as miscellaneous logos, designs and small illustrations for them.

Her work is classically oriented, harmonious, and tends to appeal to people on a heart-level. DARLENE has turned her attention towards children’s books and is in the midst of illustrating a wonderful story by Nancy Kimbell Baumgarten in a style reminiscent of her 1980s fantasy-art.

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(1) Born Darlene Jean Pekul in 1954, DARLENE began the practice of using one name only when signing her work. She trademarked her signature in 1980 and legally dropped her surname in 1984.

(2) TSR Hobbies, Inc., a game publishing company begun by E, Gary Gygax in Lake Geneva, WI the 1970s, was responsible for the development of Role Playing Games and was most famous for introducing the world to Dungeons & Dragons.

(3) Michael Varhola. NUISANCES Skirmisher Publishing, 2004. p. 7.(4) DARLENE. “A Personal Experience with Logo Design,” SCRIPSIT, The Wisconsin Calligraphers’ Guild Newsletter, Volume 2 Number 4, Autumn 1980, pp 5-9.

(5) Illustration for “Chinese Dragons,” article, p. 8: THE DRAGON Magazine #10, TSR Periodicals (Lake Geneva, WI) October 1978.

(6) “THE WORLD OF GREYHAWK,” TSR Hobbies, Inc. (Lake Geneva, WI) August 1980.

(7) The Story of Jasmine™ Fantasy Adventure Saga appeared serially in THE DRAGON Magazine (May 1980 – April 1981).

(8) Jasmine: The Battle for the Mid-Realm™ collector card game: Jasmine Publications, (Lake Geneva, WI), 1982.

(9) Jasmine: The Battle for the Mid-Realm™ collector card game was published in 1982. The first appearance of Magic the Gathering wasn’t until 1993, over ten years later and, curiously, it borrows ideas that closely resemble Jasmine: The Battle for the Mid-Realm™ collector card game.

(10) Merle Rasmussen, “Fun Is In The Cards With JASMINE,” THE DRAGON Magazine, TSR Periodicals (Lake Geneva, WI) January 1983.

(11) Patricia Lentz, “Cards and a Good Deal More,” GAMEPLAY Magazine, Avalon-Hill (Baltimore, MD) June 1983, pp. 60-61.