by Raymond E. Gaustadnes

Back in the 80’s Conan the barbarian was my main source of inspiration and the spark that got me hooked on fantasy. Soon after I discovered Middle Earth through a text only game on the Commodore 64 and I knew I wanted more!

I was later introduced to the Middle Earth Role Playing game by a classmate.  This opened a whole new world of fun as we spent days and nights going on quests, killing orcs and dragons. We drew maps by hand and we spent hours making pencil drawings of our characters over the years.

We used the MERP and Rolemaster game systems and books which contained fantastic artwork by the late Angus McBride who would become my favorite fantasy artist. I contribute much of my quest to take up freelance artwork to him and his illustrations. One of my artistic goals is to illustrate the cover of a Rolemaster rulebook!

I soon moved onto using computers and photoshop and I’m still creating art the digital way two decades later. Working on projects with Iron Crown Enterprises lead to the creation of my own Game Master’s Campaign – Fantasy art kits, digital tiles and tokens for use with roleplaying games and other projects.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with several small and large game companies, creating art for their projects. Thanks to random encounters with the fantasy universes of literature and games as a kid who could have guessed what the realms of fantasy had in store for him? A roleplaying book or a painting can be just a book or a painting – but if you believe in them – they can be the key to your future.

The Character, Monster and Animal Tokens included in the Fantasy Grounds license are from the RPG Base Fantasy Art Kit.

Checkout the great RPG Art Kits at www.rpgartkits.com and a free sample here too.