Todd Wills Lockwood, (born July 9, 1957 in Boulder, Colorado, United States) is an American artist specializing in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

illustration. He is best known for his work on the

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

'', and for his covers for the books of

R.A. Salvatore Robert Anthony Salvatore (born January 20, 1959) is an American author best known for ''The Legend of Drizzt'', a series of fantasy novels set in the Forgotten Realms and starring the popular character Drizzt Do'Urden. He has also written ''The ...

. His art has also appeared in books from

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

, DAW Books, and on magazine covers, including Satellite Orbit magazine in 1984-1985, ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publicatio ...

'', '' Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact'', ''

Realms of Fantasy ''Realms of Fantasy'' was a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Sovereign Media, then Tir Na Nog Press, and Damnation Books, which specialized in fantasy fiction (including some horror), related nonfiction (wit ...

'', '' Dragon Magazine'', and ''

Dungeon Magazine ''Dungeon'' (originally published as ''Dungeon: Adventures for TSR Role-Playing Games'') was one of the two official magazines targeting consumers of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game and associated products; '' Dragon'' was the othe ...

''.

Biography

Todd Lockwood was born in Boulder, Colorado. Lockwood received his education at The Art Institute of Colorado, in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, and went to work immediately in the design and advertising world. Lockwood worked for a design agency for a year and a half, and won numerous awards in the Art Directors Club of New York's annual show. He then focused his career on illustration, doing freelance illustration for about fifteen years: "

Coors Coors Brewing Company, or Coors, is now part of the Molson Coors Beverage Company. Coors may also refer to: Companies *Adolph Coors Company, a former holding company controlled by the heirs of founder Adolph Coors *Coors Brewers, the UK arm of th ...

was one of my biggest clients... I could paint beer cans in my sleep. At one point I had some covers I had done for ''Satellite Orbit'' magazine. For years after that I was 'the satellite dish guy.' I came to really hate satellite dishes and beer cans. If I had ever had a painting with both a beer can and a satellite dish in it, my ad career would have been complete." Lockwood was an avid ''

'' game player, and a fan of fantasy art. "I flipped when TSR started having really good art in their products... Jeff Easley's stuff particularly interested me: so moody and fluid, so deft. Then Brom came along and really blew my doors off." Lockwood decided to try fantasy and science-fiction illustration: "My first artistic influence, like so many in this field, was Frank Frazetta. Later came

Michael Whelan Michael Whelan (born 29 June 1950) is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years, he worked as an illustrator, specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art. Since the mid-1990s, he has pursued a fine art career, ...

, though I had some ad-world influences, too, particularly after I started art school. But I really wanted to be Michael Whelan." Lockwood listed his other influences as David Wilcox, Peter Lloyd,

Boris Vallejo Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-American painter who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy ficti ...

, and Jeff Jones. Lockwood first did some covers for ''

'' magazine: "That was the beginning. I felt revived. I was finally painting things that interested me!" In 1994, he attended

Worldcon Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...

, Lockwood's first

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expr ...

, in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

, taking some of his ''Asimov's'' covers and some other work to show to artists and art directors in hopes of making contacts with people in the science fiction and fantasy publishing world. "It was a revelation! ... I met other artists and saw so much amazing work. I met Michael Whelan, who responded very favorably to the black and white work I had done, particularly ''Cerberus''. I went home inspired and determined to do more and better work. I got more magazine work and started building a portfolio of published work in the field I had always wanted to be a part of." Lockwood began illustrating cards for

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', R ...

and

Phil Foglio Philip Foglio (born May 1, 1956) is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art. Early life and career Foglio was born on May 1, 1956, in Mount Vernon, New York, and moved with his family to ...

's ''

XXXenophile ''XXXenophile'' is an American comic book series, published by Palliard Press and later Studio Foglio. It is an anthology of short, whimsical, erotic fantasy and science fiction stories, written and penciled by Phil Foglio. Each story is inked ...

'' card game, and soon his friend David Martin suggested him to an art director at TSR, the publisher of the popular role-playing game ''

''. "I had sent TSR portfolios in the past, but now I had a real fantasy portfolio. The art director,

Stephen Daniele Stephen A. Daniele is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Works Stephen Daniele has continued to produce interior illustrations for many ''Dungeons & Dragons'' books and ''Dragon'' magazine since 1995, as well as cover art for ...

, gave me a bunch of character portraits for one of the ''

Spellfire ''Spellfire: Master the Magic'' is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) created by TSR, Inc. and based on their popular '' Dungeons & Dragons'' role playing game. The game appeared first in April 1994, shortly after the introduction of ...

'' decks, then some book covers for TSR. An opportunity to work for TSR full-time came along in 1996, and I jumped at it." In 1997,

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidi ...

acquired the TSR properties and moved Lockwood and his family to Washington state. Working for Wizards, he continued to work on the D&D line and on '' Magic: The Gathering''. Lockwood produced art for the

Ravenloft Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a ''pocket dimension'' or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land pieces c ...

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 a ...

, and

Dragonlance ''Dragonlance'' is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived ''Dragonlance'' while driving i ...

campaign settings, as well as cover art for novels based on the Forgotten Realms setting. His work is included in the book ''Masters of Dragonlance Art''. Lockwood also became the Vice President of ASFA (the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists), which sponsored the Chesley Awards for fantasy art at the

World Science Fiction Convention Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...

. In 1999, he helped to redefine the look of the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' game for the Third Edition release. In 2002, after

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

bought Wizards of the Coast, Lockwood returned to freelancing. He and his wife and three children reside in Washington state.

Works

His first art book, ''Transitions: Art of Todd Lockwood'', from the British publisher Chrysalis Books, was released in September 2003.

Awards

His work has been honored with multiple appearances in ''Spectrum'' and the

Communication Arts Illustration Annual Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

, twelve

Chesley Awards The Chesley Awards were established in 1985 by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists to recognize individual artistic works and achievements during a given year. The Chesleys were initially called the ASFA Awards, but were later r ...

, including one for ''Artistic Achievement'', two World Fantasy Art Show Awards, and numerous other industry awards. * 1995: World Fantasy Art Show Award Best monochrome for ''Cerberus'' * 1996: World Fantasy Art Show Award Best monochrome for ''Kali'' * 1996: Chesley Award Best Monochrome for ''Cerberus'' * 1997: Chesley Award Best Interior Illustration ''Death Loves Me'', magazine ''

'', June 1995 * 1998: Chesley Award Best Cover, for ''Black Dragon'', magazine '' Dragon'', August * 1999:Chesley Award Best Gaming Product, cover for ''Dragonlance 15th Anniversary'' Game Module * 2001: Chesley Award 2001 Best Cover, for ''Swashbuckler'', magazine ''Dragon'', July 2000 * 2003: Chesley Award 2003 Best Cover Illustration, hardback book ''The Thousand Orcs'' for Wizards of the Coast * 2003: Chesley Award 2003 Best Cover Illustration, ''Hellfire Dragon'' for the magazine ''Dragon'', December 2002 * 2003: Chesley Award 2003 Best Gaming-Related Illustration, cover for ''

City of the Spider Queen ''City of the Spider Queen'' is a 160-page adventure module set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, for use with the 3rd edition of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Plot summary According to the adventure background pr ...

'', ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game module * 2004: Chesley Award 2004 Artistic Achievement *2004: Chesley Award 2004 Best Cover Illustration, paperback book '' Tangled Webs'' for Wizards of the Coast *2004: Chesley Award 2004 Best Interior Illustration ''Crossing Into Empire'', for ''Realms of Fantasy'' magazine *2004: Chesley Award 2004 Best Gaming-Related Illustration '' Draconomicon'', ''Dungeons & Dragons'' accessory for Wizards of the Coast

References

External links

*
Todd's Wizards of the Coast profile
* *
Todd Lockwood's Gallery
on Inside Your ART
Interview with Todd Lockwood
at Clarkesworld Magazine (12/2012) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lockwood, Todd 1957 births American illustrators American speculative fiction artists Artists from Colorado Fantasy artists Living people Role-playing game artists Science fiction artists