Todd Lockwood
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Todd Wills Lockwood (born July 9, 1957) is an American artist specializing in
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
and
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
illustration. He is best known for his work on the
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as 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 ...
''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'', and for his covers for the books of R. A. Salvatore. 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. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...
,
DAW Books DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim, with his wife, Elsie B. Wollheim, following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted ...
, 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 edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...
'', '' 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 (wi ...
'', '' Dragon Magazine'', and '' Dungeon Magazine''.


Biography

Todd Lockwood was born in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
. Lockwood received his education at The Art Institute of Colorado, in
Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, 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 The Art Directors Club of New York is an organization for art directors in New York City. It was founded in 1920, and has grown as an industry group, promoting art directors' work through exhibitions and awards, including the annual DESI award fo ...
of New York's annual show. He then focused his career on illustration, doing freelance illustration for about fifteen years: " Coors 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 ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'' game player, and a fan of fantasy art. "I flipped when TSR started having really good art in their products...
Jeff Easley Jeff Easley (born 1954) is an oil painter who creates fantasy Work of art, artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art. Early life Easley was born in Nicholasville, Kentucky in 1954. He spent time ...
'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 Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...
. Later came
Michael Whelan Michael Whelan (born June 29, 1950) is an Americans, American artist of imaginative Realism (arts), 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 ...
, 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 novels in the science fiction, sword ...
, and Jeff Jones. Lockwood first did some covers for ''
Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...
'' magazine: "That was the beginning. I felt revived. I was finally painting things that interested me!" In 1994, he attended
Worldcon Worldcon, officially 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 Wor ...
, Lockwood's first
science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...
, in
Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
, 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 (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...
and
Phil Foglio Philip Peter 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 fa ...
's '' XXXenophile'' card game, and soon his friend David Martin suggested him to an art director at TSR, the publisher of the popular role-playing game ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
''. "I had sent TSR portfolios in the past, but now I had a real fantasy portfolio. The art director, Stephen Daniele, gave me a bunch of character portraits for one of the '' Spellfire'' 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 (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...
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 piece ...
,
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 as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setti ...
, 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, officially 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 Wor ...
. 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 corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...
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, twelve Chesley Awards, 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 ''
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 (wi ...
'', June 1995 * 1998: Chesley Award Best Cover, for ''Black Dragon'', magazine ''
Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
'', 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'', ''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 The ''Draconomicon'' is the title for several optional sourcebooks for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game, providing supplementary game mechanics for dragons specifically. Different ''Draconomicon'' books have been issued for the 2nd, ...
'', ''Dungeons & Dragons'' accessory for Wizards of the Coast


References


External links

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