Seems the best year for Dungeons & Dragons will only get better.
Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History is a big, comprehensive book about D&D's art history that's coming on October 23rd 2018.
The publication will feature more than 700 pieces of the art created for Dungeons & Dragons during its over 44 years long existence. Among the authors there are two RPG historians and writers (Michael Witwer, Jon Peterson), a director of the 2009's movie Fanboy (Kyle Newman), and a person who was the voice of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul in Star Wars' iconic productions, Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Sam Witwer).
Inside the book that will come in various cover designs, including Special Edition similar to the new Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, we'll find a visual story of D&D starting from its very roots. It includes the most legendary pieces of art ever done for D&D, some less known artworks, and even the works of Gary Gygax's and Dave Arneson's first concept artists, who weren't professionals at that time (Greg Bell, Kenan Powell, Tracey Lesh):
Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana is a 448-page book that covers art from all 5 Editions of the game, its supplements, adventures, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels, material accumulated from decades long publication of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, classic advertisements and merchandise. Plus concept sketches, large-format canvases, rare photographs and one of a kind drafts from revered D&D illustrators, including lots of material that was never published before.
According to sources, this product may end up as the most comprehensive compilation about the art of D&D ever created, reaching from early Gygax years through TSR, Fiend Folio and Games Workshop periods (yes, GW was actually publishing D&D before they created Warhammer) and then using the best of what Wizards of the Coast gathered in their libraries and allowed to dabble with.
So yes, we can safely expect a lot of classic Jeff Eesley, Tony DiTerlizzi, Larry Elmore and other big names. But probably the most thrilling could be the possibility of learning about the creative process and ideas, the whys and hows that shaped the form in which we visualize and imagine D&D from the very beginning to our present days.
Where to buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition | Penguin Random House Canada | Walmart
More information: LINK | LINK
Some interesting editorial reviews: