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Q1. What is his educational background? Where did he learn to illustrate? - IJ
A. I am self taught, never had lesson except to study some oils my Pop did. I barely passed
art in High School and flunked it in College. There is nothing better to get you to improve your work than to be constantly
told by Art Directors and fellow artists how crummy you are. This, more than anything, kept me trying to improve my work
- which I think the new stuff will show, particularly the upcoming remakes.
***
Q2. I'm sure many fans are wondering ... why was 95% of the artwork purged? And how did
the rest (5%) survive? - IJ
A. TSR never returned any of the older stuff in the early years when
I was happy working there. The few that I did get back in the later years I was really not happy with - most were rush
jobs, or neat ideas ruined by writers who knew more about art than we did (not all of them, there were quite few writers I
did like). I usually destroyed them because I knew I could have done better. Other reasons, I never knew we'd be around long
enough to be considered classic, never thought about doing prints in the early days. Had a really nice, working fireplace.
To be honest, I never knew I had fans till a couple of years ago when Paranoia started up again. There were people at TSR
that threw away fan letters addressed to me, so to anyone who wrote me then, I was not being a snob by not answering, I just
never received them.
***
Q3. Any possibility of getting some of his Fasa artwork on the website? One of the main reasons I started playing Battletech
is because of his covers. Thanks! - BK
A. Sure! We'll see what we have on hand and try to get it up on the site as soon as possible. Look for it in
the "Other Genres" section.
***
Q4. Greetings Jim and friends,
I was surprised when i saw the new artwork for the French version of Keep on the
Borderlands.
Was that artwork comissioned especially just for the French
version? I always assumed the foreign editions would be the
exact same as the
english versions except for the language changes. Was this a once off, or have
you created any more
artwork for foreign versions that we may not have seen yet?
Congratulations on the site, and i am also a big fan of
your artwork. It is very
dynamic and action packed. I particularly like the way you play with shadows and
shading. Very
inspiring stuff.
I am at the moment working with Len Lakofkas team on the next Lendore series
module. My brief is
to complete various black and white interior illustrations.
And your brilliant First edition artwork really inspires me.
- AT
A. Thank you for the compliments, I appreciate it!! I don't remember being told the Borderline art was specifically for
the French market. I've seen the Dragon cover with the girl and dwarf leaping off the cliff in French, and the cover of the
Ninja girl and Kappa in both British and Australian covers. I also saw my cover of the Monkey Claw tatooed on the arm of a
guy in Finland, and they did a really good job of it.
***
Q5. Who were some of your influences early on? - JPS
A. I liked a lot of Virgil Finlay's art, especially the technique, stipling. Frazetta was the one who got me started.
One guy really inspires me to this day is Fred Gwynne (aka Herman Munster). Not a lot of people know this, but he was a really
great artist. He published a bunch of art books and he had a really great sense of humor.
***
Q6. Dragon Cover #127 - This is my favorite of Mr Holloway's, three Orc army survivors gather
at their standard for one last defiant stand against cautiously advancing Elves. Expressive imagry
enables the observer to create a detailed story about the battle and disposition of the Races involved. I am one of many longtime
fans of Mr Holloway's art, I grew up on Dragon and Dungeon magazines.
It is possible TSR Inc never returned this artwork to Mr Holloway and it is stashed away deep in their Dungeon?
- IM
A. Unfortunately, that painting was either lost or stolen. However, I am planning on redoing it in the near future. I'm
currently working on redoing the painting that was used for the cover of Dragon #178. You can see it in the Spotlight section.
Let me know what you think!
***
Q7. What mediums did you generally use for your early first edition black and white pictures? Are they acrylics? Did
you use special paper? Did you paint on A4 sized sheets, or did you make your paintings/ inkworks larger and reduce them for
better detail in the mods? - AT
A. In the early days I used to use the impossible-to-clean-or-keep-working German Rapidographs, the frustration of cleaning
them and trying to put them back together probably shortened my lifespan considerably. I used a paper that had a bit of texture
to it. By adjusting the speed and pressure on the texture I could vary the width of the line, so it wasn't necessary to switch
to different pens. After a while I was able to do this with smoother bristol paper and now I use cheap disposable pens. All
b/w drawings were done in India ink, sometimes shaded with a wash of the ink diluted with water. Most b/w's were done 100%
because they had to get out right away. I'll do paintings larger so they can be reduced, again depending on how fast it had
to be done. All early paintings were done in acrylics for speed, I think the Borderlands painting may be the first done in
oils. Most of the paintings after that were done in a combination oils and acrylics, backgrounds done in acrylics.
***
Q8. I just noticed that the ranger woman in the tree from DRAGON #88 was recurring - was she real? Also, can
you get some of that HORROR ON THE HILL art up there? Not a lot of people have seen it in my experience and its some
of your best stuff. -GW
A. The girl is real, one of my all time favorite models, one of the first models I used when I first moved to Wisconsin.
She definitely will appear in new stuff. Will also be posting some of the artwork from Horror on the Hill soon!
***
Q9.
Jim I finally found you! I was a child of the 80s playing Battletech and D&D. Your artwork was
all over the FASA books I read and played, and I remember a number of covers you did for Dragon magazine. I love your style!
I just wanted to send my regards to your artwork...it really was very influential in my choosing
a career in art and design, I attribute that desire to learn and improve my art to artists like you and Larry Elmore.
I'd love to see more of the FASA stuff. I remember you Black Widow Company cover and a cover for
the FASA book 'Decision at Thunder Rift.' Any chance to see those soon?
Highest regards! -BH
A. Thanks for the compliments, really appreciated! Will see what we can do about the FASA scans -
doing our best to track them down.
***
Q 10.
Hello Mr. Holloway,
Thank you very much for all the great art over the years. I believe the original (West End
Games) boxed edition of Paranoia was the first product I bought that featured your artwork prominently. The "dark humor"
of the game was funny enough, but the dozens of your illustrations of Troubleshooters and the insane-asylum citizens of Alpha
Complex left my friends and myself in stitches. ("Excuse me Citizen, but is a Tankbot on our requisition form?!"
Hilarious!)
Throughout the next couple of decades, I've wondered at your continued parade of top-notch art in
all the products and periodicals I've purchased over the years. From D&D to Car Wars, from Pacesetter Games products
to projects for FASA (i.e. BattleTech) -your art was usually the deciding factor on whether I bought an item or not.
I'm sure everyone has their "favorite" work that you've done. For me, your cover painting for the "Gray Death Legion"
for FASA's BattleTech game system was my favorite. The crisp colors, animated poses of both the 'Mechs and Carlyle leading
a group of infantry along with the fantastic "blurring" effect of the Von Luckner tank smashing through a pile of girders
with the 'Mechs towering in the background, beautiful! I've also enjoyed the cover you did for the first "Gray Death"
BattleTech novel "Decision at Thunder Rift" as well as the cover for the boxed supplement to BattleTech called "CityTech".
I was delighted to stumble across your website and see that you are still going strong. You've
given me (and a lot of other gamers and readers through the decades) something that is quite beyond the price we've paid for
the products bearing your art. Simply put, a lot of people "do" art, but very few (in my opinion) put their heart and
soul into their work. When they do, it really shows. And I believe you are one of those artists. So thank
you again Mr. Holloway, and I hope to see much more of your work in the industry in the years to come.
- J.H.
***
Q11.
Wow, I am so
glad to know that Jim is still around. I remember doing a web search for him a year or so ago and fearing he had disappeared.
I absolutely
loved Jim’s artwork, especially TSR’s Gangbusters and of course Paranoia. The pieces always conveyed the
themes of the games so precisely, every piece showed a sense of struggle, danger, humor and general pulp excellence!
So many RPG ‘spot illos’ are so generic – characters ‘posing’ for the ‘camera’.
Every one of Jim’s pieces was a slice of some story, some dire moment of action.
If I was publishing
I would be demanding Jim’s artwork for my products. - KD
A. Thanks for
the compliments!! They are really appreciated! Be sure to check out the Paranoia section - it has most of the newer covers
for the latest edition. And I can be found in one of them!! ;o)
***
Q12.
Mr.
Holloway,
I'm 30 years old and grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons and reading Endless Quest.
Much of my imagination from my formative years were in some part shaped by your character portrayals. I stumbled upon
this site and started going through a nostolgic trip, clicking on gallery after gallery. When I saw the troll from "Raid
on Nightmare Castle", I froze. There it was, that perfect image of a troll, remembered from my childhood. Thank
you so much for posting that out there! I would love to see more from the old Endless Quest line. After
seeing the troll, it jarred my memory--didn't you at some point do a gargoyle for those books? I would absolutely love
to see that again too!
A fan for the past 20 years! - CP
A. Thanks so
kindly for the compliments! Glad you had a nice trip down memory lane. I'm not sure about the gargoyle, that was many years
ago (who's counting?!)! We have more Endless Quest scans that will be posted at some point, so keep checking the website.
***
Q. 13.
Hello-I wanted to drop a note and say that I've been a fan of your work for many years-one of the first books I
owned with your illustrations was Dungeon of Dread by Rose Estes. I would look at the illustrations of the characters
in that book moreso than the actual book and I have never had quite the same impression of someone's artwork since.
You really brought character and a sense of adventure to your illustrations in that book (and all of the illustrations I have
seen of your since). My first DnD character was based off your illustrations and I always drew inspiration from it when
i read it as a kid way back in circa 1982(?).
I'm alot older now and have a family of my own, and just returned from Iraq last year. I happened to find your
site while surfing the net and I enjoyed looking at your illustrations all over again and just wanted to drop a
note to say thank you for the work you done over the years. I recognize all of your great drawings on this
site from the Endless Quest books, TSR, Dungeon and Gamma world and it really takes me back to my formative years. Thanks
again for all of the memories Jim,
Take care and keep drawing!
A. Thank you for compliments! Glad you enjoy the artwork! Still working hard to bring you some more! So keep coming
back!
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