| Fred Fields | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kentucky, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Fantasy art |
Fred Fields is an artist whose work has appeared largely in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.
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Fred Fields was born in northern Kentucky.[1] He grew up in the small town of Burlington, Kentucky.[2] Fields wanted to be an artist since childhood: "I don't know that becoming an artist is a decision you can make... I've been drawing since before I can remember, and I started painting at age nine. I used to do all these monsters and stuff, and my mom was frankly a little concerned about it. Now that I'm making a living at it, I think mom's OK with it. My parents always encouraged me to draw and do what I wanted with it. They've always been 100% behind me." Fields attended the Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati, and moved to Chicago after graduation.[1] He worked there for about a year in advertising, producing illustrations and concept sketches for both television commercials and print ads.[1] He worked at Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago as a storyboard comp artist.[2]
Fields continued painting on his own time, and began sending out samples of his work; Dragon magazine was among the clients those who were interested in his work. Fields painted his first cover for Dragon in 1988, for issue #142.[1] He applied to TSR's art department soon after and was hired.[1] "I went from freelancing, completely on my own, to sitting in a room with the likes of Clyde Caldwell, Brom, Tony Szczudlo, Robh Ruppel, Dana Knutson, Randy Post, and Todd Lockwood. I just sort of stopped and thought, 'Wow, I've arrived.'"[1] Fields worked on scenes from worlds such as Forgotten Realms, and even Ravenloft, saying "It was fun donig the Gothic horror stuff. In some cases, I think I took it further than other artists. I put a lot more blood in there."[1]
His work was represented in the 1996 collection The Art of TSR: Colossal Cards. Critic Joseph Szadkowski of The Washington Times singled out Fields's work "Dragon Claw" as "stunning",[3] and later named the collection as the year's "Best Trading Card Release Based on Fantasy Art".[4] Archangel Entertainment released a book of his artwork in 1999, entitled The Art of Fred Fields.[1]
In May 2010, artwork by Fields appeared as part of the "Lucid Daydreams" Exhibition at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago.[5]
Fred Fields has had his art appear in various Dungeons & Dragons game books and their associated novels throughout the 1990s, as well as in other games such as Shadowrun. His artwork has appeared on numerous D&D covers, such as Greyhawk Ruins and Book of Artifacts.
Fields has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.