Otus, one of the first generation of TSR artists, is beloved by generations of D&D gamers. His body of work epitomizes the art of D&D from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many gamers began playing D&D with Otus' drawings as a backdrop. Seminal TSR box sets, manuals, magazines, and prepackaged adventures incorporated Otus' psychedelic palette and equally colorful adventurers... Otus depicted ordinary people in extraordinary situations, and, in doing so, invited gamers to see themselves in his art. Locked in a life and death struggle with bizarre alien-like monsters, these absurdly dressed adventurers highlight the quirky humor of old-school D&D. Caught in situations beyond their control, Otus' existential depiction of old-school adventurers elicits both amusement and pathos.
--Greg Gillespie and Darren Crouse, "There and Back Again: Nostalgia, Art, and Ideology in Old-School Dungeons and Dragons." Games and Culture 7 (6) 441-470, 2012
