“Death to Intruders!” acrylics, by Keith Parkinson
Music Lover,” oils, by Robin Wood
“Motherhood,” acrylic, wash, and color pencils, by Denis Beauvais
“Teamwork,” oils, by Larry Elmore
“Castle Caldwell,” oils, by Clyde Caldwell
Sources, from top to bottom:
Dragons of Doom (front cover) Endless Quest Book #13 by Rose Estes (1983)
Sabre River (front cover) Adventure Module CM3 by Douglas Niles and Bruce Nesmith (1984)
Dragon #97 (front cover) (May, 1985)
Dragon #98 (front cover) (June, 1985)
Dragon #92 (front cover) (December, 1984)
Dragon #78 (front cover) (October, 1983)
Poster designed exclusively for Sears (1984)
Castle Caldwell and Beyond (front cover) Adventure Module B9 by Harry Nuckols (1985)
The Robin Wood painting is my favorite by far. It’s the first cover she did for Dragon magazine. In the book she says:
I’ll tell you the reason I don’t like to paint dragons—all those scales! I thought I’d never finish! There are five layers of paint on each scale…
She has more to say here.
Beauvais is another favorite of mine. His color schemes and more abstract style set him apart from the reigning realism of the day.
Part one is here.
2 Warps to Neptune 
I found the ‘Castle Caldwell’ one powerfully erotic back in the day – God help me!
I love me some classic D&D art. I made a horrible tribute video to it once…
Cool thing about Robin Wood’s “Music Lover”:
Look closely at the large spheres in the lower right corner. You can see another adventurer’s reflection in them, creeping up on the distracted dragon.
That’s actually a mistake quoted in Dragon. According to Wood: “The scales in the corners don’t show a thief sneaking up on the hapless pair, by the way, as was once reported in Dragon. They show the artist at her easel, working away on the painting.”
Oh wow, that’s even cooler!
I have to laugh every time I see that last picture. It’s like the lizardman (or troglodyte) is totally bored and exasperated at once again having to carry around some scantly-clad fainted human female. “Sigh… seriously, when will the dragon get tired of virgin sacrifices? They keep arriving every damn day!”
Does that thing in the “Motherhood” pic exists as an actual D&D monster? Because it should, it is adorable. Like a reptile/butterfly hybrid. It’s funny how often these artworks depict monsters that actually are never pictured in the Monster Manual… probably the artist just drew whatever came to mind and sold it to any company who needed some cool monster art.
Nice!
But by the way. Robin’s name is “Robin Wood” not “Robin Cook”. I know, I’m her husband. 🙂
-Mike Short