Angus McBride’s painting of the Midgard Serpent.

Angus McBride hasn't had a post devoted to him and his classic artwork here on the DMR Blog. Time to rectify that.

McBride, during his long career in illustration, was widely respected both as an illustrator of military history and for fantasy art. His military history art appeared mostly in Osprey Publishing supplements, along with several classic books done in collaboration with Tim Newark. The fantasy work Angus is most known for is that done for Iron Crown's Middle-Earth RPG supplements, as well as several covers for Rolemaster.

However, Angus was painting fantasy art long before he was doing work for RPG publishers. During the 1960s, McBride was creating art steadily for Look and Learn magazine as well as its competitor, Finding Out. Both were aimed at a juvenile/young adult audience, but the art and writing in them were well above what one would find in similar publications today.

In 1966, Angus McBride did thirty-six illustrations for Finding Out featuring mythic and legendary monsters from around the world. He was still developing his style, but Angus' raw talent shines through. Feel free to click on the carousel gallery below, which features seven of his paintings from the series. For all thirty-six plates, along with the captions that went with the illustrations, click here.

This may be the first DMR Blog post on Angus McBride, but rest assured that it won't be the last.