Russ Nicholson was a British illustrator, who did extensive work for the Fighting Fantasy series, perhaps most notably being the interior illustrator of the first book, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Nicholson was born in Glasgow, Scotland and lived most of his childhood life in the village of Dunning. After college he moved to England to pursue his career.[1][2]
Career[]
Bibliography[]
Interior Illustrator
Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks[]
- (#1) The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Puffin, 1982)
- (#2) The Citadel of Chaos (Puffin, 1983)
- (#23) Masks of Mayhem (Puffin, 1986)
- (#30) Chasms of Malice (Puffin, 1987)
- (#34) Stealer of Souls (Puffin, 1988)
- (#51) Island of the Undead (Puffin, 1992)
- (#55) Deathmoor (Puffin, 1994)
- (#57) Magehunter (Puffin, 1995)
Fighting Fantasy Novels[]
- The Trolltooth Wars (Puffin, 1989)
- Demonstealer (Puffin, 1991)
- Shadowmaster (Puffin, 1992)
Advanced Fighting Fantasy[]
- Blacksand! (Puffin, 1990)
- Allansia (Puffin, 1994)
Fighting Fantasy - Adventures of Goldhawk[]
- Darkmoon's Curse (Puffin, 1995)
- The Demon Spider (Puffin, 1995)
- Mudworm Swamp (Puffin, 1995)
- Ghost Road (Puffin, 1995)
Other Fighting Fantasy[]
- Out of the Pit (Puffin, 1985)
- Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World (Puffin, 1986)
- The Fighting Fantasy 10th Anniversary Yearbook (Puffin, 1992)
- Le Tambour de Gondrim (Scriptarium, 2013)
Warlock Magazine[]
Outside of Fighting Fantasy[]
Nicholson's work outside of Fighting Fantasy remained firmly within the Fantasy genre. He worked on numerous Games Workshop products, including Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 and on the magazine White Dwarf.
Nicholson did the illustrations for the two Robin of Sherwood gamebooks written by Graham Staplehurst and Paul Mason.
He imaginatively illustrated the published "episodes" of the Fabled Lands series, which was originally planned as an interactive "gamebook" to be published in 12 parts, created by Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson.
He also illustrated many creatures in the original Fiend Folio, along with a fellow Fighting Fantasy artist to be, Emmanuel. This was a UK contribution to the first edition of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game. Noted mostly for his own distinct black and white style, he has also done several colour pieces as well.
Nicholson's work also appeared in Arion Games' Maelstrom Domesday: The Beast of Ledsham.
See Also[]
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Interview with Russ Nicholson on the Official Fighting Fantasy website
- ↑ Glen Sharman, "Russ Nicholson Tribute", The Warlock Returns Issue 10, pgs. 10-19