William Matthew O'Connor (September 22, 1970 – January 31, 2018) was an American artist whose work appeared in

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s, books, video games and concept art.

Early life and education

William O'Connor was born on

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

. He enrolled at the age of ten at the Huntington School of Fine Arts (HSFA), and after high school he attended

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree cum laude in 1992. He also enrolled in illustration programs at the School of Visual Arts and

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

in Manhattan.

Works

William O'Connor produced interior illustrations for many '' Dungeons & Dragons'' books from 1995, and also cover art for the ''

Living Greyhawk Gazetteer The ''Living Greyhawk Gazetteer'' (''LGG'') is a sourcebook for the ''World of Greyhawk'' campaign setting for the 3rd edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. Despite the title, the ''Living Greyhawk Gazetteer'' is not exclusive ...

'' (2000). He also produced artwork for other games including several game systems by

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * ...

, such as ''

Ars Magica ''Ars Magica'' is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Mi ...

'' and ''

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

''. O'Connor produced a majority of the illustrations for the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''New Essential Guide to Alien Species'' (2006). He also wrote instructional art books, such as ''Dracopedia: A Guide to Drawing the Dragons of the World''. O'Connor was nominated for a

Chesley Award The Chesley Awards were established in 1985 by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists to recognize individual artistic works and achievements during a given year. The Chesleys were initially called the ASFA Awards, but were later re ...

in 2002, for Best Gaming-Related Illustration, for ''Respite'' card art, "Legend of the Five Rings". O'Connor did artwork for '' Magic: The Gathering''.

References

External links

* * * 1970 births 2018 deaths American illustrators People from Long Island Place of death missing Role-playing game artists {{D&D-stub