Cool D&D pic I found

[SpiritWarrior]

I found this pic while browsing the web on my phone. I was looking for a Beholder D&D pic to set as one of my backgrounds since I have like seven different backgrounds. In my head I wanted something like the one on the front of the old white-binder AD&D monstrous compedium. Anyways, this one looked cool so I selected it. I couldn't see it too well on my phone since it was quite small in comparison to a computer screen, but knew it was amazing art and that's all I cared about. The colors were great, the horrific look of the beholder was captured perfectly.

I kept looking at how the artist gave character to each of the different eyes in accordance with their special abilities - the bow tied to the "Charm" eye made me laugh, the "Sleep" eye looked like a night sky. I didn't see the "Flesh to Stone" eye properly until later. I assumed the yellow cloth thingy was a banner the knight held in his other hand or something. It was only when my curiousity as to who the artist was got the better of me, that I went and checked online at home, viewing it as a larger image and in a better resolution.

Only to realize it was a kinda "parody" pic for Coppertone Tanning! The Beholder is apparently trying to get a nice tan as the pesky knight begins ripping off his shorts. Wtf? The artists explains he was poking fun at some Coppertone commercial I guess where a guy is being hounded by a dog. He writes: "Even monsters have to work on their tans, especially ones who are genetically obsessed with their own appearance. This unlucky beholder gets caught in a Coppertone moment when his tanning is interrupted by a hot day's knight."

Still, the details of the eyes, especially the stuff I couldn't really see earlier on my phone was amazing. I sent him an email to say WotC should hire him, and that even in jest he does an amazing job. Look at the undead eye, or the flesh to stone one. Even the inflict wounds eye, it looks like it can, well, inflict wounds. Long story short. I heart this pic.

Artist commentary on it is at the link below.http://www.mikerayhawk.com/beholder.htm

[Chewbacca]

Lol, love the tan line!

[Hindsight]

..just got back from my D&D game actually! We're just on the first level of hell.

[Cerek]

Cool pic! I like the color and the individual detail for each eye as well.

I also realized, after looking at it for a couple of minutes, that it was a parody of the famous Coppertone logo, which featured a small black dog pulling the bathing suit bottom off a young girl (revealing her tan line in the process). I didn't feel like saving a copy to photobucket, but you can Google "Coppertone logo" to see the original design.

[SpiritWarrior]

Yes, I am unfamiliar with the logo, it seems. But I did google it and saw the 1940's pic I am assuming is the one. I just love that the Beholder tans the color green.

[Cerek]

Originally Posted by SpiritWarrior Yes, I am unfamiliar with the logo, it seems. But I did google it and saw the 1940's pic I am assuming is the one. I just love that the Beholder tans the color green.

Yeah, I thought the bikini bottom was some kind of banner too (at first), then saw the "tan line" of the beholder and realized it was a parody of the Coppertone logo.

Even though the logo is old, it was still VERY common through the 80's. When I was little, Coppertone was about the ONLY suntan lotion available, so we always had a bottle for our summer trip to the beach and daily visits to the local pool.