Gerald Brom | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1965-03-09)March 9, 1965 (age 60) Albany, Georgia, U.S. |
| Other names | Brom |
| Known for | Fantasy art,illustration |
| Website | bromart.com |
Gerald Brom (born March 9, 1965), known professionally asBrom, is an Americangothicfantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work inrole-playing games, novels, andcomics.[1]
Brom was born March 9, 1965, inAlbany, Georgia.[2] As the son of aU.S. Army pilot he spent much of his early years on the move, living in other countries such asJapan andGermany (he graduated fromFrankfurt American High School), and in U.S. states includingAlabama andHawaii. Brought up as a military dependent he was known by his last name only, and now signs his name as simplyBrom: "I get that asked more than just about any other question. It's my real name, my last name. I got called Brom all the time as a kid, and it just stuck."[2]
Brom has been drawing and painting since childhood, although he had never taken any formal art classes. "I wouldn't exactly call myself self-taught, because I've always looked at the work of other artists and emulated what I liked about it. So you can say they taught me." Brom cites the work ofFrank Frazetta,N.C. Wyeth, andNorman Rockwell as influences on his style: "Okay... Rockwell isn't the kind of inspiration most people expect from me, but he just painted things so well. To me it's not so much the genre but the way it's done, and you have to admire his technique."[2]
At the age of 20, Brom started working full-time as a commercial illustrator. By age twenty-one, he had two national art representatives, and was doing work for such clients asCoca-Cola,IBM,CNN, andColumbia Pictures.[3]TSR, Inc. hired Brom on full-time in 1989 at the age of 24.[2] Brom contributed to all of TSR's game and book lines, particularly theDark Sun setting: "I pretty much designed the look and feel of the Dark Sun campaign. I was doing paintings before they were even writing about the setting. I'd do a painting or a sketch, and the designers wrote those characters and ideas into the story. I was very involved in the development process. I've been fortunate to be involved in the development end of a lot of projects I've worked on, from role-playing games to computer games."[2] According to Shannon Appelcline, Brom "contributed the unique illustrations forDark Sun that helped to set it apart from the other TSR games with their more typical fantasy drawings".[4]: 26 His paintings have been published incollectible card games such asWizards of the Coast'sMagic: The Gathering andLast Unicorn Games'Heresy: Kingdom Come.[5] Brom's paintings, along withFrank Frazetta's, were used in the development of the visual look of the game seriesWarlords.[6]
In 1993, after four years at TSR, Brom returned to the freelance market, still specializing in the darker side of the roleplaying game, card game, and comic book genres.[2]Shane Lacy Hensley came up with the idea for the gameDeadlands after he saw Brom's cover toNecropolis: Atlanta fromWhite Wolf, and got Brom to do the cover for the initial release.[4]: 325 His artwork also appeared on book covers from authors such asMichael Moorcock,Anne McCaffrey, andTerry Brooks. Brom contributed conceptual work to computer games such asHeretic II, and several top creature houses for films such asStan Winston Studios; he also co-created, art directed, and illustrated theDark Age collectible card game.[2] He has since worked as amovie concept artist, and created illustrations forcomics (byDC,Chaos,Dark Horse) andcomputer games (forid Software,Blizzard,Sega andActivision). Brom has also been active with a line of Brom fetish toys fromFewture and a series ofbronzes from theFranklin Mint and paintings for novels (by Michael Moorcock, Terry Brooks,R.A. Salvatore,Edgar Rice Burroughs).[3]
Brom returned to TSR in 1998, doing paintings for theAlternity game, theAD&Drole-playing game and itsForgotten Realms andPlanescape lines, and covers forDragon andDungeon magazines.[2] His work is included in the bookMasters of Dragonlance Art.[7] He has also returned to painting for book covers for TSR's successorWizards of the Coast, including the covers for theWar of the Spider Queen series and reprints ofThe Avatar Series.
In 2014, Scott Taylor ofBlack Gate, named Brom as #4 in a list of The Top 10 RPG Artists of the Past 40 Years, saying "Brom is arguably one of the greatest pure fantasy talents of his generation, and he still creates works just as sublime as he did in his 1990s glory."[8]
In 2019, Brom entered theOrigins Award Hall of Fame.[9]
In his 2023 bookMonsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath reviewed the fantasy role-playing gameDark Sun and noted, "The art of fantasy illustrators Gerald Brom andTom Baxa tie together this aesthetic-first high concept ... the art of Brom and Baxa distills and transmits the themes of the setting without players having to read a single word of the boxed set. ... Brom's paintings, many of which were composed before the details of the setting were decided, evoke an alien landscape that seems dry, harsh, and strangely sexy."[10]
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