Look, it’s a whole book of Tony DiTerlizzi’s black and white fantasy sketches. Do I need to say more? Of course not! But I want to!

The Pen & Ink Drawings of Tony DiTerlizzi (2023) draws from three decades of doodles (I’m going for alliteration there, really — there is no way to seriously call these doodles). The vast majority are related to Dungeons & Dragons (or generic fantasy that may as well be D&D), though I think I did spot a sketch for a single illustration from Contiuum. There are maybe some prelims for Changeling, too, though I’d be hard-pressed to recognize them.

By arranging stuff in chronological order, we get to see the artist in motion (similar to the Bernie Wrightson trading card book back in April). I can’t think of another artist who hangs on to the same essential enthusiasms even as their skills sharpen. You can tell when TD hits a critical mass of life drawing practice, but something hard to explain remains unchanged from his earliest drawings to the last.

There are so many charming little fellas. It’s alarming when real violence turns up — there are a couple severed heads — because I fundamentally want all these adventurers and kobolds and whatsits to make it out of the scenario alive somehow. Also, just have to point it out, another Bernie parallel: a surprising number of lady adventurers menaced by carnivorous goo. That githyanki kinda looks like Jerry Only? I’m flipping through, trying to find a favorite, but it’s impossible. Whichever one I’m looking at is my favorite. I close the book and I feel sad.