Keith Parkinson

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Keith Parkinson.

Keith Parkinson (October 22, 1958 - October 26, 2005) was an American fantasy artist and illustrator. Known for cover and game artwork for games such as Everquest, Magic: The Gathering and most recently Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, a game being developed by Sigil Games.

[edit] Biography

Keith Parkinson graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design in 1980. His first job was with a company called Advertising Posters, where he worked on the artwork for many of the early arcade games. After that, he went on to work at TSR, Inc. where he worked on projects including book covers, game boxes, magazines and calendars.^[1] Among his book covers are such titles as Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms and Gamma World.

After five years of working at TSR, Parkinson left and pursued a freelance career for seven years. During this time, most of Keith's work was painting covers for the New York publishing market. His clients included Bantam Books, Penguin Books, and Random House. Best-selling authors that he painted covers for include Terry Goodkind, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and Terry Brooks to name a few.^[1]

In 1995, Parkinson's first attempt at game design, Guardians, was published by FPG.^[2] Many other artists worked with him on the project. FPG also published Keith's first book, titled Knightsbridge: The Art of Keith Parkinson. He also published two other books containing his artwork in and around 2004: a sketchbook, Spellbound, and a second full-colour artbook titled King's Gate. Other works from this time include a set of art trading cards, and a screensaver produced by Second Nature Software.

In 2000, Parkinson devoted more of his time to writing and shifted his commercial art focus to the game industry. He produced art for THQ's Summoner, and painted the well-known artwork for the original Everquest, as well as its first three expansion packs. In painting the box art, he also created Firiona Vie, who has adorned the cover of every expansion since. During this time, he became a close friend of Brad McQuaid.

Through his friendship and reputation with Everquest designers Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler, Keith Parkinson was hired as the art director and a cofounder at Sigil Games Online. He worked there on the MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes until the time of his death in late 2005. Parkinson fell ill before he could create the box art for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, but he did paint the game's three 'mascot' characters: Jeric, Eila, and Idara. At the 2006 E3 Expo, the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes box art was revealed. According to Brad McQuaid, when Keith knew he would not be able to finish the box art for Vanguard, it was his wish for Donato Giancola, a friend of his, to paint the box art in his place. The left part of Donato's painting was painted to emulate Parkinson's personal style as a tribute to him. As the painting goes to the right (the left is used for the box art, similar to Everquest), it transitions into Giancola's style. As a further tribute to Keith Parkinson, Giancola painted a character resembling him into the painting.^[3]^[4]

After a long battle with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), Keith Parkinson died on 26 October 2005.^[1] He is survived by his wife, Donna, and sons Nick and Zach. Parkinson was described by his friends and coworkers (and in the eulogy by Brad McQuaid) as having had a true passion for his work, as well as a friendly and positive demeanor until the end.^[5]