This has been confirmed and it's real.  Here are the links to several sources:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesou ... &fhid=8429

David A. Trampier, the Illustrator Who Defined the Look of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Has Passed Away, 1954-2014 | Tor.com

The Castle's Ramparts: Dave Trampier, Wormy Artist, Passes Away

Along with Erol Otus, Tramp was the most iconic illustrator of the early Dungeons & Dragons game.  From a fan's viewpoint, it's sad because it seems like we lost Tramp a long time ago and only now is it official. From a collector's viewpoint, it will be interesting to see what develops there also, there seems to be some of his artwork still around from what is mentioned in one of the blogs.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote in The Death of Dave Trampier, RIP:This has been confirmed and it's real

   

I didn't want to post this, because I didn't want it to be true.     There had been an earlier obituary notice that I think someone detected with a Google notification setup, and I knew from earlier searches that there was only one David Trampier in the USA.

He was not only a gifted artist who gave D&D its early vision and presence (especially 1977-1979); he was a troubled but good person who inspired a lot of people.  Myself included.  I learned to draw in light and shadow, as opposed to just sketching figures, because I saw what Tramp was able to do with simple pen and ink and was amazed.  That was over 30 years ago now.  His "woodcut" styled pieces gave D&D its gravitas, and his adventurers were instilled with character in every piece.  They felt like people, not illustrations.

Titan is still a great game to this day, but I like to think that Wormy is his real legacy.  It took me awhile growing up to realize that the reason Tramp's comic was about the humanity of the monsters was because he was demonstrating a role reversal, a shift in perspective to get his audience to think.  I know he was inspired by Vaughn Bode, but it seems pretty certain that Pogo was his big inspiration.  When you take Walt Kelly's "We have met the enemy and he is us" and apply it to Wormy, it's interesting to think about.  The monsters cared for each other, they had social lives, dreams, jokes, fears and a sense of wonder.  My favorite panel from Wormy is the full-page reveal of the underground town when they pole their way through the river with the frogs everywhere.  That's not a monster lair, that's a living and breathing city filled with people.

I didn't always agree with his subliminal call to gamers - "You need to stop with the escapism and think about real life" - and I found that theme tremendously sad after he chose to vanish.  I don't understand all of his values, and I only vaguely understand what his troubles were, but I felt like I lost him a long time ago.  So there's just this weird, hollow feeling like somebody says "He's dead" and the reply is "Yeah, he died a long time ago but it still hurts."

I just hope that his art can be celebrated for a long time, and I know a lot of artists and fans will always look up to him for changing everything for the better with his art.

Sad.
Dave Trampier was my fav artist of the early days.
The cover of the Players Handbook is so iconic... my favorite art of this era.
Fortunately he did those fantastic artworks and we will not forget him.

Loved his elegant black and white art in the monster manuel and enjoyed Wormy in dragon. His art recalls looking through dragon magazine on Sunday night looking at wormy or flipping through MM getting a few encounters ready for the next adventure. DAT is onto the final adventure now.

Tramp was my favourite D&D artist, narrowly edging out Erol. His artwork (especially Wormy) was absolutely tremendous. I wish I had an original piece of his art, but finding one is an impossible task. The only thing I have that has a connection are the two letters he sent to subscribers when he was trying to get his Wormy compilation published:

When he didn't get the number of subscribers he needed to make the project affordable, he sent out a letter letting people drop out if they wanted:



Then eventually he had to pull the plug and sent out the following:



Dave Trampier was clearly a talented artist and a man of integrity. It's likely we'll never know the full story behind his abrupt departure from the industry, but from what I know he stayed true to his own moral compass and that's worth a lot.

Regards
Mike

I heard about this while I was at GaryCon. As a kid I was only able to recognize two artists consistently- Erol Otus and David Trampier. For me their styles were consistent enough to stand out to my 10 year old mind. I cannot even guess how many hours I spent staring at the Players Handbook cover. I was always trying to assemble in my mind the events immediately preceding the moment depicted on the cover and exactly what the idol represented.

All I know of Trampier as a man were little hints from Tim Kask about their common interest in Micro Armor wargames and, of course, vague hints about his leaving the hobby and his art behind him.

Rest in Peace David Trampier.

Zach

Always cherished the original art by DAT and DCS. It was their imaginations from written words that gave us the tangible creatures that populated our fantasy worlds. I know that another D&D artist was influenced by their works, Tony DiTerlizzi, and he has gone on to create some incredibly wonderful works that have touched children and adults alike.

Mr. David A. Trampier (aka DAT or Tramp) your work will live on in the volumes of material that get passed around from person to person thanks to the World Wide Web and I take solace in the thought that some other young artist, like Tony, will be influenced by your works, creating another imaginative artist whose works that we or our children will enjoy.

God Bless

bclarkie wrote:
This type of project would have elicited a massive response even a 5-10 years ago

Can you imagine the amount of money this would have got through Kickstarter today?
Sad news indeed, a great loss.
Carl