Kevin Long is an American graphic artist best known for his airbrush paintings and black-and-white illustrations in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. He was a principal artist at Palladium Books from 1986 until 1995 and served as one of the original contributors to the Rifts role-playing game (RPG) series.

Biography

Kevin Long grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan and attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, where he majored in advertising illustration. Upon graduating, Long worked in the local advertising industry. Having completed a five-year stint in his chosen profession, he was lured away by the artistic and creative freedom offered by Palladium Books. While there, Long built his reputation as one of the most popular illustrators in the role-playing industry. In addition to having created the dynamic look of various characters, vehicles, and equipment in Rifts, he co-authored a number of other Palladium RPG titles. However, Long left Palladium in August 1995 for unspecified reasons. In October 1997, Raven Software hired Long as a 2-D artist. He was responsible for some of the graphics in Hexen II: Portal of Praevus (1998), Heretic II (1998), Soldier of Fortune (2000), Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000), Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002), and Quake 4 (2005). In 2007, Long was the Art Lead on Wolfenstein.

Reception

In 2014, Scott Taylor of Black Gate, named Kevin Long as Honorable Mention in a list of The Top 10 RPG Artists of the Past 40 Years, saying "Robotech, even above Rifts in my mind, reflects the soul of Palladium, and over the course of three decades Long's work has helped bring the fabled Japanese animation series into the forefront of American science fiction role-playing." In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath reviewed the multi-genre role-playing game Rifts and noted, "The real star of Rifts' art is the clean, technical line work that Kevin Long provided for the game's first five years. He does a masterful job making all of the disparate elements seem cool and cohesive — magic and tech and high tech and super-high-tech and psionics and animal peeople and faction and after faction — and so many skulls!"

Role-playing game artwork credits

Works are listed in order of publication date within their respective categories.

Palladium Books

Beyond the Supernatural

Heroes Unlimited

Macross II

Nightbane

Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game

Rifts

Robotech

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Rifter

Miscellaneous

Shadowrun

Other games