The Mystery of Todd Oleck

I've gotten a couple of emails and comments asking about the artists responsible for the artwork accompanying the "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" column in Dragon. In most cases, I unfortunately have no idea who produced those pieces. However, in the case of the second to last illustration, the one showing a wizard seated at his desk, I know the artist is named Todd Oleck. Here's a bigger, full color version of the illustration:

The interesting thing is that the version above didn't appear until issue #47 (March 1981) of Dragon, about a year and a half after it was first used in conjunction with "From the Sorcerer's Scroll" in issue #30 (October 1979). 
As for Oleck himself, I know next to nothing about him. He is credited as an artist in several issues of Dragon and also produced a single piece of artwork that appeared in early printings of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide before being replaced. Here it is: My version of the DMG is the so-called "revised" version from December 1979, so it doesn't include this piece. In its place is the Erol Otus illustration found at the top of this post. Beyond this, Oleck is a mystery to me. I can only assume that, like a lot of people involved in the hobby, he eventually drifted away from it and pursued other things. Still, I'm curious about him. Does anyone else know anything they can share?
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Published on July 23, 2024 12:00
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