FOLLOWING THE TRAIL

I started to play roleplay games when I was 11 (blessed age to start such life sucking hobby) after an iter that many gamers have in common: Tolkien books, great movies of the 80's like Labyrinth, Willow and Princess bride, great videogames with poor graphic but all the best intentions and tabletop games like Heroquest and Starquest. 

Surprisingly my first RPG had not been Dungeons and Dragons, even if that title was practically the only possible title you can reach in a small city like mine was.
My first contact with this world was "The ancestral trail" in 1994, during the rumbling age of AD&D and Cyberpunk I was playing a less known product sold in a gorgeous red box but without any cool dragon as cover image. 

Julek Heller knows how to draw an eagle man
 

It was love at first sight, not for the game itself, and not even because of the story sold in monthly booklets. Illustrations totally absorbed my interest, for the first time I was able to see some gorgeous fantasy tables, fully colored and characterized by a refined style. 

Since then I started to be interested in illustrators and I discovered some great artists that influenced my narrative style during game sessions and helped me to imagine solid and structured universes as backbone of my stories. 

Who was your first contact with fantasy art?