Artist Biography

Born in 1970 on Long Island, William O'Connor began painting at a very young age, and took an interest in fantasy and science fiction as an adolescent. Studying fine art as a child at the Huntington School of Fine Arts prepared William for his higher art education at Alfred University. Graduating with a BFA in painting in 1992 William began his illustration career in earnest. Since that time William's work has been seen in publications by Doubleday Books, HarperPrism, Wizards of the Coast, TSR, FASA, White Wolf, and of course Alderac Entertainment Group. Approached by AEG in 1995 he was commissioned to paint twelve images for the first set of Legends of the Five Rings. Over the past five years William has worked on every expansion of L5R completing over 75 illustrations for the game.

Currently William is hard at work on several book covers, many more cards, and two personal projects of an illustrated edition of "Orlando Furioso," and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

William now paints and lives in Plainfield, New Jersey.

The official web page of William O'Connor has just recently been launched. It's called William O'Connor Studios and features some very high quality scans of his work, a good deal of information on the background and inspirations of the artist, and up to date news.