D&D 4E I wish we had Magic artists for 4e.

[Aegeri]

In fairness, magic sells a LOT more than DnD does and I imagine their art budget must be miles ahead of that of DnD books.

 

[wedgeski]

In fairness, magic sells a LOT more than DnD does and I imagine their art budget must be miles ahead of that of DnD books.

Yup, this will be entirely the reason. Those pieces are wonderful though.

 

[Dannager]

A thousand times, yes!

It's too bad Wizards can't get the same level of quality art in D&D books. Wayne Reynolds' cutesy, flat, style is really getting old.

You know Wayne Reynolds does current Magic illustrations, right? I have a couple of his pieces in my shiny new red/blue deck.

Also, I can't be the only one who finds his art totally awesome. It's very in-line with my personal mental imagery of D&D.

 

[Jhaelen]

It's too bad Wizards can't get the same level of quality art in D&D books. Wayne Reynolds' cutesy, flat, style is really getting old.

I think, this is not a matter of 'quality' or 'budget'. It's a matter of art direction and style.

D&D has a lot of great artists and many of them also create (or have created) art for CCGs. Here's a couple of D&D artists who I think could easily create pieces of a similar style:
- Chippy
- Daarken
- Arnie Swekel
- Francis Tsai
- Michael Komarck

The thing is: Do these 'Magic' pieces scream 'this is D&D' to you?

 

[Canor Morum]

You know Wayne Reynolds does current Magic illustrations, right? I have a couple of his pieces in my shiny new red/blue deck.

Also, I can't be the only one who finds his art totally awesome. It's very in-line with my personal mental imagery of D&D.

I don't like his style on the Magic cards either. Not saying it isn't good, just not my preferred treatment of the subject matter. I was more referring to his D&D cover work though.

I'm sure he has lots of fans, I'm just not one of them.

 

[Canor Morum]

I think, this is not a matter of 'quality' or 'budget'. It's a matter of art direction and style.

That's what I meant by quality, maybe caliber would have been a better word, maybe not. Art is very subjective, so what I consider "better" quality is different from your idea of it.

Would I like to see D&D subject matter depicted in a more dark, realistic, gritty way? Certainly.

 

[Klaus]

For the new set of Magic, WotC decided to tease us by posting some cards without any text (except for the very last one, which reveals text if you mouse over it).

Wizards of the Coast

I think this art is amazing, and I would love to run games with elements inspired by these illustrations. Then I consider the images I've seen in the 4e art so far, and I wish we had more art that conveyed the possibilities inherent in the game, rather than showing the specifics they've decided to put in the rulebook.

At the very least, some of this stuff would be great for monster art.

Better links for art available here: [SHM] Arts from Shadowmoor - MTG Salvation Forums

I'm going to use some of this art for my home game. Maybe I can work in some evil merfolk.

Sometimes a Magic artist will do a piece for D&D (Dave Rapoza, just to mention one). But Magic has a bigger art budget and pays more. When a D&D artist catches the eye of the M:tG art department, they're abducted and rarely come back.

 

[Siberys]

My favorite Magic artists DO do artwork for D&D - Prescott and Reynolds.

Is it surprising they both have done prominent Eberron artwork?

 

[webrunner]

You know.. i've always wondered why there isn't more crossover from MTG and D&D.

I know it's like, an editorial mandate, but why? I'd kill for a Ravnica Campaign Setting or a Planeswalking Guide.

For fun I actually statted out Chandra Nalaar lvl 30.. basically wizard pyromancer with a bunch of summons, and the two plane-related paragon/epic paths.

 

[kaomera]

I think, this is not a matter of 'quality' or 'budget'. It's a matter of art direction and style.

This. M:tG art has certainly moved in a more uniformly-thematic direction in the past few millenia of it's existence, but it's still nowhere near D&D in that respect. There's just a lot more freedom for the artists to do wild stuff, instead of trying to portray a very consistent aesthetic.

Fortunately, there's this thing called the "internet", and a lot of really, really cool artists post their stuff there, and there's nothing that WotC can do to keep me being inspired by it. =]