R&C Art, the Women of R&C

[The Ubbergeek]

Too bad.

Too bad for you.

I may criticizes feminism, I agree with them on such stupidity. Fantasy needs to grow up and open to the non-white, non-male, non-nerd.

 

[WhatGravitas]

At least, it's more or less neutral.

The women in the book are definitively on the good-looking side, I daresay "hawt" - but not "in-your-face", a la Chainmail bikini.

They're good looking, just as the men, because they are looking like protagonists, because they're adventurers - but no obvious cheesecake. Or because artists don't like drawing ugly things, just as with most art (unless it's supposed to be ugly for a reason) - and because they're all looking good as in "identification figures", not "I'd-date-it".

I like it - it's nice to see that balance.

Cheers, LT.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

They are at least functional, not maybe the most armor always, but it's dang functional and pratical.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I'm not sure the dwarf cleric with the bare midriff is really dressed for combat, though.

That one was probably part of their specific goal of making female dwarves "sexy." (IMO they did a pretty good job - all the dwarven women manage to be attractive without being undwarfy.)

But I actually flipped through the book with this specific issue in mind, and in general I'd say the female clothing in there doesn't stray much from 3e standards. Women tend to wear a bit skimpier stuff, but none of it lewd or too overtly sexual (at least by my reckoning). And hey, they've even got a shirtless guy or two in there For The Ladies™.

The humans do look pretty badass as well, male AND female. It looks like they took the "rugged badass" parts of the 3e "dungeonpunk" aesthetic and left behind most of the associated silliness.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Baby got back.

Seriously, yes, there isn't much cheesecake, but there wasn't a whole lot of that in 3e, either. And I'm getting a "D&D is Serious Stuff" vibe from a lot of the art, which removes what little there was in 3e.

I mean, even Miallee, impractical as her outfit was, wasn't really cheesecake...

....though arguably "Buckles" (aka Hennet) was.

I also applaud the art team for going with more "vistas" like the human on horseback that give a context to the world, rather than just having character floating around in whitespace all the time.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My wife -- who is only intermittently interested in D&D, but loves WoW and before that, EQ1 -- looked through R&C with a critical eye and pronounced that she really liked how dwarf women were depicted and was actually enthusiastic about the piece proclaiming the end of the female dwarf beard controversy (EQ1 had a dwarf female face or two that had facial hair, so she was familiar with the trope).

She's normally pretty sensitive to stupid cheesecake looks -- she chooses her dwarf priest's gear based on how practical-looking it is -- and that she dug the dwarf women says a lot to me about the art direction for 4E.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I also applaud the art team for going with more "vistas" like the human on horseback that give a context to the world, rather than just having character floating around in whitespace all the time.

Dude, seriously. I really did not like the "PC floating in a void" art that was so common in 3E. I was very glad to see a reappearance of the actual game world.

Of all the females depicted in the book, only the Elves, Eladrin & Halflings are truly slender. The human women actually have a quite non-supermodel fullness and curve to them. William O'Connor seems to have a nice eye for more "realistic" female figures. They're still "ideally proportioned," of course, but they've all got a solidity that's been lacking in D&D art of late.

I noticed that too. I thought to myself: "This looks like a Trolllord Games book ..."

But more seriously, kudos to the art team. I was particularly impressed by the Dwarven women who were both attractive and "not undwarfy".

 

[Mercule]

I'm not sure the dwarf cleric with the bare midriff is really dressed for combat, though.

What? She's a cleric of the dwarven god(dess?) of navel piercings.

 

[Lord Fyre]

And also... None are dressed in a sexist cheese way, like chainmail bikini.

Okay, in that case, I am changing my mind.

I am definitely NOT going to 4th Edition!

 

[Lord Fyre]

Of all the females depicted in the book, only the Elves, Eladrin & Halflings are truly slender. The human women actually have a quite non-supermodel fullness and curve to them. William O'Connor seems to have a nice eye for more "realistic" female figures. They're still "ideally proportioned," of course, but they've all got a solidity that's been lacking in D&D art of late.

That is awesome! Such women would look hot in a chainmail bikini!

But, wait, there are no chainmail bikinis in 4th Edition.

I am definitely NOT going to 4th Edition.