D&D 5E I hope this isn't 5E...(art that screams "not this, not this!")

[Lwaxy]

I'm frankly not sure how you could look through the galleries I linked and then look at WAR's work, or pretty much any D&D artist's work, and think that they share the same aesthetic DNA.

Just look at the very first picture example (oversized sword in wrong dimensions, silly other equipment) then at most of the Pathfinder art in general - elves with ears that are just laughable, super long limbs, slim in a way that makes you wonder where the organs are, monster teeth that would make them unable to chew anything, a general tendency to be cutesy (at last to me, the very first picture sows a definite cutesy attempt)... right, the eyes are not usually owl sized, but that's about all.

 

[Klaus]

WAR's art style is not "anime", but it *is* more cartoony, with a comic book bent. One just need to look at his black-and-white illustrations from late 2e to early 3e (Sword & Fist and the other splatbooks) to see it.

 

[Yora]

90% of anime, as well as anything else, is pretty bad. And there's as much super-abstract and physically impossible anatomy than in western cartoons.

[sblock]

Exhibit A

Exhibit B[/sblock]

After all, the whole style came to Japan because one of the most influential artists of the past 100 years was a huge Disney fan. When others imitated their great idol, the commonly known manga style was established.

However, not all anime is "chibi" or otherwise unrealistic:
[sblock]

Exhibit C

Exhibit D[/sblock]

Now here is some good, high quality, and more than appropriate for D&D "anime style":

[sblock]

[/sblock]
That's a great deal more realistic than the majority of D&D art.

 

[Lwaxy]

I wouldn't consider the latter anime, just good cartoon style. Anime, for me (and probably for most people not overly invested in it) is what's in the first example. Not all that comes out of Japan needs to be called anime, I think.

 

[Iosue]

Yes I do, I was making a point. Shall I track down some that are?

Yes, please. This is driving me crazy. Elmore has some sexy art on his website, but he wasn't one for really bringing the sexy in his D&D days, aside from SnarfQuest, which was barely D&D related. Clyde Caldwell was the guy who drew all the half-naked women (including the lady pirate posted earlier).

Goldmoon by Elmore
Goldmoon by Caldwell

Laurana by Elmore
Laurana by Caldwell

I associate Elmore with some of the most positive female images in the D&D art of the 80s.

Laurana again.
Witch cover of Dragon Magazine.
Avalyne the Life-Giver.
The famous Aleena.
Basic Set Cleric

I can understand not liking the hair. It seems he used his wife as a model often. And sure, he has some T&A drawings on his site. A lot of artists do. But can we ditch the meme that Elmore's time at TSR was mainly spent in cheesecake? The man inspired my D&D playing sister to go into art!

 

[Plane Sailing]

Forgive me rudeness, but since everyone is feeling free to express their opinions about other people's art work, I'll express my opinion as well. This thread strikes me as a whole bunch of people who know little or next to nothing about art expressing their uninformed nostalgic opinions about what makes good fantasy art.

Any time you start a post with 'forgive my rudeness' it is probably a good idea to start your post again but without the rudeness.

 

[Yora]

I wouldn't consider the latter anime, just good cartoon style. Anime, for me (and probably for most people not overly invested in it) is what's in the first example. Not all that comes out of Japan needs to be called anime, I think.

But now you're changing the definitions. Anime is the Japanese word for animated cartoons and has entered the english language as a term for animated cartoons made in the Japanese tradition. What you are talking about are specific artistic styles and techniques used in segments of the anime industry. Which is fair to do, as I do the same and there's lots of artistic styles I regard as completely inappropriate for D&D and the like. But you can't just take away a word from something and slap it onto something else, and expect everyone to adopt your use and discard the way that it is used by people who actually are highly interested and well informed in the subject.

 

[Blackwarder]

Please tell me you're exempting the horrid blue & white line art that is rife in both those books. I loved the full colour 'plate' art pages but a lot of the rest of the art in the 2E PHB & DMG was pretty bad.

I never saw blue art in 2e books, than again my books were translated to Hebrew so it had a lot of B&W art, I remember some really cool exploration art in B&W like a bunch of advantures making their way through swamp toward a bunch of ruins, that really captured the essence of exploration to me.

And of course the colored art was the best.

Warder

 

[Lwaxy]

But now you're changing the definitions. Anime is the Japanese word for animated cartoons and has entered the english language as a term for animated cartoons made in the Japanese tradition.

Not quite:

an·i·me

  [an-uh-mey]
noun a Japanese style of motion-picture animation, characterized by highly stylized, colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sexuality.

And

anime

Anime (pronounced [SIZE=-1]AH-nee-may[/SIZE] ) is a term for a style of Japanese comic book and video cartoon animation in which the main characters have large doe-like eyes.

And

In Japan, "anime" refers to any and all animation or cartoon - regardless of the genre, style, or nation of origin. Outside of Japan the word "anime" has come to refer specifically to animation of Japanese origins, or animation of a particular style.



A particular style is usually what western people not into the subject associate anime with. Seems even in the anime community, there isn't a clear cut view as to whether to go by style, including western "anime" art, or not.



I bet most non-fans of the stuff associate by art style, especially the owl eyes and other impossible anatomy features.

 

[Oni]

I wouldn't consider the latter anime, just good cartoon style. Anime, for me (and probably for most people not overly invested in it) is what's in the first example. Not all that comes out of Japan needs to be called anime, I think.

If you can't be bothered to learn what a word actually means you oughtn't go around slapping it on things you don't like as a pejorative label.