Which brings me back to one of my original points which I made due to the criticism Wayne Reynolds character with the oversized sword.
Artists are commissioned to do paint a certain image a certain way. If this is a strong enough argument to excuse the instances I have linked of D&D images with sexual overtones, then why is it not strong enough to justify Reynold's oversized sword?
A couple things. You've linked one D&D image that has sexual overtones: Crysania and Raistlin. I'm not even going to count the Kitiara picture -- there are no suggestive poses or situations. Just some cleavage, and not even as much as in a typical episode of "Ghost Whisperer".
Now, what is the difference between Elmore and Reynolds? Well, for one, Elmore was responsible for faithfully illustrating a scene from a book. That scene is not at all representative of the art he did for D&D. It is, in fact, the most sexually suggestive of all his TSR work. Link to non-TSR work he did all you like. The bone of contention vis-a-vis Elmore was not that he doesn't or hasn't ever drawn racy pictures. It was that he did NOT do so in D&D to any great degree.
You said:
jbear said:
Well ... many many of Larry Elmore's illustrations were extremely erotic.
That's the bone of contention. No, some of his work since leaving TSR has been erotic, or at least racy. But virtually
none of his D&D was even close to erotic. Hell, even the illustration of Crysania, while sexually themed, has to be squinted at to come close to "erotic".
If you want to say Reynolds was justified in the design of the big sword because of the character background, go for it. I, at least, will not dispute it. But the criticism of Reynolds is beyond just that one picture, it goes to his whole style. It's like criticism of Elmore based on lack of dynamism, or 80s hair, both charges I'd happily agree with. If you want to say, "Elmore's non-TSR work was too sexy," that's cool. But one thing Elmore's D&D art did not have was an abundance of T&A. For that, TSR's go-to guy was Clyde Caldwell.
Elmore is unquestionably a fantasy artist. Yes, many of his paintings depict women who aren't scantily clad. But it is also fair to say that many of his images also contain sexual overtones. And if you look at his pencil sketches of women, well, there I think we see how he prefers to depict women. Erotica.
Uh, no. That he has racy drawings and nudes in his portfolio does not mean that's how he "prefers" to depict women. Particularly in an RPG publication. The abundance of nudes in Annie Leibovitz's portfolio hardly means she prefers to depict people in the nude.
