D&D 5E Toward a new D&D aesthetics

[doctorbadwolf]

Where the monsters don't look blatantly Disneyfied.

The flying lemur (or whatever it is) on the front cover of the latest book is what "classic" is not.

What on earth are you talking about? Nothing in any D&D book I’ve ever seen looks remotely like Disney art.

 

[BookTenTiger]

What on earth are you talking about? Nothing in any Disney book I’ve ever seen looks remotely like Disney art.

(I think you meant D&D book.)

What about this Owlbear?

(Just kidding! My wife was asking about owlbears, and then we started wondering if there was a Winnie the Pooh Owlbear. The internet, of course, already had a bunch!)

 

[Voadam]

How about a game of Alice in Wonderland? Anyone?

Which style?

Straight?

Mini Adventure path for 5e/Pathfinder/Hero Kids?

Alice Returning to Wonderland to free it from a tyrant?

Solo Gamebook?

Madness focused?

AD&D pocket dimension adventure?

Fairy Tale setting inspired in part by Wonderland?

A bunch of options

 

[Yaarel]

My first impression is that it's a pretty spot-on representation of something like a flying lemur, which exist in the real world.

View attachment 154071

Similarly, when I was trying to identify the scampers ears from the crystal, I came across several adorable species of fox that look like it.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

“No True Scotsman”, eh? It’s as official as any other D&D product and had the standard D&D artists for the book (Jeff Dee, Roslof, etc.), plus some additional British (and well-known) artists as well.

The fact is, D&D art is all over the place with a lot of styles. People tend to remember the Easley, Elmore & Parkinson art, but forget some of the whimsy with Roslof, Jeff Dee and even Lockwood art (remember the halflings with the quill blown up in her face? Or Redgar using the half-orc’s face as a stepping stone to get to the top of a bluff?)

Yes, D&D art HAS changed, it’s always changing and will continue to change. But sometimes I think perhaps what chafes a lot of people may be the non-human heroes that show up more often, and it somehow rubs a group of folks the wrong way, as it gets away from the humanocentric view of D&D. Personally, I greatly enjoy the more fantastical takes that show D&D isn’t just our world with a bunch of people in quasi-medieval garb.

“No True Scotsman”! lol Well played! Not what I meant though. I didn't realise there were actual production values associated to this thing... thanks for the education though! I remember it being some sort of production whose contents were collected from White Dwarf user submissions. I was going off vague memories from the days of way back.

The non-human centric aspect to the art is an interesting angle. I like that the art shows this variety as well actually. Do you really think there are folks that object to non-humans in their pictures? I get that there is a sliver of the population that is frightened by the idea of these differences... but is this a widespread problem?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

(I think you meant D&D book.)

What about this Owlbear?

View attachment 154081

(Just kidding! My wife was asking about owlbears, and then we started wondering if there was a Winnie the Pooh Owlbear. The internet, of course, already had a bunch!)

I did indeed. Walking my dog and didn’t catch it lol.

But yeah, I’ve never seen “disneyfied” art in any D&D book. Not even Witchlight, where is kinda expect a little Disney. Thematically, in terms of content, perhaps, but never in actual artistic style.

 

[Stormonu]

Oops, sorry - been getting my Jims mixed up. Instead of Roslof, I’ve been meaning Jim Halloway.

 

[Yaarel]

Heh nuff said.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

I agree. At first I was going to choose options 1, "I really enjoy those changes. The illustrations resemble well my ideal setting!" because I like the tone of a lot of the 5E art, but then the first comments made me realize the OP is talking about some of the more...cartoony? art in the last few releases? Regardless, even that's not consistently "cartoony" (or whatever), so I switched to option 2, "I'm ok with those changes, even if my ideal setting has a different aesthetics".

A little disclaimer originated by your post:

The purpose of the poll is not to indicate a determined and precise change in art. Everybody here has a different perception about where the art is going and all perceptions are ok. You can also sustain that there's no change at all. But if you feel that there is a change, you can simply say if it goes in the direction you want or not.

To be more clear: nobody here is asking you if the art is veering toward disney or something like that. You need only to ask you to yourself 1: is it changing? 2 if yes I like its direction? No more, no less.

 

[theCourier]

What part of "trending toward" don't you understand?

This is literally from the latest release.