Artworks in an RPG

[Sacrosanct]

And you had lots of great stuff in gaming prior to the 2000s:

Yep. And outside of gaming, I suppose Boris Vellejo would be shocked to know that his art isn't considered good...

 

[Sacrosanct]

Also something to be said about black and white art is the beauty of the different shading techniques. I am no artist, but I used to imitate Fabian when I was in class, trying to smudge my pencil or pen drawings to get that shading effect he had in so many of his images. The shading alone was fascinating to look at.

I think b/w lends to the ability to really show off the unique styles of particular artists. From the heavy line work of Mike Ploog, to the unique style of Emmanuel, to stippling. Hard to do with color. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other, but each has its place, and b/w is often underrated and shouldn't be considered the "cheap" option.

 

[aia_2]

Apologies, i'd like to wrap some points up so that we focus on the question is still have to understand:
1. Art is not graphic info, my question doesn't focus on a good rendering of some concepts via icons or colored frameworks in a page... This is another topic. My concern is about artworks in a rulebook.
2. I totally agree over artworks in a book like a module or a setting where these can add a flavor or a tone to the text. In this case artworks would also be a visual support to the reader (i have in mind the Spire and Sigil in the PS setting... Amazing piece of art).
3. Art doesn't necessarly produce a feeling of pleasure, art, according to an overall understanding has to produce a reaction, be it good or bad (therefore if someone feel disgusted by a RQ cover, its art is as a matter of fact art... What is not art will not produce any feeling...).
4. Sayings are a good topic for discussion but they do not help the discussion in case they are not universally know and used therefore they only hinder a discussion over a different topic.
5. Every time i read about a good reason to have artworks in an RPG book i find examples of a setting or a module which perfectly fits point nr.2 here above. I have not gotten a reason to add art in a rulebook. Maybe in case you want to describe a race of fantasy like elves or gnomes but this seems to be a faint* reason...

So to get back to my question: say that i have a chapter which explains the initiative rules, what kind of art would you use and why? (This works for any kind of rules in a rulebook)

* No offense intended but the RPG readers are all educated persons and add a picture of a gnome along with its description to my eyes is a bit sad: it's like a primary book where you have Ape+picture, Bee+picture and so forth...

 

[Rogerd1]

No, they are not. That's kind of the point. So far you are the only one who said it was impossible to have good art back then (because it was hand drawn, which is such a weird thing to say because art today is still hand drawn and infers that ALL art not digitally done is bad (which includes Monet, Rembrandt, etc).

You might want to consider that you are one of the few, and not everyone else. Cuz it would be even stranger to say that the larger group of people is "part of the few" and you are the only one in the majority despite seemingly being alone in your position.

Try reading what I wrote, not what you think I wrote.
I gave specific examples to back my statement in the form of Chaosium, Unisystem, Palladium. All had crap hand drawn b&w art.

You mean this impossible RuneQuest art? Presumably this is Lisa A Free painting is terrible,

This watercolour painting in particular repulses me

Both date from the early 1980s, RuneQuest.

Perhaps you should try reading what I wrote too, with the specific examples I gave. These are good for the time but would ge substandard rpg art now.

 

[Bilharzia]

See I actually quite like this art. It is distinct, it has a clear character and it helped give the brand a clear visual identity. And they both have nice color choices. This was also at a time when lots of games and toys had art in this style.

Yes ... I'm ... taking the Michael. They are both iconic covers to me.

 

[Bilharzia]

Try reading what I wrote, not what you think I wrote.
I gave specific examples to back my statement in the form of Chaosium, Unisystem, Palladium. All had crap hand drawn b&w art.

Perhaps you should try reading what I wrote too, with the specific examples I gave. These are good for the time but would ge substandard rpg art.

Yeah I am afraid what you are saying is not supported by the evidence, or what most of us refer to as "reality". There was a huge amount of excellent black & white artwork in RPGs prior to digital painting and drawing, and that includes Chaosium, in fact Chaosium had some of the best.

Of course you can find examples of crap art from the time, but guess what, you can find the same thing today in the age of "computer art". By the same logic, there is more bad art produced today compared to the 1980s/1990s because the same technology is creating greater access to more bad artists. The reason that you are missing is cost and the network. Paying for art is expensive, today and in the "pre-computer age" you have identified. The reason some early RPGs had bad art is that they had small budgets, and hired school children or college kids or their gaming buddies to create it. Bigger budget RPGs had better art, even in the "pre-computer age". The same is true today.

More important, in fact, is the network, not the tools to create art. Today a RPG publisher can hire an artist from anywhere in the world to produce illustrations, so the pool of artists is much larger. Crowd funding is part of that as well, you can get your budgets from people on the network who effectively pre-pay for a book. It doesn't matter if the artists draw with crayons, charcoal or Procreate, which are all "hand drawn" techniques. I am not sure if you have thought through what you are saying.

 

[Rogerd1]

Yeah I am afraid what you are saying is not supported by the evidence, or what most of us refer to as "reality". There was a huge amount of excellent black & white artwork in RPGs prior to digital painting and drawing, and that includes Chaosium, in fact Chaosium had some of the best.

Nah you're talking rubbish. All the Chaosium hand drawn b&w art was crap. That is the reality, anything else is fantasy land.

It doesn't matter if the artists draw with crayons, charcoal or Procreate, which are all "hand drawn" techniques. I am not sure if you have thought through what you are saying.

Stop making excuses and defending substandard art.

 

[Bilharzia]

Nah you're talking rubbish. All the Chaosium hand drawn b&w art was crap. That is the reality, anything else is fantasy land.

Stop making excuses and defending substandard art.

Just for reference this is what you call Chaosium's "hand drawn" (which for some reason you think is not a good technique?) crap art.

This is all, in your words "hand drawn crap". Out of interest, do you know how digital art is produced? Because artists who use a stylus and a tablet might be scratching their heads about what you are talking about.

 

[Rogerd1]

Just for reference this is what you call Chaosium's "hand drawn" (which for some reason you think is not a good technique?) crap art.

This is all, in your words "hand drawn crap". Out of interest, do you know how digital art is produced? Because artists who use a stylus and a tablet might be scratching their heads about what you are talking about.

You are trying to turn the tables, and I wont change my mind. They are just rubbish.

 

[Bilharzia]

You are trying to turn the tables, and I wont change my mind. They are just rubbish.

oooohhh-kay.