Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[NN]

IMO vampires are not sexy, they are vile.
They only appear “sexy” to charmed victims.

Also they wear setting-appropriate footwear, they dont have a portal to a late 20th century shoe shop.

 

[Bae'zel]

It kinda is though!

I was just trying to soften the blow.

I’ve seen worse art in amateur OSR books before. This one is in colour, so some effort was made.

 

[Fenris-77]

I prefer to use public domain art for my stuff. If I'm going to buy art it's going be art I'm really enthused about, which usually means expensive.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I was just trying to soften the blow.

I’ve seen worse art in amateur OSR books before. This one is in colour, so some effort was made.

For sure, and I suspect if the artist was given more time on it, it'd look a lot more professional.

Also I do agree with "dubious art is infinitely better than AI art".

 

[Fenris-77]

Public domain art will get a you a long way if you spend enough time sourcing it. Frex:

Although admittedly this is a way easier task for fantasy than for any other genre. Vampires could be done using a lot of Art Nouveaux stuff and just a hint of graphics know-how though, now that I think about it. Anywho, human art is human art and to be applauded.

 

[Scribe]

Public domain art will get a you a long way if you spend enough time sourcing it. Frex:

Thats the biggest issue for me. Time is the most limiting factor in my life.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Thats the biggest issue for me. Time is the most limiting factor in my life.

From a business standpoint, not having a bunch of people pile on judgement is also an important factor.

 

[Scribe]

From a business standpoint, not having a bunch of people pile on judgement is also an important factor.

Eh, at this point the moaning any given segment of the internet can be both expected, and ignored.

For me personally, I dont have the time to source Public Domain, and perform any kind of software manipulation. I just dont. I've put in close to 200 hours the last 3 weeks of work, and I refuse to cut the gym time out of my week.

Wife + Work + Gym + Food (Buy/Prep/Eat/Clean) = thats it folks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Although admittedly this is a way easier task for fantasy than for any other genre. Vampires could be done using a lot of Art Nouveaux stuff and just a hint of graphics know-how though, now that I think about it. Anywho, human art is human art and to be applauded.

World of Darkness adjacent stuff that looks like concert fliers and the like is relatively cheap -- that's why those fliers look that way -- and super atmospheric as well.

 

[Reynard]

For sure, and I suspect if the artist was given more time on it, it'd look a lot more professional.

Also I do agree with "dubious art is infinitely better than AI art".

The trouble is reliably identifying "acceptable" art. If I decide to get a bunch of stock art so I can afford it but also pay a human. Thing is, now chances are that the person I'm paying used Midjourney or whatever. What now?

Worse, what if they use on of the myriad tools that allow visual prompts? The artist sketches with their own hands but has the AI create the final image. Where's the line there.

Listen: I totally agree that we should use human made art (images, words, music, etc). But we need a MUCH better answer than "it's bad" for the small scale creator that can't afford otherwise to bring their vision to life. And I absolutely don't believe in "if you can't draw and are broke you don't deserve to create a saleable RPG product." That's just as unethical and classist.