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

jbear · Mar 6, 2012

TwinBahamut said:
Actually, that piece of art includes one of the things that annoys me the most about 4E art: messy armor designs that involve lots of oddly-shaped overlapping plates and a patchwork nature (like this character's leather boots rather than proper metal leg armor). This image is nowhere near as bad as many of the things you see in 4E, but the fact that just about everyone in 4E art is walking around with really bizarre and ugly armor just annoys me. The armor doesn't need to look strictly realistic by a long shot (armor that trades realism for appearance is fine), but the aesthetics of D&D armor has moved so far away from either practicality or good appearance that I wonder what the art directors who put together the style guide were thinking.

It's unfair to say that that is exclusive to 4e art.

See last Elmore image I linked and the boots she is wearing.

See 3.5 PHB for exactly the type of armour with overlapping plates and belts and buckles galore.

jbear · Mar 6, 2012

CasvalRemDeikun said:
I don't know about the other ones, but the women in these paintings are half-naked for actual story reasons. Kitiara, the woman in the first image, has had her armor ripped away by the guardians of the Tower of Palanthas (this occurs in the novel, Test of the Twins). Normally she wears the armor depicted here. http://pictures.linkmesh.com/dragons/imagenes/kiatara_and_the_blue_dragon.jpg

Notice, that is ALSO by Larry Elmore.

The other image is from the novel preceding Test of the Twins, War of the Twins. Again, the woman's clothes are ripped away for story reasons. Probably a good idea not to piss off Raistlin, the Black-robed mage in the picture. She is dressed like this http://www.freewebs.com/tohs2/War of the Twins - Larry Elmore.jpg normally.

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?

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.

Relique du Madde · Mar 6, 2012

I agree anime styled art is bad and needs to vanish from my player's handbook!! We need a real artist to work on DnD art, like Rob Liefield!

Imagine Cap wearing armor and carrying a sword... it would be the best picture or a paladin EVAR!

WheresMyD20 · Mar 6, 2012

Not this: This is the "iconic" 3e paladin art. Complete and total miss. Nothing about it says "paladin". Looks more like a ranger or maybe a rogue. Definitely not a paladin.

Relique du Madde · Mar 6, 2012

WheresMyD20 said:
Not this: This is the "iconic" 3e paladin art.

Wait... she was supposed to be a paladin?!?!?!

Sunseeker · Mar 6, 2012

WheresMyD20 said:
Not this: This is the "iconic" 3e paladin art. Complete and total miss. Nothing about it says "paladin". Looks more like a ranger or maybe a rogue. Definitely not a paladin.

Yeah I always wondered what was up with that. What part of plate-clad, holy-knight didn't they seem to get?

FreeTheSlaves · Mar 6, 2012

My wife likes portrait art of attractive women who look classy. The sexiness dial would be set to implied, but then again fairies are ok to wear stuff all, and ninjas wear close fitting kit.

I quite like art along the lines of this:

Piratecat · Mar 6, 2012

Relique du Madde said:
I agree anime styled art is bad and needs to vanish from my player's handbook!! We need a real artist to work on DnD art, like Rob Liefield!

You know I can ban you, right? Right?

ExploderWizard · Mar 6, 2012

Whatever they decide, I hope they don't just pick a single style and plaster it everywhere. Part of what made older D&D art so cool was the variety of styles. There wasn't a 'sameness' to the art that made it all blah.

A mix of artistic styles would be great because there is a better chance that there would be something for everyone. Personally I would like to see more B&W pencil and ink sketches.

Mokona · Mar 6, 2012

jbear said:
My point is that many people, who I am assuming are men, are in many cases saying that women find these images bad/wrong/negative/whatever. I am making the point that making such blanket statements about what kind of art women want for their characters is questionable. My wife is a woman. So is her sister. (funnily enough). They both play in my game. Both chose super sexy images for their characters, because that is how they want to imagine them.

You can find a diversity of opinions.

Such as this feminist D&D blogger:
Go Make Me a Sandwich: Paizo: Thanks for not being full of race fail, but...

Or a prude*:
5e World: Commentary on Dungeons & Dragons Next: Do You Really Get What You Pay For?

Or something between those two:
An Open Letter to D&D Next’s Art Department

This thread is about what "should" be in official D&D Next books. No one here is going to come into your house and tell you how to play your game or what visuals you may use. My experience is that many, many people learn to play D&D at age ten. As a society there is "general" agreement that sexualized nudity and suggestive poses are inappropriate when targeted at children or in children's products. Is D&D a game for 10 year-olds or a game for adults that is also played by children? In the spirit of inclusiveness I'd again argue that the controversial (so called "porn") visuals are not core to the D&D experience and should be left out of official books. Everyone is perfectly capable of adding the controversial art back into their games but those of us who want our children to play (and care about certain depictions) don't really have a way to take such art out of books we need to buy to play the game.

Have fun. Use whatever images you like for yourself.

* - I don't take myself too seriously...

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

jbear

First Post

jbear

First Post

Relique du Madde

Adventurer

WheresMyD20

First Post

Relique du Madde

Adventurer

Sunseeker

Guest

FreeTheSlaves

Adventurer

Attachments

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

ExploderWizard

Hero

Mokona

First Post

Similar Threads

Voidrunner's Codex