Vote for your Favorite D&D Artist [World Championship Edition] LOCKWOOD vs. ELMORE!!!

Arthur Tealeaf said:

This totally sold my ass to Lockwood

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That is pretty good. It doesn't really "move" me, but it's quite good.

I think my perceptions of Lockwood may be tainted by the horrid artwork in 3E in general. I still really can't put my finger on it, but there is something about 3E art that just blows (especially the Dragon covers, but that's a whole different topic).

The pieces of Lockwood that were posted above are way cool. Some of his stuff may be much more inspired/inspiring than Elmore's. Unfortunately, it isn't D&D art, so I really didn't take it into account in my voting.

I just looked through my PH and there are _no_ really inspired/inspiring pictures in it. The only ones that I think actually improve the quality of the book (diagrams aside) are some of the chapterheads and the races on pp. 12-13 (although the latter is practically a diagram -- and the elves still have elephant ears). There is not a single other picture in the book that really adds in a significant fashion.

About the best I can say is that Vadania, Tordek, Eberk (p 90), and Kerwyn (p 94) aren't bad. Tordek is the least of these, but the other three at least spark a little something.

So, after that long rant, my basic statement is that _no_ 3E artist could be the "best" (subjective) D&D artist. This isn't through any fault of the artist (in most cases), but is because whoever did the layout at WotC chose some of the most bland and uninspired work to include in their products. There are no great "D&D artists" in 3E because there is no great art in 3E -- although there may be some great artists doing work for 3E.

Note: I haven't looked through too many 3rd party suppliments (hard to get in my area), so I'm only talking about the WotC books and Dragon/Dungeon (the covers of which were once the best showcase for D&D art and are now screams of blandness).

LGodamus said:

I have to say lockwood is leaps and bounds ahead in technical ability....the only thing elmore really has to fight with is nostalgia.

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My opinion too

I was always rather turned of by Elmore's pictures really, they don't fit with my idea of fantasy or of DnD though I can see how someone else would see differently.

Of course that being said I do fall right in the demographic for the 'spikey Gen X' look and happen to love it . Lockwood can do so much more than just extreme numbers of Buckles and spikey hair though, he doesn't even do that in all his paintings

The thing I don't really understand about 3E artwork is that the concept art looked so much better than the final product...

Henry said:

I'll admit I wasn't a big fan of Todd Lockwood's work - until I saw the full painting of his cover work for Malhavoc Press on Cry Havoc, Skip Williams' mass combat book due in January.

http://www.montecook.com/images/Havoc_art.jpg

(warning! Above image is pretty large, but well worth it)

Larry Elmore still is my D&D muse, lock, stock and barrel.

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I'm with you, Henry. After seeing the images in this thread, I'm convinced that Lockwood is a more technically proficient artist. But I do wish he'd actually wear some armor, or at least base his art on real-world example of armor.

Take the breastplate in your example. He depicted multiple plates covering the chest, assumedly because he thought that such an arrangement would add articulation/allow the wearer to bend over and tie his shoes. But the plates overlap in exactly the wrong direction. Doh!

Ah well. Maybe I'll show my support by writing a fan letter.

-z

Larry Elmore is the man.

Elmore is D&D.

Lockwood is the face of the Leather bondage d20 system.

And if you like like fantasy leather bondage BROM is better.

(new account, longtime lurker who's account was whacked when the boards moved.)

The moment I opened up the old Red Boxed set, those images inspired me to play D&D, draw, and were etched into my psyche forever.

I may waffle on who is the better "technical artist", but in my mind Larry Elmore IS D&D.

It's the simple black and white ones like these that I remember the most.

Here is the "Dragon Slayers and Proud of It" someone mentioned above. This is D&D.

http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/ZGallery/Color/zzPages/dragonslayers.html

I find amusing the sheer number of "we hate the look of 3e" posts and Larry Elmore love in the thread while Lockwood is winning the poll by so much.

I love Lockwood, I find his artwork exciting and kinetic. And I think his dragons are magnificent and inspiring. I don't know about some of his non-D&D work (I don't like anything over much on his website), but the D&D artwork both finished and concept I've seen of his I've really loved.

So here's a "I like Lockwood" post.

Why Elmore sucks:

From http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/ZGallery/Color/zzPages/dragonslayers.html
Dragon Slayer's and Proud of It

The « 's » is for the genitive (possession), or the constracted form « is » or « has », but not for plural. Plural never got an apostrophe. So, Elmore sucks because he can't type. He's a native English speakers, so he's got no excuse (while myself, as a Fren..., er, Freedom Man, have all the excuse I need to make all the errors and typos I can when I write in English).

Why Lockwood sucks:

From http://www.toddlockwood.com/SilverDragonMain.htm
I would love an opportunity to paint a portrait like this of all six of D&D's 3rd Edition dragons

In the MM, there are 10 dragons. Not 6. 6 dragons was true for 1ed D&D maybe, but not for D&D 3. He should know it, he drew them. (I won't speak about the countless additional dragons we can find everywhere, oriental, psionic, faerûnian, etc.)

So, while Elmore can't write, Lockwood can't count.

Bah, that's not that bad, when you compare them to all these artists that can't draw.

Jody Butt said:

Here is the "Dragon Slayers and Proud of It" someone mentioned above. This is D&D.

http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/ZGallery/Color/zzPages/dragonslayers.html

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I think this is probably my favorite dnd pic of all time. It really just seems to sum up the spirit of the game to me. I especially love the swordswoman and her expression most of all.