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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 506032" data-attributes="member: 2013">Let it be known that I'm not a fan of Elmore's busty babes... but might I remind you that he's done MUCH more than just babes... While everyone's piling on Elmore for "big-haired, busty babes" I think many out there have forgotten about the rest of his body of work.  I always felt his male warriors looked fantastic (e.g., cover and interior illustrations of the 1983 Basic/Expert sets) and his thief characters looked roguish without screaming "thief!"  And nobody has defined the look of a dragon for me so well as Elmore - I like long, serpentine, and flowing but still lithe and strong (compare to Easley's compressed, "bulldog" dragons, for instance).Elmore's "babes" are not his best work - but the Elmore gal I remember most is Aleena (From the interior "sample adventure" in the Basic Set)... no chainmail bikinis, no enormous bust.  Just a well-armored, experienced and beautiful without being trashy.The problem that I have with 3e art is that it is SOOOOO turn-of-the-milleniumish.  By which I mean, "hey, in 1999/2000, tattoos, body-piercing, hairstyles, Fredericks of Hollywood, and freakish metal pieces on your outfit are cool."  The iconic characters tend to reflect this - they are all into tattoos, piercings... etc.  The iconic characters are, for lack of a better word, the embodiment of high school students - the way some of them dress and the rest of them would if their parents would let them.  Blech.  We're depicting a fantasy here, not depicting fantasy itself.Already, I look at it and think, "ugh.  That is SO dated."  No self-respecting adventurer would wear that these days... because no self-respecting high-schooler would wear it now.  Trends have changed.I look at Elmore's (male) fighters.  Solid, no-frills plate mail that still looks simple and utilitarian and looks like it will turn a hefty blow aside.  Still "in fashion."I won't quibble with the technical quality of the art, but rather with the "style" and "feel" of the outfits and locales and styles of dress.  A t-shirt and pair of jeans is always in style.  A dark suit with a white shirt is always in style.  That, to me, is Elmore.  Not at the "leading edge" of fashion, to be sure, but never "out of style."  The work of the current cadre of 3e artists is "cool today" but will look supremely stupid soon... remember, zoot suits used to be cool.  "Big hair" used to be cool.  Flowers in ugly colors used to be cool.  But even when they were, you were still not "unfashionable" in the basics (suits, frex).  Today, zoot suits, big hair, and ugly flowers all look horribly dated and unfashionable.  Dark suits are still here.That's my opinion on the matter, like anyone cares.  That's why I call it a "steampunk" style - these characters are for a specific genre which is cool today and which will be "out" tomorrow.  And when it is, the characters will look positively ridiculous.  In fact, to some of us, they already do.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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