Hiya!
Love it! I am also fond of the "Micky Mouse Wererat Infiltration Scheme"...you know the one.
On a more serious note...
The above cartoon is, imnsho, superior art for one reason. It tells a story and conveys an emotion. The OP's original two pictures, of the witch and the elf/hawk? Boring. They don't tell any story. They show no personality. They don't convey any emotion whatsoever. It's just like far, faaaaar to many "modern day artworks": technically proficient, but with no 'soul' and not anything to be proud of. They are almost all equivalent, in my mind, to something one would do for a freelance job where the potential employer asks "Ok, do you have a grasp on colour, lighting, texture, etc? Show us a quick sketch of that. Then we'll move on to other things like composition".
The witch, for example...it's just a chick standing there holding a magic book, casting a spell. So what? It's like taking a close up picture of your cat sleeping on a pillow. It doesn't SAY anything other than...."Here's a cat. Sleeping on a pillow". The above cartoon, however? Scene is set in a bar, folks are drinking, an adventurer at the bar is surprised, as well as bar-helper, and the bartender is DEFINITELY surprised! The axe in the wall next to the bartenders head shows that there is some action going on that needs attending. The story is obvious, even without the caption; "Someone in the bar is getting rowdy for some reason...and people are nervous".
I find that this new'ish "style" of art is what is I call "studio setting poser art". I can imagine there is a director and behind the artist is a bunch of people, like shooting a commercial product placement advertisement. There's the artist/director telling the witch... "Ok, Susan? Yeah, hold the book a bit higher...bit more....perfect! Ok, wind guy? Get some wind coming up from below...too much...still to much. Try half power. Great! Right...Susan, can you make that illusionary snake coming out of the book more dramatic? OH! Hey, make it fire! It will light your face, right? Yeah...excellent. Look down into it, like you're reading the book, the flames are from the writing in the book. Now, almost there. Oh, raise your left hand up a bit. More....more...more...too much. How about down, right below the edge of the brim of your hat! PERFECT! Oooo! Add some illusionary flames circling her left hand! Niiiice....! Ok, artist...paint that. GO!". ... ...
That's what I see when I see almost any art done by newer artists for D&D or Pathfinder or any other "modern, high-quality artwork RPG". Better than I could do...but boring and with no 'soul'.
^_^
Paul L. Ming