Art for A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture

[Storminator]

If you have more than one artist, please put the artist's name next to each and every piece. I recently saw a book that did this (can't remember which, sadly) and I loved it.

PS

 

[fusangite]

Congratulations on all the ENnies; Teflon Billy told me this is your new project. It's a great idea.

1. Would you like to see one artist showcased, or multiple artists?

I think that instead of commissioning art, you should look at existing art that you know you like. So, I guess that means multiple artists.

2. 144-page softcover B&W for $25 or color for $30? or a 144-page softcover B&W for 25$ or hardback B&W for 32$?

I would not pay extra for colour but I might for hard cover.

3. Would you like to see a few full-page illustrations or would you dislike the "waste of space"?

I wouldn't mind them if they truly illustrated something. If a full-page captioned illustration is the most efficient way of transmitting the information clearly, I would favour them. Otherwise, I would rather see text.

4. I'd like every piece of art to show an idea from the book in practice, wether or not its two people arguing around a fire near the section about cultural types of dispute resolution or simply showing a miner when talking about mines. Do ya'll think artwork is "better" when used in such mannor? (in my experience its harder to layout, that's why i'm asking)

My question would be: does the art make the text clearer or transmit new information? If it doesn't do either but merely emphasizes a particular point, I'd just as soon not see it.

 

[jgbrowning]

If you have more than one artist, please put the artist's name next to each and every piece. I recently saw a book that did this (can't remember which, sadly) and I loved it.

PS

If we do so, I'll definitly indicate who drew what. Credit where credit's do and all.....

joe b.

 

[jgbrowning]

Re: Re: Art for A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture

I wouldn't mind them if they truly illustrated something. If a full-page captioned illustration is the most efficient way of transmitting the information clearly, I would favour them. Otherwise, I would rather see text.

My first idea for a full page illustration is for a complex food web (like a food chain, but with many "chains").

Something about putting a kobold in one of them just simply cracks me up to no end....

joe b.

 

[Agamon]

Re: Re: Art for A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture

1. either, but keep a similar flavor

2. b+w is plenty powerful. especially wiht so many people around who are great with a pen.

3. partial pages work, and lets art get tied in better wiht text imho

4. this is soooo important. i did a poll a while back and that was listed as the most important thing ot most peoaple. i know i am sick of reading monster descriptions that do not match the art. wrong number of legs, or coloring, or amouth in the worng place takes something out of it.

if you make the illustrations, no matter how small or what color choice match the text you will have won many hearts.

I'm 'ditto'-ing Clay completely. Scary, huh?

 

[Damon Griffin]

1. Would you like to see one artist showcased, or multiple artists?

Either is fine, so long as art styles do not clash in the case of multiple artists. I think I'd find a book jointly illustrated by Larry Elmore and John Kovalic to be distracting (in a bad way) though both are among my favorite artists and I might conceivably buy a product based on either artist's solo participartion.

2. 144-page softcover B&W for $25 or color for $30? or a 144-page softcover B&W for 25$ or hardback B&W for 32$?

Depends on the subject matter of the illlustration, but as a general rule, B&W works fine. I suspect sales of a $25 softcover will be better than those for a $32 harcover, and I wonder what the (presumably) increased production costs of a hardcover would do to net profits. Thanks to the 25% discount I enjoy at my FLGS, I'm able to cast a vote for a $24 hardcover.

3. Would you like to see a few full-page illustrations or would you dislike the "waste of space"?

As I think others have noted, there's an important distinction between illustration and decoration. If the image is actually illustrating some point -- making the material more clear than the text alone coud do -- then a small number of full page illustrations is welcome. If it's just a pretty picture, it's probably a waste of space. Full-page color plates by Larry Elmore depicting...well, almost anything, really...might be an exception to this, but that's just my opinion. Keep the full page pics to a minimum.

4. I'd like every piece of art to show an idea from the book in practice, wether or not its two people arguing around a fire near the section about cultural types of dispute resolution or simply showing a miner when talking about mines. Do ya'll think artwork is "better" when used in such mannor? (in my experience its harder to layout, that's why i'm asking)

This is exactly what I meant by illustration vs. decoration. You want every piece of art to be an illustration, not just a pretty picture.

I think in this sort of product, art is "better" for being illustrative rather than merely decorative. I can enjoy art for its own sake, but prefer to do so in an art book, fantasy calendar, 90-card set or some other such thing, rather than in a gaming sourcebook. The cover of a gaming book can be merely decorative -- though ideally it should at least suggest the contents of the book -- but interior images should be illustrative.

Showing a lone miner when talking about mines is probably not helpful. Showing a cutaway view of a mine, with several miners using different sorts of equipment to do different tasks, might well be.

Two people arguing around a fire I can easily imagine on my own. For a larger gathering like a Viking 'althing' I might appreciate some imagery. Rule of thumb: if you can give someone a decently thorough description of something in, say, 50 [unambiguous] words or less, you probably don't need a picture.

 

[jgbrowning]

Thanks for all the ideas/opinions all. They've really helped in our decision making process.

joe b.

 

[Stormrunner]

Hmm. This is basically a "reference" text that will be primarily used by GMs during campaign creation, rather than being hauled to every session and passed around during play. So the extra sturdiness of the hardcover is less important. Therefore, given the lower cost and weight, I'd go with softcover.

Black-and-white works fine for most illustrations, but it would be nice to have a few color illos too, especially for "showcase" pics where you're comparing people/buildings/whatever from different cultures. I'd suggest a signature of color plates, and B&W throughout the rest of the book.

Multiple artists are good, but for consistency I would at least assign "one artist per culture", or maybe one for maps, one for diagrams, one for architecture...

Art should definitely be strongly tied to the text. While having the art on the same or facing page as the text is good, it's not always doable, but it should at least have some relation. One thing that really annoyed me about Mongoose's "Ultimate Feats" book was how much "babe art" was thrown in as filler - I'd say less than 10% of the illos had even a vague relation to the text.

Full-page? Depends. Full-page of "market scene in a typical Karentine city", yes. Full-page of "babe in skimpy chainmail", no.