D&D 5E Art in 5e...?

[bogmad]

No the ludicrous thing is you insisting your tastes and opinion is so universal that anyone who disagrees is being ludicrous. The figure is not sexualized.

I can actually see both sides. I think the fact that there are folks on both sides, but both sides also agree "this is a good step forward," speaks more than blanket proclamations of the other side being wrong do.

 

[Umbran]

Umm...
See what you did there?

As I just said - if you need to agree to disagree, do so now. Mark that, please, before anyone continues down this line. Thank you.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

The artist for the PHB and DMG has posted the original, uncropped images for those covers.

http://tylerjacobson.blogspot.com/2014/05/d-core-books.html

 

[bogmad]

Looking at the PHB image it looks even more like my first impressions: that she's not levitating, but rather jumping away from the giant's sword strike. The bent right leg even makes sense since she's trying to get her extremities as far from a sharp edge as possible.
The extra space on the left even gives it more of an impression that she's jumping back, as well as up.

Not sure where the rest of the giants leg below the knew went. Is he kneeling?

 

[AstroCat]

Ok, in my opinion I do not think the female character on the PHB is "sexualized" in any way shape or form, quite the contrary actually. So, yes I agree to disagree.

Overall I like the art and think it's totally cool they have what I believe is a completely appropriate female adventurer kicking butt on the cover. There is room in my world for all flavors, including sexy, my tolerance level is pretty high, I just prefer it overall in a context/world/environment relevant setting.

 

[tuxgeo]

Looking at the PHB image it looks even more like my first impressions: that she's not levitating, but rather jumping away from the giant's sword strike. The bent right leg even makes sense since she's trying to get her extremities as far from a sharp edge as possible.
The extra space on the left even gives it more of an impression that she's jumping back, as well as up.

Not sure where the rest of the giants leg below the knew went. Is he kneeling?

In the larger picture, it is clear that the flooring where the elf is located has been cracked and twisted. The elf, in particular, is standing on shaded (blue-hued) jagged blocks of rubble. The giant might, therefore, be standing in the hollow left by the broken and upthrust flooring.

Yeah, I know: that's a bit of a reach on my part.

 

[shadow]

I don't know about the artwork overall, but I really like the art for the covers of the D&D next books. This is what I've been looking for - adventurers in action, not characters standing around doing ridiculous poses with their weapons.

 

[GX.Sigma]

What confuses me with the PHB cover is the giant...It looks, to me, like it is clearly a frost giant: bluish tint to the skin, white bead, obviously wearing a white dragon hide cloak, the "norsey-celtish" knot-work tattoo on the thigh...yup. Frost giant fer sure.

It's interesting that you see it as blue and white; it looked gray and orange to me. It's probably the blue light in his face that makes the colors look weird.

According to the D&D Twitter, it's supposed to be Snurre, the canonical Fire Giant King. This guy:

It's weird that he's not wearing any armor in the illustration. That does make him seem a lot more Frost Gianty. Aren't Fire Giants supposed to have really nice armor?

 

[Libramarian]

Her pose is the standard "Superman at rest" pose; it's how Superman hovers when he's not going someplace. See below.

No, Superman's spine curves forward there. The girl on the PHB is curving backward. It's much closer to Wonder Woman's hovering pose:

Also her outfit has a skirt for no practical reason.

Now I don't believe that a comic/fantasy image is bad just because it fails the Hawkeye test. The Hawkeye test is ruthless. An image doesn't have to be erotic at all to fail; there just has to be something about the pose/clothing of a female character that would make a male character look effeminate in the same pose/clothing.

What I disagree with is that there's anything progressive about the PHB cover. I think it's unremarkable in that respect.

 

[Umbran]

It's interesting that you see it as blue and white; it looked gray and orange to me. It's probably the blue light in his face that makes the colors look weird.

The cropping has a lot to do with it. In the cropped image, the background is oddly red, and then by contrast the giant looks blue. In the uncropped version, you see that odd redness is really an entire firey landscape, and the frost giant idea goes out the window.