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Art in books
- Thread starter RangerWickett
- Start date
francisca
I got dice older than you.
Art has very little to with my assesment of an RPG product. I would not pay more for a book with "nice" art in it. When I buy a pdf which comes in both print and screen versions, I look at the screen version once, then use the print version, even when reading the product on-screen.
I like simple, unobtrusive, to the point artwork. While the stuff in the core 3.5 books is not to my liking at all, it doesn't put me off nearly as bad a some. Color is over rated in my opinion. I'm also a fan of simple layout. Layout is more of an issue than the art to me. I don't like the fancy page borders and paragraphs wrapped around art in the middle of the page which is prevelent in many RPG books today. The D&D 30th anniversary edition is an abomination to me, but still, if it had some content that I thought was interesting, I'd probably pick it up.
I like simple, unobtrusive, to the point artwork. While the stuff in the core 3.5 books is not to my liking at all, it doesn't put me off nearly as bad a some. Color is over rated in my opinion. I'm also a fan of simple layout. Layout is more of an issue than the art to me. I don't like the fancy page borders and paragraphs wrapped around art in the middle of the page which is prevelent in many RPG books today. The D&D 30th anniversary edition is an abomination to me, but still, if it had some content that I thought was interesting, I'd probably pick it up.
Berandor
lunatic
Good art may add +10% to my view of the product, whereas bad art might detract up to -20% of the overall impression. But when I buy a game book, I am not buying it for the art.
Oh, and while I would not buy a book of art (no matter how coffee-table-fitting it may be), I WOULD be interested in an electronic folder of character portraits or fantastic locations (+ cities) as jpeg files or similar, so i could use these pics in my RPG notes, handouts, and maybe even on my website without copyright infringement. That I would buy.
Oh, and while I would not buy a book of art (no matter how coffee-table-fitting it may be), I WOULD be interested in an electronic folder of character portraits or fantastic locations (+ cities) as jpeg files or similar, so i could use these pics in my RPG notes, handouts, and maybe even on my website without copyright infringement. That I would buy.
Cthulhu's Librarian
First Post
I love good art in RPG books, but in PDfs it's not that important to me. Most PDFs I either pint out the pages I need or cut and paste small sections of text. The few that I do print out the entire PDF, I generally want as little art as possible due to printer/toner issues.
I do appreciate good fantasy art, and I have a nice collection of art books by many artists. Some of them are traditional art books, some are childrens books, and some are RPG books that have outstanding art in them. But if I am buying a book primarily for the art, I want it to be a BOOK, not a PDF. PDFs don't sit on my shelf very nicely, I can't look at them the same way I look at an art book, and there is no way any home printer could duplicate the quality of printing that goes into a real book.
So as far as your original question goes, no, this isn't something that I'd be interested in paying additional $ for over a regular PDF.
I do appreciate good fantasy art, and I have a nice collection of art books by many artists. Some of them are traditional art books, some are childrens books, and some are RPG books that have outstanding art in them. But if I am buying a book primarily for the art, I want it to be a BOOK, not a PDF. PDFs don't sit on my shelf very nicely, I can't look at them the same way I look at an art book, and there is no way any home printer could duplicate the quality of printing that goes into a real book.
So as far as your original question goes, no, this isn't something that I'd be interested in paying additional $ for over a regular PDF.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
I'd have to see the 'good' art first. People's taste in art varies tremendously. I've had people tell me that highly enjoy most of the art in Tome of Horrors and Creature Collection and I'm way on the fence of "Boy that art sucked." for them. Same with Races of the Wild which I thought was the worst illustrated of the races books thus far.
Does the friend have a website with his art on it or ?
What size adventure we talking with what price tag? A 32 page PDF adventure for $10 probably won't fly, regardless of how well illustrated for example. Heck, even the Eberron adventuers don't have a ton of art to them and they reused art in the series.
Does the friend have a website with his art on it or ?
What size adventure we talking with what price tag? A 32 page PDF adventure for $10 probably won't fly, regardless of how well illustrated for example. Heck, even the Eberron adventuers don't have a ton of art to them and they reused art in the series.
I really like good art in game books (heck, there's a print of Todd Lockwood's "elven chain" from the 3.5 DMG on my wall right here)...but, would I pay *more* for a book if it had particularly good art? That's a tougher question, and I'm not sure the answer would be "yes" for me, especially when we're talking about a PDF.
That said, one of the biggest things art can do, when done right, is create a feel and style for the book / setting. Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, and Clyde Caldwell certainly helped shape what Dragonlance is for folks; Tony DiTerlizzi surely did the same for Planescape, and (for me, at least), Todd Lockwood, Sam Wood, and Wayne Reynolds have helped to define a feel for 3E.
That said, one of the biggest things art can do, when done right, is create a feel and style for the book / setting. Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, and Clyde Caldwell certainly helped shape what Dragonlance is for folks; Tony DiTerlizzi surely did the same for Planescape, and (for me, at least), Todd Lockwood, Sam Wood, and Wayne Reynolds have helped to define a feel for 3E.
alsih2o
First Post
I think my opinion is a give-away, but I love it.
What kills me, what makes my skin crawl, what saddens me about art in game books is when the art doesn't match the text.
Descriptions of monsters with art that doesn't match, saying a character uses just this one kind of weapon and showing them with another. I often wonder who is to blame when I see it. Did the publisher not communicate the image? Did the artist fail? Was there a change after the art was done?
It is just a pet peeve, but there it is.
What kills me, what makes my skin crawl, what saddens me about art in game books is when the art doesn't match the text.
Descriptions of monsters with art that doesn't match, saying a character uses just this one kind of weapon and showing them with another. I often wonder who is to blame when I see it. Did the publisher not communicate the image? Did the artist fail? Was there a change after the art was done?
It is just a pet peeve, but there it is.
jgbrowning
Hero
alsih2o said:
Often all of the above in different combinations in different circumstances.
joe b.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
I want as much art as possible. The more styles, the better. I don't even mind bad art, because seeing what I feel was done wrong gets me a nice ego boost that I need to keep sketching.
Besides, its nice to be able to look in a WotC book, see piece of art that's not horrible, and then think "Hey, I can do better than that..."
Besides, its nice to be able to look in a WotC book, see piece of art that's not horrible, and then think "Hey, I can do better than that..."
caudor
Adventurer
Good art is a plus in my book; it adds value for me and makes me more inclined to purchase if the other factors draw my interest. Really bad art often causes me to look elsewhere.
As far as art goes, I really don't place any more value on products with 'big name' artists than I do with good art created by a newcomer. As long as it is good, that's all counts to me. I imagine there a many talented artists out there just waiting to be discovered.
As far as art goes, I really don't place any more value on products with 'big name' artists than I do with good art created by a newcomer. As long as it is good, that's all counts to me. I imagine there a many talented artists out there just waiting to be discovered.
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