Art in books

[Darth K'Trava]

I like seeing good art in my RPG books. Bad art just detracts from the "flow" of the text when it doesn't represent what's being written or the person, IMO, just can't draw worth a crap.... Or seeing some of the good one screw up a piece (like Sam Wood's 3.0 "Blackguard" who's nothing but a laugh riot), which is out of character for that artist.

 

[Morte]

I'm sorry, but I think almost all decorative RPG art sucks. I'd rather have books with no art and a discount.

Useful illustrations, mind you, are a different matter. Many publications (especially adventures) omit them where they should be included -- maps, building plans, starship deckplans, pictures of locations/vehicles/monsters/NPCs etc. Them's worth paying for.

 

[Pants]

(like Sam Wood's 3.0 "Blackguard" who's nothing but a laugh riot), which is out of character for that artist.

I know one thing and that is that the old 3.0 Blackguard was not a Sam Wood picture. I can't remember who did it, but it wasn't Sam.

 

[CarlZog]

Good art contributes a lot to the feel of a game -- particularly a setting. But I think I'd be OK if WotC got rid of the full-color glossy interiors, especially if it could drop the prices a little.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I know one thing and that is that the old 3.0 Blackguard was not a Sam Wood picture. I can't remember who did it, but it wasn't Sam.

I only saw it once and it looked like his style of art. I could be grossly mistaken.

 

[A'koss]

I'm of the opinion that if you're going to have art in a book - make sure it's at least mostly good. It's hard to separate a great book with poor art from a just a poor book. Go with.... something else... generic, royalty-free art... or nothing... before going with something you know looks cheap.

Would I pay more for a PDF with good art? A little I think, but to be honest, not by much. And I'd almost certainly want to see preview art posted before I'd make that decision.

 

[RangerWickett]

I know one thing and that is that the old 3.0 Blackguard was not a Sam Wood picture. I can't remember who did it, but it wasn't Sam.

Scott Fischer. Who incidentally has really impressed me with some of his more recent work, though I wasn't a fan of his earlier stuff. When he does backgrounds he tends to do very well in having good composition.

 

[Scarbonac]

I like art, but it's hardly ever a deciding factor for me; I would just as soon see 15th century woodcuts used as be inundated with more frelling dungeonpunk.


I hatehateHATE the WotC standard of slick full-color interiors with illustrations bumping text left, right and center; if one must have full-color art (mostly pointless AFAIC unless it's a monster book, and even then it's a frill), have it bounded by a frame with the text neatly arranged around it or have it be a full page by itself, for God's sake.

B&W art, with or without the occasional color illo, on plain white book-paper with black text, is much more likely to attract my attention than a book packed with slick prettypretty full-color art.

 

[Darkness]

Like Scarbonac, I like good art, but art (good or bad) won't make or break my purchase.

 

[Aeric]

As an artist myself, I am a very visual person. The quality of art in a book can make or break the deal for me. I have shelves filled with RPG books that I will probably never use, but were purchaces because they were nicely illustrated. I was initially resistant to Eberron, for example, but all of the art by Wayne Reynolds and Steve Prescott really sold me on it. Good art, of course, is subjective; some people like one style of art, while others think it is garbage. Rather than try to appeal to the broadest audience possible, the better route (IMHO) would be to make the art in your book consistent. It drives me crazy when there are some really well-crafted and gorgeous illustrations in a book, and then you turn the page and there's some dreck that looks like it was done by some half-rate hack at the last minute. I would rather have a book whose artwork is consistently mediocre than one which jumps from awesome to crap and back to awesome. It's jarring, and it doesn't help tie the theme of the book together.