D&D 5E Art in the PHB (not a rant)

[Lanliss]

I know a lot of people hate the art for the small folk in the Player handbook, and I can agree with most of it. On the other hand, I really like the Female Gnome at the beginning of the Gnome section of races. Does anyone know which of the myriad of artists did this picture, and where I can find more?

For what it is worth, my reason for liking it is that it is not a small elf. It it is a Gnome, represented as it's own race, instead of a small version of another race, and as such comes with its own proportions.

 

[pukunui]

The artist is Rob Rey.

 

[Lanliss]

The artist is Rob Rey.

Thank you for that. Time to see if he has any more gnome artwork.

 

[pukunui]

No worries! Unfortunately, I don't think he does. 'Tis a shame, because I really like that gnome ranger too.

 

[Lanliss]

Nope, not in anything I saw on his site. He does have some good fantasy work though. I quite like his Satyrs, even though they remind me a bit of the little blue guys from Galaxy Quest.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I was introducing a friend to D&D and asked her what she wanted to play for our upcoming game. After flipping through the PHB she pointed at that exact picture and basically said "I want to be her!" So a Forest Gnome Archery Fighter was rolled up.

I agree that it is a great piece of art.

 

[Lanliss]

Really, it is one of the most awesome in the book, IMO. A lot of action in the pose, with an obvious purpose to the expression. As nice as Gnomes are, this one is ready for the hunt, and has a very "Artemis" feel to her.

 

[Lanliss]

I always felt that her head was a little misshapen.

One thing I remember very deeply from an art book I once read was "The great thing about Fantasy art is that no one can tell you you did it wrong". Her head is different proportions to her body, which is something I like about it. She has a wider head than humans in proportion, which lends itself to her larger nose and eyes. It makes it much easier to make a Gnome look happy, as large noses help a smile look bigger. As shown here though, it does not stop them from having other expressions. All of this, along with her slender form and longer limbs, make her a different race from "elf diagnosed with dwarfism".

 

[pukunui]

I also really like this look for a forest gnome better than the looks from previous editions.

 

[Lanliss]

Maybe, I still think it looks kind of weird. It could just be that my perceptions of what a gnome looks like is based on earlier editions, I don't recall them ever looking like elves though. Halflings have looked like short elves for a while, I recall them looking like short elves in 3e, perhaps an appearance based on the kender from Dragonlance.

Note, however, that even though I think it looks odd I don't think it is a bad piece of artwork. In general, I like the 5e art. Some of my favourites (named after the class/race they represent) are the fighter, the human, the dwarf, the halfling, and the warlock. These are the ones that easily come to mind for me, have to put effort in to think of others.

The fighter isn't bad, though I find the pose a bit boring. If it had been a TWF posed for action, like the Paladin is, I would probably like it a lot more. As is, the fighter is in the same pose as the Wizard, and those two should never overlap IMO. I can definitely agree on the others though, and like the Warlock in particular, although I think that would have been a great chance to have a Gnome as a class picture, since it seems to be a shorter-than-average human anyway.