Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Darth Shoju" data-source="post: 1030151" data-attributes="member: 11397">As I've said before on these boards, Elmore just defines D&D for me. Just looking at one of his works instantly transports me to another world. I'd say that his backgrounds are the main element of his work that draws me in so effectively. I like his figures as well, I find that his level of detail also really brings the piece to life for me. I can understand how some people would see his female figures as somewhat "cheescake", although to me he doesn't always draw the exact same warrior woman with the exact same hair. Look at his Companions of the Lance piece. The women don't all look the same there:<a href="http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/ZGallery/Color/zzPages/CompanionsoftheLance.html" target="_blank">http://www.larryelmore.com/LarryElmore/ZGallery/Color/zzPages/CompanionsoftheLance.html</a>I think he got his reputation of "big hair, big breasts, skimpy armour" from a few of his more generic works. I can see the monotony there but it really isn't a good example of his best work.But really, I'm always a little confused when these artist threads end up in debates about who's better. It really is generally a matter of preference. I suppose the technical aspects can be argued, but I don't feel that most of the popular D&D artists can be faulted on technical aspects. It's all really stylistic differences to me. On top of that, I enjoy the works of pretty much all the artists listed in the thread so far. And for the ones I don't like, I'm not really interested in slamming their work. Here's some of my favourites. The first group are the artists who really bring Dungeons and Dragons to life for me:Brom: the man does such fabulous, moody, dark pictures. He's always been a favourite of mine.Todd Lockwood: Wow. I can't think of much else to say. His work just seems to have that breathtaking quality to it.Clyde Caldwell: Probably a lot of nostalgia talking here, but he is still a favourite of mine. I know he does tend to focus on the "buxom wench" in his art, but he still does some amazing stuff that is very D&D for me. Jeff Easley: not my favourite of all time, but definately has some great pieces.These next guys do great stuff too, although they don't tend to have that "iconic Dungeons and Dragons" quality to me (but they are still cool none the less!):Michael Whelan: his work is stunning. Easily one of my favourite fantasy artists of all time. The only reason his pics don't really scream "D&D" to me is that he hasn't done any D&D work (to my knowledge).WAR: Cool stuff. It is a little comic-book like, but being a comic book fan myself that's not necessarily a bad thing. His work has a fantastic sense of motion and emotion.  Sean West: again, good stuff all around.Matt Wilson: Is he the one that painted Bayushi Kachiko for L5R? If he is I definately enjoy his work. William O' Conner: it's funny, but his people really aren't that great looking, and sometimes his work is a little flat (to me). But when he is on the ball, his work is just downright epic. There is some aspect to his pictures that is just so evocative, if I was going to get someone to paint a huge, dramatic epic scene I'd get him. Sometimes hit or miss, but overall some majestic, fantastic stuff. Examples:<a href="http://www.wocillo.com/seas.htm" target="_blank">http://www.wocillo.com/seas.htm</a><a href="http://www.wocillo.com/arena.htm" target="_blank">http://www.wocillo.com/arena.htm</a><a href="http://www.wocillo.com/quest.htm" target="_blank">http://www.wocillo.com/quest.htm</a>There's other great artists from my L5R days, but I can't remember them off hand without the cards in front of me.Ultimately, I really think most of this comes down to personal preference. There's a lot of amazing fantasy art out there, I'm not looking to focus on the negative. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification