D&D 4E D&D 4E Style

[jasin]

It's interesting how halflings have continued morph away from Hobbits. That's OK and all (I have no issue with "Halflings aren't Hobbits" in concept), but what are they at this point? Elves, Dwarves and Half-Orcs have a distinct racialness about them; Halflings are seeming "just like Humans, only short."

Interesting observation. Personally, they're the core race I'd miss the least. As cool as Lidda is, I've found myself wanting to use each of the other ones, but never the 3E they're-not-hobbits halflings.

 

[Korgoth]

My aesthetic checklist for the featured Wayne Reynolds piece:

Dungeon? - check
Dragon? - check
Possible homage to Erol Otus - check
Tattoos - mercifully, no check
Piercings - mercifully, no check
Spikey and/or Blue Hair - mercifully, no check
Bondage Gear - mercifully, no check
Ginormous Mercurial Achthander - mercifully, no check

Well, I like it.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I'm not much for WAR's D&D art; I like this piece better than most of his D&D work, though. I agree with those who've said they'd like to see 4E art move away from Reynolds and the "3E look."

 

[jodyjohnson]

It continues the 3.x tradition of the Starter Games.

Party fighting Black

Party fighting Blue

Party fighting Green - very likely the starter set art for Apr 2008 mini set which features 4 adventurers and a green dragon. I think the article listed the name but it escape me.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Anyone noticed the style of art in these pics

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/11123.html

Less of the spiky-haired anime styling, and the characters look like they have less "stuff" than in the typical 3.5E art.

Perhaps that's a sign of a return to more "realism" or "2E" style in the characters? Less crazy supernatural abilities, less reliance on magic items, etc.

I'm sure not much less (this is D&D after all), but a little bit closer to its roots.

I've always wondered what kind of impact all of the Necromancer Games, Castles & Crusades, OSRIC, "earlier Edition 'feel'" games and products would eventually have on the core D&D line. I'm not saying that they will have one, but it'd be interesting if they did (I for one like Necromancer's feel as opposed to say, Eberron, for instance, but that's just a matter of taste).

Thoughts?

A return to realism would be fine, but the second piece of art is neither realistic nor stylish. It's just plain ugly. The first piece of art is typical WAR work, and workmanlike but uninspiring.

If those pieces of art are representative of 4E, I'm very unimpressed, despite being enthused about the game generally. The art on the D&D clock page is MUCH better than either of those pieces.

 

[T. Foster]

Wayne Reynolds' art still makes me cringe and throw up in my mouth a little, but I'll at least take it as a positive indication that the armor/clothing looks more "classic fantasy" than the 3E style and that in the hands of artists whose style I generally find more copacetic (Steve Belledin, Rick Sardinha, Michael Komarck, etc.) I might like it better. That "halfling cleric" pic doesn't inspire a lot of faith in me (despite his "classic" clothing and armament) though, because 1) he doesn't look hobbity enough (though he does at least look a bit less kender-y than 3E's halflings), and 2) in an archetype-based game (which is what I want D&D to be) halflings shouldn't be clerics anyway...

I do like the logo a lot, though. Much better than the fussy 3E logo with the sword for the ampersand and all that. This logo is simple, clean, and, dare I say it, classic.

 

[Sammael]

The more I look at that dragon, the more it looks like an EMERALD dragon to me. And I think it's the box art for the new D&D minis starter.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Halfling cleric?

Without the title, how would anyone know that it isn't a human?

I do dislike the approach that just draws halflings as minute humans; just doesn't work for me. At least show something for scale, dagnabit!

 

[MadMaxim]

Wayne Reynolds' art still makes me cringe and throw up in my mouth a little, but I'll at least take it as a positive indication that the armor/clothing looks more "classic fantasy" than the 3E style and that in the hands of artists whose style I generally find more copacetic (Steve Belledin, Rick Sardinha, Michael Komarck, etc.) I might like it better.

That's a pretty nasty reaction to a piece of art. Doesn't anybody around here like his style, or am I alone in thinking it looks awesome? What I like about Wayne Reynolds' artwork is the sense of movement and style. There's no doubt that the next second the fighter is either going to bury his sword in the dragon's head, or it's going to spray him with a huge amount of acid and watch the him melt away. His companions hurrying to aid him against this powerful enemy. I like the somewhat "cartoony" style he uses and I like the momentum in his images.

 

[Virel]

I've grown used to ignoring WotC on D&D due to 3e, so I'm not one to get my hopes up, but some old school cues & hints are there in the art. It's better than the spiked hair, tats, & piercing look of the 3e game. Could 4th Edition actually be worth playing and DMing? Time will tell, but the game already looks more appealing, than the current 3.5 version.

I like the art well enough, because it actually conveys sort of a classic image of OOP D&D/AD&D.