D&D monster art styles

[Sacrosanct]

I’m becoming a huge fan of Luiz Prado.

 

[Alzrius]

Aeron Alfrey contributed some art to They Feed on Fear, and I absolutely love his style. The piece below was inspired by Stephen King's "The Mist."

 

[cavetroll]

Yeah I've been a huge fan of his work for years. I recommend the following if you are interested.

Let me know if you have any other playlists like that, which dig into fantasy artists portfolios, it was so eye opening, and I loved picking up stuff as a non-artist like the Spectrum series of fantasy art.

 

[Blue Orange]

It's an interesting question how much the work of a major artist affects people's conception of a setting, which then has downstream effects on the setting in some cases. Two cases I can think of from the 2e era were Tony DiTerlizzi, whose spindly people were ethereal enough for Planescape, and Brom, whose hypermuscular people gave Dark Sun that feeling of struggle.

 

[Sacrosanct]

It's an interesting question how much the work of a major artist affects people's conception of a setting, which then has downstream effects on the setting in some cases. Two cases I can think of from the 2e era were Tony DiTerlizzi, whose spindly people were ethereal enough for Planescape, and Brom, whose hypermuscular people gave Dark Sun that feeling of struggle.

Totally agree. Have you seen Broms post TSR work? I recently finalized a licensing contract with him for some art for my Twilight Fables project, as his dark fae style fits perfectly.

So yeah, I agree that an artist can help set the feeling and visuals for an entire setting.

 

[beancounter]

What bothers me about a lot of 5E art is that it is "soft" and Disney-ish.

The first time I really noticed this was in Xanathar's guide. One of the drawings of a beholder looked more like a Pokémon ball than a beholder...

I know they're trying to appeal to young kids,..but meh. Just meh...