D&D 5E D&D Next weekly art column!

[trancejeremy]

Well, I think to a certain extent, the art in D&D has mirrored the fantasy art that was popular at the time.

In the 70s it was basically on covers of fantasy novels (usually done by Darrell K Sweet or Frank Franzetta), Heavy Metal albums, and the sides of vans.

The 80s saw a lot of live action fantasy movies, like Excalibur, Conan, Krull, Willow, and a host of very low budget movies - Hawk the Slayer, Sword & the Sorcerer, Deathstalker, etc, etc...

So you saw the art more to a more realistic style - Elmore, Caldwell, Parkinson, etc. Maybe not overly realistic, the poses and such were often awkward (like on covers of romance novels), but the characters generally looked like real people, perhaps on a hollywood movie poster.

In the 90s and later, you start to see the rise of popularity of Anime, both in books and TV, but in also video games. So you see more stylized, less practical sorts of character designs.

I'm not really sure what reflects modern fantasy - probably the most popular is either the LOTR movies or Harry Potter? Games like Skyrim? I dunno. Probably Twilight and things like that, actually.

 

[the Jester]

Although I do support inclusiveness, I have trouble with adventurers being down on limbs when the game system at no point allows for the possibility of such injury, and makes it so easy to fix even if it somehow does.

There are certain things that my game will ALWAYS have house rules for.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

My thoughts:

* Art is incredibly important! It defines the very books in our minds. Who can think of the red box without that cover? Getting the art right is vital in my opinion!

* The books need to provide the link from the player's imagination directly into the fantasy world and 99% of that link is the art. However, if the majority of that art is sterile, character driven, without context of the greater fantasy world, it becomes a lost opportunity in my opinion. I want to see the wider fantasy world. I think the current picture here with the distant castle, flying dragon and mountainous horizon is EXACTLY what D&D should be about. Take me to that world! It is this type of landscape/environment driven art that gets me excited and encapsulates what adventuring is all about.

* Details, details and more details please! Stylized art or art without attention to detail is not what D&D is about in my opinion. I should be able to look at a piece of art and marvel at its intricacy. I might "know" a piece of art in the books and then BAM, I notice for the first time the reflection of a demon skull on the glass jar in the wizard's bookcase. You know those art pieces that you marvel over and can just get lost in for minutes at a time? Where you know the artist has "loved and nurtured" this piece, not just as a contract piece that they've done ably and with skill but as something that they have truly devoted themselves to. I want to feel that love from the artist!

*"Realism or Believability" or whatever it is; I want the art to be my direct link into the world. It needs to put me right there. I think "realistic" art is best equipped to do this. Get rid of the massively proportioned behemoths that have run rampant as if the whole world has been turned up to 11. Don't give me swords and weaponry that are completely impossible unless it is to represent the utterly fantastic rather than the typical run-of-the-mill, every fighter carries an 8-foot sword schtick.

* Make monsters "Monstrous" again rather than encounter appropriate bags of XP and treasure packets that create a spoonfed wealth completely lacking in genuine achievment. Now the mechanics have a big part to play here but so importantly does the art. Show me not just that monster but also include the danger/mysteriousness of its natural environment and put a party of PCs in there too so I can picture the encounter and the very danger that the PCs are facing. THAT is the type of thing that is going to get an emotional reaction from me. Importantly, it is not only combat but the encounter that I want to see. I want to see the Satyr completely outwitting the PCs - remember, not all creatures are dangerous because of how they fight. The art MUST convey this aspect of monsters too.

* If there was one Dungeons and Dragons artist that embodied the above more than any other, it would be Jeff Easley. An absolute gentleman and a remarkably gifted and talented artist. There are so many others of note but if I had to choose one that conveyed my view, it would be his work.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[MortalPlague]

I love Jeff Easley's art. Also, Michael Kormack's art is extremely impressive. Those gentlemen would do this edition a great service if their work was included.

Many folks in this thread have expressed opinions I agree with. I'm all for evocative landscapes and locations, for more realistic adventurers (though let's not overdo it). One of my favorite art pieces in all of D&D (from 2E Revised PHB) was a picture of an order of red-robed magi carrying one of their dead in a funeral procession before a gold-walled city, capped with red domes. That picture just drew me in, left me wanting to know more about the exotic locale, or who these robed people were, and what the circumstances of their comrade's death had been.

(On a side note, if anyone can find that picture, I'd love to see it again. Google searches turn up nothing.)

The other thing I'd love to see is humor. Not so much slapstick or silly humor, but it's great for some illustrations to have a sense of fun about them. Things like Lidda and her exploded wand, the dwarf and tiefling running from that rolling boulder (4E DMG, I think?), or any of the pictures with Redgar dead or dying. A bit of black humor would be a welcome thing in my books; what fun is adventuring if you can't laugh at the consequences?

 

[Dausuul]

The other thing I'd love to see is humor. Not so much slapstick or silly humor, but it's great for some illustrations to have a sense of fun about them. Things like Lidda and her exploded wand, the dwarf and tiefling running from that rolling boulder (4E DMG, I think?), or any of the pictures with Redgar dead or dying. A bit of black humor would be a welcome thing in my books; what fun is adventuring if you can't laugh at the consequences?

Agreed. The 1E books are great for this; I still remember the cartoon of a fighter in full plate, cowering in the wizard's arms before a rust monster. The look on the wizard's face was priceless.

 

[erf_beto]

By this logic, 99% of all characters portrayed in the D&D rulebooks should be peasant farmers. Or moldering skeletons in centuries-old graves.

Well, I actually would like to see that. I mean, not 99%, but farmers tending to crops, graveyards and funerals, a coronation cerimony, priests lecturing, apprentices cleaning the shelves of wizard libraries... how long has it been since we saw a damsel in distress?

 

[DMKastmaria]

I'm curious...

Google the following: Glad's Art of the Adventuring Life

The artist post's in various forums and his work is featured in several OSR products.

So, what do you think?

 

[Oni]

I was looking through the galleries on his website just yesterday and I would love to see Tony DiTerlizzi again, especially in the style of his work from '98 to the early 2000s. I like a little whimsy in my D&D art (and if we could tap into that old school vibe just a touch and make it malicious whimsy, all the better). I especially like his pen and ink work, I'm love to see the a greater use of good black and white artwork, I love colour, but it doesn't always have the same punch.

I wouldn't put it in the same core book(s) but I'd also like to see some actual anime/manga style art (not what everyone claims is "anime" art from the last couple editions), it could really set the tone for a setting.

Actually this might be kind of nice a picture in the main core book rending adventures in a bunch of different art styles standing together, and kind of visual cue that the game can support a wide range of styles and that the players are free to imagine things how they please.

 

[Grimstaff]

This picture pretty much sums up what I like to see in D&D art:

 

[avin]

This picture pretty much sums up what I like to see in D&D art...

I don't know... out of proportion art doesn't appeal much to me... it's my impression, and I may be wrong here, but nostalgia speaks loudly over 1E art...

I love Jeff Easley's art. Also, Michael Kormack's art is extremely impressive.

Easley is kinda clumsy sometimes and may look outdated for today's generation, who is probably going to buy more DDN than some of us who already got their fave editions or retroclones.

Komarck, on the other hand, would fit very well...