D&D 5E DDN Concept Art

[Salamandyr]

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This thing kept sticking to me...like a poisonous vine. I don't think I like the direction of the art. Between the halflings (we hates them precious! we hates them!) and four foot wide human wielding an axe larger than a Smartcar, and the drab colors palette. I just don't like it.

The half orc is okay, as is the dwarf. The elves look more like Vulcans than elves. And I kind of dig what's going on with the woman on the left, though that outfit she's wearing is the artist screaming "I'm not sexist! I'm not sexist". She's the only one who gets something approaching an action pose. The drow on the other side, looks like she's having trouble lifting that longsword. I can live with the gnomes. I think I like them better than 4e at least.

Aside from the halfling, which is awful, and the human warrior, the thing that really gets me is the drab, uninspired coloring. I've got a feeling that the line art underneath all that horrible CG paint is pretty nice, but, as usual, mediocre computer coloring destroys some really nice pencils.

Color me sad...I really wanted a Male human warrior to be the centerpiece of D&D art again...Well, it appears I got that...except he's as wide as he is tall and wields an axe that you could turn horizontally and seat a family of four around. At least the women get reasonably sized and thus infinitely cooler, swords.

Wizards, I want the MHW to be a Quarterback not a Nose Tackle. Also, armor doesn't make you look like you're wearing one of those padded suits people wear for dog training.

 

[YRUSirius]

Btw have you all seen how long the half-orc's... rapier is?

-YRUSirius

 

[Salamandyr]

That doesn't look like a rapier too me, too much of a cutting edge. But the length isn't necessarily too off for one. Capo Ferro recommended a rapier that went from a man's toe to his armpit.

 

[Libramarian]

I'm like 4/10 on this. There are a couple of things I like but a lot more that I don't. I've actually come around to the overall look for halflings. I think halflings should be cute; it's cute monsters that I can't stand. But the proportions need adjustment. Halfling legs need to be bigger, gnome hands smaller, orcs/ogres a little less muscular, human barbarian males a little less wide, trolls and giants smaller. A little bit less stylization would go a long way.

The mind flayer needs a total redesign. They need to be way more weird and scary. When I see a mind flayer, I want to think...bizarre unpredictable superintelligent evil alien being. Right now they look like The Count from Sesame Street.

In general, I could go for more grit and grime, blood and sex....something. More than anything this is just bland. It feels like it's aimed at children. This is exactly how a Disney D&D movie would look.

Oh yeah and the huge weapons are a travesty. As bad as the axes are, it's actually the big sledge warhammers that are the dumbest. It's odd to me because I see people arguing for more realistic-looking weapons all the time and I never see anyone praising huge weapons. Let's get this done already.

This is a battle axe:
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This is a warhammer:
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[Kobold Stew]

reported.

 

[Bluenose]

Why would I "hate" that art? I'm not sure why you would jump to that assumption, nor do I understand the point you're trying to make.

"We HATESSS extended, oversized and ridiculously angled (WoW anyone?) ears on elves. HATES THEM!"

That's your quote I'm replying to. And then I posted pictures of elves with extended, oversized, and ridiculously angled ears. So I guess you don't hate them after all.

I also noted that both the pictures I posted predated Record of Lodoss War by some years. Blaming the ears on the elves in the concept art on Record when there's plenty of older sources strikes me as an attempt to define the debate by claiming something you don't like (and I don't like either, as it happens) as coming from an alien culture and therefore automatically wrong. Criticize the aesthetic all you like, but not by claiming it comes from anime when there's clear examples predating yours that are entirely western.

 

[steeldragons]

"We HATESSS extended, oversized and ridiculously angled (WoW anyone?) ears on elves. HATES THEM!"

That's your quote I'm replying to. And then I posted pictures of elves with extended, oversized, and ridiculously angled ears. So I guess you don't hate them after all.

I also noted that both the pictures I posted predated Record of Lodoss War by some years. Blaming the ears on the elves in the concept art on Record when there's plenty of older sources strikes me as an attempt to define the debate by claiming something you don't like (and I don't like either, as it happens) as coming from an alien culture and therefore automatically wrong. Criticize the aesthetic all you like, but not by claiming it comes from anime when there's clear examples predating yours that are entirely western.

That's my quote Bluenose. El Mahdi never said that. I'm also the one blaming Lodoss War. I did not see either your response nor the image you posted...since it was not me that was quoted or called out for it. If you have examples predating...that aren't anime, then great. I stand corrected.

To me, when I see ears sticking out sideways, I think "anime", immediately. And its not a "culture", but yes it's a style of art that I generally, mostly, do not enjoy.

I look forward to going to see your examples...and will comment accordingly after doing so. But western or not, if they are a foot off their heads, in any direction or sticking straight out, I am fairly confident saying, sight unseen, I will not like them. But we'll see.

EDIT: AH! Ok. Well 1) LOVE Elfquest! Had all the books. Some fiction. Even a set of minis! I'd say, that's about the edge/extent I will tolerate ear length. I didn't realize Lodoss War wasn't until '86. I thought it was earlier, but yes, EQ would still be first. And the fact is, right there in vividcolor, their ears don't stick out perpendicular from their skulls.

Your folkloric elves I won't even consider. Folklore images from the 19th century are not relevant for a model or discussion of D&D elves, which are largely Tolkien inspired...which in turn came largely out of the Tuatha de Danaan vs. these kinds of brownie/gnome-elf-ish/helper rustic fairies...and D&D elves have never been green skinned So if you want to drawn connections from Tolkien elves and your second image, fine. (Though I will grant you that elf, Indel, from the original D&D advert-comics was much closer to a Keebler than an Elrond from what I could see...his ears still didn't stick out sideways.)

If you are saying there's precendent for a design of the ears sticking straight off their heads that is not anime...I can appreciate that, but I do not find either of these images to really "sell" that point of view.

The WHERE it comes from is rather irrelevant [to me]. Fact is, it looks stupid and I don't like it...which, yes, is personal taste and opinion, which the critique of this art completely is. We're not discussing the technical skill of the artist. We're judging the aesthetics of the design. I stand by my assessments.

--SD
PS: Now apologize to El Mahdi and make nice.

 

[Bluenose]

That's my quote Bluenose. El Mahdi never said that. I'm also the one blaming Lodoss War. I did not see either your response nor the image you posted...since it was not me that was quoted or called out for it. If you have examples predating...that aren't anime, then great. I stand corrected.

See: Post #49 in this thread.

EDIT: AH! Ok. Well 1) LOVE Elfquest! Had all the books. Some fiction. Even a set of minis! I'd say, that's about the edge/extent I will tolerate ear length. I didn't realize Lodoss War wasn't until '86. I thought it was earlier, but yes, EQ would still be first. And the fact is, right there in vividcolor, their ears don't stick out perpendicular from their skulls.

Your folkloric elves I won't even consider. Folklore images from the 19th century are not relevant for a model or discussion of D&D elves, which are largely Tolkien inspired...which in turn came largely out of the Tuatha de Danaan vs. these kinds of brownie/gnome-elf-ish/helper rustic fairies...and D&D elves have never been green skinned So if you want to drawn connections from Tolkien elves and your second image, fine. (Though I will grant you that elf, Indel, from the original D&D advert-comics was much closer to a Keebler than an Elrond from what I could see...his ears still didn't stick out sideways.)

Please note the era Tolkien grew up in. In 19th century illustrations elves/sidhe/tuatha are commonly depicted with fairly extreme ears, when there's anything different at all with them.

My personal suspicion with regard to the elves of Lodoss War is that a Japanese illustrator not familiar with Western mythology looked for something that had pictures of elves, found Elfquest, and thought "That looks cool but it needs to be exaggerated a little if it's going to show up in anime form, otherwise it just looks like large ears."

 

[B.T.]

Needs more Wayne Reynolds.

 

[El Mahdi]

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