Do you like Wayne "WAR" Reynolds?

What do you think of Wayne Reynolds's D&D artwork



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I like WAR art, but I still prefer his older black & white stuff from the original 3E splatbooks (Tome and Blood, Sword and Fist et cetera) to his color works.
 


Love it.

As a couple of posters have already said, his style is perfect for Eberron, being comic booky and dynamic. But I'm happy to see his work anywhere.
 

I certainly like his drawings, but not exactly my favourite. I think he tends to often over-do things... and make a 1st level character look just as cool as an epic level one. But it's not a big deal, he's definitely a good artist!
 

There is nothing wrong with WAR's art for the covers, he has done numerous for Paizo and each and every one of them have been fan favorites. I blame the art director's composition of the book around the art. The title bars are in your face, bright colors and white areas stand out more than the art. They clash if you will. If you notice on any of paizo's covers with WAR's art, the typography blends with the art, even matching background color in most cases. The new D&D logo is bland in my opinion. If I had designed the cover, the art would be framed, not barred from view. I'd have the dynamic poses of WAR, reach out of the frame at you.

Terrible design.
 

Li Shenron said:
I certainly like his drawings, but not exactly my favourite. I think he tends to often over-do things... and make a 1st level character look just as cool as an epic level one. But it's not a big deal, he's definitely a good artist!

What's wrong with that? Personally, I find myself playing 1st level characters more often than epic level ones(10% - 20% of the time versus never), and I like them to be cool; or at least look it. Unless , of course, by 'cool', you mean badass in which case, yeah, you've got a point. But then, epic characers, while certainly badass, would be decked out in magic items ... which tend look pretty goofy(from what i've seen in the recent DMGs) so I think they wouldn't even look badass so much circus clowns or somebody who was caught in a tourist trap for too long.

I'm rambling, arent I? What were we talking about? WAR's art? Oh, yeah. I like it well enough, though the faces often seem a little puckered.
 

I love it. I couldn't be happier that WAR is doing the covers for Fourth Edition D&D and Pathfinder.

I would love to see some more work from David "Heroes of Horror" Hudnut, though. I love that image and I think his artwork is really atmospheric. It seems like he could easily evoke the "points of light in a sea of darkness" feel that they're apparently aiming for in the new edition.
 

I went with the fourth option. He has done some good pieces, but generally, I dislike his works. They tend to sport exaggerated poses, many faces look horrible, and I don't like his color palette.
 

He has made some obvious progress since the 3.0 MM and its infamous "strange foot syndrome" (look the wight, the zombi, the mummy...). But I still would have favored Todd Lockwood or Sam Wood. Reynold's design is somewhat too "sharp", too "tense". Sure, it's evocative of frenzied action, but I'd rather have something less "hysterical". Sam Wood maybe has the opposite default : his design is often very "soft" and "smoth" (I guess it's about the way they use the computer). Lockwood reach the right balance between the two.

Same thing on the other axis : "comics" VS "classical". Reynolds style is too much "cartoon" or "comics" for my taste, while artist like Elmore (or Swekel in Deity and Demi Gods) often draw like they were trying to make a 19th century academic study of an heroic fantazy subject. Lockwood is still "right in the middle" for my taste in this aspect.
 

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