Eberron Art Gallery

CrusaderX · Jun 19, 2004

I love the comic book art. Great stuff!

Sir Osis of Liver · Jun 19, 2004

Kev Walkers stuff is great, it really helps bring out the fast paced action feal they seem to be going for. As to quality, it's far and away better then a lot of art i've seen in RPG's. I wish they would get more guys from the comic industry to provide art for gaming products. There are several comic artists that take over the best fantasy artists anyday.

Arken · Jun 19, 2004

Hmm the wizards site isn't loading for me.

Gez · Jun 19, 2004

If you want to know, Thanee, I dislike both anime and comic.

I don't think that a RPG sourcebook is a good place for comic book art.

Illos in a comic book tell a story, while illos in a sourcebook describe a world. Different things, with different needs.

And my graphic style for comics is different, anyway. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...

Wombat · Jun 19, 2004

Yeah, the comic art puts me off as well. And yes, I am also one of those who is not fond of the various anime/manga styles as well. I prefer a more "realistic" feel to my art, like some good Flemish Renaissance styles, that or go utterly Dali on me so I feel it cannot be real in the slightest.

There is some okay art in this, but art rarely (never?) draws me into a gaming book on its own. OTOH, some art drives me away, and the comic art is certainly not a draw. But since I wasn't planning on picking the book up anyway, I suppose the whole point is rather moot.

MDSnowman · Jun 19, 2004

I'm a fan of both comics and anime... and thecomic pages were the weakest part of those books. Seriously if you want to do comic-style pages open a copy of Mutants and Masterminds..

that being said I love this artwork... even the thins that didn't get used were beautiful... I'm especially floored by the inspired.

and by that same token the Quori (which it appears I'll need to wait till MMIII to get some more breeds of)

Michael Tree · Jun 19, 2004

Spiteful Dwarf said:
Why can't'they ever seem to use the concept art that they show us before the book is actually published?

Some of the coolest stuff I found was the pencil sketches of the different races/ regional characters that they first introduced us to in Dragon. That's a cool look for Eberron.

As much as I like most of the art, I have to agree. The sketches of characters from the different races and regions gave a feel for the world. Clothing and appearchances really highlight the differences between countries and cultures. I don't get the same feel of that from the book. It's more "Here's how people from Eberron dress, oh and halflings and some elves dress differently."

Mostly though, too much of the the art in the book suffers from bad colorization and overuse of photoshop. For example, the design and faces on the "humans" picture are beautiful, but the coloration and obvious photoshop shading make my eyes hurt.

But lest it seem that I just don't like photoshop, here's a piece that IMO is masterful.

hellbender · Jun 19, 2004

Wormwood said:
To each his own.

In my opinion, Kev Walker is the new hotness:

Kev Walker is actually the old hotness. Check out some of his breathtaking Warhammer 40k art for Daemonifuge. His Mignola-esque work is great, too, but Walker is really a diverse and talented artist.

That said, the Eberron artwork is awesome, regardless of style and format. I like to see the variations in format (spot illustrations and comic book style) and it does add to the dynamic scope of the world and the campaign setting.

hellbender

Mouseferatu · Jun 19, 2004

I loved most of the Eberron art, but I also found the comic-book pages, well, distracting, to say the least. I don't dislike comic book art, it just didn't work for me in this context. (I also hate Mignola, so anything that looks like his style loses points for me, big-time.)

That being said, Eberron has some of the coolest art I've seen in a long time. The picture of the City of the Dead is incredibly evocative, with the picture of Sharn right behind. I love art that gives me a sense of the setting, and this one does that in spades.

The_lurkeR · Jun 19, 2004

Meh...

There are a few good pieces in there, but overall it seems below average for a WotC book.
I also preferred the preview arts style more than this. The "comic style" pages are poor.