[ELH] Is the art in this book utter crap?

[ForceUser]

Good-natured rebuttal

I don't miss Jeff Easley's art. Never liked it; his figures are absurd and he overuses browns and tans. Bleh.

Give me Todd Lockwood, Brom, Baxa, the guy who did the awesome character art in Oriental Adventures, et al. I love the spiky and daring 3E art, it's much more imaginative and exciting that the stuffy old art from previous editions, and I can't wait for more!

 

[JeffB]

I'm with Flexor...I'm not a fan of the vast majority of the 3E art period...though I do think there are a thing or two in each book I like....

I liked the ELH art much better than the PHB for the most part, and barring afew of Wayne Reynolds' pics in the DMG, that was pretty bad too..

I think the Mind Flayer and Goblin though in the MM are the best representations of those monsters I've seen yet...I care for little for the rest....

Some the FR art is great some is not..generally I think the quality of the FR art is better, except for the horrible pics of the demi-human gods in F&P....Lockwood's Sune on the other other hand..... now THAT's A GODDESS

I'm not sure I'd call it anime style though...other than there's lot's of "wild" costumes/armor that the anime style entails..

And heck I'd love to see some D&D iconics that were as good looking as some of the girls in the Tenchi series for example...

Mialee=Sakuya
Alejandra=Kiyone
Lidda= well....hmm..Ryoko has to be in there SOMEWHERE!

grrrroooowwwwllllll

 

[hellbender]

As an illustrator on a few rpg artist forums and casual 3E player, I get to see a LOT of art for d20 products. I like Wayne Reynolds work a lot (I am a Warhammer fan, and he does art for Warhammer Monthly, maybe that is why his art looks like Warhammer figures?), and Sam Wood and Todd Lockwood are very talented artists. While Brom is a great character artist, I would like to see more of his backgrounds, like the cover for Defenders of the Faith.

I picked up Mongoose's Fey Magic and was impressed with much of the artwork. Mongoose can deliver some good art as well. AEG, well, I tried to look through some of their products, but a lot of their work is shoddy, in my opinion.

It is good to see variety in art through various d20 products, not the same 'spikey-ness' that pervades many official products.

What we really need is to drag Trampier back into the fold, he was and still is THE artist for DnD.

hellbender

 

[jester47]

No.

If you think 3E art is bad take a look at 2e. Anything good was simply filler. Would have liked to have 10 more pages of rules instead of ok art. At least the art is a grade better than it was.

Aaron.

 

[drnuncheon]

I don't usually notice the art unless it was really good or really bad.

I noticed a lot of art in the ELH.

Epic Tordek - wonderful. Epic Ember (that is supposed to be Ember, right?) - awful. The PHB illo looks tougher than that. Epic Blackguard - superb. Epic Assassin - looks like he's going to bore you to death talking about the Epic Accountant he plays in his Papers & Paychecks campaign. Divine Emissary - pretty decent. Union Sentinel - looks like a 2nd level warrior. Maybe 3rd.

Epic ride - this is probably my least favorite picture in the whole book. Where the heck is the drama, the action? I could see that in real life at the flippin' circus, and the chick would be half dressed, too. Yeah, I know the skill usage is 'stand on mount' but jeez, at least try to make it look epic! How about someone standing on the back of their mount as it rides through a cluster of giants, letting her behead them with her vorpal holy avenger? Now that would have been cool!

And what's up with 'I coulda had a V-8' on page 75?

Personally, I think my favorite 3e artist is the underrated and often ignored Arnie Swekel. I love his 'sketchbook' pages that form the backdrops for the chapter introductions, but they seem to get overlooked in favor of the flashier artists like WAR. (Not that there's anything wrong with WAR!)

J

 

[kenjib]

What we really need is to drag Trampier back into the fold, he was and still is THE artist for DnD.

hellbender

Hear, hear! No more spikey!

 

[kenjib]

Personally, I think my favorite 3e artist is the underrated and often ignored Arnie Swekel. I love his 'sketchbook' pages that form the backdrops for the chapter introductions, but they seem to get overlooked in favor of the flashier artists like WAR. (Not that there's anything wrong with WAR!)

J

Yeah, I think those sketchbooks are easily the best drawings in the PHB and DMG. Did he do any other pics or does he just do the backgrounds?

 

[Wolfen Priest]

Epic Assassin - looks like he's going to bore you to death talking about the Epic Accountant he plays in his Papers & Paychecks campaign.

Utterly hilarius! But, I don't see why everyone hates this picutre! I actually like that one; he looks like a total freak. It's unusual! I mean, he's not just an assassin, he's an EPIC assassin. We're talking planar-travel here. I vision such a world to be at least somewhat Star-Wars-esque! He'd fit right in, neh?

Divine Emissary - pretty decent. Union Sentinel - looks like a 2nd level warrior. Maybe 3rd.

Couldn't agree more.

Personally, I think my favorite 3e artist is the underrated and often ignored Arnie Swekel. I love his 'sketchbook' pages that form the backdrops for the chapter introductions, but they seem to get overlooked in favor of the flashier artists like WAR. (Not that there's anything wrong with WAR!)

I disagree. If you look really closely and really scrutinize his work, I think you can see that he really has to try pretty hard to get that sketchy look to it. Notice all the ovals and circles placed there? Trust me, those were added after the finished product, and really add next to nothing to the overall work. What he does is works really hard to get a detailed picture there, then he goes back and adds all the little whisps and circles, to make it seem like he just sketched it off. He's talented, but look at the picutre on the front of the "Races" chapter of the PHB. Look at the half-elf. Look at the elf. Look at the half-orc. Now, do you really think he's that great?

 

[drnuncheon]

Utterly hilarius! But, I don't see why everyone hates this picutre! I actually like that one; he looks like a total freak. It's unusual! I mean, he's not just an assassin, he's an EPIC assassin. We're talking planar-travel here. I vision such a world to be at least somewhat Star-Wars-esque! He'd fit right in, neh?

OK, when I think 'epic assassin' I think Vlad Taltos. I think ninja master. I think James Bond. Heck, when I think epic, I think 'cool' not 'goofy looking'. The epic blackguard says 'planar travel' or rather 'planar conquering' to me. The epic wizard, while she seems to have the half-horse template, says cosmic power and planar travel. The assassin looks like he's going to try out for the part of Doctor Octopus in the next Spiderman movie.

It's the glasses, or goggles, or whatever they are. I just can't get over them. I could ignore the fact that the hilt of his sword appears to be bent at a 45 degree angle from the line of the blade. I could ignore the fact that he seems to be wearing a burlap sack over his spiked leather armor, or that he's showing a little leg. But all that and the goggles...no way. Maybe if his wardrobe looked bizarre and funky on some other way the goggles would work - they look pretty darn cool on the gnome on the cover of Dragon 291 - but the assassin just looks plan goofy.

Now about Arnie Swekel...

I disagree. If you look really closely and really scrutinize his work, I think you can see that he really has to try pretty hard to get that sketchy look to it. Notice all the ovals and circles placed there? Trust me, those were added after the finished product, and really add next to nothing to the overall work. What he does is works really hard to get a detailed picture there, then he goes back and adds all the little whisps and circles, to make it seem like he just sketched it off. He's talented, but look at the picutre on the front of the "Races" chapter of the PHB. Look at the half-elf. Look at the elf. Look at the half-orc. Now, do you really think he's that great?

Hey, I don't care if he sketched it off or it took him hours, I just love the style.If he can draw the really cool detailed pictures and then he wants to go back and make it look like a sketch, that's fine - I'm not saying I like it because I think it's dark good for a sketch, I'm saying I like it because it's darn good artwork. It's got a good style to it. It's evocative in all kinds of ways that a lot of the art isn't - it makes me think of the lost notes of some traveller who's been all over the world having adventures and seeing all sorts of unusual sights - which is a big part of what D&D is all about in my mind.

J

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'd hardly call ANY of it "anime based"... which is a shame, I like anime.

One that really stands out is the Sorcerer with his spikey hair and the way his face is drawn. Add in his outfit and you have an image that makes me want to tear the pages our of the book.