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

[Xarlen]

Well, some of the MM art is a little better then the 2e MM. Can you say 'Cartoons'? The 2e MM was dorky. Unfortunately, they brought that back with the Sylph.

 

[barsoomcore]

Am I the only person who misses Jeff Dee? I loved his stuff -- he did that cover for White Plume Mountain with the halfling dodging the manticore spike. At least I think he did. And I think it was White Plume -- though probably a re-print. And didn't he do a bunch of NPC drawings in the old Rogues' Gallery? That lizardman character -- he was cool.

Sigh.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

The armor pictures in the PHB are pretty bad as well. All those spikes...man I bet a lot of folks would maim all kinds of people by accident with that kind of gear!

Or it could be to ward off being grabbed by a monster much bigger than oneself - giants or dragons may hesitate to grab a handful of spikes. It seems to make sense to me for armor makers to take into account that a D&D world is going to have much more than other armored humans to fight against. Our world didn't have that to take into account.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

I am of the opinion most internal art is a waste of space that could be dedicated to expanding the information in the book.

Unless it is a picture of a new monster or a room/spell/item that is difficult to explain- then trash it. The pictures rarely do me any good.

FD

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Re: D&D art in general

If you want an idea of what real weapons and armor from the ancient era through the early rennaisance looked like, pick up a copy of Palladiums "Compendium of Weapons, Armor, and Castles." Most of the weapon artwork isn't particularly great, but the armor illustrations are good, and they have some great real-world info on weapons and armor.

I've had this book for years. I highly recommend it.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I suppose I'm more interested in art that depicts a slightly more historical influenced world.

Since the real world never had giants or dragons or any of the other countless critters the average D&D world does, it would be foolish to think that armor designs (or much of anything else) would be exactly the same. It's like the old argument about how the historical castle would ever be of use in a D&D world, with all the various spells and monsters that can easily circumvent plain old stone walls.

And how does the halfling iconic (Lidda) look like a cyberpunk character? What would leather armor really look like anyway? What I've seen looks ungainly and awkward, and certainly wouldn't be good for skulking around in.

 

[The Sigil]

The thing that bugs me about 3e art is the preponderance of spikes...

Dang, I'm about two years too late on that one.

--The Sigil

 

[ForceUser]

Gotta agree with the colonel - expand your imaginations, fellas

 

[Xarlen]

I'll set with Colonel.

 

[RangerWickett]

Artists that make me happy:

• Todd Lockwood
• Rebecca Guay
• Tony DiTerlizzi
• Wayne Reynolds
• Sam Wood (when he's not digitally coloring his work; love his pencils, dislike his colors)
• Arnie Swekel (very precise work)
• JL Jones