D&D 5E (2024) Here's The Covers of BOTH of November's Forgotten Realms Books

We've known for some time that in November, WotC will be releasing not one but two Forgotten Realms books--one aimed at players, the other at Dungeon Masters. Thanks to Game Informer, we now have a look at the covers of Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun. The article showcases more art, and is well worth checking out--and for those who want more, the print magazine has a full feature previewing the books.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

The elephant in the room is that AI art would have done better.

"Better" is a very relative concept. The book covers aren't bad per se. The artist, Billy Christian, is really competent and know how to do a good composition. See the examples below:

But the art direction is lacking. If someone can prompt a human artist who know how to create good art to make something bland and uninspiring, I doubt they would do any better using AI.

 

[Jahydin]

"Better" is a very relative concept. The book covers aren't bad per se. The artist, Billy Christian, is really competent and know how to do a good composition.

I know I've been critical of these covers in particular, but wanted to take a moment to say I like his work as well and is certainly a great artist.

 

[mamba]

Ran across the full image of this one and it does make it much clearer what's going on. Apologies if someone already posted and I missed it.

They should have 'zoomed in' on the top left corner for the Heroes book and use the same scene for it

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They should have 'zoomed in' on the top left corner for the Heroes book and use the same scene for it

Erol Otus showed us the way, decades ago.

 

[wizard71]

The elephant in the room is that AI art would have done better. The reason you can tell a human did it is that Karlach and Minsc are clearly copy-pasted from other illustrations. AI would have created it from scratch (well thousands of illustrations, rather than just one per character).

The reason people object to AI is because they realise humans are going to be rendered pointless, not that it can’t do the job.

I disagree. AI art does not hold a candle to the great artists like Elmore, Caldwell, Easley, Vallejo, Frazetta and Brom. It’s simply cheap for the company to produce.

 

[Scott Christian]

Just because you wrote about it doesn’t make it not a steaming pile of horse manure.

The person who commissions the art can describe to the software what they want. No artist required. Not that anyone will be able to afford to buy art anyway, since everyone is unemployed, having been replaced by AI. It’s not only art that AI can do, it’s your job too.

I was just pointing out that we were discussing AI art in another thread, and I have a prediction (vicarious at best) that may or may not become part of the art market. I believe my prediction will at least become partly true - much like autotune can make a singer now a days, as long as that singer has the personality, looks, and appeals to the right target audience. It doesn't mean there aren't very talented singers out there that make a great living at singing live. But it does mean that some of those singers can be replaced using talentless singers - and in the future - AI singers.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I was just pointing out that we were discussing AI art in another thread, and I have a prediction (vicarious at best) that may or may not become part of the art market. I believe my prediction will at least become partly true - much like autotune can make a singer now a days, as long as that singer has the personality, looks, and appeals to the right target audience. It doesn't mean there aren't very talented singers out there that make a great living at singing live. But it does mean that some of those singers can be replaced using talentless singers - and in the future - AI singers.

Your prediction isn't even that unique. You basically described half the plot of Riders of the Purple Wage. Congratulations! You've caught up to 1960s Sci-Fi.

 

[Older Beholder]

That is your opinion. AI art often has the feature I mentioned. You can simply go to Chat GOT or other AI programs and create fantasy art. The characters will look very similar. Humans will have the same goofy expression over and over again.

Bland backgrounds and goofy faces have been around long before AI.
They are not features unique to AI.

. Either overly serious or overly comical. No subtlety, no range. The background for the FR DM guide incorporates very vague monster shapes in the background. It’s really bad. If drawn by an artist, why no details? Just a big purple stripe down the page?

Overly serious to overly comical sounds like range to me.

There are less details in the background monsters to show perspective.
As things get further away, you see less details. It’s a pretty common technique in painting.

 

[Jahydin]

Your prediction isn't even that unique. You basically described half the plot of Riders of the Purple Wage. Congratulations! You've caught up to 1960s Sci-Fi.

You took what should have been a compliment and a cool factoid and turned it into an insult... why?

 

[wizard71]

Bland backgrounds and goofy faces have been around long before AI.
They are not features unique to AI.




Overly serious to overly comical sounds like range to me.

There are less details in the background monsters to show perspective.
As things get further away, you see less details. It’s a pretty common technique in painting.

Having two simple ranges does not make you an artist let alone a good one. It’s similar to being an actor with limited range.
Things fading from view and showing depth is not what I get from viewing the goofy wizard picture. Depth would show other creatures at various ranges and the background wouldn’t be a flat purple field. None of the monsters have characteristics that differentiate each other that would give an impression of distance. They look like filler. For a good example look to the FR DM book that will be in stores. It actually illustrates distance and direction well.