D&D 4E In terms of theme, tone, and spirit, I hope 4e . . .

[mhacdebhandia]

Actually, that's a perfect example of how somehow the world around the characters disappeared in a lot of 3E art. I definitely much prefer the 1E version: hell, and the monsters therein, continue on out of the frame. This 3E version looks very static: you know to expect a fixed encounter with 4 opponents, and there's no world or effect thereon outside of that encounter. It's literally a big blank space.

That's a misleading difference. The Third Edition books are laid out in a different manner to the First Edition books - and the face that the image is surrounded by white space, bounded by the leaping flames in one corner and the legs and tails of the devils in another, is simply a reflection of what the artist was asked to draw for the purposes of layout . . .

. . . and, in any case, that doesn't have any bearing on whether or not the newer picture has better composition, style, linework, et cetera than the old.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

In any event, this is exactly what I mean by a picture designed to be "cool" that has no context.

No fair picking Wayne England's work as an example of bad Third Edition art! I hate it too! All of his monsters are drawn to look like lizards whether they're reptilian or not, and 90% of his illustrations have the subject facing the viewer because he can't seem to draw any other angle.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

If you want some illustrations which provide context rooted in the world around the characters, I say look at Eberron's artwork. Take these pieces from Races of Eberron:

Now, to throw a spanner of an entirely different colour (or something?) into the works, I'd like to say that I'd appreciate seeing more bizarre "weird tales"-style artwork in Dungeons & Dragons - perhaps from someone like Daarken, who gets some work in current books:

That's the sort of thing I like to imagine in my D&D games. Unearthly, weird images.

 

[Imp]

There's a lot that could be said about issues of representation, the effects of color vs. black-and-white, production values, composition, unity of composition vs. profusion of details, but I don't even know where to start right now and it's just going to give me a headache anyway so screw it. Instead, just a couple comments on some of those old pictures, and various objections to:

- I pretty much always figured Emirkol was ganking the crossbowman with a magic missile. No idea what he could have got the first guy with, though.

- the town looks pretty much like a number of late-medieval-vintage European towns and has never struck me as horribly out of line for a fantasy town

- the magic mouth sticks out? Of course it does! It's a bloody magic mouth? I think sticking out freakishly is kind of core to the concept

- infravision wasn't so all-encompassingly useful in 1e that dwarves wouldn't want torches sometimes. There's plenty of things you'd want to find in a dungeon that don't pack a heat signature.

 

[Lanefan]

I take it back; I have now seen one piece of Eberron art I like. It's the 4th one in the series two posts prior to this, with the horseman looking out over the misty city of spires. Nice stuff!

Lanefan

 

[danzig138]

Jim (or James, he's been credited as both) Holloway.

Looked him up. That's the guy. I like his stuff. Didn't know a couple of those Dragon covers were his as well. Glad I finally know who the heck did the art.

I always thought it was a gigantic joint myself.

I always knew that it wasn't a big joint, but only because they probably couldn't say it was a big joint, but I'm pretty sure it is, in fact, a big honkin' joint.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Total number of Emirkol pictures = 1
Total number of Mialee pictures = lots

No, I think there's at least two Emirikol pics. That b/w one and a coloured picture. He doesn't shot lasers out of his arm like some D&D Rockman there, though; I think he holds a fireball/ball of magic in his hand.

 

[Sundragon2012]

Wrong. Here's my description of anime:
- Everything is Giant In-Your-Face: giant leaps, giant muscles, giant poses, giant swords
- Flash over substance: static, contrived images that focus on the "coolosity" of the character and little else
- Punked out: spikey blue hair, spikey green hair, spikey hair hair, tattoos, piercings, fetish gear/bondage outfits
- Character extremes: everybody either looks like a child, an emaciated speed addict or a steroid monstrosity
- Wuxia action: combat is evidently all about jumping through the air like a Street Fighter video game

I get all that out of 3E art. Now, there are conventions of "proper anime" that don't apply. When I call 3E art "anime trash" I mean "anime-inspired". Which is no knock against the talents of the artists, only that to me their talents have been put to a regrettably unaesthetic use.

Even though I am no fan of Sutherland (Bllleecchhhh...) and do like some 3e art, there is a hell of a lot of 3e art that falls right along the lines you very precisely point out. Wayne Reynolds popularized this style. Its technically fine for what its worth, but the characters are often hideous abominations. Every warrior or predatory monster has biceps as large as its head at least. The swords alone would weigh 25lbs and the non-warriors are freakishly gaunt. Impossible poses reminscent of superhero comics moreso than any classic and believable fantasy work. This work evokes something other than fantasy IMO and I do not like it.

I know that he is popular but Wayne Reynolds is the biggest offender and maybe if this style was unique to Eberron alone, wouldn't complain but its everywhere.


Starlion

 

[Wolfspider]

EDIT: Removed by poster due to pompous priggishness.

 

[Hussar]

Ok, again, if you compare the best of earlier era art with the worst of current era, then, yup, older art comes out looking pretty good. However, let's be honest here, there's some truly, truly atrocious art from back in the day as well.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I mean, man in a rubber suit anyone?

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

Hey, and look, armor spikes!