New Player's Handbook Cover Art!

[Almacov]

It's strange because I like most of Lockwood's art, but these pictures just strike me all wrong.

Todd Lockwood and Wayne Reynolds have extremely different styles, so I'm not terribly surprised that these rub you the wrong way.

I too intend to put together an alternate cover for at least the PHB if they do stick with these.
It's not enough to turn me off buying the books, but it's a bit of a bother when I'm trying to cater to my group.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I don't mind WAR's artwork in moderation, and when Tome & Blood came out I thought it was awesome. There comes a saturation point for his style though, I find, and it feels a little too polarized in the high-contrast, abrasive arse-kickery direction to sit well as cover art for something as core as the PHB to me.

 

[Voss]

I like the green dragon art, but I'm glad it's not the cover.
Too busy, too cliche, too 'for-a-younger-crowd.'
I think it is a great piece for the intro box, sitting on Target shelves next to the board games (and I will buy it, too!)

But I think the PHB cover is more (for lack of a better word) sophisticated, and properly conveys that its about the PCs.

Really? I was going to say the opposite. Its a dinosaur/dragonman with a wacky sword and 'hot wizardy chick'. It hits early adolescence in every possible way except explosions and guns. And possibly transforming robots.

 

[small pumpkin man]

It's slightly less silly looking, sure, the poses seem a little bit less off, a tad more dynamic, but it's essentially the same. It's about the best I expected when I found out WAR was redoing the cover.

I gotta say, I'm starting to warm up to Orcus and the Dragon. In my perfect world, I'd still prefer a different artist (or the cover of the characters sheets) for the PHB, but I think I'm ready to just get over it now.

 

[Remathilis]

There are what appear to be two other characters occupying that open space.

As for the green dragon fight, I'd like to see someone photoshop in the logo and information from other books. I have a vague suspicion that the resulting image would be wonky, from a graphic design standpoint.

 

[Patlin]

So do you think they will change the contents of the crystal ball on the DMG cover to match the new PHB art?

 

[JVisgaitis]

But I think the PHB cover is more (for lack of a better word) sophisticated, and properly conveys that its about the PCs.

Bah! The game is called Dungeons & Dragons and is about a party of adventurers. Give me a party of adventurers fighting a dragon in a dungeon. Makes a lot more sense to me.

If anything, I think the new covers are definitely more for younglings as WAR's style is really popular with the younger crowd. Plus, I don't see a lot of grognards having love for the dragonborn.

They are targeting this for the market they need to: teenagers. Kudos to them for having a smart marketing department, but I still prefer the green dragon cover.

 

[Reaper Steve]

Really? I was going to say the opposite. Its a dinosaur/dragonman with a wacky sword and 'hot wizardy chick'. It hits early adolescence in every possible way except explosions and guns. And possibly transforming robots.

I readily admit I am splitting hairs that are different shades of gray.
I was reluctant about typing 'younger crowd'... maybe a better statement is that, to me, the green dragon art more screams 'D&D' to the curious new guy. Of course, a valid counter point would be 'what better art then for the PHB?' Well, my answer is that it's better for the intro box... hopefully it winds up there (yeah, I know it' on the char sheets... maybe it'll pull double duty.) But I don't think it would be right for the PHB. Just a feeling I can't explain, I guess.

But the green dragon art is great--I would LOVE to have a poster of it!

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Peoples are so picky.... *sighes deeply*

Dragonborns are not stupid also, btw. But don't tell grognards. *rolls eyes*

 

[Zamkaizer]

Just a feeling I can't explain, I guess.

Perhaps it's how the focus of the green dragon fight is the monster, rather than the players.

I wouldn't be surprised if the green dragon fight was the cover of the Basic Game. Weren't the covers of both versions of the Basic Game from Third Edition adventurers wrasslin' themselves up some dragons?

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I have to say that I prefer the illustration with the band of adventurers fighting the dragon—it just screams D&D to me. Reminds me a bit of the covers on some of the old Basic D&D books, but that's part of the positive appeal to me.

One thing that I did like with 3.X ed. (and that sorta cropped up with 2nd ed. sourcebooks) was the color coordination between the core books & supplements: brown for player-heavy stuff, blue for DM-heavy stuff, and red (often) for monster-oriented stuff (though not as often/used as the brown/blue distinction, though).