D&D 5E Opening Page of the PHB

[variant]

He most certainly does have whites in his eyes, which are at any rate a different color than his skin. I can't see any irises, though--at least not at this resolution.

View attachment 62498

I have no idea what you are imagining, but there is no white there. There is a shiny reflection to show three dimensional space, it's the same coloring the nose and forehead has.

 

[SkidAce]

...Secondly, having the character's skin be very close to the color of his turban and scarf just makes it difficult to see his face. Contrast, people!

REAL adventurers don't dress for the artist/camera. Maybe he likes that color...

 

[drjones]

This image kicks ass. 8/10 would view again.

 

[Iosue]

Looking at the colors in this picture, it's clear that the lighting has to be white; otherwise you would not be able to see red, yellow, and blue all at once. Now, what colors do we see on the guy's face?

1. Black.
2. Blue.

White light accurately reflects the hue of whatever it hits. The brightness will of course depend on how much light is hitting the surface, but the hue is going to be true to reality. Therefore, the guy's face is some shade of blue. Not dark brown, not even black. Blue. I am not aware of any people with blue skin.

Of course, most of us don't think this out consciously. We just process the image and go, "Blue skin. Huh?"

If the entire image were tinted blue, that would be different. Then it would be clear that it was the light which was blue. But it's not--as I said, the light has to be white or we couldn't see reds and yellows.

This reminds me of a Larry Elmore story. One day the TSR art department was visited by a fantasy artist -- I can't remember who it was -- and everyone in the department was giddy with excitement. And people were telling Elmore to show him this picture, which everyone really liked and Elmore was rather proud of.


So Elmore finally bashfully shows it to the famous artist and asks his opinion. The artist asks him if wants an honest opinion, and Elmore says yes. The artist says, "Well, your light source is this torch, right? It's orange and yellow light. But the man's robes are showing up as white. In orange and yellow light it would appear as orange and yellow."

Once Elmore saw it, he couldn't unsee it, and the piece went from one of his favorites to one he can't look at anymore.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I have no idea what you are imagining

I'm sorry you weren't able to find the answer to this question in my post.

Happy gaming!

 

[jbear]

...I would seriously hope that an artist, who probably has dealt with this kind of odd color inconsistency, would notice something like that, and compensate for it.

Sorry, but this statement just shows that you know very little about art and colour. It is not an inconsistency at all. Here you go, rather than talking nonsense as though you knew what you were talking about, you can learn something new and speak with authority: Colour Theory

Add me to the list of those who are enjoying the art being released.

 

[tuxgeo]

The sensation of seeing "white" simply consists of seeing all available light. Wasn't there a mystery story (can't remember which one*) about the man in the "white" clothing, who was not recognized in daylight because his clothing was actually red in daylight? The trick was that indoors, where the witness caught a glimpse of the suspect, the only available light was red, so the suspect's clothing looked white in that indoors light -- because the clothing reflected all available light. Our eyes may be similar to cameras, but our brains are not: our brains re-interpret things.

I think the artist told Elmore wrong: In orange/yellow light, an orange/yellow robe would look white. Hence, painting it as white fits the scene.


* I read far too many mystery stories in my misspent youth and middle age.

 

[Klaus]

I think the artist told Elmore wrong: In orange/yellow light, an orange/yellow robe would look white. Hence, painting it as white fits the scene.

Nope. An orange/yellow robe looks orange/yellow because it only reflects the orange/yellow range of white light, while white robes reflect *all* of the white light's range. In orange/yellow light, an orange/yellow robe would look orange/yellow, as usual, and white robes would look orange/yellow, because it is reflecting all of the available light, which is orange/yellow.

In the picture below, the man is wearing an orange t-shirt:

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think the artist told Elmore wrong: In orange/yellow light, an orange/yellow robe would look white. Hence, painting it as white fits the scene.

No. You need to think this through again.

(Simu-post w/Klaus!)

 

[Dausuul]

The sensation of seeing "white" simply consists of seeing all available light. Wasn't there a mystery story (can't remember which one*) about the man in the "white" clothing, who was not recognized in daylight because his clothing was actually red in daylight? The trick was that indoors, where the witness caught a glimpse of the suspect, the only available light was red, so the suspect's clothing looked white in that indoors light -- because the clothing reflected all available light. Our eyes may be similar to cameras, but our brains are not: our brains re-interpret things.

I think the artist told Elmore wrong: In orange/yellow light, an orange/yellow robe would look white. Hence, painting it as white fits the scene.

By this logic, the torch should also be painted white.

It is true that our brains re-interpret what we see. There are cases where the artist has to compensate for that, but this isn't one. If everything in the painting had a yellow-orange cast, our brains would interpret that as "yellow-orange light" and adjust: The robe would come across as white despite not being painted that color. Having the torch be yellow-orange but the robe be white creates confusion, because the torch is telling us to expect yellow-orange light but the robe is telling us we must be looking at white light.

Coming back to the PHB image, it's the same issue in reverse. The coloring of the face is saying we are looking at blue-tinged light, but everything around it is saying white light. If you take away the rest of the image and just look at the guy's face, the issue disappears; the brain goes "Oh, blue light," and compensates.