PHB II: Am I The Only One Blown Away By The Art?

(that barbarian?!)

I assume you're talking about the main barb pic at the beginning of the class writeup? I agree. When I first saw him, I noticed how weird his face was. And his hair. But the thing that really stands out in my mind is his man boob.

I decree that hence forth, he shall be known as Moob, Iconic Barbarian.

The Adroit Explorer and Turathi Highborn are both lacking art.

I really love the art for the Ancestral Incarnate, Shiere Knight (despite her face kind of seeming off to me), Invoker and Zealous Assassin.
 
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I'm not defending WotC for reusing art assets, but you know, if comes down to recycled art or no art, I'll take more art please. Especially since I didn't buy every 3.5 book out there - what appears as recycled to some is new for others. ENworlders are probably just more aware of the 'problem' than the average gamer.
 

"That barbarian" is sweet! I love that pic - especially the tree branch camo paint on his face. I like William O'Connor's work in general though. The tiefling bard is my personal favorite this time around.

Recycled art doesn't really bother me. The war priest art from Complete Divine being used for the Firstborn of Moradin PP excited me - it's a great WAR piece that I'm happy to see again.

Nymrohd said:
I mean, the Champion of Corellon pic from Races of the Wild on the Twilight Guardian who is a defender of the wild? Sorry but it does not fit.

Don't be sorry, it fits just fine.
 

I despise the Bard class picture. Other than that random harp, nothing at all about it says 'Bard'. I also can't decide what angle it's at, and thus whether it's just that her body is turned away and thus badly twisted, or if she really does only have one breast. Her faces also looks squashed. I would have preferred they did more re-used art yet again and just re-used the picture of Devis from 3.x, or the one of Gimble. :P

Shiere Knight is reused, IIRC it's some Moon Elf mage from Forgotten Realms whose name utterly escapes me at the moment, and the scene it was supposed to be illustrating has nothing at all to do with the PP. The '04' date in the corner really makes it facepalm-worthy, though.

The Champion of Corellon Larethian illustration for Twilight Guardian really makes me facepalm. That one would have made infinitely more sense for the Shiere Knight. It doesn't look remotely nature-defendery. CoCL was basically an elven Paladin of sorts, and that's what it looks like. They really couldn't find a picture of a tree-hugging nature elf? Seriously?

Some of the gnome and most of the deva art was really good though. I love the new gnome look(Though it bothered me that the race write-up didn't seem to say anything about their religious beliefs. Who do they worship? Sehanine? Corellon? Someone else?), and Deva's look is pretty cool as well.

I think the thing that disappoints me most though was probably the re-used art for the Eladrin PP. I really like the look of the 4e Eladrin, and was hoping for a new shiny picture of them. Instead, re-used art from five years ago. Meh, perfect time to actually have art of them and they don't. I'm getting used to seeing nothing but Dragonborn and Tieflings and almost no Eladrin in 4e art though, so maybe that will stop bothering me eventually. :P
 
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I was really happy with the art in this book, especially since they didn't use the artists I so strongly disliked from the core book at all. I'm annoyed by art re-use as well, though I didn't pick up on it from this book (and in fact answered a question wrong as a result) until specifically told. At least now they're using art from slightly more obscure sources.
 

While a lot of the artwork stands out. The Half-Orc stood out since, it isn't ugly. Never liked the, "oh it is a savage lets make it ugly and basically just looks the same as a orc with no human appearance".
 


Oh lord, they're still recycling art?
If the art is good they should use it. I wish the 2E Sahaugin art had made it into the 4E MM. I'd would have much more preferred the Brom illo of the Devourer over new art.

I sometimes wonder what % of those who bemoan recycled art are illustrators or their sympathizers upset to see their chances of getting work from wotc dry up with each recycled illo.
 
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This is the first 4E book that has impressed me art wise so far. The black dragon rage pic is pretty cool. The infernal bard is freindish and cute all at the same time (I know, that's not necessarily a good thing in general, but I bet that hits a market segment dead on!).
 

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