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

[Nai_Calus]

I mostly don't like the Eladrin and Elf PP art because I didn't like either of those pictures the first time I saw them and still don't.

And yeah, takes away from the shiny of 'yay new Eladrin art'.

 

[ppaladin123]

I do have to wonder why they keep picking mediocre cover art, though. The goliath isn't bad, but the gnome... euch. Not that it's anywhere near as wretched as the PHB1 cover art. I guess going from "Dear God, why?" to "Meh" is an improvement.

Based on the claws, the fangs, the spirit panthers (denoting the shaman class) and the fact that she stands as tall as the elbows on an 8 ft tall Goliath, I am pretty sure that that is a shifter and not a gnome.

 

[FloatingDisc]

The interior art is a definite step up from PHB1. Some really good stuff in there, though there are as always some clunkers too.

Agreed.

As an aspiring illustrator myself, it does dismay me a little to see reused illustrations. But I love the dwarf PP image.

[rant] The cover image is ridiculous. The artist is obviously incredibly talented, so please know I'm not attacking them. After reading that interview with Wayne Reynolds about the briefing process WotC goes through with its stable of artists, I always try to imagine the meeting between the execs that result in images like that. I think it must have gone a little something like this...

Suit 1: (sipping latte) I suppose we should have character races from the book.
Suit 2, a lackey: (clicks fingers) Damn that's hot. That's why you're the button man.
Suit 1: Okay, so there's a giant on there-
Suit 2: Goliath.
Suit 1: That's what I said. So, the Goliath has a huge axe. He's terrifying!
Suit 2: Oh man, this is gold, I gotta write this down.
Suit 1: But an axe isn't really enough is it? It has to be, like, magical, or enchanted. What do we call magic stuff now? Fey?
Suit 2: Fell. I mean Fey. No, wait... we still call it magical.
Suit 1: So he has this magical axe. How do you show something's magical?
Suit 2: It's made of dragons.
Suit 1: (in scolding tones) Armour is made from dragons. You stick to writing down my brilliant words. So anyway, he has an axe made of... what do you call that translucent, magical-looking hard stuff? You know, hippies make jewelry out of it.
Suit 2: (cowering) Umm... candy?
Suit 1: Okay, cool. So he's got this candy axe, it's purple. Write that down. Because, purple is the colour of... (points to lacky)
Suit 2: Magic?
Suit 1: Bingo! Now, we need another character on there. I'm thinking female, some weird, fake-looking cleavage. Sultry, feral, and magical. She's a dragonbaby.
Suit 2: Dragonborn. Actually we used them on the front of the other book.
Suit 1: Damn. Are liches playable yet?
Suit 2: Shhh, that's PHB3. No one's supposed to know about that yet.
Suit 1: Okay, how about a werewolf? I'm thinking rer, youknowwhatimsayin'?
Suit 2: (Makes little claw motions with his hands) Rer.
Suit 1: (Nodding with a smug grin on his face) Exactly. So, her armour is made of dragons. Make sure her groin is covered. I'm talkin' adequately covered. Can she be glowing?
Suit 2: Noooo, but she can have magical fey glowing pets.
Suit 1: I like where you're going with this. So, she's a zoologist. A foxy, sultry, liberated zoologist. With a bad attitude.

[/rant] [/sarcasm] [/etc]

EDIT: Visit house-of-squid.deviantart.com if you've nothing better to do.

 

[Wormwood]

[rant] The cover image is ridiculous.

De gustibus and all that, but I personally love the cover.

The shifter looks like a fun character and the goliath is badass. If anything, they should turn the metal up a little.

 

[FloatingDisc]

I like metal as much as anyone, I suppose whatever suggestion that I don't that is in my previous post should be ignored ;]

I should have qualified that statement you quoted with an "In my humble opinion..." or somesuch, sorry for any offence caused.

 

[Estlor]

On the whole, the art is fairly good. The recycled stuff sticks out like a sore thumb, though. Most of it is too... I don't know... 3E to really fit with the rest.

The art for each race's entry is top-notch. Especially the shifters. That's probably the best illustration of a shifter ever in D&D. Which is kind of sad because the cover illustration is one of the worst.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Suit 1: So he has this magical axe. How do you show something's magical?
Suit 2: It's made of dragons.

True or not, that would make for a great comedy sketch.

 

[CelticMutt]

PHB2 art is pretty improved -- nothing strikes me as obviously cartoony right off the bat, which was an issue. But there's still the pain of re-used art (Boooo!) and some of the doofiest looking characters in the world (that barbarian?!) and some weird art direction choices (Why is one of the pre-eminent "half" breeds in D&D entirely Caucasian? Why aren't they a little green?).

If you mean half-orcs, actually they're grey.

 

[cmrscorpio]

I've only skimmed the book so far, but it seemed like there were a lot of wings on the characters.

 

[CelticMutt]

I've only skimmed the book so far, but it seemed like there were a lot of wings on the characters.

It's apparently part of the Deva dress-code. Plus various PPs.