Recycled Art

[the Jester]

One of the things that eventually really annoyed me about 2e was all the recycled art. The same pieces were reprinted over and over in different products.

Well, it's started in 3e. The Complete Divine seems to have started the trend.

What's the deal?? Why can't WotC keep the art quality high and fresh? Although the Fiend Folio had some reprinted bw pieces (why they were in there, I just don't know), this is the first 3e product I've seen with reprinted full-color bits.

Bah! Gimme fresh art or lower the price of the books.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

What's the deal?? Why can't WotC keep the art quality high and fresh? Although the Fiend Folio had some reprinted bw pieces (why they were in there, I just don't know), this is the first 3e product I've seen with reprinted full-color bits.

Bah! Gimme fresh art or lower the price of the books.

* Vendors look at the art when determining how much (if any) units of the book they'll stock.
* good art is expensive
* average art lowers the percieved value of the book
* bad art is just plain dumb to include
* many readers don't notice or care
* reducing page count by not including two or three pieces of reused art will not reduce the price any more than if they had just left the page blank.

Basically there is little incentive for them not to reuse some art.

 

[Caspian Moon Prince]

As long as it is the occasional use of old art, I'll not care less. Especially if it is good art. If it gets anywhere near as bad as 2ed where you could find a single piece of art on about ten different books, they had better start lowering their prices.

 

[Psion]

I've seen a lot of recycled art.

Mongoose recycles a lot of their art.

I have seen some art from Eden d20 books show up elsewhere. Sometimes in contexts that made much less sense than when they originally appeared.

Anyway, I can't complain too harshly about recycled art in complete divine. The stormlord is the exact same class; why should art matter? And it's an awesome pic for those who don't have Faiths & Pantheons.

And what art is new is awesome. I loved Reynolds' Tiamat.

 

[diaglo]

complete divine didn't start the trend with this edition.

other promotional pieces already borrowed previous art.

 

[the Jester]

Didn't even know about the stormlord piece.

It makes me wonder how many other reprinted bits of art are in there.


Seriously, that was a major piece of my disappointment in all the later 2e material.

 

[Psion]

Seriously, that was a major piece of my disappointment in all the later 2e material.

My disappointment with the later 2e material was the low quality new art, like much of the interior art in Night Below and A Guide to Hell.

 

[Estlor]

Question:

Is it okay for Wizards to recycle artwork from other books when referring to the same class/monster/item? For example, using the same Githyanki artwork in the MM and the XPH or using the Stormlord in F&P and CD.

Question 2:

Is it wrong for Wizards to recycle art that is fairly neutral when it is equally fitting in the new use as it was in the old use?

Basically, what bugs you about recycled art? The fact that you've seen it before? That it isn't "what it was supposed to be?" Or because you've already paid for it once and would rather see the space used differently?

 

[Pants]

Oh man, A Guide to Hell was terrible. Bleh.

I don't mind recycled art, if the art is good. That's why I didn't mind when the XPH had most of Sam Wood's old illustrations. Those pictures were so good that I didn't mind seeing them again. Same with a lot of the MM3.5, DMG3.5 art. I wish some of it had gotten replaced, but it doesn't really bother me if the art was good to begin with.

BTW, what art got recycled?

 

[Bloodstone Press]

The first recycled art in 3.0 that I've noticed was in the splat books. there is multiple uses of some of the small "filler" art, such as the broken shield and the close up of the orc's eyes/face.

I don't mind it. As long as every book doesn't have te same pictures in it, its not a big deal to me.