Recycled Art

[Psion]

Let me refine my position a little:

Seeing the same tepid art over and over again would be some thing.

That said, CD does not bother me. There are several pages of new full color art. Some of it outstanding.

They could have paid that money to redo the 1/4 page peices that they reused. But most of the stuff they reused was decent in the first place. So, as long as they are still cycling in good art, who cares about a few re-used but otherwise good peices?

 

[Crothian]

Recycled art is okay, but recycled art in the same book bothers me.

 

[CombatWombat51]

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.

That freakin' broken shield thingy seems to be in every book damn near three times! It is the bane of my existance. Good thing I have Favored Enemy: Shield Thingy, and Smite Crappy Filler.

That's why the shield's broke, ya know

 

[demiurge1138]

Complete Divine isn't the first "big" D&D book in 3e to have recycled art. Savage Species re-used the art for the yuan-ti tainted templates from MoF, and the thri-kreen, loxo and desmodu from MMII. Even the Draconomicon, WotC's big "art book", reused the fang dragon, shadow dragon and dragonkin illustrations from MoF.

So it's not a new trend. It's still an irritating one, especially when the art's not that great in the first place (I don't like that loxo one bit). I don't have Complete Divine yet, so I don't know which pieces got recycled (other than Stormlord), but I'm more concerned about art quality than art originality. If the reused pictures are good ones, it's not too bad.

Demiurge out.

 

[the Jester]

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.

It's 'okay' for them to recycle artwork whenever they want- but I never like it.

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?

I guess this bugs me more. What is the most annoying of all is when they stick recycled art in as 'filler' that has nothing to do with the text (Fiend Folio, despite all the good stuff about it, suffers from this.)

I'd rather see new art instead. I mean, if I'm paying the same price for a book with brand-new art as I do for a book full of recycled art I feel a lil ripped off by that recycled art. Gimme some new content! I already have three copies of some of the feats and spells in that book anyhow!

 

[Dalamar]

The most recycled colored art in 3(.5)E, to my knowledge, is that for the githyanki and githzerai. They have appeared in the Psionics Handbook, Manual of the Planes, Monster Manual 3.5, and now the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

 

[diaglo]

don't forget the personality portraits in Dragon and on the website.

and in promo posters

and in the Adventure Begins boxed set

and in Chainmail and the WotC mini line from when they were metal

and...

they have been following the 2edADnD business trend almost to a T.