Soon available to paint 4U

[BonesMcCoy]

Ermanaric is absolutely right. Elmore's art is classic and timeless. It is what medieval fantasy is all about. Right up there with him is Keith Parkinson, another god of the art world. These two guys should have had carte blanche in illustrating a new AD&D. Using them was a no-brainer. Full page, full color artwork from these two gents spread throughout the books would have been perfect. Just like the Dragonslayers pic from the front of the 2E PHB, magnificent!

Instead, WotC decides to reinvent the wheel and we get pierced, spiky, dreadlocked heroes with utterly unrealistic weapons and armor (especially those ridiculous shields!). What is so hard about picking up a few books on Medieval history and learning a little bit about authentic arms, armor and dress from the past? I admit it takes a little work, but the rewards are worth it. You produce a picture that is so much more believeable and immersive. Thus creating a far stronger appreciation from the viewer. Simple. Why WotC decided to go this other route I'll never know...

(And yes, I am an OAD&D fan. I am posting here in an effort to bring some sanity back to the D&D world. When D&D gets sold and the new edition comes out, I want it to be based on OAD&D not 3E. We shall see... )

 

[Khan the Warlord]

Ermanaric is absolutely right. Elmore's art is classic and timeless. It is what medieval fantasy is all about. Right up there with him is Keith Parkinson, another god of the art world. These two guys should have had carte blanche in illustrating a new AD&D. Using them was a no-brainer. Full page, full color artwork from these two gents spread throughout the books would have been perfect. Just like the Dragonslayers pic from the front of the 2E PHB, magnificent!

Instead, WotC decides to reinvent the wheel and we get pierced, spiky, dreadlocked heroes with utterly unrealistic weapons and armor (especially those ridiculous shields!). What is so hard about picking up a few books on Medieval history and learning a little bit about authentic arms, armor and dress from the past? I admit it takes a little work, but the rewards are worth it. You produce a picture that is so much more believeable and immersive. Thus creating a far stronger appreciation from the viewer. Simple. Why WotC decided to go this other route I'll never know...

(And yes, I am an OAD&D fan. I am posting here in an effort to bring some sanity back to the D&D world. When D&D gets sold and the new edition comes out, I want it to be based on OAD&D not 3E. We shall see... )

I don't believe discussing how bad Mr. Lockwood's and others' 3e art style is, and raving on about other artists, is the most polite thing to do in a thread detailing the fact that he was just recently laid off.

Could we just save these type of comments for another thread/time?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Ermanaric is absolutely right. Elmore's art is classic and timeless. It is what medieval fantasy is all about. Right up there with him is Keith Parkinson, another god of the art world. These two guys should have had carte blanche in illustrating a new AD&D. Using them was a no-brainer. Full page, full color artwork from these two gents spread throughout the books would have been perfect. Just like the Dragonslayers pic from the front of the 2E PHB, magnificent!

Instead, WotC decides to reinvent the wheel and we get pierced, spiky, dreadlocked heroes with utterly unrealistic weapons and armor (especially those ridiculous shields!). What is so hard about picking up a few books on Medieval history and learning a little bit about authentic arms, armor and dress from the past? I admit it takes a little work, but the rewards are worth it. You produce a picture that is so much more believeable and immersive. Thus creating a far stronger appreciation from the viewer. Simple. Why WotC decided to go this other route I'll never know...

(And yes, I am an OAD&D fan. I am posting here in an effort to bring some sanity back to the D&D world. When D&D gets sold and the new edition comes out, I want it to be based on OAD&D not 3E. We shall see... )

Well, it's good to know they are doing it all wrong. I mean, real-life medieval arms and armor had to take into account magic and monsters, so hey, that should be the only source for a fantasy game

Thanks for the show of class and tact.

 

[BonesMcCoy]

<<I don't believe discussing how bad Mr. Lockwood's and others' 3e art style is, and raving on about other artists, is the most polite thing to do in a thread detailing the fact that he was just recently laid off.>>

Nowhere in my post did I say Todd's artwork sucked. I said it was unrealistic in the sense of unbelievability. It does not aid my suspension of disbelief, nor immerse me in the game because of this. And I'm sure Todd won't mind a differing opinion as I imagine he's read much worse on the net before and my post was phrased politely, even though it disagreed with most of the other sycophantic posters on here.

ColonelHardisson, you yourself have been a critic of 3E artwork from the beginning, if I am not mistaken. Also, you are a big Tolkien fan, yes? What do the arms and armor in Tolkien's world most resemble? Real history or 3E? And consider the LotR movie: didn't they work very hard to acurately represent a believeable fantasy world while still being solidly based on a historical foundation? I believe they did, and i believe the movie was better off for it. Same with fantasy roleplaying, including 3E.

What better place to discuss one's preference in artwork than a thread about a D&D artist being viewed by d20 publishers? I'm sure I am not alone in my views and the publishers deserve to know this. Just because the vocal critics on these boards have shouted down all dissenting views and driven away posters of differing opinions, does not mean they do not exist.

Perhaps if you stopped insulting people with opinions different from your own you would get more stimulating discussion going on in these forums instead of the usual bland banal posts we commonly see.

 

[dpdx]

Best of Luck, Todd.

I've been to maybe 2 First Thursday gallery tours in my life, and I slept through art appreciation class in college, and I'm d**n sure not an OAD&D purist, but I thought the art in the three core rule books looked just fine, and since you had a lot to do with that, thank you.

Oh, and never mind the trolls who create their accounts just to post 'criticisms.' They're probably just bitter that DnD3e is a system people actually play.

 

[Horacio]

Perhaps if you stopped insulting people with opinions different from your own you would get more stimulating discussion going on in these forums instead of the usual bland banal posts we commonly see.

Perhaps if you see these forums as bland and banal you should go posting another place, like RPG.net, and leave us with our banal and bland community.

 

[Rain]

Awwwww now i know for sure Hasbro is crazy

 

[LcKedovan]

Awwwww anybody who fires Todd Lockwood must be Crazy

I believe Todd was laid-off as opposed to fired. There is a big difference

-W.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

ColonelHardisson, you yourself have been a critic of 3E artwork from the beginning, if I am not mistaken.

No, untrue. I've been a fan of 3e art from the beginning.

Originally posted by bones_mccoy Also, you are a big Tolkien fan, yes? What do the arms and armor in Tolkien's world most resemble? Real history or 3E? And consider the LotR movie: didn't they work very hard to acurately represent a believeable fantasy world while still being solidly based on a historical foundation? I believe they did, and i believe the movie was better off for it. Same with fantasy roleplaying, including 3E.

First, the only source for what something was like in Tolkien's world would be Tolkien himself (by the way, check the link in my sig - I think that shows how much of a Tolkien fan I (and many others) happen to me). I've never seen any artwork in which he depicts the armor of his world. Yes, it would likely have resembled armor in the real world, but what does that prove? A typical D&D world would have many more huge monsters that would be inclined to grab a person, necessitating things like spikes on armor. It's a fantasy game, not a historical simulation. I think it's even more realistic to suppose that a world that has dealt with magic and monsters its entire history would develop new and different things. How realistic is it to suppose that armor or, for example, castles (vulnerable from the air and to all manner of magic) would remain the same as in Medieval Europe?

Originally posted by bones_mccoy What better place to discuss one's preference in artwork than a thread about a D&D artist being viewed by d20 publishers? I'm sure I am not alone in my views and the publishers deserve to know this. Just because the vocal critics on these boards have shouted down all dissenting views and driven away posters of differing opinions, does not mean they do not exist..

This is nonsense. You are simply listening to people who came to these boards, acted rudely and aggressively, then ran away when they found people would vigorously defend their own views rather than instantly and slavishly kow-tow to them.

Also, you post to a thread started by one of the 3e artists after he posts that he was laid off, slam 3e artwork, and then say that you aren't slamming that artist. It's one thing to have an opinion, it's another to have the social skill to voice it in the correct context.

Originally posted by bones_mccoy Perhaps if you stopped insulting people with opinions different from your own you would get more stimulating discussion going on in these forums instead of the usual bland banal posts we commonly see.

It's very clear you aren't speaking from your own experience in this. You also don't seem to see the irony of what you're saying - you insult someone, then complain when people disagree with your opinion. Now, am I "shouting you down" because of your "dissenting opinion," or am I simply vigorously disagreeing?

 

[Hakkenshi]

Someone who would actually be interested in discussing the obvious merits of 3e art might also point out (in addition to what the Colonel's said) that other things that didn't exist either in Tolkien or Medieval Europe exist in D&D. Monsters aside, there are Gnomes who create devices the MA never had (airships, anyone?), for example.

More to the point, in most D&D worlds, this pseudo-Medieval period has lasted for a few thousand years with similar levels of technology. That would not have happened on Earth, and armour (and weapons) would have evolved greatly, maybe even in the manner depicted by 3e art. Who knows?

But I'm not interested in getting into that discussion. No sir, not me

Instead, I'd like to thank Mr. Lockwood (and the other artists for 3e) for really inspiring me to get back to drawing fantasy again. None of them got me to start drawing (I did that before I even knew what D&D was ), but they sure as hell brought me back to it.

So I'll join my best wishes to those of the others, Mr. Lockwood. Yours is art that truly inspires and impresses me every single time.
Cheers!