NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Serge" data-source="post: 325947" data-attributes="member: 4049">I'm with you entirely here.  I don't feel as if I'm stuck in admiring something because it was so impressive when I was younger.  I love the material that some of these guys are doing because they are taking risks with established material and for them it's paying off.The problem with commercial art is that consumers/fans tend to become accustomed to something and have a hard time when things change.  With each new D&D generation, there are new artists who, although influenced by the past, use the past as a springboard or react against it.There are two excellent examples of this.  The cover of Tome and Blood, by Todd Lockwood, features what most of us assume is a Cornugon devil.  It looks nothing like any other Cornugon in print.  However, it's obvious that Lockwood decided to read the descriptions of Cornugons in both 2ed and 3ed sources and spotted a number of things.  First, they carry whips.  Great.  Next, they are none for flinging fireballs and lightning bolts.  Great.  Oh, and they are only vaguely humanoid and fly with wings.  Great.  So, what Lockwood presents us with is an image of something with fleeting humanoid appearance, no facial features (save a mouth), wreathed in flaming lightning, carrying a long whip.  Brilliant!  Clearly, he paid attention to the descriptions but presented something wholy new and fresh simultaneously.Sam Wood did the images of the Outsiders in 3ed Monster Manual.  The Glabrezu rising menacingly behind the Vrock is like nothing I've seen before.  Again, he reads the description and may have even looked back at other images of this entity.  It's a giant being with a humanoid body, giant pincers, humanoid hands sprouting from the chest, and a dog-like head.  What he provides us with is this horrible entity that has all of those images and more, warped and covered in metal appendages and runes.  Brilliant!  Again, Wood pays attention to the description but presents something fresh as well.</blockquote>

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