The WotC Art Galleries

[Mark CMG]

I'm not familiar with too many of these books, so I've had fun seeing lots of these images for the first time.

(. . .)

Incidentally, I also like this kind of thread: the pretty kind!

No doubt, on both counts.

 

[RichGreen]

It's funny that people keep mentioning that they like Wayne England's drawings. While I think he does fine on equipment, his people really just don't cut it for me. The arms on this guy are really strange, and these guys have much the same problem with their faces as well.

I wonder if Wayne England is getting mixed up with Wayne Reynolds? WAR is the guy responsible for masterpieces like this.

No mix up for me! Wayne England does draw really cool magic items, and I take your point about the arms but I like this.

I like Wayne Reynolds too, of course.



Cheers


Richard

 

[blargney the second]

No mix up for me! Wayne England does draw really cool magic items, and I take your point about the arms but I like this.

Good point - he sometimes does monsters without the flaws that his people have, and they come out much more attractive. (Ironically!)

 

[Joshua Randall]

Like many others, I make extensive use of the art gallery. I grab pictures of people or creatures to show the players. I shrink down the monster pictures to make 1"=5' scale tokens. I hand out magic item pictures to keep things more exciting than just another +1 longsword.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pieces.

My current favorite is from Spell Compendium: William O'Connor's "Divine Interdiction". Nice use of light in that piece, and it's unusual in that it shows the good guy (gal) losing.

Another nice Oconnor piece is "Giant Size" from Complete Arcane. It gives a good sense of scale, and the misty trees in the background are visually pleasing.

I like Matt Cavotta's "Warmage" also from Complete Arcane. It's a dynamic pose, and the guy looks half crazed, which is how I imagine warmages would be.

Speaking of Cavotta, I also like his "Dimensional Sextant in Use" picture, which is not in the hardcopy of Manual of the Planes, but is in the online art gallery.

Arnie Swenkel's "Planeshifter" from that same book is another fine piece.

Draconomicon is chock full of great art. I particularly enjoy "Clinging Breath" by Ron Spencer -- take that, pesky adventurers! "Dracolyte" by Steve Prescott is more of a strait-up portrait than an action scene, but very well done. And of course Todd Lockwood's cover art is just fantastic, the kind of piece that makes me want to strap on my armor and go dragon-huntin'.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I love all of the Forgotten Realms book covers. I don't really care about the Realms, but the books are so gorgeous, inside and out.

I really liked the "diagram/model" artwork from the Manual of the Planes.

Some of my favorite pieces are the illustrations for magic items. I like the showcase/rough draft style used in pieces like this one: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/dmg2_gallery/90117.jpg

 

[Aus_Snow]

No doubt, on both counts.

Eh? Er, fair enough.

 

[Hussar]

Not to be mean or anything, but, the Eberron art just really turns me off of the setting. I don't know why, but, many of the pieces, particularly Wayne Reynolds, just do nothing for me.

Then again, it's all in they eye I suppose. Bergting is an artist I really don't like, but, apparently other people think he's great. (Ok, Paizo, not WOTC, but, you get the point.)

 

[Wombat]

I prefer illustrations where

1) The weapons don't look like they would be impossible to wield (or manufacture)
2) Armour looks like it would actually protect, rather than aid the attacker (and people actually wear helmets!)
3) Females are not scantily clad and, if in serious armour, would be nigh unto indistinguishable from males
4) The clothing doesn't look like it fell out of Hot Topic

I other words, I am not really looking for most fantasy art.

 

[Mark CMG]

Eh? Er, fair enough.

That is to say, both good to see the galleries of images we don't all see if we don't all get every book, as well as having a thread now and again with a positive, picture-filled tone to it.