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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oni" data-source="post: 899331" data-attributes="member: 380">Hopeful of being an illustrator someday myself I am always excited to see when WotC post a new art gallery for one of their books.  Today being no exception I was delighted to see a link to the new Urban Arcana gallery on the news page today.  I have to say that, for me,  this gallery was a bit disappointing.  I know there has been a lot of talk going around about the declining quality of artwork in WotC books, but this is the first time I've been really disappointed by such a large portion of what I've seen.  I'm curious what other people think though since I've found that in the past I've liked many of the pieces that others have complained about.  You can check out the gallery <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/article/20030513a" target="_blank">here</a>.  Some of the more disappointing pieces for me were  <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/49947.jpg" target="_blank">Alexandra Gordon, Glamourist</a>, this isn't even finished, it looks like a rough done in photoshop, the legs especially make me cringe.  It has a lot of potential, and the unfinished look can work sometimes, but I don't think this one of them.  The most disappointing piece for me was the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/49982.jpg" target="_blank">Eldritch Harley</a>, it really seems out of kilter with the mood of the vast majority of the other work for the book, and I really dont believe it is up the same artistic standard I expect from WotC.  Of course personal taste plays a huge role in all of this, I'm not particularly fond of the work of that artist in general.  There are other pieces, though they don't stick out as much to me as them.  In general I don't really dig the stuff by Kagan McLeod, and Puddnhead's stuff is either great to me or not at all.  The <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/50023.jpg" target="_blank">Leonard</a> and <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/50027.jpg" target="_blank">Kailey</a> iconics are awesome, but I can't really get into the others.  As I just indicated, I felt there are a few gems hidden in there.  I absolutely love the various <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/49963.jpg" target="_blank">Homunculus</a> and the other pieces by Dean Ormston are very well done for the most part (I wasn't as pleased with   <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/49968.jpg" target="_blank">Summon Swarm</a> and the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/49958.jpg" target="_blank">Defeated Minotaur</a>).  I also really liked all of Lee Ballard's work, all very moody and cool.  I especially liked the  <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/50007.jpg" target="_blank">Weapons Master</a> and the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images/ua_gallery/50009.jpg" target="_blank">Urban Wendigo</a>.[edit:  Yep, I know there is a d20 Modern forum, but I thought this was more appropriate here as I'm not really concerned with the game, but the general state of whats happening with the art in WotC books and peoples' opinions on the artwork in this book in particular]</blockquote>

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