Vote for your Favorite D&D Artist [World Championship Edition] LOCKWOOD vs. ELMORE!!!

[Shard O'Glase]

Elmore. i loved lots of his stuff.

In 3e PH I only liked two things, tordek in the dragon and anything lidda.

 

[Tiefling]

I find generally Elmore's picture really flat, all of them seem to be shot in prefect lighting conditions. That one with the blue dragon and three figures (from Dragonlance) really shows this up, its such a boring composition, and uninteresting positioned figures. Look at the lighting, they have long shadows so the sun is obviously far off to the left and yet the right side of the armoured figure is hardly in shadow at all.

To be fair, snow reflects a lot of light. That picture probably isn't too far off. Although a different environment with similar shading would be.

kenjib: Glad you like Sardinha too. I didn't think anyone else shared my opinion.

 

[s/LaSH]

Wait, Lockwood did do the 3E dragons. Now I'm not so sure I voted for the right guy - I love those creatures. Elmore's good, but I never really liked his dragons for some reason, they look a little woebegone. Gahr.

 

[beta-ray]

Ugh. Those Sovereign Stone pics still have the color casts that I don't like from Elmore. Too much warm orange... I feel like I am in a haystack. Like a romantic painting with too limited of a color palette.

I much prefer Parkinson when talking about 2e.

Although I can't say he is my favorite, I also like Sardinha's work a lot.

 

[Ranger REG]

I don't care. I feel good when I look at Elmore's art. That's what matters to me.

Lockwood's art are too goth for me, also too many spikes whenever he can add them.

 

[Kai Lord]

"Tooooooddddddd is the Champion, my friiieeend, and heeeeeee'll keep on fighting, till the end........" BA NA NA!!!

Congratulations Todd Lockwood, and a tip of the hat to Larry Elmore, esteemed runner up to Best. D&D Artist. Ever.

 

[Ranger REG]

In my book, Elmore will always be the best. Todd, he's just a close second, so long he make less goth and avoid inserting spikes.

 

[haiiro]

kenjib: Glad you like Sardinha too. I didn't think anyone else shared my opinion.

You guys aren't alone in this -- Sardinha has done some fantastic stuff. I think I like some of his d20 Call of Cthulhu illustrations better than his D&D stuff, but all of it is good.

I bought a little Cthulhu sculpture of his at GenCon 2002, and it's awesome -- so he's multitalented to boot.

 

[LGodamus]

I have to say lockwood is leaps and bounds ahead in technical ability....the only thing elmore really has to fight with is nostalgia.

 

[kenjib]

Here's Richard Sardinha's gallery:
http://www.battleduck.com

Highlights:
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/fantasyimagepages/leviathan.html
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/fantasyimagepages/hammer.html
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/fantasyimagepages/whisperers.html
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/wotcimagepages/cthulhu.html
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/wotcimagepages/malaugrym.html
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/fantasyimagepages/familiar.html
http://www.battleduck.com/pages/imagepages/fantasyimagepages/mephit.html

Compared to most D&D artists, I think he shows a very diverse range of techniques and is also a little bit more daring in his choice of brushstroke and pallette. I usually look at style over realism. How cool would it be to see a book entirely illustrated by him? Or even just art direction?