What was so magical about 1E/OD&D art?

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

How can I say this nicely? You're wrong.

No, he's right. That's a fairly crappy drawing. Better than I can do, of course, but then I'm a really crappy artist.

 

[Geoffrey]

For my money, though, the only thing Otis should be illustrating is cthulhoid monstrosities or aberrations. His illustrations of characters just look... wrong. But looking wrong is right for Aberrations. It'd be cool if he could illustrate every aberration in the game.

Very well put. My ultimate fantasy for an RPG product is a 1st-edition AD&D Monster Manual III devoted solely to Cthulhoid creatures, and illustrated solely (including the cover) by Erol Otus.

 

[Klaus]

As an aside, I didn't realize that Bill Willingham has gone on to have a long and fairly prestigious career in comics. (I followed his excellent Elementals series back in the day, but have mostly been out of comics for about 15 years.) His Fables series is said to be quite good, and I hope to check them out in the near future:

http://www.amazon.com/Fables-collections/lm/R3N55AK81NV0BM?tag2=downandoutint-20

Plus he writes and draws the Shadowpact comic book for DC Comics. Team roster include Blue Devil, Detective Chimp, Nightmaster, Nightshade, Ragman and Enchantress.

And he did a very naughty X-rated fantasy comic series titled Ironwood.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Interesting. I like it. & I don't recognize it. So, I guess it must be nostalgia. (^_^)

(& I didn't notice Willingham's signature until he was mentioned. My first reaction was "Dee", whose stuff I tend to like less. I guess if I think "Dee" but I like it, I should look for the "Willingham" sig. (^_^))

It's from the back cover of White Plume Mountain, the later printing that was in color. It's of a suspiciously Melnibonean-looking dude wielding Blackrazor, a sword that appears in the module.

And I also like that pic, always have. Willingham's style has always appealed to me.

 

[Hussar]

It's from the back cover of White Plume Mountain, the later printing that was in color. It's of a suspiciously Melnibonean-looking dude wielding Blackrazor, a sword that appears in the module.

And I also like that pic, always have. Willingham's style has always appealed to me.

Oh, now that's something I didn't know. I had only seen the color version. Learn something new.

I was wondering when someone would mention the rather obvious inspiration for the character. But, I was more pointing towards this for TX, who seems to think that weird body type illo's only appeared in 3e.

Raven: I'm just going to disagree with you. I whole heartedly agree that the 3e PHB needs some new art. But, that the art gives the message that the players are "special snowflakes" moreso than the 1e PHB is silly. There's far too many pics, including the Paladin in Hell, and the cover of the 1e PHB that show that the PC's are the heroes and that they will prevail. True, I could definitely see some pics of the iconics getting their asses handed to them in the PHB. That would be great.

I did say that the 3e PHB art is crap.

But, I do think you are reading WAY more into it than necessary and ignoring some pretty big contradictions - like full page spreads.

 

[Desdichado]

Are we still beating this dessicated equine?

Art discussions are always amusing because they deal with something that's extremely subjective. Which is why the discussion never ends.

There is a lot of subjectivity to it, but it's not 100% subjective.

Frankly, I think the discussion of artists like Otus and whatnot being equivalent to "fine art" while later 1e and 2e artists like Elmore and Easley are the equivalent of D&D black velvet Elvises is absurd, though.

Look--if you want to like 1e art--no skin off my back. I mean I don't--and I didn't when it was new either, with the odd exception here and there (1e DMG cover was fairly sweet, for example) but there's no reason to invent excuses for it, is there?

 

[Qualidar]

Holy crap, I never made the Willingham = Fables connection before. Are we sure it's the same guy? If so: that's awesome.

I'm an artist, and so were my 2 best friends / D&D palls back in high school. We all had our favorites, but without fail the one thing we agreed on was that Erol Otis sucked. The funny thing is: I followed that link (somewhere above) today, and I was really grooving on it. I don't really know what that says about the nostalgia / good / bad art theory.

Although, following this thread from the beginning, I can say this: all were doing is a big round of Mental Masturbation. There is no "GOOD" art and there is no "BAD" art, there are just personal interpretations. Raven Stormking isn't wrong for liking 1e art better, and I wasn't wrong to find Erol Otis laughable back in the day. I'm also not wrong for liking it a whole lot more now. My point is: can't we all just agree to disagree?

~Qualidar~

 

[Desdichado]

That Erol Otus pic with the fire and ice salamanders fighting--that one I do remember liking quite a bit. It's a pretty decent pic even today.

 

[Nightfall]

Give me a quote.

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

There. Hope you liked it.

 

[WayneLigon]

As an aside, I didn't realize that Bill Willingham has gone on to have a long and fairly prestigious career in comics.

He also did a lot of early Villains and Vigilantes art. The villains in the first two V&V modules are the same villains in the eally issues of The Elementals.

He's done The Pantheon, Ironwood and other things then after he started Fables he also got stints on Robin (hhiiss) and a couple other books. He's a good artist, but he always seems to reach a point where he freaks out and melts down, then disappears for a couple years. Basically he seems best when given his own sandbox and left alone in it.