WotC Artwork in books

[Desdichado]

Every so often we have an artwork thread; usually so someone can complain about "dungeonpunk" and profess eternal love of Larry Elmore, which naturally brings buzz out in turn, etc. etc.

I decided to point to a few of my favorite pieces in a fairly recent book; Races of Eberron that were by artists I hadn't seen much of earlier, but which I really like. I guess my overlaying point is that I think the artwork in WotC books is actually pretty good these days, and if anything, improving on average.

Here's a shifter by James Zhang -- this could totally have been my character in the last Eberron game I played:

Here's another by Zhang for the Natural Weapons augmentation spell:

I've also been impressed by some pieces by Charlie Wen -- here's two kalashtar soulknives fighting an evil cleric:

And here's a cool one of some half-elves, presumably at a high dock for an airship in Sharn.

Daarken, whoever he is, is really impressing me; here's a few of his better pieces in that book:

This aerenel elf with bet baboon and deathless is tres cool:

Here's his quori nightmare:

The Primal Fear psionic power:

Here's a half-orc fighting off a crocodile with an improvised weapon by Nick Percival:

Here's some stuff by Frank Vohwinkel -- some orcs rescuing a gnome from an otyugh:

And here's a shifter by Kev Walker.

Anyway, as I said, I definitely think the artwork on this book is up to snuff; but most of the books from the last six months to a year or so have been pretty good. Maybe it's partly because they've seemed to use a few artists who's work I didnt' like a lot less, but these seem to be some real up-and-comers to me.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Every so often we have an artwork thread; usually so someone can complain about "dungeonpunk" and profess eternal love of Larry Elmore, which naturally brings buzz out in turn, etc. etc.

[snip]

Anyway, as I said, I definitely think the artwork on this book is up to snuff; but most of the books from the last six months to a year or so have been pretty good. Maybe it's partly because they've seemed to use a few artists who's work I didnt' like a lot less, but these seem to be some real up-and-comers to me.

And also because there's not nearly as much dungeonpunk.

 

[Mouseferatu]

To be fair, I should point out that the above is not meant entirely to be smart-ass. The truth is, while some of the fantasy portrayed in these pics is not exactly "traditional," there really is less of the "unnecessary leather and spikes" schtick.

I agree with you, incidentally. While there have indeed been some bad examples, a lot of the recent art--including most if not all of what you've just posted--is really great stuff.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Every so often we have an artwork thread; usually so someone can complain about "dungeonpunk" and profess eternal love of Larry Elmore, which naturally brings buzz out in turn, etc. etc.

Don't forget Errol Otis; a lot of the people who complain about "Dungeonpunk" also like to hold up Errol Otis as the greatest artist to ever grace the pages of a D&D book.

 

[Desdichado]

Don't forget Errol Otis; a lot of the people who complain about "Dungeonpunk" also like to hold up Errol Otis as the greatest artist to ever grace the pages of a D&D book.

I didn't forget Errol Otis; I only mentioned that type of thread in reference to my desire to avoid it and have a different kind of art thread; the up-and-comers that are doing work these days.

I didn't post any James Ryman, because most of his work is showing up in places that don't post their art galleries, but he's done some great stuff for Green Ronin, Privateer Press and Paizo. He's one to keep an eye on too. And I'm a huge Matt Wilson fan, but almost all of his work is with Privateer these days (not surprising; he's one of the co-founders I believe.)

 

[Soel]

I thought this book did indeed have really good artwork as a whole. The shifter pic could've been used by me as well, as I had played a shifter rogue that was a archer.

 

[Testament]

I love the 3rd Ed artwork, and Races of Eberron features some of the best stuff I've seen lately. I only wish that there was some Ron Spencer in that book to finish its near-perfection.

I have to ask one thing though, its been bugging me for years. Why is there so much love for Erol Otus' so called art? I'd rather look at D Crabapple an Jeremy Jarvis' work than Otus! Even from a purely technical standpoint its bad art.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I love the 3ed art, almost all of it.

 

[Desdichado]

I do love Ron Spencer, but I still mostly think of him as a werewolf artist, not at D&D artist.

And I've never liked Otis, or Trampier, or most of the other "olde timey" D&D artists; they mostly just aren't very good. Jeff Dee has some good pieces, but he's also got some bad ones. He's still probably the closest to a really good artist from the early days.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I have to ask one thing though, its been bugging me for years. Why is there so much love for Erol Otus' so called art? I'd rather look at D Crabapple an Jeremy Jarvis' work than Otus! Even from a purely technical standpoint its bad art.

I've wondered this as well. The artwork of Errol Otis strikes me as medicore at best, and I can't think of a single piece of his artwork that has really struck me as memorable. I'm guessing that nostalgia has caused a lot of old-edition D&D fans to view his artwork through rose-tinted lens: they remember seeing his artwork in their first D&D books many years ago, and so now they get a warm and fuzzy feeling whenever they see his art. Ditto Larry Elmore, but at least Elmore does have some artwork that I like. IMO, 3rd Edition is the first edition of D&D that has more good artwork than bad, with artists like Todd Lockwood, Wayne Reynolds, Sam Wood, and artists whose work has been sampled in this thread already.

We may want to take this to a different thread, though. JD has mentioned that he dosen't want this thread to turn into a Old Edition Art vs New Edition Art argument, so I'll respect his wishes.