WotC Artwork in books

[Orius]

I think that perhaps a lot of that perception also stems from some very popular CRPG's. Namely Baldur's Gate and to some extent Planescape:Torment. BGII came out around the same time as 3e, so they are linked in some people's minds I think. Like you said, the funny shaped shields and piecemeal armor thing was very prevalent in those games and I think it carried over into print to some degree as well.

Perhaps. However, Planescape:Torment, while lauded as an excellent CRPG was really not as popular as the Baldur's Gate series. The weirdness in Planescape art goes back to the beginning of the line anyway. Never really noticed the dungeonpunk look in Baldur's Gate; the original game tends to have a fairly traditional look to it. I think those elements are more prevalent in BGII.

Considering the pool of art resources WOTC should be able to draw from, they bloody well SHOULD have good quality art. Come on, umpteen bazillion artists drawing cards for Magic should give them some idea of who would be a good artist for a book.

True, but IMO, some MtG art is even worse than the "dungeonpunk" look. It might be a matter of the pieces not looking as good as they should on a card in some cases, but in other cases some of the stuff is just plain butt-ugly (for the record this applies to early MtG art. I haven't really seen cards that have been published in more recent years).

 

[Joshua Randall]

MtG art has also advanced by leaps and bounds since the days of Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited. However, any time you compress a normal-sized piece of art down to a 2"x3" rectangle, you're going to have to accept some loss of oomph. Also, the MtG art directors will sometimes take the submitted art and swap its left-right axes (so the creature is facing east instead of west, or whatever) or apply a color wash to the entire piece (to make it greener or redder or etc. to fit with the five colors of MtG).

It's pretty cool the stuff you can learn from a friend in the business.

 

[James Heard]

Just as an aside, and back to the derailment... One of the main reasons I adore Otus is that, just like I completely associate my mental picture of dwarves with Elmore, Otus sort of defines the way I look at halflings. Enormous hairy feet, huge lambchops, distinctive noses...Honestly, his monsters and drow never did much for me. His halflings are my halflings though. Besides, the Blackmoor hardcover felt weird without him and I just realized why.

 

[Psion]

His halflings are my halflings though.

Dee's are mine. Which is why I am so not onboard with the 3e-skinny-halfling-loathing.