What were they thinking? The RPG art cringe thread :D

[Snark Knight]

From Hunter: The Vigil.



There was also the Valkyrie agent with an Aliens Pulse Rifle.

[Trond]

From Hunter: The Vigil.



There was also the Valkyrie agent with an Aliens Pulse Rifle.

Who made the original image?

[Wntrlnd]

I'm surprised we don't see more obvious examples of tracing.

Cyberpunk 2020 had some tracing from Masamune Shirows Appleseed being one of the few I've spotted.

[Zelen]

I honestly wonder about the legality of it. The majority of the version on the left is clearly just a few photoshop filters away from the version on the right, but there is nevertheless some artistic effort in making it B&W, how the contrast was controlled, trimming out the background, replacing the weapon, adding buttons, etc. This probably took a few hours to get right even if it's recognizably based on the source.

If Duchamp can get away with drawing a moustache on a reproduction of Mona Lisa it's hard for me to see this as any less unique of a work.

The legal principle of following that guideline is pretty indefensible to me though. This implies I could take an entire movie and flip it upside down and put a watermark on it saying "R.Mutt" and have this qualify as an original work. I have a feeling that movie studio execs would be less intrigued by the artistic statement this type of art would make, and more inclined to sue your ass off and try to put you in prison.

[Slambo]

From Hunter: The Vigil.



There was also the Valkyrie agent with an Aliens Pulse Rifle.

Who made the original image?

Capcom, the video game company, owns the original. Its a promotional image for Devil May Cry 3

[David Johansen]

Avalon Hill's Powers and Perils was infamous for cribbing Frank Frazzetta's art.

[Ghostmaker]

From Hunter: The Vigil.



There was also the Valkyrie agent with an Aliens Pulse Rifle.

What the fuck? I'm surprised Capcom didn't land on them with both feet. That's pretty damned blatant tracing/copying.

[Zelen]

What the fuck? I'm surprised Capcom didn't land on them with both feet. That's pretty damned blatant tracing/copying.

Not sure exactly when this was published, but lets say late-90s. Capcom in the late 90s being a Japanese videogame publisher with little exposure to the US, did they know or care about an image published in a second-tier RPG book?

Did White Wolf even know this art they licensed was taken from Devil May Cry? Probably not. So then the legal responsibility falls on the artist. What sort of damages can Capcom recoup from the artist? Probably not much.

That's assuming the artist can't win the argument that it's an original piece of work based on the transformative nature of the changes he made. Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp for example.

[Omega]

White Wolf has a history of 'borrowing' stuff from other sources. Usually fairly subtle. That one on the other hand is pretty blatant.

Looks like someone ran the original image through a filter then drew or photoshopped in extras.

It could be a really good freehand though. Its a pretty common practice method. Still should not be used for commercial work.
Ok. Did a quick comparison and its one-for-one the same so thats not a freehand. Its been edited to be sure with bits added in. But the core is most likely the original piece run through a filter. Like how some of the Godlike comics were. Just ineptly.

[Armchair Gamer]

What the fuck? I'm surprised Capcom didn't land on them with both feet. That's pretty damned blatant tracing/copying.

  Well, it's not like there isn't precedent going the other way ...

[Omega]

I ran the piece through a simple editor like GIMP and just played with the thresholds and got pretty much the same image so yeah its not even drawn.

The castlevania one though isnt a copy. They just obviously used Ravenloft as a pose reference. Probably same for the guy in the foreground.

Cant find the thread now but there was a TSR artist who used refferences from movies ALOT.
Theres alot of that actually.

[Aglondir]

What the fuck? I'm surprised Capcom didn't land on them with both feet. That's pretty damned blatant tracing/copying.

Not sure exactly when this was published, but lets say late-90s. Capcom in the late 90s being a Japanese videogame publisher with little exposure to the US, did they know or care about an image published in a second-tier RPG book?

Did White Wolf even know this art they licensed was taken from Devil May Cry? Probably not. So then the legal responsibility falls on the artist. What sort of damages can Capcom recoup from the artist? Probably not much.

That's assuming the artist can't win the argument that it's an original piece of work based on the transformative nature of the changes he made. Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp for example.

This incident happened in 2008, just after Hunter: The Vigil was published. The SHTF on Big Purple. If memory serves: White Wolf had their lawyers contact Capcom's lawyers. They said that the artist was a freelancer hired to do one piece (rather than an employee) and they had no idea that he had plagiarized. They said they would replace that piece in future printings and never use the artist again.

Not sure what came of it.

I have a copy. H:TV is an underrated game, btw. Probably my favorite of the NWoD.

[This Guy]

this is garbage art and you know it

[rocksfalleverybodydies]

this is garbage art and you know it

That image makes me laugh: like the beholder is doing a 4th-wall with the viewer and saying "really?"

[This Guy]

this is garbage art and you know it

That image makes me laugh: like the beholder is doing a 4th-wall with the viewer and saying "really?"

"look guys i'm just as embarrassed as you are but trust me the book's good stick with it"