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

[Pat]

All I see is a beholder giving the reader a sultry look.

"I'm a sexy, sexy beholder. Look at my big anti-magic ray."

[Omega]

Eyes up here bub.

[Ghostmaker]

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?"

"Shut up, they're paying good money and the rent is due at the end of the month."

Yeah, some of the early art wasn't so much cringe as it was janky as hell.

[kosmos1214]

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.

lol try 2005 at the hight of capcoms might on the ps2 as an A list publisher developer and well established in the usa as they had been since the the mid 90s.

[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?"

"Shut up, they're paying good money and the rent is due at the end of the month."

Yeah, some of the early art wasn't so much cringe as it was janky as hell.

Jank just sounds like cringe but you like it or the SOUL/SOULLESS divide of /tg/ but all right fine fine, tastes subjective

since we already got encephalitic halflings galore how about tiny-headed Elric or muppet Owlbear

[Bren]

since we already got encephalitic halflings galore how about tiny-headed Elric or muppet Owlbear

Poor Elric just can't seem to get his...boots to stay up. Seems like the Melniboneans would have a way to fix that.

[Omega]

Are they his boots, really big spatz, or bellbottoms?

All of the above?

[DocJones]

Elmore's art often drew on actual models for faces and posing. It always amuses me when someone insists that the proportions or poses are unrealistic.

I have seen people drawing nudes very competently from life and being criticized for "unrealistic breasts". In some circles pretty="unrealistic".

I always thought Boris Vallejo's paintings were idealistic and unrealistic until I met one of his models  (she was an 11).

[Zelen]

I always thought Boris Vallejo's paintings were idealistic and unrealistic until I met one of his models  (she was an 11).

Absolutely. I used to know a gal who modeled for Elmore (sans big hair). Strange how a particular strain of "art critique" seems uniquely targeted against beautiful women by envious people.

[Ghostmaker]

I always thought Boris Vallejo's paintings were idealistic and unrealistic until I met one of his models  (she was an 11).

Absolutely. I used to know a gal who modeled for Elmore (sans big hair). Strange how a particular strain of "art critique" seems uniquely targeted against beautiful women by envious people.

There's a theory I've seen that those people (usually also well marinated in wokeist thought) actively hate beauty -- whether it's people, architecture, or anything else. Because they've never gotten over their ugly-duckling days in high school.

[Bren]

Are they his boots, really big spatz, or bellbottoms?

All of the above?

To me they look like badly drawn cavalier boots. If not badly drawn, then the cobbler used leather that needed some serious stiffening.

[Omega]

I think Dee may have been going for something like this. I would think a boot like that could be pulled all the way down even? And wayyyyyyy back there were these sort of rain covers for shoes that could be folded all the way down. (but werent supposed to be.)

[Bren]

Yes. Those are a type of cavalier boots. I don't think they were ever intended to roll down until they look like 1970s bell bottoms. I've seen a lot of period paintings, reconstructions, and whatnot of those style boots. I've never seen one like those drawn and I've no reason to assume the artist was more knowledgeable.

[Omega]

I doubt they are supposed to correlate to anything real. They could be really stylized spatz. Oddly enough I have an old action figure from around the same time with shoe covers like that too, just not as pronounced.

But a quick search of his art and came across two other pieces where he draws characters with long boots folded really far down. Not as far as in that piece. But he seems to return to the idea now and then.

And hey, its Elric right? Who is going to tell him he can not roll down short boots too? 

[Bedrockbrendan]

Yes. Those are a type of cavalier boots. I don't think they were ever intended to roll down until they look like 1970s bell bottoms. I've seen a lot of period paintings, reconstructions, and whatnot of those style boots. I've never seen one like those drawn and I've no reason to assume the artist was more knowledgeable.

It might have been the artist, but when this sort of thing has occurred for me it almost always the art direction (i.e. I give the artist a not so great example of the item of clothing in question and that causes the sketch or final version to look off---most artists I have worked with are happy to adjust this kind of mistake at the sketching phase if you catch it). Also possible, like you suggest, they were trying to give the character a bell bottom vibe or something (but maybe just go all the way and give them bell bottoms or bell bottom like clothing if that is the case). But this is really easy to mess up. If an artist isn't familiar with the clothing in question and you provide one example to them, and that example is taken at an odd angle, is quirky in any way, or just not well done, that cause something like this easily. I try to give a bunch of examples when I can to avoid this. I would imagine cavalier boots now are pretty easy to find tons of images for. At that time though they would have to have manually searched through books for examples or found actual boots to use as models. Might have been harder to find something stellar, or to find multiple examples.