Worst art in an RPG book thread.

[Exploderwizard]

PC races in AD&D are, as far as I know, supposed to have relatively symmetrical heads.

I understand the point you're trying to make, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Everyone has thier personal level of what is acceptable for certain types of art but consider the context in which the art is presented.

Lets use the modron art that everyone points to as the universal example of bad. Modrons are silly creatures, geometric shapes with limbs and faces. These things look like rejects from the Cat who hated people cartoon.

Suppose the art for these things was rendered by Boris Vallejo. We would have smooth clean lines, realistic faces and muscle tone, and they would look totally badass.

This would, IMHO, miss the point entirely. Modrons are silly creatures and it is fitting that the depictions of them are somewhat childlike.

The slapstick silly cartoon-like art of early D&D was perfect for the attitude of the time. As serious heroic fantasy became more popular the demand for more serious art came with it.

Original D&D was all about the lulz and the art reflected that.

[Nicephorus]

I love the Blood of Heroes cover in a "so bad it's good" way.  The guy in shorts looks like he's dancing, with streamers coming off of him no less.  It's like cosplay night at a disco.
 
Luckily, the were too under the radar to get sued for the obvious Terminator ripoff.

[jibbajibba]

Everyone has thier personal level of what is acceptable for certain types of art but consider the context in which the art is presented.

Lets use the modron art that everyone points to as the universal example of bad. Modrons are silly creatures, geometric shapes with limbs and faces. These things look like rejects from the Cat who hated people cartoon.

Suppose the art for these things was rendered by Boris Vallejo. We would have smooth clean lines, realistic faces and muscle tone, and they would look totally badass.

This would, IMHO, miss the point entirely. Modrons are silly creatures and it is fitting that the depictions of them are somewhat childlike.

The slapstick silly cartoon-like art of early D&D was perfect for the attitude of the time. As serious heroic fantasy became more popular the demand for more serious art came with it.

Original D&D was all about the lulz and the art reflected that.

But Mondrons, were not from OD&D knocked up by Dave and Gary for a fun session in 1976 they came out in MM2 in 1983 when D&D was a phenomena with massive media interest etc etc .

If we were talking about an article in a fanzine where the players get trapped in a geometrical puzzle and the monsters , wait for it, all look like shapes with arms and I knocked up some sketches ..... then meh....

What you have is a professional product sold and marketed it as such.

The Otus cartoons fit the early D&D for lulz but they are generally competent and show a mastery of that particular style.

What if the monster rules or powers has been equally amateurish? Clown-men that through custard pies at PCs or feathered tickling monsters that cause a PC to drop all their equipment....

[Nicephorus]

But Mondrons, were not from OD&D knocked up by Dave and Gary for a fun session in 1976 they came out in MM2 in 1983 when D&D was a phenomena with massive media interest etc etc .

It probably went something like this. Gygax was spending most of his time in LA trying to make D&D a Hollywood brand and enjoying the last days of disco. The Blumes were power tripping and spending money like made. All of a sudden, they realized that they actually needed to put out product. They whipped something out, with many of the monsters already published in Dragon or modules. They were too far in debt due to bad management to pay much to real artists but figured "Fuckit, with D&D on the cover, it'll sell."

[Danger]

I don't normally post on here (though the forum is very interesting to read, especially when the swearing and name calling starts!) but felt a need to back you up as I feel your pain (currently running a supers game and about to switch to the MEG system)..

Thank you.

That goddam "Anarchy Man,"; always jumping, snarling and waving that knife and pistol around and those stupid power cables/things...gah!  All is really needed is Liefeld-level amount of pouches all over his jumpy, snarly ass to really take it to the next level of EEEXXXTRREEEMMMEEE.

[Aos]

Thank you.

That goddam "Anarchy Man,"; always jumping, snarling and waving that knife and pistol around and those stupid power cables/things...gah!  All is really needed is Liefeld-level amount of pouches all over his jumpy, snarly ass to really take it to the next level of EEEXXXTRREEEMMMEEE.

I'd bet good money the composition of the that cover is a swipe.

[jibbajibba]

It probably went something like this. Gygax was spending most of his time in LA trying to make D&D a Hollywood brand and enjoying the last days of disco. The Blumes were power tripping and spending money like made. All of a sudden, they realized that they actually needed to put out product. They whipped something out, with many of the monsters already published in Dragon or modules. They were too far in debt due to bad management to pay much to real artists but figured "Fuckit, with D&D on the cover, it'll sell."

Now that sounds about right

[Opaopajr]

See, I actually like lush, bodice-ripping fantasias. Yes they are over-the-top cheesy, but cheesy, just like amateurish, are merely facets of subjective definitions of bad art. Now what's inexcusable is professional art (y'know, stuff that's been paid for) that comes off not even amateurish, but novice and uninspired. Now that deserves a kick in the pants. If you're trained and paid but the best you can do is sloppy, eww...

But yeah, give me Julie Bell & Boris Vallejo everyday (a bit unfair, they were very talented). Hell, even "tumescent... bosoms!" Harlequin-esque art (the romance publisher) is fun stuff, if a bit dispelling of any "Role playing is serious stuff!" vibe at the table. Though I must admit, as much as I may love cheesecake, Avalanche press could really put more effort. I don't mind my game modules sharing space with Low Rider & Maxim magazine, but at least invest a bit more passion into the rendering.

As for bad art, that's something I'd rate on an individual basis -- which I kind of thought was the point of this topic (not another edition flame war). We are talking about worst individual art, right? Or are we talking about a single book with the worst art total? Because, if we're now ending up doing the latter, it's a terrible, terrible waste of a fun topic.

[jgants]

What the industry really needs is a supers RPG based on Leifeld's supers.  Then we'd have entire books of objectively terrible art to make fun of.

[APN]

Thanks for the 'welcome to purgatory' - guess I'll check my hat, coat and soul in at the door before venturing in here too often

As for the Liefield art, I wasn't sure what the fuss was about the guy until I looked it up.



I've never seen a human being with a forearm wider than her waist, a backside you could land a plane on norks you can open the door with from several metres away, I must admit.

That said, the art in question is better than that of Blood of heroes simply because its got more background in than most of that games art.

I gather Liefield can't draw feet either. Didn't some of his work get used for a game? Fuzion or Champions millennium or something? I'll have to look it up.

Then avoid it like the plague.

[J Arcane]

That Blood of Heroes cover reminds me a lot of one of my few art targets of actual hate, rather than amused mockery:



What's just as bad is they apparently liked it so much, that when their license was pulled and they had to "switch" to a new setting, they didn't really go out of their way to change it much:

[Cole]

Instructive article : The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings

[Ghost Whistler]

Thanks for the 'welcome to purgatory' - guess I'll check my hat, coat and soul in at the door before venturing in here too often

As for the Liefield art, I wasn't sure what the fuss was about the guy until I looked it up.



I've never seen a human being with a forearm wider than her waist, a backside you could land a plane on norks you can open the door with from several metres away, I must admit.

That said, the art in question is better than that of Blood of heroes simply because its got more background in than most of that games art.

I gather Liefield can't draw feet either. Didn't some of his work get used for a game? Fuzion or Champions millennium or something? I'll have to look it up.

Then avoid it like the plague.

I have never heard of this man before.

But the answer is Champions Millenium. The art in that is ridiculous, and that picture is horrific.

[islan]

My actual reaction:

I don't see what's soOHMYGAWD!

[J Arcane]

I think I've found a new worst game art nominee: Eoris.

People were glowing about this game in the other thread, which just proves to me, along with the defense of some of the worst of D&D art, how utterly terrible the local taste here is.

This stuff is shit. It is exactly the kind of awful, tacky, overly glowy, cliched, mostly half-photoshopped Poser model shit I see for sale in mall painting shops.  For fuck's sake the logo is a fucking wolfs head and there's one of those mini-dreamcatchers with the feathers attached "hanging" off the end of the menubar on the website.  


Look at this shit:


And then we have this piece that opens the sample adventure (clouds in space WTF im surprised there's no unicorn), which I might point out is followed by four pages of fucking Photoshop textures with tribal tattoo logos in the middle before it gets to some actual text (which is illustrated mainly with photoshopped CGI anime weapons):


We are also treated to this splash page of a woman with no arms, a shirtless Korean man, Snow White, and what looks like one of the Final Fantasy leads photoshopped into spikier armor:



This one that looks like someone just discovered Photoshop filters yesterday:



A couple more samples that I'll post without comment:





And finally, the image I feel sums up best exactly the kind of drek that best represents this kind of art:



Now all it needs is two more of those and a moon, and you could put it on a T-shirt.