In last week's blog I covered some of our rationale for creating the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary Box, and unleashed some of the new elemental pawn art you'll find in that box. This week we are continuing our look at the new art with the most iconic enemies in fantasy—chromatic dragons!
When it came to creating the dragon pawns for this box, dragons posed a particular challenge. While the art for the dragons in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary is great, none of those pieces were commissioned with anything like pawns in mind. Their majestic wings, razor-sharp claws, and toothy maws were designed to look scary on the printed page, but their grandeur couldn't be confined to the measurements of a pawn without cropping. And let's face it, cropped dragons just didn't look nearly as scary. We went back to the drawing board, and tasked Ben Wootten with creating awe-inspiring dragons that would fit on pawns. Personally, I think he did a phenomenal job. I think you'll agree.
And I thought the elementals looked good last week...
...
Aye, this put the box into 'probably' category. Next week I suppose they will tell me there is 1d3 of all the critters from the monster summon lists FTW. :)
Matthew Morris wrote:
I want that blue as a forum avatar. :-)
+1
Be happy to move off that other company's mini avi :)
(there are other blues that would be cool avis also [/hint] unless you have a blue mini in the works... :)
This set is single-handedly making me choose running a game in-person as opposed to online. I'd been coming to a crossroads due to scheduling and such on how to run my next campaign. It's getting really, really hard not to want to get this set. I hope that Bestiary 2, 3, and NPC Codex are coming soon after! Yay pawns!
Ben Woottens work is always solid. I really like the postures of the dragons.
It's just a shame that the pathfinder dragons are not as cool as the old WotC ones. Paizo just took away the coolest characteristics of the old ones (the black dragons forward crooked horns, the silver dragons mohawk and the gold dragons awesome wings).
I already ordered two of these on amazon.co.uk. Will there be boxes for the other bestiaries as well?
Ben Woottens work is always solid. I really like the postures of the dragons.
It's just a shame that the pathfinder dragons are not as cool as the old WotC ones. Paizo just took away the coolest characteristics of the old ones (the black dragons forward crooked horns, the silver dragons mohawk and the gold dragons awesome wings).
I already ordered two of these on amazon.co.uk. Will there be boxes for the other bestiaries as well?
WotC probably has rights to the art designs of their versions of the dragons, so I don't think Paizo can use them.
Personally, I like Paizo's versions better anyway. I don't like the aquatic style wings that many of the d&d metallic dragons had.
WotC probably has rights to the art designs of their versions of the dragons, so I don't think Paizo can use them.
Personally, I like Paizo's versions better anyway. I don't like the aquatic style wings that many of the d&d metallic dragons had.
This is, in fact, the case. While the notion of chromatic and metallic dragons are covered by the OGL, the physical descriptions of them are not. Thus, we had to get new concept pieces done for all 10 of the true dragons for use in Pathfinder.
I have to say, the bipedal green dragon with digitrade legs and a rhino horn is the most menacing to me. Inward-facing teeth like a shark... extra-long claws... yeah. That's one scary dude.
Oh, just one note... I hope Paizo folks don't even think of commissioning future book art with the dogma of being contained in pawn proportions.
One for book and a different one for pawns is alright. We can always use more art. And if you want to feed us with a third submission too, we won't complain.
Oh, just one note... I hope Paizo folks don't even think of commissioning future book art with the dogma of being contained in pawn proportions.
One for book and a different one for pawns is alright. We can always use more art. And if you want to feed us with a third submission too, we won't complain.
I love Paizo art because most of the time its only the monster, no background like in D&D which often makes the pictures too chaotic. Also in this pathfinder-art style you can use the pictures easily in you own RPG games and stuff, easy to print for OWN USE ONLY of course. :D
I agree that multiple different pictures of a creature is really cool, I hope to see more rare monsters getting some second art, like JOrogumo, Charybdis and Barghest.
WotC probably has rights to the art designs of their versions of the dragons, so I don't think Paizo can use them.
Personally, I like Paizo's versions better anyway. I don't like the aquatic style wings that many of the d&d metallic dragons had.
This is, in fact, the case. While the notion of chromatic and metallic dragons are covered by the OGL, the physical descriptions of them are not. Thus, we had to get new concept pieces done for all 10 of the true dragons for use in Pathfinder.
Funny thing I found out about Ben. I have been working with him for a while now. Until a few days ago I never knew he had such a talent. He is a very quite young man. If you think the work shown here is good, you should see some of his other sketches. FRAGG'EN Awesome!
I'm gonna echo what everyone else has said... except...
I really don't like the blue dragon designs. They just look downright puny and frail. I'm not a big fan of the WotC dragon designs, but their blue dragons are AMAZINGLY cool. Same goes for Copper and Bronze.
Now, you guys have the market cornered on the others. Some of the cooler dragon art I've seen, but those three examples could use some work, imo.