The art in 122, as a whole, has made great strides from the cartoon art of earlier issues. So, before the whining, a congratulations. The art for #122 is a definite marked improvement over earlier issues.
The Cover: Awesome. Sense of motion, nasty "oh crap we have to fight those" bad guys, evocative setting.
Final Resting Place
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Intro Picutre: Yuck. The praying mantis looks like the psychic from A Bug's Life. If I show this to my players I'll get giggles and Great Carnac impersonations rather than "oh craps". The setting is not the least bit evocative - it's partially a blueprint and partially plain brown mushrooms. The whole thing is much too cartoonish. (Is anyone else tired of the iconic PCs?)
The Grafting Pools: This scene deserved a better picture.
The Maw Column: The use of color is so uniform that I can't make heads or tails out of the picture. Only by reading the text could I figure out what it is. And the picture is wrong. The text mentions "climbing to the top" to gain entry while the picture looks like you walk into it.
Eating Brains: Funny but good.
Illithid Head: The same "cartoony" look that I don't care for but this picture works! It's got a definite "yuck" feeling to it. It's emotional. Evocative. A very good piece of art that really adds to a key part of the adventure.
The Trog: Again, cartoonish, but a very good picture. It would have been nice for the illithid hand to be more prominent.
Fiendish Footprints
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Intro Picture: Yuck. Some trees. This is the INTRO picture to the adventure. It gets basically a full-page. Shouldn't the intro picture be something that grabs you and makes you want to read the adventure to find out about the picture? This picture says "ho-hum, the PCs will walk through a forest". (Getting tired of the iconics)
Hobgoblin Pyre: Good picture showing a good scene from the adventure. The colors though make everything run together.
Hobgoblin Cheif: Great picture. Three different bad guys. All of who will make your players say "Ah, crap. We have to fight that?!"
Berwin: I'm divided. A little bit of cartoony, a little bit of really scary monster.
Fiendish Foot: Without the adventure text, I can't make heads or tails of that picture.
Root of Evil
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Intro: That's a good picture with a nice scene, but it doesn't match the adventure. You can't look at that picture and see that it's a demonic 2000ft tall tree. The town looks very pleasant, not the destroyed nightmare the adventure portrays.
Purple Worms: I'm divided again. A little bit cartoony, a little bit scary monster with a good sense of action in the picture.
The Maws: Decent, but it's a complex scene in the adventure. A picture could really help explain this scene to the players. I'm not sure this picture does that.
T Rex and Hag: Great picture. The hag's face really conveys "sick & twisted". The vertical, narrow picture really works. The T Rex is massive, looming, intimidating.
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Previously, I've complained about the "cartoon" style of art. You guys have proven me wrong. Cartoon style, while not my favorite, can work. Recent issues have been much better than earlier issues. The key, it seems to me, is that the pictures should be evocative (a nice, means-something-different-to-everyone word for you to shoot for :)) and the bad guys should look bad, not comical.
And I should add that I agree with Greg Vauhn's letter 100%. This is more nitpick than complaint. The reorganization, once you got running with it, is a great improvement. Overall, Dungeon is excellent and I really look forward to getting it each month. The artwork overall is good, with some pieces being very, very good (this month's cover, the illithid head, and the T-Rex) while a couple pieces aren't pulling their weight.
The Cover: Awesome. Sense of motion, nasty "oh crap we have to fight those" bad guys, evocative setting.
Word. One of my favorite covers ever.
Oh, and I absolutely love the lizard on the Prison Mail page.
Thanks Rob!
I'll keep in mind the notes about the art. I agree that we can definitly improve in some areas.
Since I'm primarily responsible for the artists and the art that goes into the mag (Except for the cover, that's Sean Glenn's baby), I gladly accept any feedback you guys have to offer.
If you come across any artists that you think would make a good addition to our arsinal, let me know. I'm always interested in checking out new talent!
Mike
Yuck. The praying mantis looks like the psychic from A Bug's Life.
I wondered why the mantis had pupils? compound eyes are creepy, and appropriate for insectoids.
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Ditch the iconic characters. Every group is different. It would be nice if (say by accident) one of the pictures happened to show the exact characters my group is using.
I think the style (overall) was too cartoony. I was particularly displeased with the "chibi" adventurers. It might work for Willow, but it doesn't work for my epic fantasy.
I mainly didn't like the clothing and accessories depicted on the Final Resting Place characteers. The wizard NPC that sends the PCs on the adventure is particularly bad. This is vanilla D&D, not Tekumel or Skyrealms of Jorune. Is it so hard to stick with a "medieval Western European" look unless the adventure is deliberately set somewhere "exotic?" I mean, to use a World of Greyhawk analogy, the adventure reads like it would be more at home in Urnst, but the characters look like we're in the heart of the Amedio Jungle.
"I think the style (overall) was too cartoony."
I would be inclined to agree. The color scheme overall is also brighter with more pastels and such than I normally prefer in fantasy art.
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In general, the cartoony style doesn't bother me. I would like to see a bit more variation between adventures just to set them appart from each other. My reading diet is heavy in comic books anyway, and I don't mind 'cartoony". In particular, I thought the brain eating scene with the alien utensils and the Illithid head totem were stand-outs!
I also don't mind the Iconics. I think it would be a good idea to bring in some more to keep things mixing, though. Having the same band of four popping up in each adventure kinda deadens the impact. You're going to pop up to 7 soon and that is good, but having about 10 characters to choose from would probably help relive some of the "enough already" critisisms. Need a thief in the art? Sometimes you can use our two-weapon wielding Scarlet Sneak, and sometimes a gadgety gnome trap-devouring type (just as a 'fer instance).
The cover was a thing of beauty! Great action, great colors, superb lighting! It's the action scenes play out in my mind. Awesome job, Dan Scott!!
Kyle, you are a madman...and I mean that in the most complimentary way! I love your art and your maps kick ass, too.
My favorite 'find' in the art, though, was how Ramon Perez used the Aztec goddess Coatlique on the spread for the "Ring of Storms". Knowing it was an Eberron article, I was not that jazzed about it. But I had to laugh as my first reaction was 'Yeah, monkeys, skull-lined path, overgrown damaged stat...wait...I know THAT necklace." Very nice!
I have to agree that the art for "Final Resting Place" was not my favorite. The groteque proportions and "Mad Magazine-eque" gross/funny appearance just doesn't do much for me.
The art for "Fiendish Footprints" was good, and "Root of Evil" was increadible, my favorites being the purple worm encounter. The artwork in the Eberron article was interesting and good even though I am not tht interested in the setting.
I have to say though, and I know it wasn't intentional and its not neccisarily any one's fault given when the magazine is put together as opposed to when it gets shipped, but I still canno read the "Atypical Enemies" article becuase of the drooling, elderly pontif on the first page. It just feels very disrespectful, given when I first got the magazine, but I would like to say again, I understand it was out of your hands and not intentional.
I still cannot read the "Atypical Enemies" article becuase of the drooling, elderly pontif on the first page. It just feels very disrespectful, given when I first got the magazine, but I would like to say again, I understand it was out of your hands and not intentional.
Yeah, no disrespect intended. The illos get done months before the magazine goes to press, and it is about another month between hand off and printing where the issue is completely out of the hands of the editors. I am reminded of the unfortunate timing of a Dragon cover with an Arabian theme and the headline "FEAR" that shipped immediately after September 11th. Oops.
Oh, I understand completely. I know it was an unfortunate timing incident, I guess I just to to get it off my chest. I blame no one, just a horrible twist of fate.