least favourite d&d artwork!

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I can't share one picture, but most of the 2E black cover books fit this--most not all. I can't stand to go from Elmore to that hideousness.
 
Imaginos said:
Really? Nobody?
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I am not going to pretend that 8-12 year old me didn't like D&D cheesecake. Before I started dating at age 12 I would watch an entire film for a 2-second flash of tits. This was 1982-1986 and long before one could type "boobs" in a web browser. A lot of it hasn't aged well but then again, I could say the same for a great deal of pre-Internet... everything.
 
Brock Savage said:
I am not going to pretend that 8-12 year old me didn't like D&D cheesecake. Before I started dating at age 12 I would watch an entire film for a 2-second flash of tits. This was 1982-1986 and long before one could type "boobs" in a web browser. A lot of it hasn't aged well but then again, I could say the same for a great deal of pre-Internet... everything.
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That is pretty poor tracer art, believe I read it is taken from a Penthouse Playmate spread. Much prefer Darlene's take on the succubus from the 1e DMG.

a802ed9374ba705df393ef395a5c825b.jpg

Pose nicked from Dore.

Gustave Dore - Dante - Inferno - 30th canto.jpg
 
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thebigh said:
I hate these three shitheads.

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I loathe and despise them.
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This is basically the famous Chinese picture of Buddha, Lao-tze and Kung-fu-tze, except it's by Erol Otus, so it's about weird-ass sorcerers.

JG
 
Silverlion said:
I can't share one picture, but most of the 2E black cover books fit this--most not all. I can't stand to go from Elmore to that hideousness.
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Oh yeah, that whole "2.5" Players Option line was so horrible for art, from the covers onwards. I remember whe WoTC was releasing the special brown cover collector reprints of all the old TSR editions a few years back I could not believe they decided to go with those instead of the original 2e core books. Blar
 
TristramEvans said:
Oh yeah, that whole "2.5" Players Option line was so horrible for art, from the covers onwards. I remember whe WoTC was releasing the special brown cover collector reprints of all the old TSR editions a few years back I could not believe they decided to go with those instead of the original 2e core books. Blar
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Yeah, nobody wanted a reprint of that version. Such a waste.
 
Imaginos said:
LOL. I was hoping someone would get my joke. It’s the same post I made in favorite pics.
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FWIW, I noticed, but then I was wondering whether you haven't mistaken the threads...and I only read your post now, anyway, after you've explained it:thumbsup:.
(A wasted opportunity, I say:shade:!)
 
Fenris-77 said:
How else do you think they clean up their enormous poops?
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They don't. They've got them wings...

Protip: When people talk about "the shadow of a passing overhead dragon", they forget to add how smelly such an event can be:skeleton:!
 
TristramEvans said:
Oh yeah, that whole "2.5" Players Option line was so horrible for art, from the covers onwards. I remember whe WoTC was releasing the special brown cover collector reprints of all the old TSR editions a few years back I could not believe they decided to go with those instead of the original 2e core books. Blar
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What's the story behind the 2e black cover editions?

I left rpg hobby mid way through the 2e run and was shocked to see what they did to that edition not only in terms of inside art but red print (wtf).

Does anyone know the story behind this epic horrible decision?
 
Neon said:
What's the story behind the 2e black cover editions?

I left rpg hobby mid way through the 2e run and was shocked to see what they did to that edition not only in terms of inside art but red print (wtf).

Does anyone know the story behind this epic horrible decision?
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I think it was an attept to reinvogoate the line and get a cash infusion after 8? years since the 2nd edition books were first published, but it was also tied to the "Player's Options" expansion of the game that had more of a toolkit approach for creating customized races and classes
 
Endless Flight said:
I think of all the D&D artists, Keith Parkinson had the least amount of head-scratching compositions and just plain bad art.
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Oddly, he doesn't seem to get as much love as other tsr contributors of his generation.
 
Neon said:
Oddly, he doesn't seem to get as much love as other tsr contributors of his generation.
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I think because he's not as closely associated with D&D specifically, as he worked a LOT, doing fantasy book covers, other RPGs, videogame box art, etc. Whereas I rarely would see, say, Elmore or Caldwell outside of D&D.
 
Neon said:
Oddly, he doesn't seem to get as much love as other tsr contributors of his generation.
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It might be because his biggest cover at TSR was probably Gamma World 3E but you could argue it was the Forgotten Realms boxed set. If he had gotten a D&D box it might have pushed him to the forefront more.
 
If you asked me to pick a couple years of any artist ever at TSR, I would always say Elmore in 1983-84. Just great covers and interior art.
 
Endless Flight said:
It might be because his biggest cover at TSR was probably Gamma World 3E but you could argue it was the Forgotten Realms boxed set. If he had gotten a D&D box it might have pushed him to the forefront more.
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I think the FR box art was pretty iconic. At the time it really gave that setting a gritty grounded vibe... even if it went off rails pretty fast.

His dragon lance pieces were also gritty. I loved them.
 
TristramEvans said:
I like a lot of Jeff Easley's work, but this was not his finest hour:

View attachment 46814

"lolwhut? I has a cannon...hope I don't spill my coffee"
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Still looks freaking awesome!

Though, I did always wondered about that pose and why tha hell she was holding a cannon, till I did a double take and realized that was supposed to be some sort of vase of something. I think the thing in her other hand is supposed to be an ornate cork.
 
VisionStorm said:
Still looks freaking awesome!

Though, I did always wondered about that pose and why tha hell she was holding a cannon, till I did a double take and realized that was supposed to be some sort of vase of something. I think the thing in her other hand is supposed to be an ornate cork.
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Who doesn't like pics of big jugs and big plugs?
 
TristramEvans said:
Yeah, I mentioned in the other thread its piece always made me sad as a kid. And , it's ike, I an imagine mama Dragon like just dessicating the kingdom over this and rightly so.
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The weird thing about that pic, was that it was in 2e, when the Dragons got powered up big time. In 2e, that poor thing's practically out of the egg. In 1e it's a lot older.
 
Chris Brady said:
What's wrong with it? No seriously, what? I like it. It's a lot better than some of the stuff I've seen here.
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well, diiferent strokes an all that. I just find it incredibly silly-looking, from her expression, to her pose, to her nipples being in different areas on each boob, etc.
 
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VisionStorm said:
Still looks freaking awesome!

Though, I did always wondered about that pose and why tha hell she was holding a cannon, till I did a double take and realized that was supposed to be some sort of vase of something. I think the thing in her other hand is supposed to be an ornate cork.
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I believe she is supposed to be uncorking a lamp with a djinn in it.
 
Here's another one that isn't technically bad (though the poses have that artificial stiffness of a Vallejo), but I detest with a seething h8tred:

roleaids.jpg

Reinterpreting the Dark Elves as ethnically African is so incredibly stupid (and tonedeaf even for the time period) in multiple ways.
 
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