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6 months ago ::
Nov 27, 2012 - 9:04PM
#1
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- VCL Emeritus
- The Inquisitor
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One of the most common questions I get when I'm on the road is this one: "When are you going to do a cool D&D art book?" Art books ARE cool! Well, they are to an art lover, and we have done a few for D&D over the years. But it's been awhile, so let's talk about art books for a few minutes and discover what you might like to see in one if we did one in the future. Actually, I'm just going to ask lots of questions. Your answers will help inform and educate on what you are really interested in seeing in the world of art books. Dragon's Eye View: Art Collections
Quentin Small
WotC Online Community Coordinator
All around helpful simian
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6 months ago ::
Nov 27, 2012 - 11:22PM
#2
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Date Joined:
May 12, 2009
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I would love a art book (print or digital) with a mixture of old and new arts and with possibly short stories to accompany the images covering a large variety of styles and subject. My favorite D&D artbook has always been The Worlds of TSR !
Oh I'd also love to buy my kids D&D coloring books man!
Yan
Montréal, Canada
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6 months ago ::
Nov 27, 2012 - 11:25PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2009
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Buy that coloring book in a heartbeat.. got a 7 year old daughter who would love it
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 2:09AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Sep 17, 2004
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Personally, I'd like to see something along the lines of the databooks some of the more popular mangakas release as supplementary material for their manga series, like these books for Bleach.
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 5:28AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Nov 19, 2007
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Art collection book? Sure! Colouring book? Definitely!
In memory of wrecan and his Unearthed Wrecana.5e should strongly stay away from "I don't like it, so you can't have it either."
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 10:31AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Nov 18, 2007
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What I'd really like to see is an entire adventure + ready-to-play party done as an art book. Have several characters to choose from, character sheets ready to go, and a few paintings to begin to describe the character and their background. Pick the one you want to play, and then flip to the first adventure page to see what you encounter. The DM flips through the book ahead of time to see what pictures are coming up. No text beyond the character sheets, monster stat blocks, and whatever might be ICly visible within the scene (signs, dwarven script, etc.) Play up scenes from the setting's history: art as exposition.
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 1:27PM
#7
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I would buy D&D coloring books so fast...too fast to make a good metaphor.
My two copper.
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 2:23PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Feb 28, 2012
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I would want to use a D&D art book as a springboard for adventure ideas, and as long as there are pictures that stimulate me, I am okay with whatever level or kind of text in the art book there is.
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 2:56PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Nov 18, 2007
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I would want to use a D&D art book as a springboard for adventure ideas, and as long as there are pictures that stimulate me, I am okay with whatever level or kind of text in the art book there is.
Yeah, on second thought, I agree with this -- with the proviso that each piece of artwork is designed to inspire an entire adventure, rather than just be art that might or might not inspire. An entire artbook for a single adventure is probably too narrow a vision to sell well, but an art book that launches 50 adventures or even 50 campaigns, now that would be something.
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6 months ago ::
Nov 28, 2012 - 4:07PM
#10
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Personally, I'd prefer something like the FR World Bible (that John has mentioned) instead of just a Generic Art Book. I can look up pretty pictures online, and I don't really have the cash to spend on just a nice coffee table book. But a book filled with a variety of concept sketches, finished art, art that didn't quite make it into published matieral, some prose describing "here's why we decided to draw people from The Heartlands this way", sketches showing the visual development of various races... THAT I would totally buy without hesitation.
Not that I don't appreciate the beautiful work and the talented artists WotC employs. I would just find something like the World Bible more useful. It showcases art that would never be seen otherwise, and for me at least, provides far more inspiration than yet another painting of a fighter, a dragon, and a mostly naked chick. So many conceptual artists never get the credit they deserve, they pump out WAY more art than a guy doing single paintings. And it's stuff you can look at and say "the NPC looks like this guy" or "so this is what architecture in Amn look like" or "you've walked into a halfling village, and these are the sorts of scenes you see" - great, now I can better describe the world my players are in. That to me is incredibly useful, AND celebrates the beauty and artistry of D&D.
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