Me and a friend made some doodles of the 5e dnd book covers [Archive]

Falcon X

2015-10-22, 11:57 AM

You really captured some neat things in these pictures. This is art man:

Player's Handbook: Let's start with the one on the right. I like that we are already getting into some philosophical territory here. The Giant looks gender-bent. It is either a woman or a trans-gender. This seems to follow some of the recent trends and attempts by Wizards to make the genders equal in presentation. This might also show some in-world shift away from the Giant's commonly patriarchal society (don't quote me on that, I'm assuming).
- On the left. I think this is fairly weak and was obviously the first done of the four. That being said, he looks like a stereotypical evil stepdad about to grind that kid into dust. If that was intentional, then it wins a lot of aesthetic points from me. That puts this into a whole new meaning.
Have you ever had a game of roleplaying that suddenly "got real" for you? I have one Shadowrun group I play with. They played through a young boy who was goblinized into a troll spontaneously. The other players extracted him, but this guy's life was over, his whole society hated him for what he was, and he had no place to go but the streets. The session ended when he took a shotgun to his own head, which caused a long silence among the players, but was entirely appropriate.
That is what this picture reminds me of.

Monster Manual: Two wildly different takes on this one. Lets start with the one on the left. This is a more aggressive and powerful beholder. Likewise, the PCs characters have strong looking weapons. However, even though the PCs look well armed, it is obvious that this monster will overwhelm them. It's eye stalks look incredibly beefy, and its teeth look like it could shred armor. I think this captured best what the original picture was going for.
- The one on the right takes a very different edge. This one is almost comical and reminds me of the picture of the Flumph in the 5e Monster Manual. The beholder really looks like it just enjoys being alive, or is greeting long-lost friends. In a realism setting, this makes me wonder if the beholder has gone insane and actually thinks it knows these other people, or if it's just so happy to get food. Either way, it can make for neat storytelling if that is the character you give the beholder.
If this is not realism, then this is a fun little page. It takes a lighthearted, childlike approach to monsters, like Pixar's Monsters Inc. or fan art such as: http://img15.deviantart.net/2b3a/i/2010/276/c/2/beholder_and_drow_by_feliciacano-d2qhp76.jpg

Dungeon Master's Guide: The one on the left tells more of a story, I'm thinking. Rather than a lich, I think this is some kind of tribal chief, perhaps a goblinoid or a kua-toa. His garb looks very formal and developed for showmanship. It reminds me of the Christian Bible of how the Jewish priests, by the time of Jesus, had begun to wear fancy clothing just to look impressive. That's this guy. I really like how you emphasized the skull necklace. I want to say this is the former tribal leader's head. Whether, he killed the former leader himself or not... who knows?
The bigger question is: who's the other guy? He looks like he is throwing that skull. He could be a hero, casually discarding one of the tribal leader's friend's severed heads. He could be an ally performing a ritual. However, what I do NOT get from this picture is that he is an undead rising from the grave.
- The one on the right does much more justice to the original picture. This is obviously a powerful villain, likely of demonic or undead nature, who is summoning forth a vile, albeit weak looking, minion. There is a lot going on here with power differences. The domination is palpable.
It's also intimidating. It's as if he is laughing at you, saying that even this, the weakest of his minions, is more than a match for you.

Princes of the Apocalypse: I think the one on the right is the stronger of the two. This is an interesting take Aerisi. She looks even more like a god-like commander than before, and the minions look like they are being hurled at the enemies instead of them flying at the enemies. What I see here is that you captured the essence of how Aerisi sees herself. She doesn't see herself as this being of feminine grace so much as the Storm Bringer. Good job, I think I'll meditate on it some before my next game.
- The one on the left lacks certain emotions. She seems almost robotic, which in itself could be an interesting characterization. Is that what Aerisi is becoming? We already know she is compromising the race she was born with, but just how far will she go?

Overall, this is some good work. I'm much more of a fan of whoever did the works on the right, but this is mostly because I have a penchant for frivolous, exaggerated, and fun characters. The one on the left does pictures that I would take to my drama group. I look forward to seeing both of your next pictures.
Do you think you can do "Out of the Abyss", "Hoard of the Dragon Queen", and "Rise of Tiamat". Each of those pictures have unique things that you two could bring out, I'm thinking.