Fantasy Art
I'm pretty interested in fantasy art, particularly when it shows up in games. So much of fantasy art these days is commissioned by Wizards of the Coast for Magic: The Gathering and D&D, after all. Unfortunately, it has a bad history and habit of not being diverse or respectful regarding sex and race. Pretty much everybody is white, and there's also the chainmail bikini issue.
I was wondering what people think in general, but I'm also interested in specific examples of Doing It Right.
Regarding my examples, Magic and D&D, I think that Magic is just head and shoulders above the crowd, but D&D is still stuck in the mud. While Magic isn't perfect, it's probably the only example I know where the art directors have explained to the artists that they don't want cheesecake. Compared to all the monsters, there aren't all that many humans on the cards, but there's an effort made to have men and women both kicking butt. Other humanoids also have plenty of women, and they're also pretty good about not being stereotypical. There are lovely lady elf nobles, but they certainly aren't wispy princesses in barely-there silk; they will fuck you up. The most powerful humanoids, the angels, are also all female. There's probably a bone or two to pick with that, but the angels are all of the avenging mold, not Precious Moments, and they're mostly fully clothed and armored. There's sometimes some cheesecake there, though. Plus, the biggest and most fuck-off terrifying monster ever made, a sort of flying tentacled mountain who could party with Cthulhu, is a lady, kinda. There was a lot of rejoicing when Wizards shared that tidbit.
Things are more iffy with people of color, but I still think Magic handles it much better than most. Elves, dwarves, and vampires are still just white people with funny ears, though. The last two settings, Alara and Zendikar, were pretty great at including people of color and portraying them in non-stereotypical ways. Alara had plenty of black people as noble European-style armored knights, and the most baddass of the knights was a brown-skinned man named Rafiq. The lady angels watching over these knights were pretty much all white, though. The most recent setting, Mirrodin, is a disappointing return to having nearly all the humans white. I can't think of any unfortunate portrayals of race, just that visibility isn't always as good as it should be.
So, yeah. I'm trying not to make too big a deal about Magic's art reaching minimum expectations, but I really do feel struck by how much better it is than so much else. D&D art, along with so much other RPG art, is just cheesecake all the time, and white people as far as the eye can see. I'm especially disappointed with it, considering how much better things are handled across the hall at Magic.
Of course, if there's something I missed or horribly misunderstood, please tell me or call me out on it. For example, the Kamigawa (mythological quasi-Japan) and Jamuraa (mythological quasi-Africa) settings might have big issues I'm missing.
I was wondering what people think in general, but I'm also interested in specific examples of Doing It Right.
Regarding my examples, Magic and D&D, I think that Magic is just head and shoulders above the crowd, but D&D is still stuck in the mud. While Magic isn't perfect, it's probably the only example I know where the art directors have explained to the artists that they don't want cheesecake. Compared to all the monsters, there aren't all that many humans on the cards, but there's an effort made to have men and women both kicking butt. Other humanoids also have plenty of women, and they're also pretty good about not being stereotypical. There are lovely lady elf nobles, but they certainly aren't wispy princesses in barely-there silk; they will fuck you up. The most powerful humanoids, the angels, are also all female. There's probably a bone or two to pick with that, but the angels are all of the avenging mold, not Precious Moments, and they're mostly fully clothed and armored. There's sometimes some cheesecake there, though. Plus, the biggest and most fuck-off terrifying monster ever made, a sort of flying tentacled mountain who could party with Cthulhu, is a lady, kinda. There was a lot of rejoicing when Wizards shared that tidbit.
Things are more iffy with people of color, but I still think Magic handles it much better than most. Elves, dwarves, and vampires are still just white people with funny ears, though. The last two settings, Alara and Zendikar, were pretty great at including people of color and portraying them in non-stereotypical ways. Alara had plenty of black people as noble European-style armored knights, and the most baddass of the knights was a brown-skinned man named Rafiq. The lady angels watching over these knights were pretty much all white, though. The most recent setting, Mirrodin, is a disappointing return to having nearly all the humans white. I can't think of any unfortunate portrayals of race, just that visibility isn't always as good as it should be.
So, yeah. I'm trying not to make too big a deal about Magic's art reaching minimum expectations, but I really do feel struck by how much better it is than so much else. D&D art, along with so much other RPG art, is just cheesecake all the time, and white people as far as the eye can see. I'm especially disappointed with it, considering how much better things are handled across the hall at Magic.
Of course, if there's something I missed or horribly misunderstood, please tell me or call me out on it. For example, the Kamigawa (mythological quasi-Japan) and Jamuraa (mythological quasi-Africa) settings might have big issues I'm missing.