Which single RPG book, regardless of whether its core, adventure, sourcebook or the likes (as long as its an actual RPG book and not just an "art of rpgs book") do you think stands out to you as the one with the absolute best art ever?

RPGPundit

I dont think many will agree, but I thought the Stephen Fabian art in the van richten guidebooks was great. It is more about style than execution but just some of my favorite black and white illustrations for an RPG.

I'm torn between WHFRP and I think it was the second Ars Magica book, beautifully haunting work. Its hard to beat Warhammer Fantasy though, what I love about it are the little details, a needless balcony with underwear drying on it, a drawbridge with fiddly rickety looking supports, thought and consideration went into everything, and not a little research. I'd take a good Warhammer sketch over most glossy CGI efforts these days.

B/X Expert book (edited by Cook and Marsh)

Erol Otus's cover and creepy interior work, Willingham's heavy shadows, Dee's clean lines,...   Every illustration in that book still appeals to me to this day.

Quote from: RPGPundit;579153Which single RPG book, regardless of whether its core, adventure, sourcebook or the likes (as long as its an actual RPG book and not just an "art of rpgs book") do you think stands out to you as the one with the absolute best art ever?

I'm very impressed by the art and design in the new Shadows of Esteren book, especially now that I have the physical book.  There are a lot of games I have with excellent pieces of art in them, but I can't think of any off-hand that work as well as a whole art and design package.

Actually, one other also recent book that has a very high concentration of excellent evocative art is Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Ian Baggley's art for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea just rocks the worlds of my imagination.

Quote from: John Morrow;579162Actually, one other also recent book that has a very high concentration of excellent evocative art is Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Agreed.

Quote from: John Morrow;579162Actually, one other also recent book that has a very high concentration of excellent evocative art is Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Is it just me, or has Jeff Dee's art gotten a lot worse than it was in the 80s?  I've noticed this a while ago.  It just seems more sloppy now.

Any D&D/AD&D book with Elmore work, and VtM as I'm a sucker for Tim Bradstreets work.

Also a big fan of Elmore, so basically anything with his artwork is great.  

If I had to pick a single product, though, I'd go with the Complete Book of Humanoids.  There's others that are similar, but basically it included a number of 'full-page' art with full color and all that jazz, and then several illustrations.  I'd take more 'full paintings', if I could, but I think it had the right balance of art to text, and it really did stimulate my imagination.

Hrmmmm let's see..

Mouse Guard and Artesia are both very pretty books.

Qin the Warring States.

The original Mutants and Masterminds was quite nice.

Any L5R 4th edition or Eclipse Phase books.

Mouse Guard, definitely.

But Castle Falkenstein really stands out to me as well.

Eclipse Phase is the best (and probably most genre-appropriate) use of digital art in RPGs, in my book.

DCC has the best old school B&W art I've ever seen.

I have a distinct fondness for White Wolf WoD art. oWoD had lots of crap but some great pieces; nWoD is generally more understated but interesting as well.

For me, hands down the best art was by Janet Aulisio in the Earthdawn books. All of that was awesome and I still crack open those books to admire it.

God, that's hard. Best ever? For me so much of it is tied to setting. Some of it is so iconic, I cannot imagine the setting without the lead artist. For me Crom is Dark Sun, DiTerlizzi is Planescape, etc. (just like Jeff Dee is Melniboné, and everyone has overdeveloped calves and Elric's high cheekbones ).

I will say I favor lush compositions, especially if they can find that magical Frazetta hazy-lush suggestive look. I love Bell & Vallejo and their attention to detail, but sometimes on the periphery, less is more. AS&SH retains several pieces that achieve this hazy-lush look I seek: focal point is detailed, enough periphery hazing for imagination to fill out.

However, though I do/did like Richard Kane-Ferguson M:tG work (as an example), I found it overly busy through the years. Seeing this aesthetic seemingly consume CCG art, it's an aesthetic I find like oregano -- a little goes a long way. Something like Larry Elmore however has such a classical golden mean composition that their oeuvre lasts far longer in a positive light in my memory.

Wow, that was a totally unproductive non-answer...