2300AD: Tools For Frontier Living. The Art.

[Gee4orce]

So I bought Tools for Frontier Living as soon as I saw it was available in PDF. The first thing that jumped out at me was the artwork: the first few chapters have images of colony sites rendered as if they were satellite reconnaissance photos. It's very well done, incredibly evocative and informative. Excellent stufff.

Then I got to the equipment chapter.

:shock:

What happened here ? Looks like someone left the placeholder artwork in ? I don't mean to be unkind to the 'artist' but... well, perhaps this aint your vocation after all ? I mean, these are just plain terrible. They actively detract from the product. The image of the woman on pg 84 is plain terrible. My daughter can - honestly - draw better than this. And she's 4.

The images of satellites look like something that I sketched in the back of exercise books when bored in class way back when the original game came out.

Absolutely woeful. I find this level of artwork inexcusable in the current age when there a huge online resources of artists that are easily accessible.

 

[Anonymous]

Totally agree, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

 

[Colin]

I'm glad you liked the colony images. I had fun making them, even if the rendering times were measured in hours...

 

[Mithras]

So I bought Tools for Frontier Living as soon as I saw it was available in PDF. The first thing that jumped out at me was the artwork: the first few chapters have images of colony sites rendered as if they were satellite reconnaissance photos. It's very well done, incredibly evocative and informative. Excellent stuff.

Agreed, I love those 'satellite image' maps of the colony types. Very nice.

 

[Mithras]

I particularly like the section on agriculture and the awesome section on building structures. I haven't tried out the construction rules yet though. But, nice touch!

 

[Ash247]

Some of the "basic" style art works, the vast majority is dire.

There are a couple of revolvers that pg110 and pg111 where the hammer falls onto a chamber that doesn't line up with the barrel.

I have to agree with the the OP, that the vast majority of the art looks like place holders.

 

[mr31337]

I'd far rather not have artwork in at all than have artwork that is lacking. I'm willing to bet most consumers feel the same. :?

 

[Airlock14]

Cover - great, really like this one.
Colin's writing - wonderful as ever
Colin's maps- Perfect
Equipment, vehicles & weapons art - FFS, this is pretty apalling, some of the worst i have seen in a professional publication and does Mongoose's image no good at all and ruins the book for me. Please redo these, if budgets are tight then crowd-source it. There are enough 2300ad fans out there with artistic talent to help out.

 

[JRoss]

How does the art compare to the Zhodani book or Luriani?

 

[Joi Sourcebook]

I agree with the above.

I downloaded the pdf yesterday and skimmed through - thought nice colony maps a different take on the usual plan but just as informative and excellent atmosphere.

Got to the equipment section and as my teenage son might text OMG WTF!

Please tell us these are place holders left in by accident? Please?

 

[Ash247]

If they're not place holders, then i would put a stop on printing (if possible) and delay while you get new art done, because having no art would be better than 90% of whats in the equipment/guns section.

 

[Mithras]

I would think that the onus on Mongoose was to match the item by item artwork that appears in GDW's excellent Equipment Guide. But I agree, no art is always better than bad art.

 

[Gee4orce]

Glad to know it's not just me then. This book should be held up as an example of how great artwork can enhance a product (first few chapters), and how bad artwork can actively detract from it (the rest of the book).

And, no, I don't think budget really is a good excuse. Take a look at a game like Hollow Earth Expeditions - I don't think that was produced on a huge budget, but - wow - the artwork is beautiful and really adds that extra dimension.

Honestly, I think I'm done buying Mongoose products after this.

 

[Wil Mireu]

It is interesting that the PDF preview contains just the good art (the cover and maps). That just makes the surprise even more unpleasant when people come across the terrible artwork later on. Though that probably wasn't the intent, it could come across as a deliberate attempt to mislead people.

How did this pass through any kind of quality control? I can't really blame the artist so much as the Art Director who allowed it to be published. It's simple to not hire the artist again, but unless the Art Director is fired and replaced by someone who is capable of doing their job this will just keep happening.

 

[middenface]

I would think that the onus on Mongoose was to match the item by item artwork that appears in GDW's excellent Equipment Guide. But I agree, no art is always better than bad art.

I would have done more art for this book other than the deckplans... my time was short, had some crap to deal with, so just squeezed out the plans...

 

[Gee4orce]

And the greater irony is that - for once in a Mongoose Traveller product - the deck plans are actually quite good, and nicely drawn ! Certainly a league ahead of some of the dross that's appeared in previous products.

 

[Grazelander]

Once again the mongoose art department have shot themselves in the foot! I cannot understand how half the book has fair art and the other half is terrible. Were they designed in a vacuum? Surely consistent art across a line is a desirable trait and this day and age while lamenting the state of RPG sales they push out this half done work.

I don't even think the deck plans are much use either as they represent the fixtures and fittings of vessels with artificial gravity, obviously not present in 2300.

Really sorry I wasted my money on this one, hope they update the PDF with some decent art.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Once again the mongoose art department have shot themselves in the foot!

Producing PDFs only is a downward spiral. The lower consumer price forces more spending cuts. So quality goes down.

 

[Colin]

As the author of this book, I am quite proud of what I wrote. I think it represents a very good resource for creating the feel of the Frontier in 2300AD (or any setting), along with a good selection of civilian-oriented equipment, vehicles, and weapons. So it has that going for it.

I also created the maps in the first part of the book, and I feel that those are also a significant resource.

On the subject of the deckplans, there are a few factors to keep in mind. Starships under stutterwarp do not have thrust. They do not accelerate. Therefore, especially in civilian vessels, deck orientation is irrelevant. The Comercant, as an example, is based on a previously-published design, and has to conform to the artwork available for that. The orientation of the space station modules makes the best used of their interior space, and there is the example of a 'spin can', which is added to a station to create an area of some artificial gravity for health and safety. Otherwise, much like the ISS, none of the station is under gravity.

 

[Colin]

Once again the mongoose art department have shot themselves in the foot!

Producing PDFs only is a downward spiral. The lower consumer price forces more spending cuts. So quality goes down.

Tools for Frontier Living will be available in print in February.