Tone of the art

[kafka]

Some of the art gave me thrills & chills - illustration of the Droyne for example.

But others simply were not Traveller - the protraits of the careers for example or the air/raft.

I really loved the Starships and other penciled drawings. I was wondering what is the tone of art that we might see in future products.

One of the things James Maliszewski learnt in making a Thousand Suns is that you can never have too much artwork in a Space Opera game (especially of the quality sort that is in a Thousand Suns & parts of MGT)...what is the tone of future art releases for MGT?

Broad advise stick close to the art is in your Runequest line rather than Paranoia.

 

[Mark A. Siefert]

A lot of the art in the core rulebook seemed way too 40K-ish to me (especially the character description artwork). The looks of traveller should be somewhere between "Aliens" for lower TL worlds, and ST:TNG for higher tech.

Please, for the love of Dog, NO 'dark, gothic, future" nonsense for the OTU. That might fly for Strontium Dogs, but it looks dumb for Traveller.

 

[Golan2072]

Some of the illustrations remind me of the art in Starcraft's manual... A few more are quite Alienesque in look. Anyhow, the ship illustrations ROCK BIG TIME and are lightyears ahead of any other graphics in the book.

 

[SSWarlock]

...Anyhow, the ship illustrations ROCK BIG TIME and are lightyears ahead of any other graphics in the book.

Well..yes and no. While I do prefer the ship illos for their "coolness" factor and for seeding player imagination, cleaner "technical" illustrations also have their place in providing more detail to enhance player imagination as well.

IMO, the most effective illustrations would be a set of "real-life" scene drawings featuring a ship, technical external views (bow, stern, side, and dorsal/ventral views), and deckplans.

 

[Matrix Cypher]

...Anyhow, the ship illustrations ROCK BIG TIME and are lightyears ahead of any other graphics in the book.

Well..yes and no. While I do prefer the ship illos for their "coolness" factor and for seeding player imagination, cleaner "technical" illustrations also have their place in providing more detail to enhance player imagination as well.

IMO, the most effective illustrations would be a set of "real-life" scene drawings featuring a ship, technical external views (bow, stern, side, and dorsal/ventral views), and deckplans.

OH YEH!!! Starship Porn Baby.... Bring it on. :shock:

 

[SSWarlock]

LOL! I was thinking more of like the pics at the hyperlinks I posted in my Art of Traveller thread.

 

[cpip]

But others simply were not Traveller - the portraits of the careers for example or the air/raft.

Hmm. I really liked the career portraits. If I had to draw a connection to a precedent in portraiture, they reminded me of some of the art from TNE's career pictures.

 

[-Daniel-]

But others simply were not Traveller - the portraits of the careers for example or the air/raft.

Hmm. I really liked the career portraits. If I had to draw a connection to a precedent in portraiture, they reminded me of some of the art from TNE's career pictures.

I have to point out that liking the pictures does not mean they did not feel like Traveller. For me, I did not mind them as art, but I did not think some of them were traveller at all. Same for some of the other art in the book. It was not that I disliked the art, just it did not feel right to me.

But I do also realise this is a subjective thing so I expect others to have different points of view.

Daniel

 

[kafka]

Yes art is subjective. But, art is also part & parcel of a presentation of a particular viewpoint. And what we are trying convey is what is the feel of Traveller. Those characters for me just sent off the wrong vibe.

Traveller for me has been always associated with aliens films (yes, there have been a few strange things there). Working class stiffs going out and end up saving the world. So, yes, this is contrary to the Warhammer 40k stuff but it also leans toward realism which for me Star Trek does not. Therefore, showing the universe is both light & dark is Traveller mostly residing in the many shades of gray.

This in no way suggests that characters are not heroic or should be looking like overweight couch potatoes who shout for their beer & remote control...the model that I use is that many of the great soldiers of the innumerable modern wars and heroes of today were simply working class stiffs. So, whilst, a Mark Hamil in the original Star Wars would be a perfect spoiled son of a Noble, he is not, a farmer by any accounts. Part of the appeal of Ewan MacGregor or Liam Nelson in the new films was that he was able to bring that working class image together with a poshness of being a Jedi. The same applies for Traveller.

Those character concepts for the classes in no way made think this is your typical ______ career. So, I just want to see better art.

Resident Pain in Art

 

[Klaus Kipling]

To be honest, despite the high quality of the shaded artwork, in a book such as MGT Core, I'd prefer to see all B/W line art. This is mainly a printing issue - shaded work is just not presented to it's best on none glossy paper. If MGT Core was printed on the same kind of paper as Conan, than sure, lets have it, but and on uncoated paper line art is best by far.

And, I believe line-art is unfairly under-rated in some quarters. Just because something is painted/shaded does not make it inherently better.

I will admit the career art does look a little crude. I believe it's more to do with the time the artist could afford to put into it, rather than his inherent skill (though the scout-courier fellow on p.33 does look like his arms are as long as his legs). As for the style, it is in the vein of Brit comic art, which is far more varied in style than US stuff. I am assuming the artist is British (tho I'm just as likely to be wrong ) - that might be why to some it looks Warhammer-ish. Nowt wrong with the Brit-style, to be sure.

It's still better than most of the art I've seen in the CT or MT era, though. And not a mullet in sight!

I will say that the gun art is very much on the poor side (I believe it is the same draughtsman as the career art). Too quick, and conceptually flawed (the power cable on the lasers would unbalance the weapon).

 

[SSWarlock]

I will say that the gun art is very much on the poor side (I believe it is the same draughtsman as the career art). Too quick, and conceptually flawed (the power cable on the lasers would unbalance the weapon).

Then you're gonna love this..a real laser rifle prototype developed by the US Air Force. And they just had to call it a "PHASR" rifle. :roll:

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn8275.html

 

[Trantor]

...

But others simply were not Traveller - the protraits of the careers for example or the air/raft.

...

looks like this horrible vargr air raft illu which was once in a journal, I guess, 20+ years ago ...