Warhammer art style

I really wish more games would incorporate the Warhammer style of art. Much of it is black and white, and it is better looking than a lot of color works from other games, imo. I like some of the cartoony or straight fantasy stuff in D&D and similar games, but none of it is as atmospheric as the Warhammer art (Planescape is the best example of well-done D&D art styles).

Stuff I'd love to see emulated far more often:

Art that would make a great game

Some pictures just scream out adventure, and really make me want to game. Here are a few:

 Click on the image for a bigger version.

Malazan artwork

I've been reading the Malazan books by Erikson, and I found a bunch of great pics based upon his world. Here's a few (click on them for much larger versions):

Tattersail meets with Quick Ben, Kalam, Whiskeyjack, and Sorry at the very beginning of Gardens of the Moon.

Karsa Orlong riding around in the Seven Cities, being awesome.

Segulah warriors, with Lady Envy in the background.

Mappo Runt, looking suitably barbaric.

Moebius passed away

Moebius, aka Jean Giraud, passed away. He was an amazing artist. He was in both mainstream comics and Heavy Metal. I'm sure his influence has been huge with modern artists. RIP.

3d computer-generated art

This hasn't been a huge problem with most OSR books, but it's starting to pop up in other projects. Unless the 3d art is really good, it looks like crap. Especially when someone just pastes a 3d character onto some random background.

You know, stuff like this.

I understand it's cheap, and many publishers don't have much cash, but black and white line-art is just as cheap, and almost always looks much better.

Elmore drew the hottest elf chick

I really miss having Larry Elmore's art in D&D products. He is, and will likely always be, my favorite artist. I love women who wear face paint and kill monsters, and Larry was a master at drawing and painting them. He was the best artist in the bunch among the early guys, in my opinion. I think it's kind of crappy that so many OSR "purists" take every chance they can to take potshots at him.

Book covers

One of my frustrations with the OSR is that many of the games have very poor cover art. I like the S&W core rulebook, the black and white WhiteBox rules (and I admit that's not even super art, but I like it), and the deluxe red Labyrinth Lord covers. Pretty much all the others are amateurish, usually in some perverse desire to ape the originals. Newsflash, if TSR could have afforded really nice art for their covers, we'd have had it. Notice the improvements in cover art through the 1980's and 1990's. There's a reason the old art style was abandoned as soon as TSR could afford to do so.

Most of the OSR covers appear to be designed for a 12 year old from the 1980's. If I was still that kid, I'd be happy. However, me, and probably 90% of OSR gamers, are in their 30's and 40's. I think publishers should take that into account.

Artwork, layout, and editing

Artwork has been getting bandied about on the blogs, so I figured I'd put my two cents in. I really prefer books with good artwork and layout. Unfortunately, most old-school publishers can't afford a lot of great art. And then some like to ape the art from the 70's, which I think is a big mistake. This is one area that I think The Haunted Chateau was right about, as it used more modern art, even though the adventure was very old school. I think more publishers should do this.  While a Mullen cover is amazing, much of what is used in the interiors is not so amazing. I am aware that great art costs money, though, and the OSR has a limited customer base, so I am willing to accept this. Maybe if I ever hit the lottery, I'll get something published chock-full of great art.

The other issue I have is editing and layout. Most OSR books have decent layouts, so I am pretty happy about that. Editing is up and down though. Some products are extremely well edited, others have one or more typos or missing words on almost every page. This is an area that is extremely important, and many OSR publishers are well aware of it. Some still need help. I hope things continue to improve on both fronts, as has been happening over the last year.

This picture is Dungeons and Dragons for me

When I first started playing, I had the Otus-cover B/X books, and the Companion set. And for whatever reason, this is my favorite D&D-related picture of all time. It just screams high fantasy, and I love it. Which is kind of weird, as most of the games I've been in have been more down and dirty Black Company style stuff.