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5th Edition Champions Art you liked!


Hermit

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This is a praise only zone, want to gripe? go to the other thread ;)

 

I can't always tell who did what pieces of art (my eyesight sucks so I can't always make out those little sigs even when artists DO put them in) so I thought I'd praise a few individual pieces from different books. I'm going with art that appeared (or was reused) in 5th Ed , because otherwise I'm afraid this will turn into a "4th art was so much better ..." which is just another gripe fest.

 

None of the below are 'perfect' If perfection can be found, but I do think them worthy of praise

 

From Champions: News of the World-

BRAVO , page 58. I like the costume, the swashbuckler smirk, and the stance looks ready for action.

DR. VOX, pg 61. You can see the eyes behind the goggles in a very detailed and realistic (for superheroes anyway) fashion. The pose is very comic book, without looking silly.

FLASHOVER, pg 79. Wow. Insert mandatory joke about her being a 'hottie' here. Having her on the chimney seems almost a play on her powerset, but also helps keep her from being just a figure in a void without cluttering.

SUPERSTAR,pg 81. Good face, I appreciate the details on the visage. The star symbol on the side is clear without being obnoxious. Dude has a lot of hair.

 

VALAK THE WORLD-RAVAGER, pg 146. I love the details on the Halberd. The tars and energy like patterns off the axehead of it really draw the eye, and Valak himself looks very comic book alien. I admit it, this is one I wish I could see in color.

 

Many other pieces of art in this were just fine, or even good, but the above ones were my preference.

 

I'll post about art from less recent 5th Edition books later that I liked (Like you guys care ;) ), in the mean time, if there are any 5th Ed Champion book art pieces you guys want to praise, here's a thread for it

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

In Teen Champions

 

I thought a lot of the images really hit the mark with the genre. My 3 favorites at a quick glance:

 

The expressions of all the characters when the very young-looking Motor City Defenders try to get into the Palamino Club using fake IDs (p 38.)

 

There's a lot of really nice subtlety to the images of the Head Gardner on page 50.

 

Where did Hugo get the section of pipe? And is the liquid he's standing in flammable? (Pg 56.)

 

CT

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

Something not as recent, but a book I enjoyed a lot

Hidden Lands

 

The Cover: Got the point across very well that the settings in here are not going to be in Kansas anymore (Or MC for that matter) and at the same time seemed like a great homage to the Savage Land in comics or Land of the Lost on TV. I see by the credits it's by Storn. Color me unsurprised. :) 90% of the time, Storn rocks... the other 10% he's merely very good :)

 

PRINCE MARUS, pg 28. Crisp lines, nice bling, Pimp with a Trident.

 

 

ARCHON, Pg 59, shines without color, which is a pretty cool stunt. Good body detailing, yes I make him sound like a camero but the stance and overall effect certainly get the Empyrean Superman feel across.

 

ENFORCER ASHIMA, Pg 61. Love the 'camera looking down at her while she's looking up' effect, and white eyes work for mentalists. She casts a shadow, which is a nice touch. Also, if I can say this without being politically incorrect, the shading of the flesh is well done, you can tell she's not white, but it isn't a ethnic caricature

 

THE BETRAYER ARVAD, pg 135. The drawing just matches the personality of the write up so well, a decadent Alexander/Caesar sort of mix.

 

COMMANDER ZARN, pg 141. Two drawings for the price of one! The face AND full figure make it easy to visualize this guy in battle or out. Add the details on the chest blazon, the leonine helmet , and you've got a pretty cool looking Lemurian Warrior.

 

Actually, all the Lemurians looked pretty good, but those two stood out to me

 

Oh, and I'm not sure if Maps count, but Keith's work, as always, was wonderful in this book. Seriously, I'm glad Hero Games has a strong cartographer on their side.

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

I pretty much like anything by Andrew Cremeans(sp?) He did the art for the Crowns of Krim...among others.

 

 

Seconded. Call me shallow, but the big reason I bought The Ultimate Vehicle at GEN CON 2004 was his illustration of mechanic Lita Kalenowski on page 221. :thumbup: The combat mecha on page 104 was quite exceptional as well, as was the dueling autos on page 168 and the helicopter squadron on page 180. Thankfully the text was exceptionally informative, which meant my money was well spent--but Lita was the best; if HERO ever does a pin-up calendar, she needs to be in it, or I'll be very disappointed. :mad:

 

For what it's worth, I've never had a problem with any of the artwork I've seen in any of the HERO 5th books I've purchased or browsed through. I don't see what others are complaining about.

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

Too much to individually place here so I'll point out why I like a particular artist. M'Kay? And yeah, I'm kind of repeating myself from the other art thread.

 

 

Storn Cook - 1) Evolution. I knew he had chops back in the day (4th Ed Champions Universe) but his skills have really come one, He's a much better inker than he was back then. His colors rock (not necessarily visible for the Hero stuff, but still)

2) Comic book style. Storn's work reminds me of Alan Davis. He has a very fluid style and his body styles oft remind me of Mr. Davis.

 

Chris Stevens: Great stuff. He works for Udon now, and they are heavily into Capcom's fighting games right now. But Chris' Hero stuff always seemed larger than life. His lines are very clean and again, we don't get so see enough color stuff, but his Colored Dr. Destroyer from the HERO vs GOO web combats is in my opinion the Definative piece of work. The B&W version is in CKC.

 

Greg Smith: Besides his wonderfully...er, developed females, I like how he does metallics. He has some of my favorite faces as well.

 

Jonathan Davenport: He has great perspective shots, and I loved his work in VIPER, STAST*, and the Ultimate Brick.

 

Eric Lofgren did much of the work for Monster Minions and Marauders, his elf, dwarf, and equildt (the dog people) were simply brilliant.

 

Nato's work in Fantasy Hero was awesome and he draws great vehicles.

 

Give it up to Keith Curtis' maps and the art he's posted to the boards is first rate as well.

 

Andrew Cremens is consistently awesome.

 

Like Hermit said, Sketchpad's Bravo was perfect, I also liked his work for Dream Witch, Fleshtone, Blackguard, Entropy, and the Curse.

 

The Ultimate Speedster and Ultimate Skill were enhanced by the Brothers Fraim and JC Cram.

 

I'm sure I've missed some guys and gals but I'll post more as I recall. Gonna flip through the hero stuff this weekend.

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

In Champions (I think, not Champions' Universe) there's a sequence of pictures where Mechanon goes after Witchcraft, whumps her good, and then Defender blindsides Mechanon while Witchcraft retaliates at the same time (made their teamwork roll :D). Very very cool sequence. Wish we had more like that.

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

In Champions (I think' date=' not Champions' Universe) there's a sequence of pictures where Mechanon goes after Witchcraft, whumps her good, and then Defender blindsides Mechanon while Witchcraft retaliates at the same time (made their teamwork roll :D). Very very cool sequence. Wish we had more like that.[/quote']

 

I'm proud to say I own 2 of the 3 originals of that sequence. Got 'em framed on my wall. :thumbup: Wish I had the third, but someone snapped it up before I could get my grubby bunny paws on it. :(

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

In Teen Champions

 

I thought a lot of the images really hit the mark with the genre. My 3 favorites at a quick glance:

 

The expressions of all the characters when the very young-looking Motor City Defenders try to get into the Palamino Club using fake IDs (p 38.)

 

There's a lot of really nice subtlety to the images of the Head Gardner on page 50.

 

Where did Hugo get the section of pipe? And is the liquid he's standing in flammable? (Pg 56.)

 

CT

 

it was a blast working on TC. My favorite was the mutant getting attacked by giant robots.

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

The flying heroine on pg 158 of Champions is probably my hands down favorite. I especially appreciate that Storn has a color version of her on his website, but the greyscale in the book is excellent too.

 

I also have to admit the the little vignette of her visiting the Grove in MC (pg 135) made the Memorial Grove a necessary stop when my character Speedzone made a visit to that city in Hermit's 'of Masks and Metahumans' game on Herocentral...

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

There were some bits in UNTIL Superpower Database I liked, as much or more for the concept than the execution: the evil mime with forcefield powers, and two less-than-stellar moments for Nighthawk (his getting flattened by a piece of building due to the guy with luck-based powers-- reminiscent of Phil Foglio's Deus ex Machina Man-- and his being attacked by a barrage of random items by a telekinetic in a diner: utensils, glasses, napkin holders etc.).

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Re: 5th Edition Champions Art you liked!

 

Goin' way way back. I really the lawyer/paralegal/??? on page 357 of the rulebook ("CHANGING THE RULES" for those with v5.5). So demure but so WOW!

 

I liked the interlace stuff in Tuala Morn. Most the art there was good, except the donkey-eared elves. I really like the pic on page 185---the priestess doing the sacrifice. Very powerful image!

 

The cover of Fantasy Hero gets a big thumbsup for showing two powerful women. Page 376 gets a bigger one for showing FIVE!

 

The cover of C.U. is kinda cute for having a buncha "who are they"'s. Only, who are they? Oh, and we don't havta look at Saff's bony butt. ;)

 

25kivd2.gif

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