Graphic Design query

[sladethesniper]

OK, so I have a project, and it's done, all except adding in the art. I have a few more pieces than I thought I did...but should I use them as "chapter art" a la White Wolf...or just intersperse them where they "seem to fit" with the text or use them as filler for "white space".

Also, are there any feelings about whether or not to "explain" the artwork. I have seen this used in some products which then allows the player to go, "ah, so that's so and so, the E-ville dread necromancer" OR is it better to put artwork in there and let the player figure out what to do with it?

Just questions. Thanks.

-STS

[soltakss]

Unless the artwork specifically explains something then I wouldn't use explanations.

You could put a caption under the artwork to quickly set the scene, I suppose, "Cyborg playing with a Plasma Rifle" or "Gunslinger feeling the benefits of Quickdraw" but I wouldn't go further than that.

Half the fun of artwork is working out who the people are suposed to be then complaining that it isn't accurate

But, there again, I see artwork as basically a filler to avoid large areas of whitespace or to break things up a bit, so it's never been important to me. Chapter art (which I see as having a pretty picture for each chapter or section) has always seemed like such a waste of space - you could have got 12 pages of rules instead of having 12 pretty pictures. If I want pretty pictures I can go on the internet and ...

[Publius]

Frankly, I'd use artwork shot through the text rather than Chapter Art. As Soltakss says, it breaks up the text, otherwise the text looks far too dense. Pullquotes also break up the text; it takes a bit of skill to use them and you certainly don't want to over-use them (which I may end up doing myself).

[sinisalo]

Artwork is massively important to the sales of fantasy products. Its no mistake that D&D, warhammer, magic the gathering and whitewolf invest heavily in fancy graphics and they are also the market leaders. People buy such products just for the pretty pictures. Myself I wasted £10.99 on a pathfinder book (which is apparently a mag by the way) simply because it had the most gorgeous cover illustration and design i'd ever seen. The writing was appalling. It's not just me, either.

Trust me illustrations are integral for a great many people to get in the mood for this stuff.

As for your specific question, I was looking at my favourite books I'll never buy in Forbidden Planet and they have on average a colour illustration every three to five pages. I'd go with sprinkling them in but if you don't have that level of illustrations I'd go for one on each chapter.

[sdavies2720]

Please don't use them as 'filler' for whitespace. Whitespace is really important to assist the clarity and appeal of the text.

Use the images to lighten up dense sections of the text. While it's useful to have images on the chapter headings as a visual signal to the reader that they are entering a new subject, probably the images will do more for you embedded in the text.

Steve

Edited September 15, 2008 by sdavies2720
Fix typo

[Atgxtg]

Artwork is massively important to the sales of fantasy products. Its no mistake that D&D, warhammer, magic the gathering and whitewolf invest heavily in fancy graphics and they are also the market leaders.

I would say that the position of market leader generates the profits required for more/better art, rather than just being the end result of the art. Case in point being D&D. D&D, the most successful RPG, was successful first, which meant that TSR could afford better/more art.

Also, while a pretty picture might get more people to buy a product, if the product the art is complimenting is substandard, the art won't make a product line successful.

[Puck]

Boy I wish I had this problem with the Green (too much art). I have always found that art interlaced through the text helps a great deal with reading role playing or any informational text. This is providing the art helps with the image, mood, or point you are trying to get across with the text. It almost works as an index when you are flipping through books as well and makes it easier to find items you want to reverence. I would try to make sure the art matches the text though and is there for a reason.

Really great art can and has often caused me to buy roleplaying material or even paperbacks that were pretty worthless otherwise. I am and always will be a sucker for good covers.

[sinisalo]

I forgot to mention Osprey books, now stacked high in Waterstones and borders. We like the pretty pictures *and* we like reading about the merits of horse archery in Iran. What clinches the deal, however, is 4 or 5 Angus McBride colour illustrations. And these books aren't cheap either and very thin.

Regardless of whether TSR had good or bad art when it started, it was colourful and strong. Magic the Gathering started off with good art from the beginning and so did Warhammer and Whitewolf.

Sorry they got their image right and pulled people in off the street.