June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!

Read this article on the Illuminator.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

This looks absolutely fantastic! Great work, Brandon!

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Absolutely thrilling!

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

I'm thrilled to see Wizard and The Fantasy Trip come back.

That cover is incredibly tame, and can't see it making an appeal in a local game store.

Remember, this is the standard that was set:

https://goo.gl/3rF4ou

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Brandon did good. We will have more to show over the next month.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Both previous covers for Wizards showed a memorable scene of magical combat. I'm sorry but this is terribly disappointing. It's just a robed woman doing... not much. People this isn't an art class where you're supposed to say encouraging things because you like how he did the sparkles or the hair. This is the cover for a product meant to go on sale. The covers of old got my long-ago teenaged heart racing. This does not. Sorry.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Agreed; the concept seems to be trying to appeal to, or cater to, something else not related to the game; and with a motivational-focus on something other than accurately defining the game visually - and all at the potential expense of future sales, with the added risk of alienating the long-term loyalist customer-base.Agreed; and well said. While wonderfully rendered in terms of artistic talent, I cannot say the same for the design concept and elements employed. Perhaps accurate art-direction would be found by applying focus on the stated definition to the actual game itself:

"WIZARD is a game of combat between two or more wizards and the creatures they conjure up." - TFT: Wizard; 1980 Third Edition (revised).

JK

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

I'd have to say I agree with the disappointments expressed. Whilst it's perfectly ok as a simple piece of Fantasy Art, it looks like it should be part of a larger scene. And I want the whole scene not just one tiny corner. Who or what is she casting a spell at? And why? And where?

If you look at the great classic covers of FRPGs, such as the first edition AD&D Players Handbook, there's a lot going on in that picture; dark underground cavern, giant idol with huge rubies for eyes, dead lizardmen litter the floor, adventurers prizing gems from the eye sockets. That picture tells a story and fires the imagination.

I was hoping for that sort of treatment.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

I thought the new cover art is pretty dull.

My favourite cover was the first edition. In some ways the art was rough, but it showed a wizard lightning bolting a summoned 7 hex dragon, a coven of wizards aiding a master wizard casting the dragon. The dungeon art (which carried on to the back cover), made you feel that there was a real story.

It also felt that the artist had actually played the game, unlike the "I removed your face" cover art. That spell was not even in the game.

Warm regards, Rick.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

"Artwork" today and the artists that seem to make it almost all rely on computer software and graphics.

The original Wizard cover, which *isn't* the one with the floating head but rather the interesting scene where a wizard is in a cavern on a cliff shooting a lighting bolt at a dragon being conjured by several other wizards down below which he probably doesn't realize are there.

It's a very good cover and draws the viewer in to the possibilities of the back and forth that Wizard the game allows, tricks and illusions, so to speak.

Like most of the modern world of styrofoam, laminates, sawdust, and glue for cheap house construction that lacks true craftsmanship, much of art has suffered the same.

Very few artists that I have seen or know actually even draw any more, it is all computer guided and generated.

The new cover isn't bad (and what young male doesn't want to fill their view with an attractive young lady) and I am very happy TFT will hopefully be made available to the general public and a generation of phombies, but it fails in engaging much of the imagination of what Wizard the game can be, IMO.

Grade: C+

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Although the art is well done, as a front cover and therefore visual representation of the game to players, I think it's much weaker than the original Wizard covers.

For a front cover for a game, this new Wizard cover art doesn't evoke much of what Wizard is (a deadly magical arena combat game) and it is rather generic and shows almost nothing unique to communicate why this game would be interesting or distinct from any other game about magic (which disappoints me, since Wizard is one of my favorite magic systems, and is quite different). There's no background and the least-generic and most visually-interesting thing is that the caster is a woman, but gender, sex and appearance are not part of the game, and neither are her jewels and potion unless it includes such content from Advanced Wizard.

It would be great to use as secondary (back cover, or interior) art, but it doesn't represent the game well.

The logo also seems overly soft, colorful, rounded and cartoonish, for the flavor of the game. e.g. it doesn't conjure a feeling that goes with Yzor's cracked ribs or his opponent being finished off by a conjured wolf...

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Don't like it at all. Steve brought back Liz Danforth to do interiors and this guy is doing the run-of-the-mill cover art in Photoshop? Sacrilege. Liz was excellent on MERP and did not clash at all with the man named Kent Burles: https://mythvoyager.deviantart.com/gallery/

He should do this job.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

I think the picture itself is well executed...but, having said that, I have to agree that it doesn't get my blood pumping the way the original Wizard cover did (guy shooting lightning bolt at a dragon). Or even the second cover, which at least told a story.

This cover, while vibrant, just sort of begs a lot of questions instead of telling us a story. I could wish for...something more evocative. This picture would make a GREAT internal picture for the Big TFT Book, though!

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

I'll join in on this. I'm a fan of Brandon's art, and this is, as JLV says, well-executed, but it's a single figure with no background. In short, it's very plain. Now, perhaps there's more going on here than we see so far. Perhaps it's part of a triptych with planned Melee and In the Labyrinth covers, but in isolation I don't see it working as a cover.

To sum up: Brandon good, art direction questionable.

(That said, I didn't care for either of the Wizard covers and I found the face-on-sphere one actively off-putting, though I did always like the original Melee cover.)

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Yeah, I'm not excited by the first Wizard cover, and though I like the second cover, many people complain "what spell is that?" (I can excuse it as the Death spell, or maybe Summon Myrmidon - we also always wondered where these myrmidons were coming from and what their experience was like - maybe it's the soul of the summoned creature being forced to fight to the death for the wizard? That would explain the facing...). I do like the Advanced Wizard cover (though some players also wondered what spell that was).

But as I wrote before, I think all those covers are better cover choices than the current one because they (have more interesting/intriguing content than one figure, and) evoke the grim tactical combat game that Wizard is, and the new one doesn't do that for me.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

The visual aesthetic of a game is important to me, so I've no choice but to side with the detractors on this one, I'm sorry to say. The composition just isn't interesting.

The original Wizard cover by Clark Bradley had great ingreadients: It had a wizard in a dynamic pose. It had a DRAGON! And it had spooky figures as secondary characters. It had a composition that moved from the wizard's face through the bolt shooting from his finger to the dragon, then down into the robed spell-casters and back up to the wizard--a classic triangular motion. It also had interesting negative spaces, and a visually interesting area that held the title text while supporting the overall space of the drama. It had a simple palette that implied a full range of color. The picture implied a critical moment in an unfolding, unresolved story--a story I want to know more about every time I look at it. If it sold as a poster, I would hang it on my wall.

The new cover has a woman with poorly rendered hair (well, rendered inconsistently from the rest of her face, clothing, and accessories), striking a boring pose, and with a nondescript expression on her face. The composition has no motion whatsoever--the eye is grabbed by the glowing tendrils at the end of her hand and it stays there. Everything except the text is blue and the background is a void without a hint of setting. There is no story here to catch my imagination. I would not only not hang this as a poster, I would replace the Wizard book cover with an illustration of my own, or a copy of Bradley's.

I urgently hope this one gets rejected; it won't help to sell any games.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Perhaps Steve could invite long time TFT devotee and acclaimed fantasy artist David O. Miller to submit an idea for a cover!

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

The problem with going with art that has a bit too much realism (with a small letter r) in it is that it makes everything very specific--usually too much so. One of the reasons Tolkein's own illustrations are among the best of his world is that they are stylized. They depict a world that is real in itself--familiar through our experience of our own world--and yet its own unique self-consistent universe. I'm afraid Miller's art is too far into the camp of making look as real as possible. Don't get me wrong; he's got chops. But his images (particularly his color work) shows rather than evokes. The best illustrations always leave room for the viewer's imagination.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

With the caveat that I am not an artist, I didn't find it terribly evocative. The art seems pretty bland and the wizard's face seems a little...off. I think we tend to be drawn to faces, so extra attention to the face is probably a good idea.

The blue robes on a blue background tend to wash out.

Also, the words "The Fantasy Trip" and "Wizard" are glommed together in a single blob and aren't easily distinguishable.

I just don't think that this cover will make someone stop and pick the product up.

I realize that my comments are vague; subjective impressions are often like that. But this might help - here are some contemporary examples of RPG cover art that I think are well done:

https://d3idt3y1vhsqn9.cloudfront.ne...MM_Cover_1.jpg

https://cdn3.bigcommerce.com/s-9zhx0...00.659.jpg?c=2

In my opinion, the proposed Wizard art is both technically inferior and less interesting than either of these.

I googled "Wizard Art" which yielded zillions of images. Here are some that I liked and that I find to be more engaging and technically superior to the proposed cover:

Male: https://pre00.deviantart.net/f555/th...es-d9woys6.jpg

Or this: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20140825184506

Both: https://img00.deviantart.net/d887/i/...ir-d7dyidd.jpg

https://pre00.deviantart.net/b2ab/th...an-d9h2r13.jpg

Female: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5c/8f/da/5...c190442e98.jpg

Or this - https://www.wallpaperup.com/uploads/...b28b87-700.jpg (Though I'd prefer a different spell being shown).

Also, I'd rank the proposed cover as inferior to the second Wizard cover: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0wbSHljVOZ...00/M%2526W.jpg While I realize that this artwork probably isn't available, it IS an example of very engaging artwork.

I'd say the proposed cover is no worse than the first Wizard cover: http://www.museumofplay.org/online-c...2/Z0053247.jpg EDIT - After thinking about it, I think that the first Wizard cover is superior.

As to how widely my opinion is shared, or if it would affect likely sales, I have no idea.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

One other glaring problem with the product layout is: The Product Name and Logo *has been placed at the bottom* of the displayed graphic - as opposed to the top 1/5 - 1/4 of the total image area; where it belongs. Using the layout presented, when stacked standing on a store shelf or in a display rack the logo and name of the product will be completely blocked from view if anything is in front of it in a cascade display... like a competitors product, or other copies of itself.

JK

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

This, except that I never found the old Wizard cover to be off-putting.
I like that one a lot. It shows wizard-on-wizard combat, has two schools of magic (going by color, anyway) and shows both a man and a woman. It's in the wrong format (it's landscape rather than portrait), but it's otherwise a great one.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Given that the primary focus of Wizard is duels between wizards, I’d select artwork that shows, you know, a duel. Or at least some kind of combat. A cover with a single wizard casting a non-descript spell doesn’t tell us anything about the product. It implies (to me) that it’s yet another magic supplement for some RPG, not a game of wizardly duels.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

I will agree with many, it is good art but perhaps not a great cover for what I understand is a magical arena duel game ?
Unless it is part of a multiple panel illustration that would add context.
Context aside, perhaps my only critic would be that the wizardess ( Witch ? Enchantress ? Sorceress ?) look to me almost bored, not very evocative of a fierce duel.

I do like the colour palette, and the whole cover, for me, give a feeling of a modern take on old school fantasy.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Hate to jump on the bandwagon, but... Yeah, this cover just does NOT do it for me. I'm not a fan of the chunky/toonish logo and color. And the wizard really is a bland generic image. There's nothing particularly impactful or striking about it.

If I wasn't already inclined to pick this up because of my love for TFT, this would not grab my attention at all.

Not too late to go back to the drawing board, guys/gals.

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Otoh, as a column sized illustration in promotional artwork, like the 4 game ads on the origin post, it is striking.

http://www.sjgames.com/img/newsq/ill...ame_DIPost.png

Re: June 9, 2018: The Fantasy Trip: Wizard Cover!
 

Note, however, that it is the only illustration with no background (and thus secondary or tertiary information) whatsoever. It doesn't even have a subtitle like "A Classic Reborn" or "Old School Elegance, Revived".