TTRPG art can be good, actually
Your scribble is better than anything AI can make
Why is mainstream TTRPG art so boring? Because pseudo-photorealistic images have mainstream appeal. It has “production value”. You can see the work.
But the images are unmemorable. They leave nothing to the imagination, and the imagination is the beating heart of ttrpgs. These unblemished images act to turn the art, the freedom of ttrpgs, into the product, the mass-consumer good that sells a million copies. This is obvious in the evolution of D&D edition covers, but also in the projects that get the most attention on crowdfunding platforms. And also in the interest in AI-generated images.
David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps, a French Academy painting.
There’s a reason the French Academy of photorealistic art was left behind by the succession of art movements in the 20th century. It all looks the same. It is finished to the point of removing every ounce of soul.
The artist’s hand is removed entirely, and the viewer is left to wonder in awe at the clean surface, but is stuck there, at the surface, unable to enter this polished perfection.
Grande Riviere by Peter Doig
That’s why artists often prefer the sketch to the finished piece, the openness, the possibility, the way your mind is able to finish the details. In the Academy, art became artifice, a lie of perfection.
Basquiat’s Boy and dog in a Johnnypump
I want an art that is real, honest, raw, unmediated, able to talk about the things that mainstream society wants to forget. That gives you something to imagine through, not merely marvel at.
Raw art is dangerous. The fascists know this. We need more raw art.
Which is why you should consider making art yourself for your games. It may not be perfect, but it’ll be real. Or work with an artist that shares your vision, and give them the space to expore that idea. Let the artists you work with be artists, not illustrators. Your work will be all the more rich.
A TTRPG group that have always championed weird, real art, is the Melsonian Arts Council. If you want to support that continuing, they have a crowdfunder right now and they also have a really nice subscription service.