Is anyone else unimpressed with GW's artwork lately?

[Corai]

I find the difference in quality is really big. There are great pieces, but also a lot more really bad pieces than we saw in earlier editions of warhammer.

what I miss most is that we hardly ever see a depictionnof warriors that don't look exactly like the models. There isn't much to inspire conversions and such. The pieces don't add a lot, they are just pictures

This. Exactly. My issue isn't with the quality, it's with the (seeming) lack of imagination that leads to the models (mostly in exactly the same poses as their miniature counterpart) represented in artwork, instead of the art being used to show the full scope of a setting so vast it will never be fully covered on the tabletop.

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[Bowlzee]

On 9/9/2016 at 7:31 PM, elfhead said:

I find the difference in quality is really big. There are great pieces, but also a lot more really bad pieces than we saw in earlier editions of warhammer.

what I miss most is that we hardly ever see a depictionnof warriors that don't look exactly like the models. There isn't much to inspire conversions and such. The pieces don't add a lot, they are just pictures

I believe this is an issue of IP. In the past some companies have made models based on Art, and GW does not do the model and could not protect their IP. So sadly, all new art will be based of the models they sell. 

Interestingly, if you see a new piece of art that GW doesn't sell, its most likely that we will see a release of this model etc

[elfhead]

I realise the protection of IP is the reason we only see art of existing models. I understand why GW does this, but I think it is a shame the artists can't draw something cool and inspired. 

Also, they go to far with this. Take this piece for instance. 

Why does every ork boss have to look exactly like the one model. Are we really to believe every ork boss runs around with the exact same weapon, dragon skull and bloodletter skull... Also the piece is too 'digital' for my taste and I hate the look of the khorne guy's weapon in the front. 

[Wundlesprut]

22 hours ago, elfhead said:

I realise the protection of IP is the reason we only see art of existing models. I understand why GW does this, but I think it is a shame the artists can't draw something cool and inspired. 

Also, they go to far with this. Take this piece for instance. 

 

Why does every ork boss have to look exactly like the one model. Are we really to believe every ork boss runs around with the exact same weapon, dragon skull and bloodletter skull... Also the piece is too 'digital' for my taste and I hate the look of the khorne guy's weapon in the front. 

Agreed with this.

I like some of the new artwork, but it's clear that they are going for art that is directly like the models, often down to the pose and equipment, I think this is in order to create a sense of recognition and army representation as in: "hey look, dat my armie!" This is the kind of stuff that advertising agencies ****** over (alongside portraits of Edward Bernays) but it doesn't necessarily work for everyone. In WHFB while you did get recognisable units and characters, they were rarely in the pose of the model, nor were the units as representative of the models in a direct way. 

Usually in a large battle picture (at work so can't search for references at the moment) you got soldiers clashing, but they had all these little individual details that gave an impression of a living world with interesting happenings beyond battles and conflict, as opposed to a pretty set piece for easy replication on a table.

Not that all fantasy art avoided this, particularly towards the end. But I notice it is more ubiquitous in AOS.

But that said, I reiterate that i do like some of the art work. Just not the ones that seem.. too obvious in their presentation.

[MOMUS]

100% agree with the OP.

Artists like K.Kopinski were great at depicting individuals, which helped build the enviroment or world they were meant to inhabit.

The art department has obviously taken a vastly different direction.