They have definitely upped the quality of the art from the 2014 books.
Yep, but we might be reading them differently. I go over the differences in our interpretations below. Just want to start out with a whole-hearted "I just love talking about art". You may be right, I may be right, that part doesn't really matter to me. I'm just trying to clear up confusion between our interpretations.
I agree, fire away!
Huh, you think the Dance bard is female? I can see it, I was honestly thinking of Scanlan Shorthalt when looking at it though, so I thought it was a guy. Could go either way I suppose.
There is a definite hint of bewbs, that coupled with the make-up and expression suggest female to me.
Ah, definitely disagree that the iconic druid with the animals is female. They could be trans, but we've seen them in other art, like the healing of the Barbarian, and they read as male to me.
Facially looks totally female to me. You could argue slight muscularity on the arm hints at a male, but the face is the dominant feature on all characters.
I'm also not sure why you see the Sea Druid Goliath as female, would you mind clarifying?
The face is 100% female, the expression is also female.
Elf Eldritch Knight I had as ambiguous, that art is 98% the outfit.
The face is 100% female. If you argue elves have feminine features (even post LotR movies) then what would an elf female look like? That image looks like a teenage girl in Highwayman cosplay.
Typically male elves (in fantasy) have sharpened features, there is none of that in this image (though the Elf Ranger illustration does have sharp features).
I can see why you might think the Psy Warrior is a female, but they remind me more strongly of some male characters I have seen. Could go either way.
Facially looks like the artist was inspired by the actress Erin Kellyman (who played Enfys Nest in the Solo movie).
Yeah, disagree about the Oath of Heroism Tiefling. I could be persuaded that they just have a very masculine face, but they read as male to me.
Face and eyes and especially the mouth very feminine on that one.
You think the Hunter Ranger is indeterminate? Huh. Again, could be trans, but they have some beard scruff, so they read as male to me.
Might just have been the quality of the image but the beard scruff doesn't pop. Hairstyle very feminine, like an 80's Fame-inspired gym dancer.
I read the tiefling fiendlock as indeterminate. I think they could go either way.
Super-feminine lips, female-style earrings.
Meanwhile, the Celestial Aasimar I read as male. I can sort of see how you could get indeterminate from there, but it wasn't where I was going with it.
Looks like an Aztec Grandmother.
Ah, I read the Evoker Wizard elf as male. Elves can be tricky though, since they lean into the androgynous very easily.
As mentioned above, if male elves look like female humans then what do female elves look like?
Honestly? I can't. A lot of it is vibes and design decisions, which I may be misreading. For example, the design of the Zealot Barbarian Dragonborn with the eyepatch? They read like a salty sea captain to me, which had me put them as male. Then there are things that may not matter, but pushed me in that direction, like the Vengeance Paladin looking like they have a goatee.
My first pass through, I considered that there may not be ANY female dragonborn, which is why I ended up noting that this may be an art style direction to lean into that reptilian anatomy and make it hard to tell. Since the list and the numbers were just for fun though, I didn't see a reason not to go with my gut feelings on them.
Its open to interpretation and as such I wouldn't call it either way.
Overall, apart from the Hill Goliath Cleric and Elf Ranger (who does have sharp features);
every potentially male character
without a beard looks, dresses and expresses more like a woman than a man (in fact even some of the ones with beards like the Orc Horizon Walker, look female). Now they may just be flamboyant characters but you cannot deny the lack of muscularity in the images. The three most muscular characters are the Human female Champion, the Goliath female Barbarian and the male human Barbarian...and the latter is not muscular in the Conan-sense, but rather in the average guy who occasionally works out sense.
With the two new added images, if I don't sit on the fence on any (human ranger will go male, aasimar warlock going female), looks like 35 female characters, 16 male characters, 1 masked and 7 dragonborn.
