I’ve commented at length on the art of the Dark Sun excerpts thinking it would apply to the Campaign Setting as a whole. I also crowned  Wayne Reynolds as the quintessential Dark Sun artist. Now that I have the Campaign Setting and have seen all the work inside, it looks like Jason A. Engle deserves a hero’s welcome.

In the 2E days the only artwork of merit was created by Tom Baxa (an illustrative style) and Gerald Brom (a realistic style). My thinking is still sold on the idea that there needs to be both types too define a setting via artwork, one to do the overall illustrative work, and another to bring the hint of realism to the pieces. Jason A. Engle is the realistic component that’s part of this equation.

Not only is the work excellent, but he actually brings the feel of the world to 2 of the 4 works (“The Defiler” and “Thri-kreen”) featured in the Campaign Setting. Not only that, I’ve noticed an homage to Brom’s take on Dark Sun in his piece I like to call “The Defiler” (the tattoos, head dress, and wrapped finger positions). You might be thinking that 2 images alone can’t make me a fan of the artist – well it can – but not only has he done some art work, he’s also done some of the cartography for the setting.

What would really boost the Dark Sun artwork would be to have Jason do some full murals of a scene like those used for posters and book covers.