Yeah I mean, I can forgive it as well, even without the context, obviously hehe. Because I think what they were trying to convey more generally was the idea that a Halfling PC could be more than just comic relief. So they selected art that went other directions, like cool action posing or some stuff with sex appeal. Like why not have a badass Halfling flash some hip flair while solving the puzzle I guess. We've seen it a thousand times for Humans and Elves, but like never usually with the shorties. But then those are the kinds of the things that can come into it when the proportions are a bit more subtle and rather less cartoonish in the extreme. Take that same Lidda image with a head twice or three times the size and it wouldn't carry the same way at all. Probably would feel twice or three times as crass, and more like a Mad Magazine cartoon or something lol.

Elmore has a similar image, but with a more 80s sensibility and the boots, so it's not like unique to the 3e Lidda stuff hehe. Not exactly his greatest painting ever, but still passing fair. I think he could have achieved a similar effect with more subtlety, but it's still pretty tame compared to the standard Human fair from the same period. I think 88

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]

He tended to draw them fairly tall, also more proportional and elf-like. What we saw in Dragon Slayers for example.
[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]

I think they had the most sex appeal of the AD&D Halfling depictions, mainly because their proportionality was closer to Human/Half-Elf just shorter in stature (though not quite as short as I'd like to see in BG3.)

Last edited by Black_Elk; 08/10/21 08:27 AM.