History Main / UnreliableIllustrator

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': The Wiki/TFWikiDotNet goes to great lengths to point out every single instance of this, and for certain episodes, the list of errors can be ''far'' longer than the episode summary itself. Not only do we have blatant and often baffling miscolorings, but dead characters showing up alive, Autobots and Decepticons randomly switching sides, multiples of the same character appearing alongside each other, or objects and characters radically changing their appearance between shots, fairly often directly contradicting what's being said in the dialogue.

*** The undead bodak is also described as just in life, but with fear on his face, hairless gray skin and empty white eyes. But the illustration goes a little further, [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG28b.jpg turning its skull into something from an X-Files gray alien]]. Like the Allip, this was fixed in 3.5 by updating the description.

* ''Literature/{{NERDS}}'': Jackson's braces are consistently described as [[BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill one of the most horrible sets of braces in existence]], headgear and all, yet are relatively normal-looking and lack any sort of headgear on both the cover and on-page illustrations. This is noticeable because it's a plot point in the first book that Jackson's headgear prevents him from wearing a football helmet and rejoining the team. Of course, eventually the book itself also stops mentioning Jackson's headgear.

* The Emperor as of ''FanFic/TalesOfTheEmperasque'' is always drawn in gigantic version of his golden power armor (as fic's page can attest), even though, being now a giant space lizard, so far he's been going around undressed and unarmed.

* The Monster Manual in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 3E'' features some monsters whose illustrations don't exactly fit their descriptions:
** The Allip (an undead man) is described as looking just like when it was alive, but with an insane grimace on its face, eyes burning with fear and the lower part of the body blurring into nothingness. The illustration, however, depicts something that look like a [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG10.jpg vaguely humanoid, tattered black rag]] ''without'' eyes or a face. The 3.5 MM updates the description to match the image, though.
** The undead Bodak is also described as just in life, but with fear on his face, hairless gray skin and empty white eyes. But the illustration goes a little further, [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG28b.jpg turning its skull into something from an X-Files gray alien]]. Like the Allip, this was fixed in 3.5 by updating the description.
*** D20 Modern apparently took this communication error and ran with it, making the Bodak a form of undead unique to the [[TheGreys Fraal]].
** The undead Mohrg. In the text, it's a skinny corpse with a barbed tongue as the only unusual part. [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG189b.jpg The illustration]] depicts instead a clean skeleton filled with a fleshy worm-like thing vaguely resembling an autopsy picture from ''VideoGame/XCom''. Also fixed for 3.5.
** Mudmaws are described as having rubbery green tentacles on either side of their mouth. The accompanying illustration depicts them with rubbery ''orange'' tentacles on either side of their mouth.
** And a minor example: The Stone Giant is described as having black eyes, but [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG123.jpg in the illustration]] they are pearly white.
** The orc is described as being a grey-skinned humanoid, but is depicted green. Unlike the Allip, Bodak, and Mohrg, this was ''not'' updated for the 3.5 Monster Manual. Similarly, in the 4e MM (as well as in later books and even miniatures!) goblins are green-skinned, despite the description indicating that is should have "skin of yellow, orange, red, often shading to brown"; while this is true for bugbears and hobgoblins, all species are also depicted with beady white eyes, which are described as similar in color to their skin. Thankfully, 5e reverts to the previous editions' canon colors.
** The weapons depicted in the ''Player's Handbook'' look plain ridiculous. And not just the inherently absurd, made-up ones like the Dire Flail, either - it's pretty clear the illustrator has never even seen a perfectly ordinary sword or war axe. Apparently he was too busy to spend five minutes googling for references.
** Cranium rats are typically described as being completely identical to normal rats, only with powerful psionic abilities. Nearly every illustration of them depicts them with exposed brains.
** Demogorgon is a powerful demon with two mandrill heads, but one illustration shows him with hyena heads instead.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' also suffers this problem, particularly with items. For instance, in the ''Ultimate Equipment'' book, the text for the Mask of the Grappler is clearly intended to refer to a [[MaskedLuchador luchador mask]], but it's illustrated as some sort of Polynesian carved wooden mask instead.
* In the ''[[TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles Dresden Files]]'' roleplaying game, nobody told the artist that Harry's "Blue Beetle" is actually multicoloured (as it got repaired using off-colour parts), so he drew an actually blue Beetle. This is explained in scribbled comments in the margin, since the rulebook is presented as [[DirectLineToTheAuthor a draft written by one of the characters]].

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''. The Rivals of Ixalan written story diverged significantly from the cards, with several cards depicting events that couldn't have possibly happened in the story. In this case, the cards were actually designed first and the story written later (after art was already commissioned). [[AuthorsSavingThrow The story later retconned a couple of these cards as depicting the false memories that Jace implanted in Vraska]].

* Nearly half of the character illustrations for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 A2]]'' show members of a class with equipment they can't equip without a special ability obtained as another class, if at all. They're probably [[WhatCouldHaveBeen concept art pieces made before the game mechanics were finalized]], so there are a lot of inconsistencies with the final builds of each game. The most blatant (visible in the head closeup, which is what 90% of in-game character portraits are) is the Fighter portrait wearing a metal helm, even though they cannot equip heavy armor.
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'', where Harvax XVII, a boss is actually described in the Stinkomanual as a "small but speedy octopus", but the boss actually resembles a large gangster robot. He even points out the error by saying, "This description is ALL WRONG!" The description DOES fit an actual enemy (an octopus robot that was not covered in the Stinkomanual) encountered in the game and the rest of the enemies in the previously mentioned level consist mostly of FlyingSeafoodSpecial.

** The instructions manual for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', as well as the game's end credits showed [[ShesAManinJapan Birdo's]] description with Ostro's picture (and vice versa).
** Every single time you open a door in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' the game will insist that "The door slowly opens" when in fact Mario will push it open himself. Quite quickly.
** And on the official website for ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', [[BigBad Bowser's]] illustration shows him with a tanuki tail. In the actual game, it's the ''fake'' Bowsers that have the tanuki tail: the real Bowser's tail is normal.
** A strategy guide for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', when describing how to defeat [[spoiler:Bugaboom]] in Puzzle Plank Galaxy, actually showed King Lakitu's screenshot instead!
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', Paz complains at one point about how she doesn't have to worry about sunburn, not like 'pale-skinned Anglo-Saxons'. Her character is depicted in game with [[PhenotypeStereotype much lighter skin than anyone else, blonde hair and blue eyes]].
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', a Snorlax is sleeping in the middle of a route as an homage to the BrokenBridge from [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the original games]]. Just like before, the player can use the Poké Flute to wake the Snorlax up and fight it. Unfortunately, the game insists that the Snorlax "opens its eyes wide" when this happens, despite its eyes clearly remaining closed.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', character appearances and scenes do not always match the dialogue, whether due to restrictions or changes during development. For example, in a dialogue between Morrigan and Leliana, the latter wants to tie up the former’s hair “to show off that lovely neck”, even though Morrigan’s hair is always tied up. She is also described as a “dark-eyed temptress” at one point, which doesn’t match her SupernaturalGoldEyes.
* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun'': In Marge's level, she gives Grampa his medication, and he falls asleep... at least, according to the game's dialogue. His model remains with its eyes open and moving normally, even through the next mission, which is about getting caffeine pills to wake him up.

* In the second case of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', a packet of gummy bears is used as evidence. [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/7/76/DR2_Truth_Bullet_-_Chapter_2_%2817%29.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/380?cb=20180416214907 The illustration for the packet]] has some yellow gummy bears printed on it, but the fact that it does not contain any yellow bears turns out to be important.

* The toy version of DJ from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' has blue stripes on his body unlike the green ones he had in the movie. Adding to this was the fact that his official artwork (which was extremely film-accurate) is actually shown on the toy's blister package. Later versions of the toy show him in his correct colors, but unfortunately, those were actually variants (Impounded DJ, lenticular eyes DJ, and metallic DJ). It wasn't until the release of a Toys "R" Us-exclusive toy set, as well as a UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}}-exclusive 4-pack in which "classic eyes" DJ was actually shown in his correct colors.
** Happened in a different way with the "Drift Party Mater" (based on Mater's final form at the end of ''Tokyo Mater'') toy from the [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts ''Cars Toons'']] toyline, where the toy version of said character was correct, but the artwork showed Mater ''before'' the drift race began. Another infamous example would be the toy of a DJ-lookalike, which showed ''Mater's'' picture instead.
** The tie-in storybook based on the sequel had Holly Shiftwell actually smashing apart an entire clock face while attempting to fly out of Big Bentley during the climax (in the actual movie, she only smashed apart the "5" during her escape), while Professor Z was still wearing his monocle after being captured and arrested by Finn [=McMissile=] (in the actual movie, Z actually lost his monocle while attempting to escape from [=McMissile=], and said monocle was presumably destroyed when [=McMissile=] blew up Z's battleship, Tony Trihull).
* The official website for ''WesternAnimation/DinosaurTrain'' apparently described Deinonychus as having feathers on his body, but the show's artwork [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology didn't show]] ''[[ArtisticLicensePaleontology any]]'' [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology feathers on his body at all!]]
* The 1987 ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' had an unreliable colourer. Since the turtles looked pretty much identical, save their identifying colours, it wasn't uncommon to see one turtle or another being swapped out for his brother with a mask colour change. This would get particularly jarring when said turtle had to speak and inevitably did so with the wrong voice. Or like in one episode, Michelangelo had been captured but it didn't stop two of the turtles from wearing orange in two different shots.
* ''TMNT'' may have had it bad, but it's got ''nothing'' on ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''. The Wiki/TFWikiDotNet goes to great lengths to point out every single instance of this, and for certain episodes, the list of errors can be ''far'' longer than the episode summary itself. Not only do we have blatant and often baffling miscolorings, but dead characters showing up alive, Autobots and Decepticons randomly switching sides, multiples of the same character appearing alongside each other, or objects and characters radically changing their appearance between shots, fairly often directly contradicting what's being said in the dialogue.

* In the second case of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', the killer attempted to frame [[spoiler:Hiyoko Saionji]] by placing a [[spoiler:gummy bear]] near the scene of the crime. You prove this by presenting [[spoiler:a bag of the only brand of gummy bears Hiyoko likes]] and pointing out that [[spoiler:the gummy bear left at the scene of the crime was yellow, and the bag of gummy bears does not contain any yellow bears]]. Except the illustration for the [[spoiler:bag of gummy bears]] clearly shows some [[spoiler:yellow bears]].

* In British weekly girls' comic ''Tammy'' for several years the cover art featured two girls. They are clearly the same two girls on every cover but colour of each one's hair varied randomly from issue to issue.

* On the original cover of ''[[Literature/TheIcewindDaleTrilogy The Crystal Shard]]'', it's possible that the artist wasn't briefed on what exactly a [[OurElvesAreBetter drow "dark elf"]] exactly looked like, simply told they have "black skin". Going on that, [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt Do'Urden]] is depicted more like a human of African descent rather than the unnaturally black skin of the drow. This is corrected on the subsequent two books.

** The orc is described as being a grey-skinned humanoid, but is depicted green. Unlike the Allip, Bodak, and Mohrg, this was ''not'' updated for the 3.5 Monster Manual. Similarly, in the 4e MM (as well as in later books and even miniatures!) goblins are green-skinned, despite the description indicating that is should have "skin of yellow, orange, red, often shading to brown"; while this is true for bugbears and hobgoblins, all species are also depicted with beady white eyes, which are described as similar in color to their skin.

* A tie-in storybook, ''[[Literature/TheLionKingSixNewAdventures A Tale of Two Brothers]]'', based on Disney's ''Disney/TheLionKing'' focusing on Mufasa's childhood described his father Ahadi as having brown fur, a black mane, and green eyes (just like Scar, the series' would-be BigBad), but the illustrations show him with gold fur, a brown mane, and brown eyes, like Mufasa.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' covers by Josh Kirby tend to be somewhat contradictory to the stories involved, or reveal spoilers. For example, on the cover of ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', Cheery is shown wearing heels. ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic'' shows Twoflower as a four-eyed monster (he's called four-eyed in the book, because glasses haven't caught on in Ankh-Morpork at that point) and Rincewind as a standardly old wizard.

** Also, [[http://pokememes.memebase.com/2011/10/19/pokmon-someone-should-be-fired/ there is a illustration]] in which Piplup is labeled correctly, but Charmander is labeled as "Treecko", Mew as "Shinx", and Chikorita as ''"Croagun."'' All completely different looking Pokemon. That last one isn't even spelled right, it's a misspelling of Croagunk. The mind boggles how this happened.

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' books were ''full'' of these, though most of the time, it was due to the editors not being familiar with the story, and not knowing which already rendered promotional image goes where. The most common error was depicting the wrong [[MaskOfPower mask]], or using movie stills that didn't match the captions, but the most infamous and baffling mistake has to be the [[CoversAlwaysLie cover art]] of the book titled ''Dark Hunters'', featuring characters who had nothin to do with the titular organization. These can be classified as printing errors, though, being the mistakes of unreliable editors. The ''BIONICLE: World'' book, on the other hand, was illustrated with brand-new images, some of which ''did'' suffer from unreliable illustrators. For example, the being Karzahni, described as a black and gold colored, dark and empty-eyed freak, turned into a blue and green monstrosity, with brightly glowing yellow eyes.

** The instructions manual for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', as well as the game's end credits showed [[ShesaManinJapan Birdo's]] description with Ostro's picture (and vice versa).

** And on the official website for ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', [[BigBad Bowser's]] illustration shows him with a tanuki tail. In the actual game, it's the ''fake'' Bowsers that have the tanuki tail, the real Bowser's tail is normal.
** A strategy guide for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', when describing how to defeat [[spoiler: Bugaboom]] in Puzzle Plank Galaxy, actually showed Giga Lakitu's screenshot instead!
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', Paz complains at one point about how she doesn't have to worry about sunburn, not like 'pale-skinned Anglo-Saxons'. Her character is depicted in game with [[PhenotypeStereotype much lighter skin than anyone else, blond hair and blue eyes]].

[[folder:Visual Novel]]
* In the second case of ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2'', the killer attempted to frame [[spoiler:Hiyoko]] by placing a [[spoiler:gummy bear]] near the scene of the crime. You prove this by presenting [[spoiler:a bag of the only brand of gummy bears Hiyoko likes]] and pointing out that [[spoiler:the gummy bear left at the scene of the crime was yellow, and the bag of gummy bears does not contain any yellow bears]]. Except the illustration for the [[spoiler:bag of gummy bears]] clearly shows some [[spoiler:yellow bears]].

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': The series is terrible with colouring the cats. Different artwork depicts them with different colours. Often times this goes against the text, such as Firestar being depicted with tabby stripes and gold eyes instead of solid colouring and green eyes.

* In the ''[[TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles Dresden Files]]'' roleplaying game, nobody told the artist that Harry's "Blue Beetle" is actually multicoloured (as it got repaired using off-colour parts), so he drew an actually blue Beetle. This is explained in scribbled comments in the margin, since the rulebook is presented as [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a draft written by one of the characters]].

** Occasionally, it seems that the illustrator didn't even bother turning the page! One well known case is ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' where the page ended with a line similar to "On the window was a blue bottle" with an illustration showing that and the next page beginning with "fly." Another case from childhood literature involved a character opening a closet and out falls "a skeleton" with accurate illustration followed by the next page clarifying it with "key" although in the latter case, the story jumped around the book with "Go to page X" so the misleading illustration may have been intentional.

** John R. Neil codified Ozma as a teenager with long, brown curls, which has been her design in almost every media since (including [[Film/ThePatchworkGirlOfOz a film that Baum himself was involved with]]). However Ozma is described with ''reddish blonde'' hair in her introduction in ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''. Neil drew Ozma with blonde hair but changed her to a brunette in the next book '''Literature/OzmaOfOz''. According to ''The Tin Woodsman of Oz'', Ozma looks fourteen-to-fifteen and Baum himself has stated she should look no older than sixteen. John R. Neil drew most of Ozma's iconic official art but he was [[http://hungrytigerpress.blogspot.com/2010/12/ozma-iconic-and-odd.html?m=1 very inconsistent on her age]], which fluctuates between being Dorothy's age to resembling a 20-something year old. Oftentimes within the same book she changes from a teenager to a little girl.

** John R. Neill codified Ozma as a teenager with long, brown curls, which has been her design in almost every media since (including [[Film/ThePatchworkGirlOfOz a film that Baum himself was involved with]]). However Ozma is described with ''reddish blonde'' hair in her introduction. Several artists also depict Ozma as being Dorothy's age, but according to ''The Tin Woodsman of Oz'' she looks fourteen-to-fifteen and Baum himself has stated she should look no older than sixteen.

** John R. Neill codified Ozma as a teenager with long, brown curls, which has been her design in almost every media since. However Ozma is described with ''reddish blonde'' hair early on. Several artists also depict Ozma as being Dorothy's age, but according to ''The Tin Woodsman of Oz'' she looks fourteen-to-fifteen and Baum himself has stated she should look no older than sixteen.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'' when the trio happens upon some ''very'' unflattering wanted posters with utterly hideous villainous caricatures of themselves on them. You actually get to confront the artist about it, and it's revealed he didn't do it on purpose and actually tried to draw them as accurately as possible: it's just that no matter how hard he tries his drawings come out looking hideous, evil, and inaccurate. Even his wife remarks that she won't let him draw her because of it.