Dungeons & Dragons artist reveals what to expect from revised Monster Manual content

Head of art for Dungeons & Dragons Josh Herman shared details on the upcoming Monster Manual revision with Dexerto, including the team’s goals and how much new artwork we can expect from the book.

While discussing the Monster Manual (2025) alt cover design, Herman answered some questions about the book’s contents, providing a good preview of what to expect when the third and final revised core rulebook releases in February 2025.

Herman estimated the new book has over 300 new pieces of artwork, telling us “I would say it’s almost entirely new art from cover to cover. We’re still actually commissioning, but we may use some old illustrations, mostly because they’re still good.”

Though we weren’t able to see any new monster art, Herman told us the team’s goal with the new artwork was “to help communicate what the player experience is.”

“When you see an illustration [in the Monster Manual (2025)], we’re hoping the artwork can show you the size of the creature and what it generally might do. If there’s something special about it in its stat block, has a certain kind of attack, that has been represented in the artwork. Maybe what kind of environment it lives in,” he explained.

This new context is primarily aimed at helping Dungeon Masters run their games, making the Monster Manual a more valuable asset, with Herman saying, “When you flip through a piece of Monster Manual artwork in the 2025 version, we’re hoping it does what [the artwork in the Player’s Handbook does for players].”

Herman used the rust monster as an example, explaining, “The 2014 [Monster Manual] shows the rust monster by itself,” which gives the reader a visual but doesn’t show what the creature can actually do. He says the new rust monster art will show it rusting someone’s equipment, providing more specific details to spark a DM’s imagination.

That means D&D players should expect to see more monsters in action, including artwork of creatures and characters engaged in combat.

Of course, a revision like this provides a chance to make more significant changes to monsters, with Herman saying these “visual updates or redesigns” are meant to “reflect where we want them to go in the future or give a glow-up.”

Herman also discussed how the Monster Manual’s appeal extends beyond D&D players. “A lot of people I know who have never played D&D, the first book they picked up was the Monster Manual,” he said, explaining that they were interested in the creatures, artwork, and lore.

This makes him hopeful that the revised Monster Manual will have the same impact, telling us “I genuinely hope non-D&D fans buy this book only to look at the monsters. If you only bought this to look at a rad monster book, good! That’s fine!”

Dungeons & Dragons’ 2024 Core Rulebooks will be available to preorder from the D&D Beyond Marketplace on June 18, 2024.