Fav and least fav art from new Ultimate Guide

Haven't gotten my copy yet (it'll only arrive in the mail mid-November together with Thunder) but I have seen plenty of the artwork although not all of it yet so thank you for providing the link for it.

Favs:
Brightheart and Cloudtail (aside from Brightheart's injuries getting watered down)
Half Moon
Stormfur and Brook
Nightstar
Rock
Rootspring
Sandstorm
Echosong and Frecklewish,
Runningnose and Littlecloud
Bristlefrost
Dappled Pelt and Cloud Spots
Heathertail
Silverstream
Feathertail
Cloudstar and Skywatcher
Hawkfrost

Least Favs:
Oakheart (what is with that open-mouthed expression)
Raggedstar (copy of Graystripe's SE art in terms of the pose and expression, also why is he short-furred)
Brokenstar (why is he short-furred and looks cute)
Rowanclaw (back up a bit, that's just too close I don't know you like that, also something just seems off with his face) Shadowsight (looked forward to my boy getting some epic art in a snowstorm with lightning, not this sunny day bs)
Cinderpelt (her face and expression is super cute but that pose is just underwhelming to me)
Leafpool and Bramblestar (I'm okay with some of the reprinted book covers getting reused for character art here but this is clearly a violation of their rights, was really hoping the "cats trying to take a selfie" bs from the reprinted TNP covers was never used again but here we are)
Cinderheart (love the background but her face and expression looks quite similar to that of Brook, it's also giving "no thoughts, head empty" tbh)
Scourge (underwhelming and a copy of Shadowstar from the reprinted TFB cover of the pose and expression)
Ravenpaw and Barley (I like every other new art pair in this book but Barley just looks so off here)
Mothwing (got her resused novella cover mixed up with the one for Tree and it also looks badly photoshopped)
Tree (got the Mothwing novella cover used as his art for some reason)

All the others I did not sort are either fine or just meh.

My Favorites: Feathertail, Rock, Jagged Peak and Heathertail.

Least favorite……. Probably half the book could be placed here, as most of the new artwork(reused and many cases) I find underwhelming and uninspiring. A lot of the pictures are super dark, with characters seeming excessively shadowed, like they were too lazy to fully create the cats designs, so instead just blacking them out to save time?. And many of models look incredibly similar to some being darn near identical with the only distinction being a different color palette. And they keep reusing the same posing they’ve been using on my many the new covers that I’m sure most people are tired of seeing.

So overall the artwork is very underwhelming imo, and the majority is pretty disinteresting with the occasional outlier that attracts the eye.

all of the reused art was kinda disappointing, but of the new art I disliked Rock & Raggedstar, while my favs were Rootspring & Nightstar

You're right! I knew that the design seemed familiar but the fact that they even mixed their novella cover designs up is just such a weird mistake. Like, sure they are both golden tabby cats (or rather Tree is decribed as yellow) with amber eyes and do look similar but their expressions are totally different, in my opinion. Tree looks kinda angry while Mothwing looks moreso neutral.

yo, I forgot to include Rootspring in my own list of favs! His art is soooooo good, and def my fav out of the three TBC protags. I would literally frame Rootspring's art and put it on my wall lol