[rangibaby]

I think it's part the fact that art is very susceptible to bike shedding and part "starving artist"; drawing concepts for a game is something I'm sure they could do for fun in their off time, but actually making graphics for a game is most definitely a Job in the biblical sense.

[CapTVK]

Old Freeciv unit graphic developer speaking up here...The current Freeciv graphics you see in-game set is called "Amplio". It has been tweaked throughout the years (10?) but still based mostly on the original Amplio set.

Creating a decent looking tileset (GPL licence)from scratch (no Civ2/official scenario units or derivatives allowed) isn't easy. Luckily I knew some scenario makers & graphic designers from the Civ2 scenario community and received their permission to use some of their work in Freeciv. They made some amazing stuff* in their days and a selection of their work is included in the Amplio set.

There a few units in there by me as well. If you look closely you'll even find a small easter egg.

*For those who still have a copy of Civ2/ToT lying around and have some time to burn. Check out Captain Nemo's "Red Front" scenario. It's a full blown civ2 re-enactment of operation Barbarossa from start to finish with changing rulesets & tiles (summer and winter conditions). Too bad that Freeciv didn't really have any proper scenario tools. "Red Front" would have been a perfect showcase.