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I admire and appreciate Adrian Smith because he transports me to that time and place, like binoculars from top of a double-decker bus.

But I fear John Blanche because he taps into directly into the Warp like a needle to the vein.

So, yeah, John Blanche.

tinfoil wrote:I admire and appreciate Adrian Smith because he transports me to that time and place, like binoculars from top of a double-decker bus.

But I fear John Blanche because he taps into directly into the Warp like a needle to the vein.

So, yeah, John Blanche.

A. Smith is pretty good at capturing the warp pretty well. I dunno, maybe I just prefer realism in my visual portrayals of the insane. It just makes it feel more real for me.

Definitely the same for me. Blanche's stuff is sloppy. Too little craft, too much art.

ShumaGorath wrote:

tinfoil wrote:I admire and appreciate Adrian Smith because he transports me to that time and place, like binoculars from top of a double-decker bus.

But I fear John Blanche because he taps into directly into the Warp like a needle to the vein.

So, yeah, John Blanche.

A. Smith is pretty good at capturing the warp pretty well. I dunno, maybe I just prefer realism in my visual portrayals of the insane. It just makes it feel more real for me.

Just wondering what you thought of this:
Wheat Field and Cypress Tree, Van Gogh, 1889. Painted while in an asylum one week before he committed suicide.

stonefox wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:

tinfoil wrote:I admire and appreciate Adrian Smith because he transports me to that time and place, like binoculars from top of a double-decker bus.

But I fear John Blanche because he taps into directly into the Warp like a needle to the vein.

So, yeah, John Blanche.

A. Smith is pretty good at capturing the warp pretty well. I dunno, maybe I just prefer realism in my visual portrayals of the insane. It just makes it feel more real for me.

Just wondering what you thought of this:
Wheat Field and Cypress Tree, Van Gogh, 1889. Painted while in an asylum one week before he committed suicide.

Different subject matter. It's a good piece in its own right (though your image is tiny), not sure where your going with the van gogh though, the mental state of the artist and the art they produce while linked are not always of the same thing. I prefer realistic portrayals of insanity (when such is the subject), I can appreciate all stripes though.

Pariah Press wrote:Dispite some of the ignorant mockery expressed in this thread, Blanche is well-acquainted with art history and knows his stuff.

And yet, he manages to do an impressive job of hiding this knowledge and skill to appear as if drawn and done by a totally untrained amateur hack. Seriously, his Chaos Daemons couldn't have taken more than 5 minutes, and they still get published... The rest is extremely poor, showing a lack of technique and creativity. Everything looks the same, and there's no real thought behind it.

chromedog wrote:I quite like Jes Goodwin's concept art (yes, I have "the gothic and the eldritch") for its clean style.

Jes is a true professional, and he has tremendous vision and talent. The difference between him and Blanche is that Jes works at actually understanding things that will eventually be sculpted and hit the board.

GrimTeef wrote:
Was it Adrian Smith that did that great piece of all the Space Marines lined up in parade ground style - the large 2 page piece in the rulebook and codex?

Yep, you nailed it. Adrian does good work. Strong colors, good composition, good design.

Augustus wrote:Jes Goodwin is almost single handedly responsible for the entire Eldar race, every mini from like 1990 on all the aspect warriors, the tanks and more were derived from his work. He also did all the superior tyranid stuff and the new Eldar vehicles and the new terminators and all the old cool EPIC stuff.

The most important thing was his work on Space Marines. He really set the look for what is now the key to 40k. If you go back to the RT-era Space Marines, you can see just how strong Jes' hand has been in terms of shaping the way 40k really looks on the tabletop.

ShumaGorath wrote:A. Smith is pretty good at capturing the warp pretty well. I dunno, maybe I just prefer realism in my visual portrayals of the insane. It just makes it feel more real for me.

That is because Adrian clearly justaposes pseudo-reality against pseudo-unreality. You have something to latch on, to step into Chaos.

Jes Goodwin's art work makes the unreal real to me. ++

Whoever drew the Silas Hand pic, as well.

Jes Goodwin is kind of his own creature, an artist unto his own, because he can run the gamut - grand design scheme, character design, costume design, sculpt, and do illustration. In that sense he is probably one of, if not THE greatest artistic asset that that GW employs.

I don't think he can do everything, however, as I don't think he can tackle orks as handily as Bonner and Nelson and so some extent Seb Perbet. Jes seems to work 'clean' very well, but not as well 'dirty' as these other artists can do. And that's fine, as that is his own particular look and style. Even his tyranids have taht more clean design sense. Not a bad thing, just an observation.

stonefox wrote:Well, I know some people get "art" and "illustration" confused and that's why they hate Blanche. I actually enjoy abstract, modern, and pomo. I love going to the MOMA whenever I visit NYC. Blanche has his colors, the wild energy of the insane (seen clearly in his depictions of psykers) and is wonderful the first and maybe even the second time. The reds and golds and blacks are great when you see them as well, as they characterize the mood and inherent madness of 40k. However, when you see that over and over, when that's all there is to it, it starts to look formulaic. That he cannot adapt. That he'll post a good piece that might give a minute of reflection - but then beat you over the head with it 50 times. That you cannot see where blues and greens fit into the madness - only reds and golds. Nowadays I see him as being too formulaic to be an "artist" but too rough to be an "illustrator." That is why I do not like John Blanche.

I'm sure there's proper terms for this stuff but I'm only a mere engi student who happens to have some interest in arts and music. If only I can major in them all. :(

Eh, don't worry about the terminology. You communicated quite effectively. I can understand your viewpoint. And I agree to a certain extent. Blanche evolves rather slowly. I bet I could tell the difference between a piece made today, and one made ten years ago, and one made twenty years ago, though. He is evolving; he's just not experimenting very much anymore (which isn't unreasonable, IMO. The guy must be pushing sixty, right?).

@JohnHwangDD: I agree. There, I said it. The recent Blanche Chaos Daemons were pretty weaksauce, with a couple of exceptions.

I love that Jim Burns "Space Marine" piece too!

I was a big fan of the art in the old chaos marine codex

Jes Goodwin.

I really like the art of Jes Goodwin and John Blanche, for different reasons.

Adrian Smith!

@Hand, that actually isn't one of his better works, IMO. While it's technically good, it's clearly designed as a 2-page spread, and lacks a certain dynamism that the scene depicted warrants.

My favorite Adi Smith picture is the reprint of Abaddon's 4 lieutenants, reprinted in the current Chaos Codex, p. 103. Great detail and tremendous menacing energy from all 4 powers.

Whoever did the 3rd ed. BA codex cover is one of my LEAST favorite artists, simply for the card-board box termie.

@johnhwangdd
It may not be his best, but still a truley fantastic color print. How about these black and whites? My avatar is an Adrian Smith print from the early Realm of Chaos book, Lost and the Damned.

Oh, it's not to say I don't like Adi's work, just that I think there's better stuff. The Reservoir Dogs spread mentioned earlier is also really good, classic, really.

Also, thanks for the nice finds!

ShumaGorath wrote:
Different subject matter. It's a good piece in its own right (though your image is tiny), not sure where your going with the van gogh though, the mental state of the artist and the art they produce while linked are not always of the same thing. I prefer realistic portrayals of insanity (when such is the subject), I can appreciate all stripes though.

I don't know. I think I misread or misinterpreted your former post to mean "I like my realistic portrayals of subject matter by the insane" instead of "I like my insane subject matters to be realistically portrayed." In any case, I guess the right painting to post should have been "The Scream" but your answer would be the same. I was just curious.

Eh, don't worry about the terminology. You communicated quite effectively. I can understand your viewpoint. And I agree to a certain extent. Blanche evolves rather slowly. I bet I could tell the difference between a piece made today, and one made ten years ago, and one made twenty years ago, though. He is evolving; he's just not experimenting very much anymore (which isn't unreasonable, IMO. The guy must be pushing sixty, right?).

Well, I should probably give him more credit, but like I said in my first post on this topic, that is why I consider him similar to Tim Buckley (that ctrl+alt+del webcomic guy). I mean some of Blanche's stuff might be neat, but I guess after you've already seen far more emotional visions of the insane, it's quite subpar in comparison. Tim Buckley doesn't evolve his craft and copy+pastes pretty much all of his comic strips. His subject matter is bland, boring, and has been done better before. So yeah, I suppose I should give him more cred, but the similarity is better articulated when I use a more pronounced example of a "bad artist."

Iain McCaig.....now thats what I call artwork.

I agree that Blanche's work isn't very emotionally involving. To me, it's more about concepts. Here's a woman wearing eight-inch stiletto heals with little flame jets shooting out of them. She had a metal plate rivetted over her mouth, and she has about 200 scraps of parchment sewn to her skin. Is she emotional about this? No. This is just a regular day for her. What does that say about the society in which she lives?

I picked out my favorite piece of his (the Sisters of Battle cover art) and looked it over. You're right, stonefox, there's no blue there. No cooler colors at all. WAIT! There IS some blue. The main subject's eye is blue! Then I look for lines of composition. The main compositional lines are pointing to her eye! Her leg. The edge of the mid-ground group of people. The cross over her head. The servo-skull's wires. Hell, she even has a little fleur-de-lis tatoo, pointing at her eye like an arrow! Her head is smack in the 1/3 sweet spot of the picture plane, both horizontally and vertically. The world is raging and in flame around her, and she's cold as ice in there, I guess. She is an individual in a world of collective madness.

stonefox wrote:Well, I should probably give him more credit, but like I said in my first post on this topic, that is why I consider him similar to Tim Buckley

Ouch!
Blanche isn't that bad. I actually like him in small doses.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

GrimTeef wrote:
Was it Adrian Smith that did that great piece of all the Space Marines lined up in parade ground style - the large 2 page piece in the rulebook and codex?

Yep, you nailed it. Adrian does good work. Strong colors, good composition, good design.

The two-page Ultramarine spread in the 4th edition Space Marine Codex? That's not even close to Adrian Smith. It's too loose. Smith uses a much tighter line.

Take a look:


I'm pretty sure that is Dainton. It is certainly NOT Smith. It's a fantastic image, though.

I'm a big fan of Clint Langley. I just really like his stuff!

I'm torn between Blanche and Smith. I must admit that my first impressions of Blanche were that he was sloppy, but I don't believe that's the case. I also get a very strong feeling of insanity, and things just on the edge. A perverse sense of things twisted right to the brink. Smith's drawings are incredible from a technical stand point, but don't convey the same emotional impact, instead his drawings often come across a bit static and cold to me.

Regardless I'm totally enjoying this thread. Tons of cool pics, and references I'm digging the hell outta.

JohnHwangDD wrote:John Blanche is bad, bad, bad I tell ya!

I want pictures on your drawings and your work before I take your opinion seriously..
I'm less than impressed by your miniature painting skills so let's see, you can talk the talk, can you walk the walk?
Give me something that comes close to anything Blanche have done.

Nice taste in girls though.. lovely avatar.

John Blanche - He has a style that is definitely of an age (I just imagine 12" album covers from the 70's) He has set the tone for the grim dark universe, weird wonderful, scary, out of sync. I love his work for 40k more than any other artist. His line work is hectic and energetic, and in abundance. His limited pallet of colours suits the universe he is trying to depict.

Goodwin is someone else I admire.

I like Mark Gibbons too but there is something a bit too sterile about his work, like some of the current artists the realism they depict lacks a lot of mystery, which I guess comes from stricter briefs out of GW editorial departments. This tighter style of work especially in colour is really of a first glance variety, immediately recognisable motifs that in my opinion dont' bear much looking into 'oh its a space marine' oh its a chaos marine' etc. This possibly suits GW's current 'advertorial' style a lot more.

It's all totally subjective though.

I love the living hell out of John Blanche. I've said it many times, but I wish I could have the 2nd ed box art in a giant print so I could frame it and put it on my wall. His work has a kind of liveliness and energy to it that nobody else at GW has.

Anyway, just thought I'd contribute to this thread before it gets locked for threadnomancy by a mod.

When I approached to the hobby by the first time, John Blanche pictures were a bit annoying for me. The characters are always ugly, the proportions, perspectives and such things always are twisted. But with time he has become my favourite. Because without all that weird landscapes, enviroments and characters he settled the main imagery for both Warhammer settings. It's not exactly "beautiful", but it has tons of flavour. In my opinion you can't think in a 40k city without adding that flavour. It's like trying to make Star Wars without Ralph McQuarrie. Episode I: the plastic CGI menace.


In a wider view, I love the mid-late 90's images, Mark Gibbons and all that artists. What I honestly HATE with a passion, is the Black Library computer generated covers. The HH ones, the later Gaunt's Ghosts ones...

And there is a guy that always draws the same face on his characters, be it a Mordheim merc , an IG trooper or whatever xD

I think that a company that sells paints and brushes to have a "handmade" feeling army should promote all the "handmade" stuff. Including the old(er) school art.

..we'll let this run for the moment, in future could you please be aware of the date of the last post before adding to a thread that ahs been asleep for a while.

John Blanche, all the way. His style is just so gothic and different to all of GW's other artists.
He's unique.