I posted this and pictures on the "Age of Sigmar Fans" Facebook page a little while ago, I figured I might as well leave it here as well. If you are interested in seeing the artwork in full with a couple closeups and some of my other artwork here is the link to my portfolio:
https://antonback.squarespace.com
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I’m so sorry you guys :( The new Tzeentch vs. Stormcasts box is a lie straight from the depths of the crystal labyrinth, nothing more than an illusion sent forth to toy with the emotions of hopeful hobbyists.
How do I know this? Well… I am the false prophet who spun this lie. Now, please lower your pitchforks and torches and let me try to explain as best as I can.
I started this painting simply as a study to try and tackle the feel of a
GW AoS box cover, it was a challenge I put myself up to and something I did to spice up my portfolio. But, t’was not long before the beaked devil on my shoulder began feeding me dubious ideas, temptations and grandiose fantasies of me being the shadowy puppet master who would use people's hopes and dreams against themselves, just to stir up the pot.
This evil imp with it’s silver tongue firmly in and around my ear teased my curiosity, “How quickly will it spread?”, “Will it fool anyone?” and “What kinds of reactions will this get?”. At this point, I was already lost, the dark God of lies was using me like His puppet.
Yesterday I finished the painting early in the morning. I immediately started working on a fake leak, something that would look convincing, more so than just slapping the
AoS logo on the painting and putting it out there. I was inspired by the previous fake leak but determined to make mine more convincing, the original artwork was a good start. Another big inspiration was the quite recent Sombra leak for Overwatch.
I decided to “leak” it on DakkaDakka, partially because the News and Rumours thread is quite popular but also because my account there is old and not tied to my real name or background in any obvious way, it seemed like the least suspicious of my options.
Immediately after the first comment popped up, the guilt hit me.
“*faints*
If the Tzeentch content is anything like what Silver tower gave us, that box is going to murder my wallet.”
-His Master’s Voice [
DCM] - DakkaDakka
I had instilled false hope in this person, given him the promise of something he wanted while knowing he would never receive it.
Then the comments kept coming, the speculation started, some people very sceptical, and some naive, probably driven by their wishful thinking and hope that it would be real.
The guilt didn’t recede, and to make things worse, now I was under the looking glass. In the process of making the final touches to my fake leak I had gotten sloppy, and messed up on minor details like trademark stamps, putting the title text slightly too high up and the pretty huge blunder of writing “Fate Weaver” instead of “Fateweaver” in the description. These things however were not enough to completely give it away it seemed. And what seemed to keep the speculations going was the hopes and dreams of fellow hobbyists on the forum.
In an attempt to get my mind off of things for a second I opened up my Facebook on my phone, to my horror, there it was. My lie had already made it’s way to the
AoS fan page, and now my favorite community was infected, it was no longer contained within the salty and hostile confinements of DakkaDakka’s forums, but spreading, and spreading fast. Before I knew it, it was on my local gaming groups
FB page, and it even popped up elsewhere on other facebook pages, who knows how far the snake has slithered.
My goal from the beginning was to see if it would make it to
BoLS, and then I would reveal the sad truth. Well, there it was, staring at me, and the comments section had already started stirring with life.
At that point I was filled with relief, and my heavy remorse finally lightened by the knowledge that in the morning I would come out with the truth. The curse that I had put on myself would be lifted, and the only thing remaining was gaining the forgiveness of my beloved community, and maybe regain their trust. And hopefully I would start to heal from the wounds made by comments like “rubbish artwork”.
But, even though mean comments about the artwork did sting a bit, they were nothing compared to the warm feeling left on my cold, tzeentch corrupted heart by comments like this one by Warhams-77 on DakkaDakka:
“Looks like a starter set for Age of Sigmar similiar to Death Masque - and if it is fake,
GW should hire the artist”
And I agree
GW SHOULD hire me, although I may not deserve to have that dream fulfilled after crushing the dreams of others, the dreams of my fellow hobbyists no less.
And, well, here we are.