John Blanche Illustrations From The Sorcery Spell Book

Our regular gaming nights currently involve a romp over the Shamutanti Hills as GM Andy guides his semi-competent players in typical semi-tolerant fashion (we do test his patience...). To aid my sorcerer, Andy handed me a copy of the Sorcery Spell Book during our last session. Not only did it help me sift through all the spells, it also gave me the chance to snap a few photos of the John Blanche illustrations within. Here are a few of my favourites...

Some John Blanche Art From The 40k Rulebook, Just Because It's Great

Blanchitsu Pictures From October White Dwarf

Enjoy!

John Blanche In Next White Dwarf, New Photo

It's really great that John Blanche is a regular in White Dwarf again - it's just a shame that his input isn't enough to justify the price tag (in my humble opinion etc, etc.). So in the spirit of spreading pictures of his glorious minis around the web so that they can exert maximum influence, here's a photo that popped up on the GW website today. In this theme, I'm going to scan those from the last WD this evening and put them in a post tomorrow...

Blanchitsu in August White Dwarf

Heads up all you John Blanche junkies - there's what looks like a four page Blanchitsu in the August White Dwarf, available from Saturday.

Artistic Inspiration #5 - John Blanche Miniatures

So this is where it all comes together: 'Art in miniature' (or perhaps miniatures as art) thanks to the masterful John Blanche. The pictures speak for themselves... 

The Gothic Punk - Celebrating Blanchitsu

As I've been working on my Empire General Christmas present I've been giving further consideration to the direction of my painting style. I'm very keen to develop my skills but I'm no great fan of the hyper-clean, comic style that's favoured in-house by GW, or the 'realism' that seems to dominate other miniatures sites (and as my brother says, whoever saw a 'real' Chaos warrior anyway?).

The work of gothic punk extraordinaire John Blanche is becoming a constant reference point as I look to evolve as a painter. Blanche's style is perfect for capturing the tattered, torn and tainted appearance that I want to give my miniatures, thereby placing them in a hard and harsh fantasy world, where life and war is a nasty and grimy affair. To my mind, this grubbier version of Warhammer fits the narratives of both the WFB and 40K universes far better than the slick presentation provided by the majority of what is currently offered in the GW promotional material. There are still bold highlights in Blanche's miniature work - shade is nothing without light - yet he limits his palette brilliantly in order to emphasise the contours, contrasts and details in his models.

   

The pictures featured here are from the Gothic Punk blog, which is a fabulous fan-created resource for all things Blanche - highly recommended.