The above picture is by John Blanche, and is pretty well known in the wargaming world, now I'm not a huge fan of most of John's work, and don't like the style. Before you start stoning me, art is very subjective, he's done a few I enjoy, but for the most part not an artist I like, this piece is one of the few I do like. Not long after this appeared on the cover of White Dwarf a limited edition model was released, which I was able to get a copy of, and back then I painted my models pretty quickly and didn't have a mountain of models that needed attention ! LOL Below is what I achieved the first time round.
Pretty basic really, and no shield. It was painted with enamel paints back then, so I thought it would be fun to see how far I could push it this time. I added a few details with greenstuff after striping the original paint, these were mostly the small spikes that weren't cast on the original model, and of course the iconic shield. This was then painted with acrylics this time.
As I was never likely to use it in a game, I decided to try and replicate the background from the original art, even when I took art I was never a fan of painting backgrounds, so tried as best as I could to make a decent representation, it's not perfect but I'm happy with the final outcome.
Above shows the construction of the base better, so you can see how I made the base and background. That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave
As a massive John Blanche fan I have to say "That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah!" LOL!!! Splendid work, Dave, and a fitting tribute to one of the artists who definitely had a massive impact upon my youth. I love the little background scene you've created too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Simon, there's only about 5 pieces of his that I can say I liked, but we all have different tastes, which adds to the variety of life ! LOL Did think about doing it on a standard base, but thought this would bring it closer to the original art.
DeleteJB is indeed give or take. Either amazing or.... meh. This girl though is iconic for sure - very nice work painting her up to be true to the painting, but also for adding the extras that bring her closer to the image, along with that pretty background!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dai, I know a lot of people that like his stuff, but for me I'm the same as you. The backdrop and base only took an evening, and were painted as two pieces without the model, to keep everything clean.
Delete*Picks up rock and gets ready to throw.* In all seriousness, I'm not sure that JB's artistic skills live up to the popularity he has. Maybe it is because I'm too young but I don't think his art is THAT great and I'm not sure it ages all that well either. So I'd have to agree with you, Dave. I think you did a great job recreating his art work and I like the inclusion of a background as well. If I'm not mistaken, FW makes a newer version of this character. I have seen it while window shopping and had no idea it was such an iconic and important character so I learned something new today!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jeff, as art is very subjective what one person loves, another may hate, but if we all respect each others choices, then it should never be a problem. I hadn't seen the Forgeworld model so will have to check that out, and always happy to share a bit of knowledge, as the art was first shown in the 80's.
DeleteI can give or take the art but I really like the figure! :-) Nice work on the shield, base and background as well!
ReplyDeleteThank you John, it falls into they typical fantasy female category of legs too long, waist too small, and very 80's hair ! LOL but it appeals to a lot of people. I t was fun to push myself out of my comfort zone and try new things.
DeleteThat's quite a piece, I have to say. I love your take on her and I find the display a pretty clever bit. Duly noted!
ReplyDeleteThank you Suber, the base was done using an old perspective trick from art, to help make it seem there is an horizon.
DeleteWell, I thought all GW was hideous or too comical for the longest time. It wasn't until I really started getting into Blood Bowl, that I began liking some of the art (some I'm still not a fan of). I think there is some JB art I like, and some not so much. At any rate, I think you captured the likeness of the art really well. You're underselling yourself on the backdrop, it looks really nice. It's also impressive how well you did the ground work! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Brian, there have been some very talented artists that have come and gone through GW's doors and some that have done freelance work like Adrian Smith, his work can get a bit twisted, which is probably why they used him a lot on the Chaos art. The trick on the ground is to add more colour the closer you get to the front, the rear edge is almost pure base colour. The problem I have with the backdrop, is it's not 100% accurate to the original, which is what I would want ! LOL
DeleteShe looks superb...and VERY dangerous!
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil, definitely seems like she has a bad attitude ! LOL
DeleteOh I remember her! didn't realise the artwork inspired the figure, I always thought it was the other way around! you learn something every day (and forget it two days later!). Great job on an iconic figure, and the background really sets her off a treat. I too always thought his stuff was a bit hit and miss (but I'm not really a big fan of all the "spikey bits" and skulls GW favour anyway).
ReplyDeleteCheers Roger.
Thank you Roger, with how long a piece of art takes, and a sculpt takes, it wouldn't surprise me if they were worked in simultaneously and then shown in whichever order they liked. I know what you mean about the memory, what were we saying ? LOL there have been some great art, and a lot of meh and if your not a fan of GW spikes and skulls, a lot more meh I would imagine ! LOL
DeleteNice job recreating the miniature from the picture. I feel left out as the pic is new to me and don’t know the artist. I can tell from the comments that it’s GWish but probably long before I got there and left. 😀
ReplyDeleteThank you Stewart, the model and art came out in the 80's and GW and Citadel miniatures were either still separate companies or newly joined together at the time, and not the retail machine it is now ! LOL
DeleteI thought the original model was a conversion with the green stuff still on the figure! The re=paint and added shield though, whilst odne in acrylics is a far, far better paint-job. It odes make me wonder why we ever used enamels, but hen again we didn't have a lot of choice.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joe, I had very little to sculpt on this one, just some spikes that for obvious reasons were left off to make casting easier. The hobby world has come a long way over the years, I remember trying the early acrylics in the late 80's and they were terrible, wouldn't cover another colour, and you couldn't drybrush with them, thankfully most colours now have a good range that do, maybe not yellow and red, but we can hope that improves.
DeleteGreat work on Amazonia Gothique, a classic Blanche Illustration. I'm not the biggest fan of JB either, though I think he's still incredibly important in the development of the aesthetic of Warhammer (both flavours) through his art and its influence (aside from being the Art Director!) Love the added touch of the ground and background to really complete this one. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Azazael, I think your spot on about his importance to the development of the brand. The base and back drop were actually last minute additions which I thought would just complete the piece
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