Very specifically, the Adrian Smith work on 6th edition dwarfs. The only art I've ever seen that captures dwarfs as dark and brutal while still being noble and stalwart.
Two. John Blanche and Adrian Smith. Blanche's art was one of the foundational things when I got into the hobby years ago. So frenetic and characterful. It also taught me that effective art doesn't need to be precise or neat. His work for Necromunda and Mordheim sold those games for me. Smith's pencil work is exquisite. You don't just get a sense for the grit and grime, but the sweat and heat as well. His art typified my favourite era of Warhammer Fantasy. (6th-7th) The art for the orc army book has stayed with me. His own graphic novel, Chronicles of HATE, is a masterwork.
Ian Miller, Will Rees, Paul Bonner, Tony Ackland, John Blanche, Jes Goodwin, Adrian Smith... You can basically pick any one illustration by any of the above and I'll tell you how often it buzzes around in my brain 30-something years later. Specific top picks? Oh my, that's a hard one. Ian Miller - Death on the Reik or the cover art for House of Hell, but literally all his Realms of Chaos art absolutely blew my mind. Will Rees - Emperor of Mankind. Or the Adeptus Mechanicus pic. Both from Rogue Trader. Paul Bonner - I love Paul Bonner's Orks (and Squats, for that matter). He gave them a personality beyond the wanton violence. My favourite piece is probably the one from Waaagh the Orks with the Mekboys sitting around the plans for a Gargant, while the Grots are busy building it in the background. I've spent hours of my life looking at that one picture over the years! Tony Ackland - Again, anything from Realms of Chaos as it's all so iconic, but if I HAD to pick it's got to be the Chaos Marine with the tentacled arm. John Blanche - Ugh. This is like asking me to choose my favourite child. Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Pontifex Maximus. Necromundan Guard Regiment advancing towards the front line. Jes Goodwin - Avatar of Khaine. The Eldar Aspect concept drawings. White Dwarf 127 made me shelve my Blood Angels and become an Eldar player both in 40k and Epic. No regrets! Adrian Smith - Cult Mechanicus, the Slaanesh Marine with the face you'll never forget, that Chaos Warrior in black armour stood atop a pile of corpses. Don't make me pick one!
John Blanche, 'Knight Panther' and 'Skeleton Horde' are among my favorites Mark Gibbons, more or less any of his pieces from the 90s, but in particular I love the 'Circle Of Blood' wight lord Les Edwards 'HeroQuest' box cover (technically Warhammer, since the original game was set in The Old World)
Space crusade board game box art back in the day. Also issue number 78 March 1992 of Amstrad Action magazine had custom space crusade art on the magazine cover that I dont know the origin off. And also a demo of the game I loved to play. I also had the jigsaw of the game expansion Mission Dreadnought and that is my fave photo. Thanks for vids and much love from northern ireland
Dave Gallagher's illustration of the 7th edition Vampire Counts manual front. I was always a sucker for dark fantasy and grimdark and that manual made me enter a miniature shop in my city when i was young. Now i have 6 armies and not even close to have all i want to have xD
the black and white sketches that were included in the unit entries in WFB 6th edition army books were very inspirational, especially the orc boar boyz, beastmen centigors and chaos trolls
I couldn't agree more! Also the general layout of the rulebook and it's cover really leaned to the impression of it being a tome depicting the struggles of armies in an old world. It gave a nice framework to what sort of world this all was taking place in. I have similar feelings towards the rulebook of 3rd edition, 40k.
Adrian Smith's Nurgle and Tzeentch work in Lost and the Damned. What it captures for me is a sense that chaos has a tremendous sense of purpose but what that purpose is is so completely alien and incomprehensible to us.
To me, there were a few pieces that defined Warhammer. For 40k, it was the old Rogue Trader rulebook's depiction of Adeptus Mechanicus, with the really ununiform and terrifying look of the Mechanicus. For AoS, it was a single scene from the Skaventide trailer, when the defenders of a Sigmarite city watch in terror as a massive Skaven city bursts out of the ground wreathed in warpfire. Finally, for Fantasy, it was the image I think a lot of people found inspirational back in 1983: Harry the Hammer.
Russ Nicholson's art was pure magic to me-his intricate, otherworldly illustrations in Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer books defined my love for TTRPGs. His work didn’t just show fantasy; it pulled me into those worlds, filled with dark forests, grim heroes, and unforgettable monsters. It’s hard to imagine the UK tabletop scene without his influence-it was his art that made it come alive for me.
All of Paul Bonners art, especially his greenskins, fimir and dwarfs/squats really fired up my mind, Blanches Herothyogs Tower(whatever it's called), and all of Ian Millers pointy stuff. They all gave such a feeling of the worlds, in Welsh there's a word, "Hiraeth" which is a homesickness for a place and time that didn't really exist, and these really gave me hiraeth. There was so much more, the front covers of Warhammer Siege, WFRP 1st edition, Rogue Trader, stacks of others, they all sucked me in and made me want to have the feeling of that art in my games.
A few bits for me, Les Edwards' Heroquest cover art just floored me when I saw it. Then the 5e WHFB cover art, and the 3e 40k John Blanche masterpiece. Those three were able to transport me into the game world and visualise the settings beautifully. In a more modern example, the box art for Cursed City really set the tone for the game!
I often overlook Heroquest as Warhammer adjacent. It was a whole different chapter of childhood that I don't equate to a later part. It's weird. I should really consider that game the real entry into the hobby. I started painting figures because of Heroquest.
pretty much everything in WH40K Rogue Trader and WHFB 3rd Edition. I got into GW because of the Fighting Fantasy artists - they were the bridge between the two worlds (plus their Tolkien work). So John Blanche stands head and shoulders above the rest because he is both an incredible artist AND leader. Just look at the super-team he managed over the years with such diversity of styles and talent: Les Edwards’ hyper-realism, Ian Miller’s overly ornate baroque; Kev Walker’s ultra-clean shading; Adrian Smith’s brutal chaos; Wayne England’s unique watercolour shading; John Sibbick’s iconic covers; the list goes on. But it was JB’s work in Steve Jackson’s Sorcery series that I love the most because he did as much world building and storytelling in those books as Steve’s writing did.
John Sibbick's Rogue Trader cover and Russ Nicholson's early 40k illustrations were massively influential on me. That, and the art from WHFRP 1e. On the flip side, the covers to the Horus Heresy novels turned me off that setting for a good decade.
For me it is without a doubt the cover art of the 6th edition orcs and goblins armybook by Adrian Smith. It was the start of my entry in the Warhammerhobby. I played Warcraft and liked the orcs a lot, when I was looking for some cool art. Then I found this fantastic piece. The brutality, the grimdark, the ruthless crudeness. The stoic brute in the foreground with his malicious facial expresion, ready to get violent, sorounded by the swarming green tide. The mountains in the background, from where the savages were pouring down in the realms of men. The visible fate of the humans that were cought by the greenskins. The scrap armour and weapons, the totems... Man, I still love it.
My first art experience in Warhammer, was with the original release of Space Hulk and the expansion Deathwing. The art for the Terminators blew my mind as a 16yr old, and I still enjoy looking at them today.
John Blanche's pencil illustration of The Eternity Gate and the colour piece "Pontifex Maximus" are two of the early 40k illustrations which had the biggest impact on me when I was first getting into the game.
Paul Dainton is one of my favourite artist, both The cover of both the Black templars 4th codex and Codex: Whitchunters are stunning pieces and the black templars one made me play loyalist
The cover of the original Warhammer box changed my world, I also love all the simple black and white art from the first edition rulebooks, they really shaped my love for the game and fired my imagination!
The Heroquest cover by Les Edwards for definite. The Bard said it great in his video "why heroquest is so great" That game chanced my life and put me on the road to warhammer and GAMES Workshop. There's so much vitality in the piece. So inspirational as it showed such a collection of characters in a Dungeon scenario. It did what the developers. Wanted as it beckoned willing adventures on a quest into the high realms of fantasy and sword and sorcery scenarios
Great idea! The way Forgeworld did the Black Books for Horus Heresy, and the photo-art based on models inside them gave a completely new perspective on 40k, before then, I had a grim-dark image in mind, sure, but it wasn't anchored in anything close to reality. What the FW team did completely re-wrote my idea of what a space marine was, and made (30k and) 40k "real" to me. It was a massive shift. I know a lot of people will bring up classic 2nd Ed 40k codex covers, 4 and 5th Ed whfb armybook covers as hugely influential, and rightly so. Those super colour pagers drew in scores of kids like moths to flames, me included.
The cover with the massive great unclean one and the rotting masses standing slime and mud and slowly walking towards the reader is so iconic part bosch, breugel and very lovecraftian at the same time.
There are so many works of art that have served as important touchstones for not only for enriching my understanding of Warhammer but the Fantasy genre in general. But I can single out a few pieces that are most special to me, I'll try not to go on and on too much because I could talk about this all day. The art Paul Dainton made for the Elves had a tremendous impact on me, particularly his image of High Elves and Dark Elves clashing outside of Lothern. That pure clash of good and evil saturated with all that mystical style of elves is inescapably compelling for me. I also love his portrait of Alith Anar, one of my favorite High Elf characters. To this day High Elves are my favorite faction largely because of Dainton's art.
any of the B&W art of Mark Gibbons could have that effect on me. Its not just nostalgia specs im looking at that with, they were absolutely amazing in bringing thungs like 40k or Necromunda to life, either as a full page piece or little corner filling artworks in a WD issue. His Escher gang fighting an unseen enemy is still one of my favourites and the moment i saw it i knew i had to get an Escher gang, which i never did back then but which i finally have now
Hi Jordan - for me its where it all began Starter Set Box Cover Art - I even modded my general on a horse to look like the Empire General on the cover with a prancing horse! I LOVE the Empire
The cover of White Dwarf 135. Altdorf by Fangorn. I was a kid, and I just got lost in that image, there's so much to see! It's too clean from a modern perspective, but 13 year old me was totally mesmerized.
Gary Chalk's cover for Bloodbath at Orcs Drift has a soft spot in my heart because it was the first campaign i got hold of that made warhammer really accessible for 11 year old me and I loved it. A few years on - anything by Ian Miller - death on the reik cover and Realms of chaos. Will Rees marines stand out in my memory especially with that whole Giger/horror vibe in wh40k. If I had to pick out one artwork that everyone I knew in the hobby got excited about, it was Sibbick's cover art for 40k when it was advertised in white dwarf 93 for the first time.
I remember specifically one of the illustrations that John Blanche made of the emperor sat on his throne for the 3rd edition ruebook 0f 40k. Not the one that got modified after that, the original piece. The face of this man, the cables and weird technology surrounding him completely changed my life. I was 12 years old and looking at this tome, at this deadman on his throne inspired me so much and created such a strong memory of that exact moment I discovered 40k´s IP.
Loved Will Rees' artwork in Rogue Trader as a 10-year-old, and still love it now! Relentlessly grimdark, mainly featuring marines but with zero vibes of heroism. The first of his drawings is only a few pages in, and when you see it you instantly understand the 40k setting.
I think that the art that is ingrained for me is inline with my first experiences with Warhammer 40k - things like the cover of the Second Edition Rules (I think - with all the Ultra Marines back to back), the cover of the first Eldar codex, the Catachan jungle fighters on the front of the Imperial Guard codex, the Khorne berserker in the Chaos codex, the small picture of the Vindicare and Eversor assassins in the Assassins codex and that black and white drawing of the Emperor on his throne. That said, I think it was a lot of the completed model art that really drew me into the hobby like the first Eldar hover tank or the Eldar Harlequins painted up, the whole Gorka Morka setup, or the first time I saw the Necron Monolith painted in a White Dwarf issue.
The ads in Dragon Magazine leading up to the release of WFRP in 1986 absolutely captivated me. I HAD to have it. The full color art was dynamic and evocative in a way I hadn’t felt before in an rpg. Once I had the book, I remained spellbound by the color art, but when I think back on those days, I remember most the soft black and white art, especially the scenes like the battle against lizard men at a temple complex. It brought me back to my pulp literature roots. 40k came when games were edgy and grimy. Cyberpunk was in full swing. Somehow, 40k was even darker, grimier, and grimmer than any of that. In those days, it was still the b&w art that struck me most. Later, the color work of artists like Adrian Smith, Paul Bonner, and Daarken, et al rekindled my interest in Warhammer and 40k. Despite all the innumerable works of talented artists and creators, as more of a literary artist, I have to say the collective creation of the massive volume of lore and world building is what has impressed me most about all of WARHAMMER/40k. What an achievement!
Mark Gibbons. His artwork grabbed me by the eyeballs and transported me into Warhammer. I would cut up my precious White Dwarfs, just so that teenage me could blu-tak his stuff to the wall. 4th Ed WFB army books were my gateway drug, starting with Undead and Skaven. His Nagash piece is justly praised, but those books were peppered with little rectangles of beautifully rendered, wonderfully evocative snapshots of WFB life (and death). The snarling, tightly coiled nastiness of the Skaven, and the eerie, staring malevolence of the undead are still seared on my mind, thanks to Mark. Other well-seared examples include: -Orion -Ariel -Mephiston -Bjorn the Fell-handed -The Eldar Avatar -The Green Knight -Karloth Valois -Malekith -The Tyranids, Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, Chaos Dwarfs, Bretonnians, High Elves, Eldar, Necromunda gangers - the list goes on and on and on. That little stylised MG was, for me, the stamp of quality on the best that Warhammer art could be. This won't be a popular opinion, but I cannot stand John Blanche's artwork. Yes yes, grimdark patron saint of the hobby etc etc. But Mark's art leapt from the pages, it took those more static 1990s miniatures and gave them movement, expression, menace and presence. It felt like a massive loss to the hobby when he moved away from GW, and it still does.
The battlefleet gothic cover is my favourite for sure. The 3e 40k illustrations that lead you into the setting were also my intro to 40k and are certainly impactful. In general I'm more of a fan of fantasy than 40k but it's the 40k art which really is the apotheosis of warhammer. The fantasy stuff while great for what it is, is still capturing the same fantasy aesthetic we've seen plenty before and more since. 40k created something unique.
My all time favourite piece of Warhammer art is the 3rd edition Orks codex cover by David Gallagher. I started the hobby in Warhammer Fantasy in the 90s and it got me into 40k. I fell in love with it when I first saw it back in the day. It's the one piece that always comes back to my mind as being my favourite and I didn't have to spend a lot of time thinking of one. It changed my view of what Warhammer 'could' be at the time and it also started my lifelong love of Orks. The transition from 2nd edition to 3rd edition was a very interesting time and a lot of the early art from 3rd shaped 40k as we know it now but it still had roughness to it's edges while they were still figuring out the aesthetics of 40k going forward. I love this piece in particular because it feels like a snapshot rather than a staged scene or battle, emphasized by the flash of lightning. The harsh lighting illuminates the two main Orks in the image, showing them in all their brutal glory, while obscuring the grimmer aspects of the battle taking place in shadow and darkness. The contrasting lighting here does a fantastic job of showing off the army and the 'grimdark' nature of what 40k would become as you imagine the horror taking place in the shadows. The small detail of the silhouetted Orks in the background that can only be identified by their glowing red eyes makes them look terrifying and leads me to imagine how scary it would be seeing a dark mass of Orks charging over the top of the muddy rain-soaked trenches, only getting brief glimpses of them in the flashes of lightning and gunfire. It has a dynamic, gritty quality that was very different from the art that had come before. It drags me into the scene and makes me want to know what the battle looked like up to that point and what was about to happen next. John Blanche's Black Templars piece is iconic and one that people always point to as the blueprint for grimdark 40k, but for me the Orks cover and pieces like it took Warhammer as a whole to the next level.
Dont sleep on Clint Langley's work. Hes pretty much the only digital artist I like, his look is really unique. Did a lot of work for warhammer novel covers as well as Dark Heresy 1ed.
Mark Gibbons 4th Ed Greenskins feature a lot in the Army book from that era and will always remind me of the time when I discovered the Fantasy game. The sweeping vistas in the Epic Space Marine black and white rulebook of titans, Orks and others are also just so perfect in the way they encapsulate the game at the time. Less of the Grimdark and more of the madness. Paul Bonner is a huge part of this. I could never get my head round the Blanche style as a kid, that along with the Bob Olley Sculpts seemed to jar with the cleaner styles of the time but over the years I have learned to love their look. The free and easy artistic style are just fantastic in the flesh.
Mark Gibbons, for his work in the army books and codexes during the 90s, with the full-page Nagash at the top. Being a little kid at the time meant his more stylized and cartoony illustrations grabbed and pulled me into these worlds. The older works of Blanche and Miller were a bit too abstract for me back then, in comparison. I've grown to appreciate all the different artists from back then but Gibbon's work will always be the one true look of Warhammer for me. Wayne England gets an honourable mention too since his work is often pretty similar, I probably just happened to find him a little later!
The Bloodthirster by Mark Gibbons got me into the hobby. Kid brought a white dwarf to school and i saw the full page of that piece and i was instantly hooked. All the art in 3rd ed 40k and Mordheim as those where the games out when i started.
Getting into the hobby in the early 2000's when the box art didn't show the actual physical product, but rather an artistic depiction of the unit. I found this much more evocative. The shop front was a gallery of badass imagery, slaughter, and soilders desperately holding the line. As a child it wasn't really like I was buying a certain model or unit, but I was being sold a moment in a heroic battle or epic tale.
Helsreach from Rogue Trader, I think it was Carl Critchlow? That comic book style art totally made 40k for me, I came to GW whilst reading 2000AD. Paul Bonner and his fantasy art, the grey scale pencil style stuff just oozed character. They both set a tone for me that I still enjoy today.
I think for me, the Mordheim rulebook which was just full of creepy and bizarre artwork and little stories was probably peak. I also have memories of the 6th edition WHFB Dark Elves army book being full of amazing black and white illustrations which is what made me love that faction.
HeroQuest and Space Crusade cover arts, it was the first time I ever encountered anything Warhammer related and instantly knew it was something I'm going to love. Also the OG Rogue Trader rulebook cover because it's fucking awesome and was officially licenced to BOLT THROWER as their second album's cover art.
karl kopinksi's faction artworks that were in the battle for macragge mini rulebook really made 40k click for me. lizardmen didnt need to me sold to me via the art, but i was hesitant to get into 40k. karls box arts and codex art really set the tone for me. when i returned to warhammer (as one does) I was very into illustration youtube and was delighted to find karl has a successful solo practice and a good collection of interviews amongst a bunch of illustration channels and is included in the collective of artists i follow that includes the great kim jung ji (rip), and nicolas nemiri. That reminded me of just how influential karl's art has been on my perception of warhammer when he was working for gw
The cover for the 4th edition WFB boxed set, the Orcs and Goblins 4th edition army book cover, the Blanch black and white picture of the night goblins and trolls pouring out of weird mountain background. All so atmospheric and they made the world seem real to little 9 year old me.
Simply put, the artwork in the 2nd Edition Codexes by Mark Gibbons really made me interested in 40k in the first place. I must have looked through the Chaos, Space Wolves, and Tyranid codex a hundred thousand times. I wasn't really sure if I would ever buy anything as my friends that had the codexes also had armies. But then, about a month and a half later, 3rd edition dropped. I flipped through the Chaos codex at my local comic shop and there I saw it ... The Obliterators artwork in the unit entry margin. The skull face, the demolisher cannon sticking out of his chest, a pose of rage, hazard stripes... I had a pile of models within days.
The 2nd Edition Ork Codex Cover Art. Hands down it is responsible for drawing me into the mayhem and madness that were Orks in w40k. I would absolutely love to get a hi res copy for my hobby room wall.
Pete Knifton and all the others involved in the 2nd edition Blood Bowl rule book and handbook covers … those teams, their colours and, as the kids say now, the vibes of them really spoke to me as a 10 year old when I first saw it. Even though Blood Bowl is a fantastic game, I never felt any of the versions ever got translating those teams and players onto the pitch as well as the fluff did.
The art in WH40k: Rogue Trader, WFB 3E and WFRP 1E in 1987 were my introduction to the Britpunk aesthetic and completely changed my perception of what games and game art could be. It deeply impacted my personal aesthetics and I use art from this period as examples when I teach art classes at my college. In particular, I like to use Wil rees, Blanche and Miller to really throw curve balls at students who are expecting to see Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso. Your question is a larger one, however. I have built a whole class around the examination of aesthetics in games to answer what makes that art so powerful, much of it inspired by the changes my artistic perception went through discovering them and immersing myself into the hobby. I think it is impossible to find the true impact of art on games simply by asking which particular images inspired a gamer in a comments section. Rather, I think you would be better served by interviewing a few individuals to really dig into WHY they found these works to be the example of the Kantian Sublime.
You already posted the 2e Eldar codex art. Combine that with the 5e High Elves army book and you've got two amazing depictions of what elves meant for Games Workshop. In the Gorkamorka books there were these amazing pages of just nothing but ork and squig faces, kind of semi-abstract - this was *incredibly* influential in getting the vibe of what an ork is, what greenskins are in 40k. Very cool stuff, and while I know that Gorkamorka had kind of a limited shelf life, it's part of what inspired me to be a fan of the space orks to this day.
I think it's got to be the 6th edition WHFB rulebook cover, ironically the previous big release, 40k 3rd, has what will be for many the most iconic image ever Blanche's Black Templars but there's just something about the Big Red Book as an entire piece that is just perfect for me. The strange cross between wood relief and tapestry that forms the red background, the Lustrious gold of Ghal Mharaz and that wonderful redesign of the Warhammer logo that incorporates spears on the hill-line into the glimmer of gold across the letters. There's also the way the cover aged with the book itself, as one's copy became more dog-eared and burred with creases it added to the trompe l'oeil depth of the red carvings.
Oh boy there are a few. 1. The art of the Emperor from Rogue Trader. Where he's just a withered husk. No grandeur, no epic defiance on the golden throne, just a creepy looking Gollum guy hooked up to machines. 2. The Black templar picture. You know the one. 3. A drawing of a Dark Reaper from the 6th edition Eldar codex. I always thought Dark Reapers looked quite silly, with their weird elongated faces and tiny mouths, but this illustration makes them look scary and badass. Honestly made me an Eldar fan.
Adrian Smith's two 'The Emperor vs Horus' pieces (B&W original, and colour with Sanguinius at feet), plus Mark Gibbon's B&W character pieces, incl. Mephiston
I got into Warhammer in the mid nineties when I was about 10 and I loved 2e 40k, especially the character portraits by John Blanche that really sucked me into the world. However what I really wanted was big battles, the kind that 2e 40k did not support well. So when in 1997 I saw John Blanche's cover art for the new Epic 40k my tiny brain was blown! It so perfectly encapsulated what I wanted the game to be, the kinds of grand battles that I wanted to simulate! And then the game died mere months later. Oh well!
Very Specific from me, but if you can find the cover from the Dan Abnett 'Titan' graphic novels, the second cover(vaporius) from them shows a mighty warlord titan striding past a snow topped mountain. The sheer scale shown in the picture cemented my love of Titans forever. The lighting under the carapace, the huge gun banner, and the tiny access ladder on the nozzle of the gun all bring the sheer power. The imperium at it's strongest!
Everything in my Warhammer World looks like it came out of a Paul Bonner drawing from the late 80s/early 90s. The perfect mix of comedy/cartoon and seriousness, cultural references etc. He reflected the feel that era of Warhammer gave me in a way that none of the rest of it does. Highlights would be the Orcs, Fimir, Dwarfs and in 40K the Orks, Squats and Imperial Guard. The Bratt's Boar Boyz article in WD, Warhammer Armies, Waagh the Orks & Freebooterz, the Imperial Guard and Squats WD issues all spring to mind, but they were all over the place. I want to be able to believe in and enjoy the serious and the funny side of Warhammer at the same time (which was its genius in the early days) and these work for me on that front.
So much wonderful art, so mentioning a few that inspired me to buy certain things. For Warhammer and why I started collecting Skaven Vengeance of the Lichemaster in Third Citadel Journal April 1986 Primarily the complex symbol for The Thirteen Lords of Decay on p10. Also, the banners on page 11 the Grey Seer with Warpstone on p12 and the Flamethrower crew on p13, plus the other items. The combination came together, something new, different, yet detailed. For 40k and why I started collecting Marines White Dwarf 97, Marneus Calgar. The way the image presents an Astartes just sitting down with his dino-head writing pad and captures a feeling of personal bureaucracy. The pompous cloak, the banners, but most of all the picture on the wall of the Emperor on the Golden Throne. For Chaos, the front cover of Slaves to Darkness For Harlequins White Dwarf 106, the spectacular colour image for the Harlequin section. For Eldar White Dwarf 124, the Eldar sketches, the idea that Eldar would soon be more than Pirates and Clowns. Squeak-squeak! 🤩🐀🌠
Bayard Wu's art for the Lizardmen loading screen (Total War Warhammer 2) is what covinced me to give the videogame a try, and the videogame itself got me back into the setting after a 5 year hiatus. But Warriors of Chaos by Adrian Smith and Paul Dainton's illustration of Karl Franz fighting Vorbad Ironjaw are permamanelty ingrained to my brain, they really are the mental image of the whole setting for me.
Ok for my near 40 years in 40k and WFB etc …on reflection its go to be the art work on the old plastic Imperial Guard kit to start the combination of the foot soldiers striding off to war with the background showing Titans. The black and white artwork used in WD to illustrate the Confrontation rules the precursor to Necromunda any Paul Bonner(?) Ork artwork and of course the “Mighty Empires “ box art
Warhammer in the 90s had a deliberately bright and colourful art direction to help it stand out amongst the toys and games that it found itself sitting next to on the shelves of high street toy shops as GW of that era pushed it to be more mainstream. And there's definitely a conversation to be had of the relationship between marketing, art, commerce and nostalgia, but that era of Warhammer spoke to me in a way nothing since quite could. The covers of Geoff Tayler, Dave Gallagher and Mark Gibbons are all outstanding, but the one I always come back to is Geoff Taylor's "Warhammer Fantasy Battle" - cover of the WFHB 4th edition box set, cover of White Dwarf 153 and the cover of the 5th edition Rule book too. That image IS Warhammer (fantasy) to me. To get INCREDIBLY pretentious here and quote Tennyson "O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O, sweet and far from cliff and scar, The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!" I could hear that battle, I could FEEL that battle. Warhammer 40,000 special mention: John Blanche's Sisters of Battle codex cover (White Dwarf 212). One of the most striking 40k images I've ever seen and I LOVE that they made a model of that character.
I think for me it was the Cover Art for Dawn of War that initially got me interested in Warhammer (Sadly I dont know who did it). This just sucked me into everything Warhammer related really. Another piece that stands out to me is the cover for Beasts of Chaos 6E painted by Paul Dainton which I discovered while looking more into Warhammer. Absolutely Brutal that one
I'll name three. The Star Quest (Space Crusade) box cover, the one with the Blood Angels captain firing his bolter. The first edition Epic Space Marine box art, the one with the Dark Angels. The Hero Quest box art. The first two for me ARE the Space Marines. The third is a great way to summarize the Warhammer fantasy setting. There are plenty more that I'd like to point out but these are the ones that had the most influence on my imagination.
Adrian Smiths Ghazkull Vs the Steel Legion I think captured the 40k I most picture in my head, humanity vs inhuman monsters from beyond the stars. I was always particularly taken by the terrified looking guardsman in the corner. The lowest level of the forgotten unremarked humans that do the vast majority of everything in the universe whilst a few glory hogging superheros take all the credit is very compelling to me. I also love any of the portraits by Kopinski which look exactly like historical portraiture but in that sci fi universe.
Late 70s Dr Who felt like it had proto Grimdark elements. Noticing how much Tom Baker/ Peter Davidson Era Dr Who Cyborg & Robots find echos in 30/40k. Akira, watching it on bbc2 in 1989, then Hero Quest & Space Crusade followed quickly after that, my brother & me visiting GW (Mcr) store and getting both rule books, models etc. For us it all built up over time, prepping you for the "big reveal" of early 90s GW, we had a lot of the same influences as the creators so I think the Art style used was just the next step. Space Hulk aesthetic really got me, but both of us loved Blood Bowl, polystrene base and all because it just felt right, think a lot was the Gary Chalk art (if I've got the right artist). John Blanche art goes without saying, It was the supporting cast of other artists who rounded out the settings.
It's either the cover art of the 3rd edition Talisman expansion "City of Adventure", or the cover of the 5th Edition Warhammer Magic. Love seeing those wizards duking it out with spells
Mark Gibbons Nagash Artwork from the 4th edition undead army book hangs on my wall to this day. Been playing undead ever since, so sad they messed up the model back in the day. Also the Art of Ian Miller propably captures the warhammer essence the most for me.
There are four pieces of art that epitomise Games Workshop and warhammer 40k for me, they're all from around the same time when I first had my own money in my pocket and these were so affordable and accessible locally (anyone remember Athena bookshops stocking Games Workshop?) First is Angus Fieldhouse's cover to the 1987 Games Workshop version of RuneQuest Third Edition - I love the realism of the artwork and the dynamic heroism of that cover and it made me pick it up and found the alternative to D&D that I'd been looking for. Turning to 40k, the Rogue Trader cover with what looked like the last stand of the Crimson Fists dragged me into the orbit of the 41st millenium. The 'Ere We Go cover art (and Kev Adams sculpting) has made me a Space Ork player ever since and the most iconic artwork, the image I think of when someone says 40k is John Blanche's Canoness
Warhammer Quest Boxart which was also on the cover of a nice book called the world of warhammer from the 90s. Otherwise the 5th edition rulebook and source book are the most iconic for me
As a young lad, definitely the Hero Quest box art and some of the expansions (90s versions of Witch Lord, Kellar's Keep, Wizards of Morcar, also Les Edwards I think, and I definitely recall creeping my young self out looking overlong at the grotesque and frankly rather disgusting ogres on the old Ogre Horde box) Also strongly agree with the other comment mentioning the Lost & The Damned Realms of Chaos book - I was lent that when I was about 12, wow, much in there for a tiny mind to be irrevocably warped by :)
Definitely John Blanche's "Knight Panther" for me. I understand he painted it on his own time so copyright ownership is hazy, but I'd kill for a print of that!
For me its some pieces from around '89 and early 90s and also for some reason my picks are all b&w pencil pictures. There's a Blanche drawing of an old grizled Inquisitor looking straight at you. He's got small round glasses and a wooden stock on his boltgun and a giant ornate shoulder pad drawn almost orthographically. There's something very real about that figure and it tells you a lot about the world that he's lived and managed to survive in. Another one is a picture of some human parents presenting or holding up their genestealer child. Don't remember who the artist is and I could't find where I first saw it I think it was a WD issue from that early period. I always felt so sorry for those parents they had such a harsh life already and now they have this monster child but one which they still love. And thirdly all of those pencil drawings of Orks Paul Bonner made which showed them living their lives and having an actual civilization and culture. But when looking at all those and other images one have to also admit that part of the genius is the lore that is infused in the images. Its not just cool pictures its also the whole world building that has gone into the story that takes place in the pictures. The stories enrich the pictures which enrich the stories back further again and so on. I don't want to leave out the other equally awesome artists whose works I spent countless hours poring over as a teenager and young adult. but those three are some of the ones that are stuck in my head.
Worlds of Warhammer are full of stunning and captivating art that makes imagination run wild. If I had to pick the ones that had the most impact though... Not gonna lie, there is a lot of Warhammer art pieces that are very dear to me and indeed got a huge influence on me. But I'll pick three. - Battle for Macragge cover art by David Gallagher - Chaos Space Marines art, part of which was featured as a cover art for the 3.5E Codex by Karl Kopinski - Ultramarines by Paul Dainton, the one with rows of Astartes standing in preparation for battle with a chaplain passing by Those are the ones that captured the 40k's essence for me personally. I would say that Gallagher, Dainton and Kopinski are probably my favourite classic GW artists (not saying masters like John Blanche, Adrian Smith or Mark Gibbons are bad, I love their artworks as well). Honourable mentions: Chaos Space Marines artwork by David Gallagher that was featured as a box art for basic CSM in a transitional period of 3.5E Codex, it was later replaced with a 4E style photos of miniatures as a box art. It was my first ever Warhammer box, so it is indeed was quite an impact. And Paul Dainton's Black Templars 4E Codex cover art
I'll add something more contemporary in a form of The Silver Tower. Both cover art and art inside the books is wonderful, it caught my imagination and it was probably the first true step into AoS for me. It is great and fantastical
For me it was the cover art on the skeleton horde miniatures box set with the large tree and the masses of skeleton warriors marching underneath once i saw that my soul was Gw's.
Too many to count but if I had to pick ONE I'd say that original illustration of Horus and the Emperor, black and white, pen and ink by... I wanna say Adrian Smith? THAT image brought the first real taste of the grimdark aesthetic I feel. Just Horus and big E starting daggers at each other, surrounded by corpses with the fate of the earth literally hanging in the balance. Beyond that almost anything Kev Walker, Mark Gibbons, Ian Miller or Les Edwards ever did. John Blanche of course but mostly in his earlier years not so much in the sketchy watercolours era.
David Gallagher Dark angels illustration used in Storm of Vengeance campaign and later on 3rd edition codex. It was on the white dwarf cover that grabbed my eyes on the newspaper kiosk. How cool is those sci-fi knights in a church. Then after opening the white dwarf seeing the fire prism tank, i fell in love with the eldar. It got cemented with the cover of Geoff Taylor 2nd edition codex and the first dire avengers illustration drawn on the first page of Eldar in the codex imperialis, can't find the author unfortunately
John Blanche and particular Ian Miller are iconic. I like Miller's stuff more. But I much prefer the older stuff. Bonner and Hough are some articular are great. I also think that John Sibbick isn't quite mentioned enough, even though he'd done several of the covers. But one of the guys I think seems to be left out a bit is Martin McKenna. His stuff seems to have been ever present in the early era of books.
I recently had to compile a collection of a dozen static images encapsulating the history of speculative fiction and decided I needed something from GW. I nearly chose John Blanche's frontispiece to Mordheim (with the fluting skeleton) but in the end I went with his 'The Eternity Gate' from the 2nd ed 40K rulebook. It perfectly captures the impossible scale, Gothic otherworldliness, martial outlandishness and bewildering mix of propaganda and superstition which makes 40K such a compelling milieu. But there's a weird sense of intimacy about it as well. At the centre of the image is this one little figure. We have no idea who they are or what they're there for (is that a Guardian Spear or a stick an old lady has leaned on all the way from her home on the agriworld of Where-the-Hell in Segmentum Who Cares?), but the contrast between the individual and their world is deeply affecting. I remember the creators of South Park once saying that the hyperbolic silliness of their show always lands because fundamentally they're telling stories about two 8-year-old boys trying to figure the world out, and something of the same thing is going on here. You don't need to know what this person is thinking to share their sensation of weight at expectation; it's a picture of one little dude contemplating ten thousand years of tragedies and triumphs and their complex connections and dissonances from it. On a good day, that's the feeling I get when engaging with 40K, and why I've kept coming back to the setting over the last 30+ years.I was astonished to discover, when researching the image, that 'The Eternity Gate' was drawn in lead pencil, as a rush job against an unexpected deadline, at A4 size. It's amazing that Blanche could produce such an evocative, sophisticated image in those circumstances.
Very specifically, the Adrian Smith work on 6th edition dwarfs. The only art I've ever seen that captures dwarfs as dark and brutal while still being noble and stalwart.
Two. John Blanche and Adrian Smith. Blanche's art was one of the foundational things when I got into the hobby years ago. So frenetic and characterful. It also taught me that effective art doesn't need to be precise or neat. His work for Necromunda and Mordheim sold those games for me.
Smith's pencil work is exquisite. You don't just get a sense for the grit and grime, but the sweat and heat as well. His art typified my favourite era of Warhammer Fantasy. (6th-7th) The art for the orc army book has stayed with me. His own graphic novel, Chronicles of HATE, is a masterwork.
Ian Miller, Will Rees, Paul Bonner, Tony Ackland, John Blanche, Jes Goodwin, Adrian Smith... You can basically pick any one illustration by any of the above and I'll tell you how often it buzzes around in my brain 30-something years later. Specific top picks? Oh my, that's a hard one.
Ian Miller - Death on the Reik or the cover art for House of Hell, but literally all his Realms of Chaos art absolutely blew my mind.
Will Rees - Emperor of Mankind. Or the Adeptus Mechanicus pic. Both from Rogue Trader.
Paul Bonner - I love Paul Bonner's Orks (and Squats, for that matter). He gave them a personality beyond the wanton violence. My favourite piece is probably the one from Waaagh the Orks with the Mekboys sitting around the plans for a Gargant, while the Grots are busy building it in the background. I've spent hours of my life looking at that one picture over the years!
Tony Ackland - Again, anything from Realms of Chaos as it's all so iconic, but if I HAD to pick it's got to be the Chaos Marine with the tentacled arm.
John Blanche - Ugh. This is like asking me to choose my favourite child. Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Pontifex Maximus. Necromundan Guard Regiment advancing towards the front line.
Jes Goodwin - Avatar of Khaine. The Eldar Aspect concept drawings. White Dwarf 127 made me shelve my Blood Angels and become an Eldar player both in 40k and Epic. No regrets!
Adrian Smith - Cult Mechanicus, the Slaanesh Marine with the face you'll never forget, that Chaos Warrior in black armour stood atop a pile of corpses. Don't make me pick one!
John Blanche, 'Knight Panther' and 'Skeleton Horde' are among my favorites
Mark Gibbons, more or less any of his pieces from the 90s, but in particular I love the 'Circle Of Blood' wight lord
Les Edwards 'HeroQuest' box cover (technically Warhammer, since the original game was set in The Old World)
*clears throat* "Look at the muscularity"
Space crusade board game box art back in the day. Also issue number 78 March 1992 of Amstrad Action magazine had custom space crusade art on the magazine cover that I dont know the origin off. And also a demo of the game I loved to play. I also had the jigsaw of the game expansion Mission Dreadnought and that is my fave photo. Thanks for vids and much love from northern ireland
Dave Gallagher's illustration of the 7th edition Vampire Counts manual front. I was always a sucker for dark fantasy and grimdark and that manual made me enter a miniature shop in my city when i was young.
Now i have 6 armies and not even close to have all i want to have xD
the black and white sketches that were included in the unit entries in WFB 6th edition army books were very inspirational, especially the orc boar boyz, beastmen centigors and chaos trolls
I couldn't agree more! Also the general layout of the rulebook and it's cover really leaned to the impression of it being a tome depicting the struggles of armies in an old world. It gave a nice framework to what sort of world this all was taking place in.
I have similar feelings towards the rulebook of 3rd edition, 40k.
Adrian Smith's Nurgle and Tzeentch work in Lost and the Damned. What it captures for me is a sense that chaos has a tremendous sense of purpose but what that purpose is is so completely alien and incomprehensible to us.
To me, there were a few pieces that defined Warhammer. For 40k, it was the old Rogue Trader rulebook's depiction of Adeptus Mechanicus, with the really ununiform and terrifying look of the Mechanicus.
For AoS, it was a single scene from the Skaventide trailer, when the defenders of a Sigmarite city watch in terror as a massive Skaven city bursts out of the ground wreathed in warpfire.
Finally, for Fantasy, it was the image I think a lot of people found inspirational back in 1983: Harry the Hammer.
Les Edwards' Heroquest boxart started me and so many gaming, then all the 2000ad artists in white dwarf kept me there
Russ Nicholson's art was pure magic to me-his intricate, otherworldly illustrations in Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer books defined my love for TTRPGs. His work didn’t just show fantasy; it pulled me into those worlds, filled with dark forests, grim heroes, and unforgettable monsters. It’s hard to imagine the UK tabletop scene without his influence-it was his art that made it come alive for me.
All of Paul Bonners art, especially his greenskins, fimir and dwarfs/squats really fired up my mind, Blanches Herothyogs Tower(whatever it's called), and all of Ian Millers pointy stuff. They all gave such a feeling of the worlds, in Welsh there's a word, "Hiraeth" which is a homesickness for a place and time that didn't really exist, and these really gave me hiraeth. There was so much more, the front covers of Warhammer Siege, WFRP 1st edition, Rogue Trader, stacks of others, they all sucked me in and made me want to have the feeling of that art in my games.
A few bits for me, Les Edwards' Heroquest cover art just floored me when I saw it. Then the 5e WHFB cover art, and the 3e 40k John Blanche masterpiece. Those three were able to transport me into the game world and visualise the settings beautifully. In a more modern example, the box art for Cursed City really set the tone for the game!
I often overlook Heroquest as Warhammer adjacent. It was a whole different chapter of childhood that I don't equate to a later part. It's weird.
I should really consider that game the real entry into the hobby. I started painting figures because of Heroquest.
@@kenupton4084. Think it was the gateway drug for a lot of us!!!
pretty much everything in WH40K Rogue Trader and WHFB 3rd Edition. I got into GW because of the Fighting Fantasy artists - they were the bridge between the two worlds (plus their Tolkien work). So John Blanche stands head and shoulders above the rest because he is both an incredible artist AND leader. Just look at the super-team he managed over the years with such diversity of styles and talent: Les Edwards’ hyper-realism, Ian Miller’s overly ornate baroque; Kev Walker’s ultra-clean shading; Adrian Smith’s brutal chaos; Wayne England’s unique watercolour shading; John Sibbick’s iconic covers; the list goes on. But it was JB’s work in Steve Jackson’s Sorcery series that I love the most because he did as much world building and storytelling in those books as Steve’s writing did.
John Sibbick's Rogue Trader cover and Russ Nicholson's early 40k illustrations were massively influential on me. That, and the art from WHFRP 1e. On the flip side, the covers to the Horus Heresy novels turned me off that setting for a good decade.
For me it is without a doubt the cover art of the 6th edition orcs and goblins armybook by Adrian Smith.
It was the start of my entry in the Warhammerhobby. I played Warcraft and liked the orcs a lot, when I was looking for some cool art.
Then I found this fantastic piece.
The brutality, the grimdark, the ruthless crudeness.
The stoic brute in the foreground with his malicious facial expresion, ready to get violent, sorounded by the swarming green tide.
The mountains in the background, from where the savages were pouring down in the realms of men.
The visible fate of the humans that were cought by the greenskins. The scrap armour and weapons, the totems... Man, I still love it.
My first art experience in Warhammer, was with the original release of Space Hulk and the expansion Deathwing. The art for the Terminators blew my mind as a 16yr old, and I still enjoy looking at them today.
John Blanche's pencil illustration of The Eternity Gate and the colour piece "Pontifex Maximus" are two of the early 40k illustrations which had the biggest impact on me when I was first getting into the game.
Wow, I never expected to hear Sugimoto referenced in a Warhammer video! I saw a retrospective earlier this year- amazing stuff.
His work is absolutely stunning, such an important artist for me! Now if only we could convince him to do a series photographing Warhammer miniatures…
Two things that floored me as a kid, the epic 40K cover art with the Blood Angels on it and the cover for WFB High Elves 5th edition.
Paul Dainton is one of my favourite artist, both The cover of both the Black templars 4th codex and Codex: Whitchunters are stunning pieces and the black templars one made me play loyalist
I loved Mark Gibbons’s stuff most of all when I was getting into the hobby. Really expressive and fun. The Caravaggio to Blanche’s Goya.
The cover of the original Warhammer box changed my world, I also love all the simple black and white art from the first edition rulebooks, they really shaped my love for the game and fired my imagination!
The Heroquest cover by Les Edwards for definite. The Bard said it great in his video "why heroquest is so great"
That game chanced my life and put me on the road to warhammer and GAMES Workshop. There's so much vitality in the piece. So inspirational as it showed such a collection of characters in a Dungeon scenario. It did what the developers. Wanted as it beckoned willing adventures on a quest into the high realms of fantasy and sword and sorcery scenarios
Great idea! The way Forgeworld did the Black Books for Horus Heresy, and the photo-art based on models inside them gave a completely new perspective on 40k, before then, I had a grim-dark image in mind, sure, but it wasn't anchored in anything close to reality. What the FW team did completely re-wrote my idea of what a space marine was, and made (30k and) 40k "real" to me. It was a massive shift. I know a lot of people will bring up classic 2nd Ed 40k codex covers, 4 and 5th Ed whfb armybook covers as hugely influential, and rightly so. Those super colour pagers drew in scores of kids like moths to flames, me included.
The cover with the massive great unclean one and the rotting masses standing slime and mud and slowly walking towards the reader is so iconic part bosch, breugel and very lovecraftian at the same time.
There are so many works of art that have served as important touchstones for not only for enriching my understanding of Warhammer but the Fantasy genre in general.
But I can single out a few pieces that are most special to me, I'll try not to go on and on too much because I could talk about this all day.
The art Paul Dainton made for the Elves had a tremendous impact on me, particularly his image of High Elves and Dark Elves clashing outside of Lothern. That pure clash of good and evil saturated with all that mystical style of elves is inescapably compelling for me. I also love his portrait of Alith Anar, one of my favorite High Elf characters. To this day High Elves are my favorite faction largely because of Dainton's art.
4th Ed WHFB box art is still my favourite, probably because it was the first box I bought as a kid in the 90s and brings back good memories
any of the B&W art of Mark Gibbons could have that effect on me. Its not just nostalgia specs im looking at that with, they were absolutely amazing in bringing thungs like 40k or Necromunda to life, either as a full page piece or little corner filling artworks in a WD issue. His Escher gang fighting an unseen enemy is still one of my favourites and the moment i saw it i knew i had to get an Escher gang, which i never did back then but which i finally have now
Hi Jordan - for me its where it all began Starter Set Box Cover Art - I even modded my general on a horse to look like the Empire General on the cover with a prancing horse! I LOVE the Empire
The cover of White Dwarf 135. Altdorf by Fangorn. I was a kid, and I just got lost in that image, there's so much to see! It's too clean from a modern perspective, but 13 year old me was totally mesmerized.
Gary Chalk's cover for Bloodbath at Orcs Drift has a soft spot in my heart because it was the first campaign i got hold of that made warhammer really accessible for 11 year old me and I loved it. A few years on - anything by Ian Miller - death on the reik cover and Realms of chaos. Will Rees marines stand out in my memory especially with that whole Giger/horror vibe in wh40k. If I had to pick out one artwork that everyone I knew in the hobby got excited about, it was Sibbick's cover art for 40k when it was advertised in white dwarf 93 for the first time.
I remember specifically one of the illustrations that John Blanche made of the emperor sat on his throne for the 3rd edition ruebook 0f 40k. Not the one that got modified after that, the original piece. The face of this man, the cables and weird technology surrounding him completely changed my life. I was 12 years old and looking at this tome, at this deadman on his throne inspired me so much and created such a strong memory of that exact moment I discovered 40k´s IP.
Loved Will Rees' artwork in Rogue Trader as a 10-year-old, and still love it now! Relentlessly grimdark, mainly featuring marines but with zero vibes of heroism. The first of his drawings is only a few pages in, and when you see it you instantly understand the 40k setting.
I think that the art that is ingrained for me is inline with my first experiences with Warhammer 40k - things like the cover of the Second Edition Rules (I think - with all the Ultra Marines back to back), the cover of the first Eldar codex, the Catachan jungle fighters on the front of the Imperial Guard codex, the Khorne berserker in the Chaos codex, the small picture of the Vindicare and Eversor assassins in the Assassins codex and that black and white drawing of the Emperor on his throne.
That said, I think it was a lot of the completed model art that really drew me into the hobby like the first Eldar hover tank or the Eldar Harlequins painted up, the whole Gorka Morka setup, or the first time I saw the Necron Monolith painted in a White Dwarf issue.
The ads in Dragon Magazine leading up to the release of WFRP in 1986 absolutely captivated me. I HAD to have it. The full color art was dynamic and evocative in a way I hadn’t felt before in an rpg. Once I had the book, I remained spellbound by the color art, but when I think back on those days, I remember most the soft black and white art, especially the scenes like the battle against lizard men at a temple complex. It brought me back to my pulp literature roots.
40k came when games were edgy and grimy. Cyberpunk was in full swing. Somehow, 40k was even darker, grimier, and grimmer than any of that. In those days, it was still the b&w art that struck me most. Later, the color work of artists like Adrian Smith, Paul Bonner, and Daarken, et al rekindled my interest in Warhammer and 40k.
Despite all the innumerable works of talented artists and creators, as more of a literary artist, I have to say the collective creation of the massive volume of lore and world building is what has impressed me most about all of WARHAMMER/40k. What an achievement!
Mark Gibbons. His artwork grabbed me by the eyeballs and transported me into Warhammer. I would cut up my precious White Dwarfs, just so that teenage me could blu-tak his stuff to the wall.
4th Ed WFB army books were my gateway drug, starting with Undead and Skaven. His Nagash piece is justly praised, but those books were peppered with little rectangles of beautifully rendered, wonderfully evocative snapshots of WFB life (and death). The snarling, tightly coiled nastiness of the Skaven, and the eerie, staring malevolence of the undead are still seared on my mind, thanks to Mark.
Other well-seared examples include:
-Orion
-Ariel
-Mephiston
-Bjorn the Fell-handed
-The Eldar Avatar
-The Green Knight
-Karloth Valois
-Malekith
-The Tyranids, Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, Chaos Dwarfs, Bretonnians, High Elves, Eldar, Necromunda gangers - the list goes on and on and on.
That little stylised MG was, for me, the stamp of quality on the best that Warhammer art could be. This won't be a popular opinion, but I cannot stand John Blanche's artwork. Yes yes, grimdark patron saint of the hobby etc etc. But Mark's art leapt from the pages, it took those more static 1990s miniatures and gave them movement, expression, menace and presence. It felt like a massive loss to the hobby when he moved away from GW, and it still does.
The battlefleet gothic cover is my favourite for sure. The 3e 40k illustrations that lead you into the setting were also my intro to 40k and are certainly impactful. In general I'm more of a fan of fantasy than 40k but it's the 40k art which really is the apotheosis of warhammer. The fantasy stuff while great for what it is, is still capturing the same fantasy aesthetic we've seen plenty before and more since. 40k created something unique.
Your thumbnail does a pretty good job of answering the question!
My all time favourite piece of Warhammer art is the 3rd edition Orks codex cover by David Gallagher.
I started the hobby in Warhammer Fantasy in the 90s and it got me into 40k. I fell in love with it when I first saw it back in the day. It's the one piece that always comes back to my mind as being my favourite and I didn't have to spend a lot of time thinking of one. It changed my view of what Warhammer 'could' be at the time and it also started my lifelong love of Orks.
The transition from 2nd edition to 3rd edition was a very interesting time and a lot of the early art from 3rd shaped 40k as we know it now but it still had roughness to it's edges while they were still figuring out the aesthetics of 40k going forward.
I love this piece in particular because it feels like a snapshot rather than a staged scene or battle, emphasized by the flash of lightning. The harsh lighting illuminates the two main Orks in the image, showing them in all their brutal glory, while obscuring the grimmer aspects of the battle taking place in shadow and darkness. The contrasting lighting here does a fantastic job of showing off the army and the 'grimdark' nature of what 40k would become as you imagine the horror taking place in the shadows.
The small detail of the silhouetted Orks in the background that can only be identified by their glowing red eyes makes them look terrifying and leads me to imagine how scary it would be seeing a dark mass of Orks charging over the top of the muddy rain-soaked trenches, only getting brief glimpses of them in the flashes of lightning and gunfire.
It has a dynamic, gritty quality that was very different from the art that had come before. It drags me into the scene and makes me want to know what the battle looked like up to that point and what was about to happen next.
John Blanche's Black Templars piece is iconic and one that people always point to as the blueprint for grimdark 40k, but for me the Orks cover and pieces like it took Warhammer as a whole to the next level.
Dont sleep on Clint Langley's work. Hes pretty much the only digital artist I like, his look is really unique. Did a lot of work for warhammer novel covers as well as Dark Heresy 1ed.
Mark Gibbons 4th Ed Greenskins feature a lot in the Army book from that era and will always remind me of the time when I discovered the Fantasy game.
The sweeping vistas in the Epic Space Marine black and white rulebook of titans, Orks and others are also just so perfect in the way they encapsulate the game at the time. Less of the Grimdark and more of the madness. Paul Bonner is a huge part of this.
I could never get my head round the Blanche style as a kid, that along with the Bob Olley Sculpts seemed to jar with the cleaner styles of the time but over the years I have learned to love their look. The free and easy artistic style are just fantastic in the flesh.
Mark Gibbons, for his work in the army books and codexes during the 90s, with the full-page Nagash at the top. Being a little kid at the time meant his more stylized and cartoony illustrations grabbed and pulled me into these worlds. The older works of Blanche and Miller were a bit too abstract for me back then, in comparison. I've grown to appreciate all the different artists from back then but Gibbon's work will always be the one true look of Warhammer for me. Wayne England gets an honourable mention too since his work is often pretty similar, I probably just happened to find him a little later!
The Bloodthirster by Mark Gibbons got me into the hobby. Kid brought a white dwarf to school and i saw the full page of that piece and i was instantly hooked. All the art in 3rd ed 40k and Mordheim as those where the games out when i started.
Getting into the hobby in the early 2000's when the box art didn't show the actual physical product, but rather an artistic depiction of the unit. I found this much more evocative. The shop front was a gallery of badass imagery, slaughter, and soilders desperately holding the line. As a child it wasn't really like I was buying a certain model or unit, but I was being sold a moment in a heroic battle or epic tale.
Helsreach from Rogue Trader, I think it was Carl Critchlow?
That comic book style art totally made 40k for me, I came to GW whilst reading 2000AD.
Paul Bonner and his fantasy art, the grey scale pencil style stuff just oozed character.
They both set a tone for me that I still enjoy today.
I think for me, the Mordheim rulebook which was just full of creepy and bizarre artwork and little stories was probably peak. I also have memories of the 6th edition WHFB Dark Elves army book being full of amazing black and white illustrations which is what made me love that faction.
HeroQuest and Space Crusade cover arts, it was the first time I ever encountered anything Warhammer related and instantly knew it was something I'm going to love. Also the OG Rogue Trader rulebook cover because it's fucking awesome and was officially licenced to BOLT THROWER as their second album's cover art.
karl kopinksi's faction artworks that were in the battle for macragge mini rulebook really made 40k click for me. lizardmen didnt need to me sold to me via the art, but i was hesitant to get into 40k. karls box arts and codex art really set the tone for me. when i returned to warhammer (as one does) I was very into illustration youtube and was delighted to find karl has a successful solo practice and a good collection of interviews amongst a bunch of illustration channels and is included in the collective of artists i follow that includes the great kim jung ji (rip), and nicolas nemiri. That reminded me of just how influential karl's art has been on my perception of warhammer when he was working for gw
The cover for the 4th edition WFB boxed set, the Orcs and Goblins 4th edition army book cover, the Blanch black and white picture of the night goblins and trolls pouring out of weird mountain background. All so atmospheric and they made the world seem real to little 9 year old me.
The box of MB's Hero Quest here in the USA. Just an amazing piece of work. That Barbarian!
Simply put, the artwork in the 2nd Edition Codexes by Mark Gibbons really made me interested in 40k in the first place. I must have looked through the Chaos, Space Wolves, and Tyranid codex a hundred thousand times. I wasn't really sure if I would ever buy anything as my friends that had the codexes also had armies.
But then, about a month and a half later, 3rd edition dropped. I flipped through the Chaos codex at my local comic shop and there I saw it ...
The Obliterators artwork in the unit entry margin. The skull face, the demolisher cannon sticking out of his chest, a pose of rage, hazard stripes...
I had a pile of models within days.
“The World of Warhammer” by Geoff Taylor is the Cat’s Pajamas and it gets my imagination going every time!
The 2nd Edition Ork Codex Cover Art.
Hands down it is responsible for drawing me into the mayhem and madness that were Orks in w40k.
I would absolutely love to get a hi res copy for my hobby room wall.
What a great idea! Though I’ll have to go away and think about it.
…that photography was amazing as well.
Pete Knifton and all the others involved in the 2nd edition Blood Bowl rule book and handbook covers … those teams, their colours and, as the kids say now, the vibes of them really spoke to me as a 10 year old when I first saw it.
Even though Blood Bowl is a fantastic game, I never felt any of the versions ever got translating those teams and players onto the pitch as well as the fluff did.
The art in WH40k: Rogue Trader, WFB 3E and WFRP 1E in 1987 were my introduction to the Britpunk aesthetic and completely changed my perception of what games and game art could be. It deeply impacted my personal aesthetics and I use art from this period as examples when I teach art classes at my college. In particular, I like to use Wil rees, Blanche and Miller to really throw curve balls at students who are expecting to see Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso.
Your question is a larger one, however. I have built a whole class around the examination of aesthetics in games to answer what makes that art so powerful, much of it inspired by the changes my artistic perception went through discovering them and immersing myself into the hobby. I think it is impossible to find the true impact of art on games simply by asking which particular images inspired a gamer in a comments section. Rather, I think you would be better served by interviewing a few individuals to really dig into WHY they found these works to be the example of the Kantian Sublime.
Paul Bonners Freebooter Ork image is still my favourite epic piece as well as all the 2nd edition codex covers and box game cover.
You already posted the 2e Eldar codex art. Combine that with the 5e High Elves army book and you've got two amazing depictions of what elves meant for Games Workshop.
In the Gorkamorka books there were these amazing pages of just nothing but ork and squig faces, kind of semi-abstract - this was *incredibly* influential in getting the vibe of what an ork is, what greenskins are in 40k. Very cool stuff, and while I know that Gorkamorka had kind of a limited shelf life, it's part of what inspired me to be a fan of the space orks to this day.
I think it's got to be the 6th edition WHFB rulebook cover, ironically the previous big release, 40k 3rd, has what will be for many the most iconic image ever Blanche's Black Templars but there's just something about the Big Red Book as an entire piece that is just perfect for me. The strange cross between wood relief and tapestry that forms the red background, the Lustrious gold of Ghal Mharaz and that wonderful redesign of the Warhammer logo that incorporates spears on the hill-line into the glimmer of gold across the letters. There's also the way the cover aged with the book itself, as one's copy became more dog-eared and burred with creases it added to the trompe l'oeil depth of the red carvings.
Ian Miller's Terror Of The Lichemaster. The first time I saw it, I just stared for several minutes; studying every detail.
Oh boy there are a few.
1. The art of the Emperor from Rogue Trader. Where he's just a withered husk. No grandeur, no epic defiance on the golden throne, just a creepy looking Gollum guy hooked up to machines.
2. The Black templar picture. You know the one.
3. A drawing of a Dark Reaper from the 6th edition Eldar codex. I always thought Dark Reapers looked quite silly, with their weird elongated faces and tiny mouths, but this illustration makes them look scary and badass. Honestly made me an Eldar fan.
Imperator titan on Titan Legions box art. Classic.
Adrian Smith's two 'The Emperor vs Horus' pieces (B&W original, and colour with Sanguinius at feet), plus Mark Gibbon's B&W character pieces, incl. Mephiston
I got into Warhammer in the mid nineties when I was about 10 and I loved 2e 40k, especially the character portraits by John Blanche that really sucked me into the world. However what I really wanted was big battles, the kind that 2e 40k did not support well. So when in 1997 I saw John Blanche's cover art for the new Epic 40k my tiny brain was blown! It so perfectly encapsulated what I wanted the game to be, the kinds of grand battles that I wanted to simulate!
And then the game died mere months later. Oh well!
Very Specific from me, but if you can find the cover from the Dan Abnett 'Titan' graphic novels, the second cover(vaporius) from them shows a mighty warlord titan striding past a snow topped mountain. The sheer scale shown in the picture cemented my love of Titans forever. The lighting under the carapace, the huge gun banner, and the tiny access ladder on the nozzle of the gun all bring the sheer power. The imperium at it's strongest!
Everything in my Warhammer World looks like it came out of a Paul Bonner drawing from the late 80s/early 90s. The perfect mix of comedy/cartoon and seriousness, cultural references etc. He reflected the feel that era of Warhammer gave me in a way that none of the rest of it does. Highlights would be the Orcs, Fimir, Dwarfs and in 40K the Orks, Squats and Imperial Guard. The Bratt's Boar Boyz article in WD, Warhammer Armies, Waagh the Orks & Freebooterz, the Imperial Guard and Squats WD issues all spring to mind, but they were all over the place. I want to be able to believe in and enjoy the serious and the funny side of Warhammer at the same time (which was its genius in the early days) and these work for me on that front.
So much wonderful art, so mentioning a few that inspired me to buy certain things.
For Warhammer and why I started collecting Skaven
Vengeance of the Lichemaster in Third Citadel Journal April 1986
Primarily the complex symbol for The Thirteen Lords of Decay on p10. Also, the banners on page 11 the Grey Seer with Warpstone on p12 and the Flamethrower crew on p13, plus the other items. The combination came together, something new, different, yet detailed.
For 40k and why I started collecting Marines
White Dwarf 97, Marneus Calgar. The way the image presents an Astartes just sitting down with his dino-head writing pad and captures a feeling of personal bureaucracy. The pompous cloak, the banners, but most of all the picture on the wall of the Emperor on the Golden Throne.
For Chaos, the front cover of Slaves to Darkness
For Harlequins
White Dwarf 106, the spectacular colour image for the Harlequin section.
For Eldar
White Dwarf 124, the Eldar sketches, the idea that Eldar would soon be more than Pirates and Clowns.
Squeak-squeak! 🤩🐀🌠
Bayard Wu's art for the Lizardmen loading screen (Total War Warhammer 2) is what covinced me to give the videogame a try, and the videogame itself got me back into the setting after a 5 year hiatus. But Warriors of Chaos by Adrian Smith and Paul Dainton's illustration of Karl Franz fighting Vorbad Ironjaw are permamanelty ingrained to my brain, they really are the mental image of the whole setting for me.
The John Blanche "Eternity Gate" and "Golden Throne" pictures from the Codex Imperialis in the 2nd edition 40K box set.
Ok for my near 40 years in 40k and WFB etc …on reflection its go to be the art work on the old plastic Imperial Guard kit to start the combination of the foot soldiers striding off to war with the background showing Titans.
The black and white artwork used in WD to illustrate the Confrontation rules the precursor to Necromunda any Paul Bonner(?) Ork artwork and of course the “Mighty Empires “ box art
Warhammer in the 90s had a deliberately bright and colourful art direction to help it stand out amongst the toys and games that it found itself sitting next to on the shelves of high street toy shops as GW of that era pushed it to be more mainstream. And there's definitely a conversation to be had of the relationship between marketing, art, commerce and nostalgia, but that era of Warhammer spoke to me in a way nothing since quite could. The covers of Geoff Tayler, Dave Gallagher and Mark Gibbons are all outstanding, but the one I always come back to is Geoff Taylor's "Warhammer Fantasy Battle" - cover of the WFHB 4th edition box set, cover of White Dwarf 153 and the cover of the 5th edition Rule book too.
That image IS Warhammer (fantasy) to me. To get INCREDIBLY pretentious here and quote Tennyson "O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O, sweet and far from cliff and scar, The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!" I could hear that battle, I could FEEL that battle.
Warhammer 40,000 special mention: John Blanche's Sisters of Battle codex cover (White Dwarf 212). One of the most striking 40k images I've ever seen and I LOVE that they made a model of that character.
I constantly returned to the Harlequins Regiment of Renown box art by...David Gallagher I think? Was always utterly fascinated by it.
I think for me it was the Cover Art for Dawn of War that initially got me interested in Warhammer (Sadly I dont know who did it). This just sucked me into everything Warhammer related really. Another piece that stands out to me is the cover for Beasts of Chaos 6E painted by Paul Dainton which I discovered while looking more into Warhammer. Absolutely Brutal that one
I'll name three.
The Star Quest (Space Crusade) box cover, the one with the Blood Angels captain firing his bolter.
The first edition Epic Space Marine box art, the one with the Dark Angels.
The Hero Quest box art.
The first two for me ARE the Space Marines.
The third is a great way to summarize the Warhammer fantasy setting.
There are plenty more that I'd like to point out but these are the ones that had the most influence on my imagination.
Adrian Smiths Ghazkull Vs the Steel Legion I think captured the 40k I most picture in my head, humanity vs inhuman monsters from beyond the stars. I was always particularly taken by the terrified looking guardsman in the corner. The lowest level of the forgotten unremarked humans that do the vast majority of everything in the universe whilst a few glory hogging superheros take all the credit is very compelling to me. I also love any of the portraits by Kopinski which look exactly like historical portraiture but in that sci fi universe.
Late 70s Dr Who felt like it had proto Grimdark elements. Noticing how much Tom Baker/ Peter Davidson Era Dr Who Cyborg & Robots find echos in 30/40k.
Akira, watching it on bbc2 in 1989, then Hero Quest & Space Crusade followed quickly after that, my brother & me visiting GW (Mcr) store and getting both rule books, models etc.
For us it all built up over time, prepping you for the "big reveal" of early 90s GW, we had a lot of the same influences as the creators so I think the Art style used was just the next step.
Space Hulk aesthetic really got me, but both of us loved Blood Bowl, polystrene base and all because it just felt right, think a lot was the Gary Chalk art (if I've got the right artist).
John Blanche art goes without saying, It was the supporting cast of other artists who rounded out the settings.
It's either the cover art of the 3rd edition Talisman expansion "City of Adventure", or the cover of the 5th Edition Warhammer Magic. Love seeing those wizards duking it out with spells
Aha! Learned from another comment that the City of Adventure cover was Altdorf by Fangorn, also on White Dwarf 135 cover
Mark Gibbons Nagash Artwork from the 4th edition undead army book hangs on my wall to this day. Been playing undead ever since, so sad they messed up the model back in the day.
Also the Art of Ian Miller propably captures the warhammer essence the most for me.
There are four pieces of art that epitomise Games Workshop and warhammer 40k for me, they're all from around the same time when I first had my own money in my pocket and these were so affordable and accessible locally (anyone remember Athena bookshops stocking Games Workshop?)
First is Angus Fieldhouse's cover to the 1987 Games Workshop version of RuneQuest Third Edition - I love the realism of the artwork and the dynamic heroism of that cover and it made me pick it up and found the alternative to D&D that I'd been looking for.
Turning to 40k, the Rogue Trader cover with what looked like the last stand of the Crimson Fists dragged me into the orbit of the 41st millenium. The 'Ere We Go cover art (and Kev Adams sculpting) has made me a Space Ork player ever since and the most iconic artwork, the image I think of when someone says 40k is John Blanche's Canoness
👍❤️🤘🔥👌 iv just come back after 17years away from the hobby .... glad to be back full head deep into it and well loven it ...
My top 3 must be:
1. Heroquest boxart
2. Wizards of morcar boxart
3. Return of the witchlord boxart
But the best thing about heroquest is the boxart😅
Warhammer Quest Boxart which was also on the cover of a nice book called the world of warhammer from the 90s.
Otherwise the 5th edition rulebook and source book are the most iconic for me
Second edition 40k and first edition Necromunda. Wfb had already lured me in but these two landed me.
As a young lad, definitely the Hero Quest box art and some of the expansions (90s versions of Witch Lord, Kellar's Keep, Wizards of Morcar, also Les Edwards I think, and I definitely recall creeping my young self out looking overlong at the grotesque and frankly rather disgusting ogres on the old Ogre Horde box)
Also strongly agree with the other comment mentioning the Lost & The Damned Realms of Chaos book - I was lent that when I was about 12, wow, much in there for a tiny mind to be irrevocably warped by :)
Shout out to Paul Dainton and Karl Kopinski. Those lads don’t get enough love.
Definitely John Blanche's "Knight Panther" for me. I understand he painted it on his own time so copyright ownership is hazy, but I'd kill for a print of that!
For me its some pieces from around '89 and early 90s and also for some reason my picks are all b&w pencil pictures.
There's a Blanche drawing of an old grizled Inquisitor looking straight at you. He's got small round glasses and a wooden stock on his boltgun and a giant ornate shoulder pad drawn almost orthographically. There's something very real about that figure and it tells you a lot about the world that he's lived and managed to survive in.
Another one is a picture of some human parents presenting or holding up their genestealer child. Don't remember who the artist is and I could't find where I first saw it I think it was a WD issue from that early period. I always felt so sorry for those parents they had such a harsh life already and now they have this monster child but one which they still love.
And thirdly all of those pencil drawings of Orks Paul Bonner made which showed them living their lives and having an actual civilization and culture.
But when looking at all those and other images one have to also admit that part of the genius is the lore that is infused in the images. Its not just cool pictures its also the whole world building that has gone into the story that takes place in the pictures. The stories enrich the pictures which enrich the stories back further again and so on.
I don't want to leave out the other equally awesome artists whose works I spent countless hours poring over as a teenager and young adult. but those three are some of the ones that are stuck in my head.
Worlds of Warhammer are full of stunning and captivating art that makes imagination run wild. If I had to pick the ones that had the most impact though... Not gonna lie, there is a lot of Warhammer art pieces that are very dear to me and indeed got a huge influence on me. But I'll pick three.
- Battle for Macragge cover art by David Gallagher
- Chaos Space Marines art, part of which was featured as a cover art for the 3.5E Codex by Karl Kopinski
- Ultramarines by Paul Dainton, the one with rows of Astartes standing in preparation for battle with a chaplain passing by
Those are the ones that captured the 40k's essence for me personally.
I would say that Gallagher, Dainton and Kopinski are probably my favourite classic GW artists (not saying masters like John Blanche, Adrian Smith or Mark Gibbons are bad, I love their artworks as well).
Honourable mentions: Chaos Space Marines artwork by David Gallagher that was featured as a box art for basic CSM in a transitional period of 3.5E Codex, it was later replaced with a 4E style photos of miniatures as a box art. It was my first ever Warhammer box, so it is indeed was quite an impact. And Paul Dainton's Black Templars 4E Codex cover art
I'll add something more contemporary in a form of The Silver Tower. Both cover art and art inside the books is wonderful, it caught my imagination and it was probably the first true step into AoS for me. It is great and fantastical
Mark Gibbons’ Skarnsik and Gobbla (and the rest of the WHFB 4th ed Orcs and Goblins pieces by him, especially the squigs)
Ian Miller, John Blanche, Tony Ackland _omnia opera_ . Those three together _are_ Warhammer.
(honourable mention: Russ Nicholson)
For me it was the cover art on the skeleton horde miniatures box set with the large tree and the masses of skeleton warriors marching underneath once i saw that my soul was Gw's.
Miller, Blanche, Ackland, Kopinski are my big four
Too many to count but if I had to pick ONE I'd say that original illustration of Horus and the Emperor, black and white, pen and ink by... I wanna say Adrian Smith? THAT image brought the first real taste of the grimdark aesthetic I feel. Just Horus and big E starting daggers at each other, surrounded by corpses with the fate of the earth literally hanging in the balance.
Beyond that almost anything Kev Walker, Mark Gibbons, Ian Miller or Les Edwards ever did. John Blanche of course but mostly in his earlier years not so much in the sketchy watercolours era.
David Gallagher Dark angels illustration used in Storm of Vengeance campaign and later on 3rd edition codex. It was on the white dwarf cover that grabbed my eyes on the newspaper kiosk. How cool is those sci-fi knights in a church. Then after opening the white dwarf seeing the fire prism tank, i fell in love with the eldar. It got cemented with the cover of Geoff Taylor 2nd edition codex and the first dire avengers illustration drawn on the first page of Eldar in the codex imperialis, can't find the author unfortunately
John Blanche and particular Ian Miller are iconic. I like Miller's stuff more. But I much prefer the older stuff. Bonner and Hough are some articular are great. I also think that John Sibbick isn't quite mentioned enough, even though he'd done several of the covers. But one of the guys I think seems to be left out a bit is Martin McKenna. His stuff seems to have been ever present in the early era of books.
For me it was the 5th edition codices for 40k as that was when I first got into the hobby and only picked necrons due to their 4th/5th edition codex
Ian Miller, John Blanche, Adrian Smith and Karl Kopinski
I recently had to compile a collection of a dozen static images encapsulating the history of speculative fiction and decided I needed something from GW. I nearly chose John Blanche's frontispiece to Mordheim (with the fluting skeleton) but in the end I went with his 'The Eternity Gate' from the 2nd ed 40K rulebook. It perfectly captures the impossible scale, Gothic otherworldliness, martial outlandishness and bewildering mix of propaganda and superstition which makes 40K such a compelling milieu.
But there's a weird sense of intimacy about it as well. At the centre of the image is this one little figure. We have no idea who they are or what they're there for (is that a Guardian Spear or a stick an old lady has leaned on all the way from her home on the agriworld of Where-the-Hell in Segmentum Who Cares?), but the contrast between the individual and their world is deeply affecting.
I remember the creators of South Park once saying that the hyperbolic silliness of their show always lands because fundamentally they're telling stories about two 8-year-old boys trying to figure the world out, and something of the same thing is going on here. You don't need to know what this person is thinking to share their sensation of weight at expectation; it's a picture of one little dude contemplating ten thousand years of tragedies and triumphs and their complex connections and dissonances from it.
On a good day, that's the feeling I get when engaging with 40K, and why I've kept coming back to the setting over the last 30+ years.I was astonished to discover, when researching the image, that 'The Eternity Gate' was drawn in lead pencil, as a rush job against an unexpected deadline, at A4 size. It's amazing that Blanche could produce such an evocative, sophisticated image in those circumstances.
My favourites are from 4 to 7 ed but my most favourite is dwarf cover art from 6 and 6,5 army book and bretonian army book cover from 6 ed and 5ed