Hello ladies and gentlemen boys and girls and
welcome to law crimes and today we actually have
a bit of a An interesting episode in that this
is actually a tribute episode We were talking
about what we could do this week and unfortunately,
we don't have Eli with us because of the time
zones shenanigans, but Earlier this week. We
did learn that John Blanche passed away In arguably,
I think the most influential person concerning
warhammer 40k for sure and also a large part
of fantasy If not, like one of the biggest for
that as well So we thought what better episode
to do this week than a tribute to john blanche
and talking about his story His style and his
impact on the hobby that if john wasn't a thing
in the hobby None of us would be here. None of
us creating content for warhammer on youtube
but also no one watching it in the first place.
Um, so I don't think it's, it's, we can't really
overstate how important John was to the hobby
in that regard. Yeah. Uh, as always guys, as
I go, no means a stretch to say he's, he's the
reason. Yeah. Uh, we say thank you guys for obviously
tuning into, uh, that same large concept and
law crimes. Uh, obviously if you guys are listening
and you Uh, want to catch the live episodes where
we have all the donations, obviously, uh, that's
still on our, uh, discourse. If you want to see
that, you know, untrimmed, unedited, but then
for obviously the guys who want to watch it later
without that, obviously that's just on YouTube.
Uh, but do go check out our discord. If you want
to see that version, obviously we're on Spotify
and all that good stuff. Uh, yeah. So today is
a, we wanted to build this up this story before
we get to, uh, we're going to talk through some
of John's. like work some of his, particularly
with presents and favorites later as well. I'm
gonna talk about his story. We also want to build
up the story about the genre itself of Grimdark,
because he's obviously a massive influence on
not just that for Warhammer, but obviously other
things, you know, modern day Trench Crusade and
other, you know, tabletop games are inspired
by that same genre, which he's a major contributor
to. So we thought it might be good to actually
kind of Before we say he inspired a lot and was
a major influence in Grimdark, what are we talking
about when we mention what is Grimdark? Because
obviously it's a very undefinable topic. It's
a feeling, it's a genre of science fiction, it's
fantasy, and it's also something we obviously
are all you know, sort of bound together and
interested in because we've all come together
to enjoy this, you know, horrible, horrible setting,
if it's fantasy, or 40k. I did have a small section
because people have tried to define grimdark.
The best one I can find is someone saying, where
nobody is honorable, and might is right. Because
it can, it can again, it can be fantasy, it can
be science fiction, it can be other types of
genres. I mean, there's other inspirations like
there's people talk about like Batman comics
are known to have like a era where it was a bit
more like gritty and dirty. There's other you
know, is beyond Warhammer this but starting with
Grimdark, as we see, for people who are audio
listeners only, we do have a few examples of
John Blanch's work throughout this episode that
we will obviously more compile towards the end.
But we have some of the iconic pieces that he
has created over the years. So if you do want
to have a quick check in on certain pieces of
the iconic one we have on screen now is the Emperor
one, which is that everyone's favorite? I gotta
be honest, it's my favorite. It's I don't know
if it's I mean, it's obviously up there. It's
definitely the most iconic. Oh, I'd say it's
definitely the most iconic. I think even just
people with a I'll try our best to describe it
if you're just an audio listener. But it is an
iconic piece and it should be looked at if you'd
have time, which is it is the Emperor of mankind
is a withering husk of a being is a skeleton
slash man in desiccated robe sitting on a throne
that looks to be half broken, half filled with
disgusting wrenches, blood vials and machines
that you don't know where it either begins or
ends with the figure on the throne. There is
parchment that is faded with script that he looks
to have worn away. There is iconography of skulls
of eagles of other Again, like, you know, symbols
of death, of domination, as we were saying, might
is right. And it's also an example of this is
supposedly the god emperor of mankind, the one
who was like, this is your god, and it looks
like a, you know, tortured soul in very muted
tones of, you know, no, the bright colors that
are on this image are all the blood to show why
is why is the crypt looking back at me is the
crypt is alive. Ah, don't like it. Yeah, so Grim
Dar did kind of have its origins more, well,
it started as a offshoot from something which
is called the Gothic genre. So if anyone thinks
of examples, which are like Mary Shelley's like
Dracula, you have the offshoots of that, which
is like H .P. Lovecraft's work, lots of other,
you know, incredibly famous pieces kind of embrace
what's like a macabre influence. So if you're
thinking of know, like the classic, you know,
it's the rundown, spiky church in the rain kind
of, you know, that's like what you kind of think
of as gothic. And gothic was also a bit of a
different take on things at the time, whereas
this is, I guess this is very early, sometimes
it could be late, early 20th century, I believe
it might be, as I will check, but the whole point
of gothic was to essentially be not happy -clappy.
It was to be not overly romanticized, like, oh,
and everything worked out in the end, the knight
and the maiden sort of thing. This was things
that are dealing with science going wrong, death,
other basically taboo subjects. And Grimdark
would sort of be more of an offshoot from that.
And even what we will speak about with things
that would go on to be inspirations for John's
own kind of journey slash, you know, you think
about when he was probably quite young, the works
at the time was like the main staple would have
been Tolkein's work. So classic Lord of the Rings,
The Hobbit, and Grimdark kind of has a origin
place that sputes off of what is Tolkein's, like
everything. I mean, everything comes back to
Tolkein. kind of doesn't it really in some sense,
fantasy and whatnot that kind of talk? Yeah,
it usually does. It's eventually, basically,
and obviously, Warhammer fantasy, because Warhammer
likes to, in quotes, borrow pieces from other
people. So round about the time of we're talking,
you know, the release of Tolkien's work, this
will be like, you know, 46, you know, 40, 50s,
60s, a lot of I found the fantasy genre itself
is basically Lord of the Rings and it's just
the various copies from that and it's a very
black and white world so if you think of there's
obviously you know there's Aragorn there's Gandalf
there's all the characters there's Frodo like
all of these characters in this uh you know in
Middle -earth. Middle -earth itself is divided
in what's called like a very black and white
um yeah like a black and white take of what is
like good and evil there's the evil which is
Sauron the orcs they are you know head to toe
in, you know, almost again, like kind of sharp
pointed armor dark colors always wearing in God
in black, or shades of you know, like, you know,
crimson and other things like domineering colors
that are designed to scream at you the viewer
like this is very obviously the bad guy and all
the noble figures are in either like happy things
which are like greens they're in you know Gandalf
the Grey becomes Gandalf the White although ironically
Saruman is obviously not a good character but
Gandalf's transformation is obviously like a
big obviously Tolkien himself being a very strong
Catholic man we kind of see where you know, like
the divide is very obvious. And even when they're
not like it makes any bad or, you know, anything
that's a problem with that. But his world was
very easy to understand, like which was the good
side and which is the bad side. And grimdark
becomes an offshoot because it's like with many
of his works, it becomes shades of gray. You'll
notice even in the work itself of John's you
know, drawings, there's not usually many like
saturation or stark color like that shows or
even necessarily color choices that bring like
senses of happiness, you know, there's no like,
there's no nice garden meadows, there's no, you
know, overarching, you know, what was considered
royal colors, which are like purples and blues
things that, you know, showed like nobility or
anything like that. There's a very obvious choice
about why these things are not present within
Grim Dark's work, because some people said quite
rightly, maybe, that the world is not so easily
black and white. A regular person is very much,
your whole life is pouring more of a shade of
gray in terms of most people are not good people.
They're just people. Most people are not bad
people. They're just some people who make bad
choices or good choices all the time. And so
out of this You know, I guess this is post World
War Two, when it's, as I said, I'm not getting,
we're not going like, you know, I'm gonna get
political. But in, in an era where like, World
War One and World War Two seem very, like, you
know, there's the Allies, and then there's the
Axis, as in like, there's very obviously two
teams. And then you kind of get into an era,
which is the Cold War. And then there are like,
things which are not so obvious, you know, CIA,
CIA, you know, MK Ultra, you know, we have things
which are, my CIA hand is going to start watching
me now. But there's things which become more
blurred lines, shall we say. And this starts
to reflect in art, which obviously becomes, well,
it starts coalescing in something which is a
bit more grim dark. And obviously, And as well,
like, you can imagine if you're someone who's
growing up in the 60s or the 70s, typically,
the worst thing you could possibly imagine is,
well, within living memory, a grim dark future
where a bloody fascist regime sticks, you know,
gives a base into a god emperor says like, the
idea is like, in Grimdart, the worst thing they
could imagine was probably inspired by the stories
that they lived or the parents generation. I'm
someone who had a grandparent who was in World
War II, so you can hear the stories. Moving on
from that stuff though. I guess this is a cool
part to ask you guys. Are you guys familiar with
things like Paradise Lost and Dune a little bit?
get the, because obviously there's a thing, a
question I'll pose to you here, which is why
is it like, even in the modern sense, like Tolkien's
work can sometimes be misconstrued or like, people
don't know, like, you know, this is my, our side
is the good guys or our side is the, you know,
that side is the bad guys. Yet why was that not
really possible with things like Dune or like,
I guess like Paradise Lost or anything like that?
Why do you think that didn't have the same problem?
I mean, I presume for Paradise Lost, it's a lot
easier because it's someone making a deal with
the devil. Hang on. Hang on. Wait. Never mind.
I was thinking of Faust. Well, that one's still
more about the devil. So it's easier to say the
devil's a bad guy in general or not perfect.
because you know the devil but like dune has
didn't have a problem of being misconstrued like
historically you know i mean yeah it wasn't taken
up do you have a theory as to why are you familiar
with dune yeah why do you think it wasn't actually
seen having that problem but why do you think
dune didn't have that kind of issue do you know
i mean i think some of it might just honestly
be appearance It's I mean It was obviously a
book first before it was a movie, but I it's
I don't know it's presented as Not clean and
shiny there and run down like, you know sand
mining equipment on a backwater shithole Plugging
your brain into a computer because you hate computers
and so you do a load of drugs to see the future
and plot navigational charts is not the ideal
clean science fiction, which I imagine helps
people be more aware of the tone. I think there's
also like an element of, I have not watched the
Dune stuff, I'm afraid. I'm not really anywhere
acquainted with Dune, but I assume there's an
implication in that work of, oh, it's all nice
being like, these are the good guys, these are
the bad guys. When you have water, when you have
like, oh, there's like all these things in the
world that like... It's difficult to be a bad
person considering all the nice things you have
and then do and it's like, yeah We need to like
fight for water and resources and like we're
burning to death and like the grim realities
of some settings is just that oh the reason the
people are bad is because of circumstance the
reason is because It's not it's easy to be a
nice person when you grow up in the shire Where
it's all like, ah, everyone's got cider and picnics
and green grass and sunny days lovely And then
it's like someone in Dune with the tube up their
nose like, I need a glass of water. Like, yeah,
it's a bit of a bit of a juxtaposition. And I
think with like, because obviously, when we get
more towards John's like own story, in a later
section of this episode, you kind of see like,
a lot of these newer things, particularly ones
like Dune and other sort of similar genre style,
genre breaking style works. Like these obviously
come about at the time and these are the ones
that maybe perhaps go on to inspire much of his
own work. But particularly obviously Dune being
an inspiration for Warhammer. This one copied
another homework, thanks Warhammer. But the idea
was like these worlds are not so squeaky clean.
And in fact, you know, people maybe make choices
that are quite dark and they're not always a
bad person, but they can go down dark paths.
And it's also, as I was mentioning it briefly
throughout, the inversion of the mythos. And
when it comes to John's work, this is a heavy
inversion of what is also the art style of the
previous decades, which was particularly a lot
of things that are post -World War II as well.
A lot of things are heroic and, I guess, almost
like propaganda in some way. During World War
I, they famously had, we'll have just a good
old time and we'll storm a thing. And then when
you get to the trenches, it was actually horrific.
So a lot of this is a... I think the point is
to be a deviation from... the fantasy that people
were telling you. What's cool with John's work
is that it becomes basically mythology again.
With the opportunity of working on things like
Warhammer, Warhammer is itself supposed to be
you're in the middle of a mythology story, like
you're in the middle of a Hercules, or you're
in the middle of something else, which is a grand
adventure, but where people are It's essentially
like we're the living, like the emperor and the
horrors, you know, horrors heresy and these other
things. They were just titles until John's work
would then flesh them out into the pieces that
had to be. And I like with other things that
are mythology, they are beyond the, you know,
they go beyond what like the norm, essentially,
they want to be almost like living kind of dynamic
stories that are so beyond a normal person. And
Other people obviously have got on Game of Thrones
as an example of fantasy genre, which is a bit
more grimdark inspired. And that's the case of
George RR Martin specifically took Lord of the
Rings and said, OK, let's tackle some of the
tropes of that particular work with a more realistic
lens. And so he took like, you know, Let's take
some of the characters. I Aragorn but make it
Jon Snow and it's like yeah, it's basically an
ancillary It's like yes the same thing. But what
if we had it? So it's like, oh there are people
who will murder him and there'll be people who
get in the way of him and And don't play by the
rules and aren't gonna be virtuous for the sake
of being virtuous And I think that's why people
latched onto it in like modern media the same
way that things like the boys critique the the
DC Comics stuff and we have all these things
that go, well, what if we if we took a more critical
eye at this work and, and, and sanded away some
of the gleam, shall we say. And it's a good point
to mention, like, when Warhammer is evolving,
like, much of this is not particularly with John's
work, it's not that it's also something that,
you know, the Warhammer is not necessarily inspiring
John's work, but John's work is inspiring Warhammer
itself. Examples, obviously, when we see that,
you know, the depiction of what is a knight,
you know, that idea is sometimes, you know, it's
this shiny, you know, like, you know, in unblemished,
just plain metal thing which has like nice heraldry.
But then with John's work, it even takes it to
the point where like You know, when I was obviously
the example we have on screen at the moment,
which I'll describe people is the classic Terminator
play, which is for the Blood Angels chapter.
And the idea is like, it's almost that essence
of like, you know, the perfect, you know, nice
armor is like perfectly sculpted human form in
some sense. But this is almost like bulbous.
It's chunky. It's not necessarily perfect human
proportion, but it's designed to get across the
idea of like, this is a you know this is something
this is a weapon and it's brutal and it's designed
to again like earlier not just you know win but
dominate and also the idea is I think particularly
when you look at John's work you get a hint maybe
of like someone else who kind of defined the
genre which is HR Geiger who would then be his
artwork goes on to inspire things like alien.
Another classic things like that. It was taking
what was the idea of the perfect human form and
twisting it and, you know, changing its silhouette.
So things like, you know, spikes, cables, armor
that's chunky, you know, big, it's not, again,
it's all like, particularly with these iconic
works on things like we have on screen, like,
you know, parts of the Mechanicum, they're designed
to be, it goes all the way back to things like
- Yeah, but initially it goes all the way back
to things that are gothic because what was making
something gothic was that it was human, but like
slightly twisted. So like that's why Dracula,
Dracula is scary because it's a, you know, we
were obsessed with vampires because it's a human,
but it's also a monster. So again, like even
in music, his work, the idea is like, there's,
there's always supposed to be like a human beneath
it. But the idea is it's horrific because it's
transformed into something that's like almost
meant to be the worst version of itself. And
I would say particularly with John's work in
itself, it gets across like the tone of grimdark
so well, which is the rejection of the perfect
black and white, you know, good and bad. It's
the inverse. Like when you look at a lot of his
work, you are supposed to, I think, walk away
with this feeling of like, you don't know if
that's the good guy. Like, when I look at his
work, I don't think that's the hero of the story.
That's the protagonist of the story. What I think
is obviously kind of a really amazing selling
point of what would then go on to be a USP for
Warhammer. Because the whole point, like even
though you have things like, you know, your polished
Space Marine in his nice armor, and then you'd
notice like little trinkets like here, there's
a skull. on a chain, there are badges to campaigns
which we know from the law side of it, they probably
hunted down their own, some civilians who were
just rebelling or begging for more resources
or a better life, other things which are designed
to be. And little things as well, like, oh, the
banner is a bit tattered. It doesn't look as
heroic when it's got holes in it, and it's a
bit moffy -ton, and their cloaks aren't quite
pristine. They're a bit grubbier. And it's that
thing of like, oh, they're They're battle -worn,
but not in a way that's, oh, look at me with
all the dents in my armor. Aren't I glorious?
It's like, you look like you've been crawling
through the mud a bit, which isn't as la -di
-da, look at me, I'm so heroic. It's more, oh,
the realities are starting to get, like, even
the way they do, like, how do we show rank and,
and veteransy bolts in the skull? Like, oh, it's
like crude and, and, and brutish in a way. I
think it's one of those things that when people
look at particularly when we look at art that
we think is iconically Warhammer, it's always
the ones that genuinely give off the same thing
that John was able to do naturally in all of
his work. I think everyone is, in some way, always
trying to achieve what these pieces tell us,
which is, again, grim fascination. It's something
which is Like it just looks a little bit wrong.
Do you know what I mean? Like everything is designed
to look at just a little bit wrong. And we have
that fascination with just something that I guess,
I don't know if it's not only looking evil. That's
the thing. It's not designed to be, you know,
these are the bad guy. We again, like, always
back to Tolkien's off. It's not designed to be
the bad guy, but it's designed to mean your good
guy may not be a good guy. The anti yeah, the
classic and most I guess most of hammer stuff
and kind of is anti hero ish. Because there's,
again, there's, there are heroes in the in the
universe, but they're not they, they're not designed
to be heroes in our world. Because, and Jay,
one, I guess, weirdo, when it's like, when the
real world is a bit more shit, you know, I mean,
that's the whole point, like, it's more shit
on the real world is doing better. So ironically,
you know, maybe not as much today, but a lot
of John's, you know, again, the grim dark genre
in itself is meant to be horrifying to you. In
a sense, it's meant to be something where you
look at it and you describe it as so that's kind
of I'd say that's kind of grim dark in itself.
I managed to waffle on about it for far too long
there, but it does have a long varied history
that is kind of an accumulation of a rejection
of what is supposedly the Tolkien -esque take
on, you know, happiness and, you know, good guys,
bad guys, all that stuff. Yeah. I guess that's
kind of my, that's my contribution to it, though.
Before we get any further, shall we read a few
of the, there's a few donors? Yes. Would you
like to start us off, please? I absolutely would.
Rodolfo 6093. Last week I met a nice lady on
reddit. We did the slaneshi, but when I Nuded
instead of whispering sweetly. I yelled summon
the elector counts rip. John Blatch Wow Thanks,
man, Donkeyman USA Fiver extremely due to me
gooding to the new He -Man movie at rocks. I
was actually for once the cause of the late I
didn't realize I did there I was out to see that
Eli was a not we can mean the Brits conspired
against the Americans again. We did a we did
a we did a bit of a cheeky bird down the White
House. But I am glad to hear you fuckers did
it again again. But I am glad to hear that the
new He -Man movie is not shit, especially after
the TV show. It's just a shame that Jared Leto
is getting into it. That is a shame. Colin has
disappeared for a second. Morning Star basically
spelled with a 4, V to U. Ripped the best Warhammer
artist, but Colin, question. What if there was
a slan? Prevention and the first slan out f4
the second moon more sleep. I I don't even know
what I just said You're a mute Colin I'm trying
to figure out what this might mean. I'm gonna
be honest that I am struggling a bit I'm assuming
this is an end times thing and they just snap
away the moon that hits the planet maybe we wouldn't
have the end times then it'd be better. If they
had Ant -Man and they crawled up the moon's buttholes.
I don't think he gets quite that big Hal, I think
if he did the you know the movie wouldn't have
happened when he becomes the size of you know
Galactus. Shalatsi's wet as gripper. Amazing
photo as always To Canadian thoughts on God of
War faith been hyped since 2018 looks alright
Why are so many people angry about the cube Because
people want to be angry about it. It's like,
you know, it's a little silly looking but like
it's Jack Wade. It's I love the fact that in
the behind the scenes. He's got the big like
apparatus And he's like, I'm like, yeah, go on,
Jack. He's like the voice to that. This is like
genuinely. I don't get it. Like, usually I can
at least even if I don't agree, I see why people
are upset. It's it's a big cube. It's like it
threw me off in the immediate threw me off in
the previous game. There was like a crazy squirrel
fella and no one had to go about that. It's like,
oh, but cube is too far. I can't cut guys. I
mean, I don't I don't. Again, like, yeah, it's
a little out of place, I guess, but it's a big
cube. I mean, they cook with the stories in this
current team, but shout out to the original God
of War creator who seems to get a hate boner
for every time they make something that's good.
And we say original creators, like he's part
of a big team that didn't have everything, like
he didn't do everything to do with the character,
he just was involved in that. Interesting, he
didn't grow up. I understand that, you know,
Kratos and Poseidon are both Greek, but that
was racially motivated what he did to Poseidon.
That was not right. Yeah. Anyway, and it looks
fine. It looks fine. Donkey man. Do you want
to read this one? How? Oh, yes. He man just ended
my move of the year as he was saying earlier,
maybe, maybe we got to go see this thing. Maybe.
Oh, spooky. Hey, man. I'm just got back from
holiday. I need to see your messages. HR Geiger,
cable spikes. Yeah. Yeah. All got cocked last
week. Very funny. Wow, that's green. And we we
have to to finish a large one for a dollar reduce
from Trippie Imp. Thanks for this, lads. He will
be missed. Pretty cool. We got that collab with
Army Painter, though. Yeah, Army Painter. Good
work. I mean, I hate it by their paints. Yes,
I don't buy GW paints anymore because bottle
shape. It's so poor to please be a dropper bottle,
please. Please. I beg you. Sorry, it's not called
Citadel. You know, it's just called Warhammer
Pain, isn't it? It is. Yeah, they've they've
relabeled it again. Yeah, that's all right. That's
okay. So then we've we've that done. So I'm just
going to give us a rundown of John's career.
And obviously, this is very Cliff notesy. I never
met John. I'm I did some research before the
pod for the information. So there will be details
I miss out but here's like a broad overview of
of his career, uh, just to give you an idea Uh,
so and do you have a few of his? Uh artworks
as well. Yeah, we do. Uh, i'm just gonna put
this one up to start with Uh, they are more or
less in the right order. But of course The one
I wanted to show isn't in the format. I want
please bear with Uh this one I do have a particular
favorite of the Custodi one that was earlier.
I generally do find that one. I wish I had that
as a poster because it's quite, I don't know,
it's like a weird Roman Byzantine -esque warrior
thing. It almost looked out of place in a far
-flung future. And yeah, so this is John Blanche
back in the day. He was born in 1948. So bear
in mind, a few years after the end of the Second
World War, he grew up in a working class family
in a council estate. His surroundings were gray
and visually flat So when he was young he yearned
for a visual richness, which he found particularly
in cinema as his escape He spent a lot of his
spare time drawing historic warriors of of yore
using the back of wallpaper So he'd find bits
of wallpaper needs he'd scribble on that as like
it kind of reminds me of when you hear about
like Aaron Sorkin when he wrote a few good men.
He worked as a A bartender and he would scribble
bits of the script on napkins. It's like that
similar thing of like you work with what you
can and So he spent his time scribbling around
and working on his his art and in the 60s when
he was a teenager and young adult He went to
art college. He began honing his painting skills.
He was doing battle scenes and prehistoric conflicts
But eventually he was told by his teachers. Hey
mate took him aside and they said You have a
romantic spirit, but it would never earn you
a living and there's no point pursuing it Wow
Well, well ironic I have a quote for you in the
the private chat here Colin. Would you like to
read out this quote, please? Sure, the people
there seemed unaware of art and an altar oa glory
people stood back and expected me to metamorphose
into an exist existentialist of sorts well i
couldn't even spell that so i drafted and drifted
into graphics and became exposed to illustration
hippie dumb and the lord of the rings even then
i was told to never invent for the sake of it
and that i would never get a job painting pictures
of angels dragons goblins and trolls well i hope
that professor enjoyed putting you know the taste
of their foot in their mouth so many servings
of humble pie would yeah Um, hope they enjoyed
um, however, he basically he did his his work
at art college with that done. He became a taxidermist
for a brief time He raised um crazy pivot in
a georgian manner and he began model building
He did wildlife drawings and in his spare time.
He tried various, uh different styles of art
And in the 70s, he relocated to london. Good
older not null And he was approached by the publisher
Roger Dean, who was known for creating art for
the band Yes and Asia. This is one of his later
pieces before he died back in 2019. He also did
this album cover for Yes. And so he kind of gave
him a bit of a push in his career. Dean himself
has sold over 150 million copies of his art worldwide.
So like the good mental figure. And he helped
him with freelance illustration. He began to
create covers for different fantasy pieces. For
example, he did a piece for the Tolkien bestiary
by David Day. I'm not sure if it's this one or
if it's this one, but both of them are pretty
dang good. So. Take your pick for the audio listeners.
There's two variations I don't even know how
to describe the artwork for these are dragons
particularly Yeah, they're not dragons But the
more serpent -like and in muted tones that but
it's also kind of weirdly bony and skull -like
I don't yeah, it's it's a dragon that's more
serpent -like but it also isn't looking like
you know, like a Chinese or Japanese style dragons.
Well, that's actually quite impressive. However,
this was pulled off. And bear in mind, he also
did illustrations of Lord of the Rings. So for
example, this is the Battle of the Five Kingdoms
that he did. Five armies. Is that five armies
or is that a... Yeah, is that five armies? Yeah,
that's five. Because there's the mountain in
the background. And there's the downfall of a
numeral, I believe it is. This one he did as
well. And you can tell it's his style with that,
like, it's the line work and the waves and, like,
the cloudiness, I guess I could call it, in the
background for, like, the skyline is, I don't
know, like, blotchy almost. It's got that pink
-blonde, John Blanche style, I think. Eru Luvital
just says, fuck you, you can't come to the funny
undying land. So boom, there goes your civilization.
At this point, John starts to collect miniatures,
and he particularly collects metal miniatures.
I had a metal miniature once, its arm fell off,
hard to paint, harder to stick together. I think
it was a chaplain. His crows use was too heavy.
I didn't know metal minis. No But by 1977 he
was established as a associate of Games Workshop.
He created cover arts for many editions of Warhammer
Four editions. In fact, one of the classics here
is the the Blood Angels cover that that's recently
had a resurgence because of the oh, yeah, the
new edition second edition, I believe this is
God that is cool. I guess as much as it looks
dirty like a lot of his art looks dirty it's
not necessarily that because like those towering
those are hive spires in the background but those
are like glistening white i don't know how to
describe it it's interesting like it's very iconic
for what i assume is the aziman one as well like
well this one is oh yeah yeah but like even there
it shows you he kind of always sticks to that
even like something that's brighter here, he
still sticks in that color palette of like, the
crimson, yellow and black. Like it's all and
then it's always a kind of variations of that.
I mean, it's just obviously something which is
very, very iconic. I don't know if anyone else
maybe would have pulled off something where it's
so like it has its own feeling like this, you
know, I mean, has a little character, you know,
Yeah, you're always a drawn perp like the only
thing that's actually in full saturation is actually
the things that are on the Like the parts that
are closest to you and everything else The blood
angels behind the main one have more muted red
and the one at the front has more vibrant colors
Just so you're not looking at them but little
tricks here and there to like Make it so that
your eye is drawn to him and then everything
else you have to like spend more time Studying
I guess But he also was the illustrator for the
first UK edition of Dungeons and Dragons, which
is fun. So like John Blanchett the first UK edition,
which is cool Tom Bombadil Tom Bombadil Tom Bombadil
various me in 40 years at the pub. That's me
Like when like you look to grim dark like in
itself even though like Dungeons and Dragons
doesn't have to be necessarily grim dark overarching
like strong colors of red are always president
present usually aren't they and By this time
John had created dozens of artworks for games
workshop by 1979 By 1982 he also began to work
with as guard miniatures so he started to branch
out into other companies as well but he was a
member of Games workshops team and They relocated
the entire company in 1986 and that's when they
were managed by Managing director Brian Ansell
who's also no longer with us but he as guy in
charge also made John be the art director of
the entire company and John continued to work
for games workshop for many many years. I contributed
regularly to white dwarf because he was a died
-in -the -wool hobbyist And in 1988, he also
created the cover for a Nottingham -based metal
band called Sabbath. And that's the one. It was
their debut album. So he's also working on things
outside of Warhammer. But that's what he's going
to be known for. And this album was called A
History of a Time to Come. And at this point,
he started to To create so much work that they
had to start compiling it into various like compendiums
of his work There is also a book you can get
from paper tiger books, which is called heroes
of war games Which you can actually find a lot
of his work in it He also I believe this is the
time where he also Created the first cover for
warhammer fantasy, which is like oh Look at that.
Oh, yeah Oh yeah. Have you seen this one before
Colton? A few times. Yeah. It's that good stuff.
If you came into Warhammer fantasy, was that
post Total War Warhammer trailer and stuff like
that, the original one? Oh no, when I was getting
into Warhammer, I think what had just released
for Total Warhammer 2 was the Ickot Claw DLC.
And then it's weird to think like stuff like
this is so, as in like that, like it's almost
hard to imagine like that within it offshoots
into the Goliath that it is, but yet somehow
it's still recognizable. Like a lot of early
art for different genres are almost like completely
different to what they originally were. But then
Warhammer's done a reasonable job i'd say of
like at least they pay homage to the things that
you know are kind of its iconic visuals this
is uh yeah this is and i i did skip ahead a little
bit too far this is 79 when he made this for
the first edition of warhammer fancy battle uh
but sorry kind i interrupted you oh no you're
fine i was to say this is uh this is this was
1979 yep as far as i can tell yeah this is early
This is early goblins versus high elves. In fact,
I think that might be this art piece might have
what made Eltharion Because yeah, he's got the
sword and the spear he's on a griffin Huh still
likes to pick is like it's that is it sepia like
it's like the iconic choice of color, isn't it?
It's always that kind of tone somewhere at least.
It's like his little signature and at this point
John's done work for games workshop for what
20 years or so by the 80s So he's been there
like they relocated in the 70s. He started working
Probably in the late 60s. So oh, yeah, so it
should be like 70s to 80s But eventually he would
go to like what 30 40 years and his his career
with games workshop But already he's he's done
so much for the the company as it is. They did
actually create some like Collections of his
works one being the prince and the woodcutter
and another one being rat spike which is him
and his his collaborator miller and It was after
this point that unfortunately John was diagnosed
with ill health which is which is sad to see
that I believe in the in the early 2000s. That's
when things started to take a bit of a toll but
he's already at this point made such a impact
on the hobby and Back in the day, he's always
been a bit of a, I guess, outspoken in the way
that other people create art and how, I guess,
certain people, especially in the fantasy setting,
layer on elements of the designs that he found
was distasteful. What he found solace in when
he was in his his later years was he was still
working on warhammer fancy and 40k In his own
words living in the worlds. He helped create
uh, he retired from games workshop in may 31st
2023 So only a few years ago as art director
he continued to work on miniatures And he even
a few years ago launched his own Kickstarter
campaign for a range of models under the name
Mordoran. And there's actually a game you can
play called John Blanche's On Guard. To describe
his style, John is very gothic with bizarre elements.
One of his heroes and someone who also would
collaborate with him in the future, Patrick James
Woodruff, he described his style as... It has
as yet no name, no easy access, no fixed criteria.
Is it packaging? Is it comic book art? Where
does it fit? Role playing games and all the paraphernalia
that go with them must still be unfamiliar to
the average citizen of this land. And John saw
his style as archetypical or archetypal imagery.
He stated in rat spike in his own words. How
would you like to read this little quote I've
got here? Yes. He says, the first images of primeval
man would concern themselves with hunting scenes,
heroic action, mighty beasts, death marks, war
paint, fetishes and trophies. Today we see the
same sorts of themes represented in punk haircuts,
studded leather, and even the imagery employed
in films like Blade Runner and Aliens. This is
the heritage of Western culture. That is what
I'm trying to tap when I paint. Hmm and his influences
were people like Arthur Rackham like look at
this. This is very John Blanche. That's Arthur
Rackham. Oh You've got people like Kay Nielsen
Rembrandt you've got Matthias Grunwald You've
got Jim Burns and again, he loved Tolkien. He
loved films He loved comics and so he incorporated
all that he could into his work. He also stated
that the Mona Lisa was to be the best art piece
known globally. And he regularly tried to incorporate
it into his own art, stating, it was no mere
plagiarism, but a deliberate policy to place
what is probably the world's best -known painting
image into a new reality. He believed that interpretation
with art to be literal without secret meaning.
He believed that images should be enjoyed for
what they are and attempted to draw the viewer
into things like color technique narrative quality
and character He also created this piece of art,
which he called the Amazonia Gothic Which was
a deliberate one of his few times He deliberately
made a commentary on art saying I was utterly
sick of seeing brilliant artists producing painting
after painting of near naked female Fantasy models
with chests the size of airships elements of
this style of fancy art were creeping onto the
front of white dwarf I was receiving letters
on a weekly basis complaining about what people
saw as Exploitative of the female form so in
a very punk manner, which is very john blanche
He said screw that like uh chainmail bikinis,
etc i'm gonna make my own thing This piece of
art would be on white dwarf 79 and even had its
own miniature, which is quite cool um, I guess
that's like a you know, like there's that's like
a in a version of what is like Conan the Barbarian,
that one of like, I guess, like He -Man and other
things. So like, the idea is, it's still the
female form, isn't it? But this is something
where it's like, it's only power. It's something
designed to be like, this is a weapon rather
than something which is just there to, as he
says, show off the things the size of airships
or something. I have another quote here, Colin,
if you wouldn't mind. This is from the compendium
of his works from Rat Spike, which is a statement
by Patrick Woodroffe, who I mentioned earlier.
John's often tiny paintings are immaculate, painstakingly
accurate, jewel -like in the intensity of repeatedly
glazed colors. To be fully appreciated, they
must be seen as original, for it is their small
size that somehow emphasizes their uniqueness.
John's fondness for Latin slogans may seem out
of place. And yet a glimpse of the originals
makes one realize that such miniature work is
not even one step removed from the work of the
medieval illuminator. Damn. What throws us is
the gods are different, or at least the devils
are. This is very modern stuff, different, hard
to assess. Wow, that's cool. And I have one last
quote for Hal to read. I believe this was a statement
from, I guess, the people who were in charge
of his socials, et cetera. And I believe this
is also intertwined with Games Workshop. So this
is the last part of my little section. John was
a inspirational artist devoted to his family
and a good friend to many. Always generous with
time and knowledge, he was Very well loved by
all who knew and worked with him, he'll be hugely
missed. The world of Warhammer was brought to
life by his vision of the grimdark setting that
I know his art meant a lot to so many of you.
He leaves behind an enormous legacy and has enriched
many people's lives. Yeah, and that's the the
brief history of John Blanche who has been so
influential in in in this particular hobby that
you wouldn't be able to have warhammer without
John and I think so many good pieces So yes before
we get to the yeah before the good pieces. Yeah
Just got the one this one's from Merkel's jar
for five New Zealand's God in at third left before
sixth came back at 10th john blanche will be
missed amen to that hell yeah man i just think
like because even now people will hopefully is
is bizarre like someone can create something
and yet like basically nearly half a century
later people will still be like i need to do
it in his style it's very you know to be able
to make something that iconic is quite quite
a big achievement and impressive yeah So as we
go forward, I figured we should go through maybe
some of the good pieces, some of the most iconic
pieces he's made. So obviously I'm going to pick
Jagatai Khan as the first one. Look at that.
Hey, it's Jagatai. Andy, I'll give you credit
that that image of Jagatai Khan, which I'm pretty
sure for like 20 years was the only one he had,
is pretty goddamn sick. Yeah. It's amazing. stuck
as in like, that is still, I like in his work,
there's always like thigh high boots. Always
a heel involved. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty cool.
It's like, if you consider like, the punk era
was his thing, you had bands in metal, punk,
rock, etc. Yeah, people like Judas Priest with
like, hell bent for leather and the spiked boots
and heels and stuff. It does make sense and like,
The music scene cinema, etc You know, there's
there's a lot to draw from also another primark.
He did illustrate. That's never really been changed
roguel dawn Can we say anything's changed? Obviously
the style but that's just roguel dawn. No, that
is just roguel darn Yeah, that is pretty cool
I was it took me a while. I didn't notice it
always straight away Because I always forget
about the imperial fist but like dawn's chess
play is like half the Aquila half the thunderbolt,
isn't it? Or something. Yeah, like so like it's
slightly off. It's like it's not symmetrical,
which is quite cool Yeah, again those classic
color choices as well. It's so damn cool I should
get that one. I should get a dog piece The the
step on me mommy piece that's been highly requested
the whole episode I've been I've been keeping
an eye on you chat. Like where's the lady with
the boot? Where's the step on me one? There it
is. There she is I think, but this is the example
of his, I guess his ethos earlier, which is he
doesn't want just a scantily clad women, as in
like for the eye, just for the purposes of eye
candy. But it's more of like, you know, like,
again, people can look like what they actually
look like, you know, but then it's not in a way
that's unflattering or not like grotesque. What's
the one thinking of like gratuitous gratuitous?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I is yeah designed
to be like yeah this is uh this is what you really
want this person is stepping on a skull this
person's a killer yeah you know yeah it's like
it's like well if we want a woman to be powerful
is the only way to strip all their clothing off
till they're wearing a bikini then give them
a sword or can we give them like actual armor
that would make sense which still has like feminine
qualities to like its design but isn't patronizing
of like oh you want to be a character to you
Get your knockers out like yeah, then and I think
that's yeah, that's one of the things he really
hated Um, and so again with his designs he he
with this one piece Essentially paved the way
for the entire adeptus sororitas army. I mean
they all have the hair color They all have the
color scheme. There are different uh branches
that have different color schemes But it's like
the sword the bolt pistol the the like heels
that the the the the augmatic eye piece It's
like it's all there even way back then Orcs.
Orcs, orcs, orcs. This one's quite different
from his usual look, I guess, but you can still
tell it's him. Yeah, but I can still tell, yeah.
It's always the vehicles I always liked. The
trim on vehicles is always so elaborate. And
even then, if you look at the tank in the middle,
it's basically got a gothic spire on the top
of it as well. Little stomper, yeah. I think
the big thing is like silhouettes, isn't it?
Like if you look at the background, like silhouettes
are a huge play in it. And it's so poisonous,
the atmosphere. It looks terrible to live in.
I can imagine that in Darktide or something.
That is cool, though. All bolters must be red
as well. This one's Lucas Crom. He was very good
at the Mechanica stuff because I think he reveled
in Showing off all the mechadendrites all the
weird gribbly bits all the stuff. That's like
there is a human silhouette, but also The Frick
is that under the robes and some of it is concealed
and some of it you get to see and I like how
he played with that And also the color palette
of like the reds and the oranges which he doesn't
feel like all of his Mechanicus stuff. I have
you seen his chainsaw. He has extra Yeah, I'm
having all the chainswords You can't even, like
the cool part about that is you can't tell where
the human begins or ends. Like you can't even
see the face necessarily. Like part of it looks
like a rib cage in the middle, but you can't
quite tell. You know, there's like a metallic
leg there, but you don't, again, like there's
like the human is there, but it's not there as
well. The only human things are like the little
skulls, the little servitors and things. Sometimes
when I look at John's art, I'll look at like
a complicated section. I'll try and look into
it and my brain gets a bit overwhelmed with like
how much stuff is going on i'm like, um Especially
with the mechanicist stuff. Sometimes you like
you zoom into the image and it's like I want
to know what's going on, but there's there's
so much going on It can be a bit like confusing
and that's that's kind of that adds to the design.
I suppose Uh, very cluttered intentionally. So
like I like yeah speaking of that my god That
is craziness. The tyranny is the one where it's
like, they should always paint tyrannies or make
them look as scary as this, because I think in
the novels they come across as that. But then
I know that's the only one where I look at the
tabletop and I go, that's just a big bug. Or
especially they're meant to be more monstrous.
And again, I imagine it was a lictor in the middle
or is that a... hive. I can't tell again, like,
because it all like, you can't even tell where
something begins and where it ends, like, but
even then, like the, I'm sure, like, obviously,
he was inspired by alien and other parts, because
obviously, the gene stealers are similar to that.
But the, even then, it looks like everything
looks like malformed and terrifying. Oh, god,
that's disgusting in a good way. But like, you
know, yuck. I just got a recommendation from
from the chat. uh from from turkey uh do you
want to read this one out uh sure uh andy realms
of chaos with the demon slaps that the space
marines run by demons in pink so eye -catching
this is the one oh yeah oh yeah that's nice that's
good oh that hit the spot said colin do you want
to describe that for the audio lister sure so
you've got a Can you zoom in a little on the
guy, Andy? I want to see if I can't figure out
what... I don't think I can. That doesn't look
like a chapter. I think that just is kind of
like just a space marine. I mean, I'm sure it's...
I can send you the image independently. But he
is just surrounded by demons. Like I think one
of them, like the one kind of closest to him...
like above him kind of looks like a bloodthirster
or not like a blood letter a bit. Yeah. But it's
like it's also just like an ocean of demon. And
he's kind of like a dull grayish red. And everything
around him is horribly pink. Yeah. My word for
it. It's on my wall in my living room. Very nice.
You can see bottom middle left. one's like a
demonet, the top middle one is more like a zinch
one. Can you see the guy reaching out the bottom
middle? He's just like, oh, it's like, no, you're
staying there. And I like the way the the bolter
is like ineffectually just like, like, oh, good
job, mate, that bolt is going to get rid of that.
Yeah. Just a little tiny blob in the mass of
swirling flesh. The modern hero versus the dragon,
isn't it? It's the the bolt, the space marine
bolter versus the tide of unending flesh. This
one's the dark city, Cormoran against spiky,
which is made because that is that is like the
only we don't have many art depictions of Cormoran.
So that is kind of like that's the that's the
standard set for everything. And it makes it
look horrifying. Like you just go like that.
It's like you're going to land in the cactus
bush of a city that looks terrifying. Yeah, it's
good. Uh, and we've got the, the eternity gate,
I think it is for the emperor's palace, uh, very
grand, but also fell in its, its depiction. Oh
my God. That like fallen banners and shields,
isn't it? Like lining the procession in the middle.
And if you look closely, you can actually see
like on the stairwell, there's a person for scale.
You have to look quite closely and. There's idea
of like the flying cherubs, but it's kind of
like that. It's an homage to what is like classic
I guess like, you know Catholic like Latin, you
know, it's a statement. It's a stained glass
window on a massive obviously gate But it's just
again the mythology itself is living there and
then imagery like even on the banners we have
imagery of death and You know good old God Emperor
notice eternally the I guess it's like a it's
because it's made to give you the impression
it's not like a normal God, but is a God of death.
So hell yeah. Yeah, not nice in some way. This
one's a fan favorite. This is the epic cover.
I mean, it's really cool that like, is it a white
tiger cloak with like, you can see the claws
on both sides. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Like
a leopard, isn't it leopard skin? Yeah. God,
that is cool. I was interested in like that person,
the guy, the captain, I assume in the middle
has got like an underslung plasma bolt, plasma
gun, like on his, yeah, underslung as well. But
then I see that much. I might see it again, though,
because John's work, actually, there's a model
that's an homage to his work, which is the Black
Templar's Castellan, which I think we'll might
see in one of the other pieces coming up. and
then the classic land raider everything again
even my favorite part of these ones are the ships
like coming out of the sky at the very top because
that just looks like a gaping more of like a
beast it shows you like the scale of the uh conflict
is enormous i like it when you say that like
gaping no how you like it when i say gate no
those don't say it please no all right we're
gonna put that black templates on analysis am
i saying it too much I like how they remade recently
the castellan with the axe. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You can buy that model as well, which is so cool.
Because I guess you wouldn't have thought they'd
do something like that. But I think I remember
like, it's interesting part like when you're
painting something like all of your drawing a
figure, black armor is actually kind of usually
boring. And so at every point, You can see like
even then just little bits of color are injected,
like even the front guy who's got like red on
his pauldrons, knee pad. That's why like a lot
of I theorize a lot of the weapons are actually
like either, you know, like yellow or red is
basically because of the lack of color everywhere
else. It was an opportunity to basically shove
in more of it. God, that's cool. And like, I
don't know where the thing in Warhammer for hazard
stripes come from. Does anyone? How ethereal
do they know where hazard stripes is like? My
best guess is like it's a very visually distinct,
like, like, you know, it's black and yellow.
That's very eye catching. I mean, in real life,
they're designed to be eye catching. It's warming,
isn't it? Yeah. And it's, it's also like, it's
a very clear, like danger symbol. It's like,
Hey, it's a hazard stripe. Like that's always
been my assumption. Like it's, you know, and
it does kind of look cool. It looks to the Iron
Mary. What are you married? What the fuck? Iron
Warriors make it look kind of cool. Oh, my God.
He likes the Iron Warriors. Perturabo, number
one fan. No, no, I don't. I hate their dad. I
don't mind them. How many times do I have to
say this? Yeah, this one is a is probably I guess
is that other than the Emperor one, this is the
most iconic piece most people have come across
or seen, I think. God crimson fist one John Blanche
this one Good course doesn't I don't think it
is But it's obviously aping the style if it's
not because it's like I think it's distinctly
different but it has that similar like use of
color and the kind of muted muted are like Again,
he said he hated painting blue. So that's not
John Blanche, but you can tell it's like The
next generation after john was uh, we're going
to use some of the the stylistic choices he made
um, but I think the most important one we have
to bring up is uh, is this one which is very
important with the new 11th edition trailer,
which is very much Dependent on this depiction
and I know that john said in interviews. Oh This
is probably more like what people think the emperor
would look like but in his mind Behind this illusion
would be the Emperor in like a jar and it's way
more like dull in comparison, but the collective
consciousness, I guess of humanity would think
ah, that's what I think the God Emperor looks
like and Arguably the most iconic piece in the
whole setting of art. I'd say Probably the whole
point is to say that you were saying it earlier.
You can't tell where man or machine begins or
ends. And there's like indications, like the
skull, the hands, like the rib cage, like other
parts are just completely intermeshed or woven
with that horrific device that purposely the
edges are blurred. So you can't see if it's like
that big, or if it's just a one small piece of
a larger mechanism. And which I do appreciate
as well, like all of it looks as well kind of
broken in parts, like some of it has like cables
that just end in places that don't look right.
So it's, again, definitely an iconic piece. And
that eye in the middle is, you know, I think
there was the idea, like, if you have things
that are, like unblinking eyes is a thing that
sets off people, isn't it? Like, it sets off,
like, your kind of, I guess your old, like your
flight almost just staring at you like that.
Although the ability to not blink is usually
seen as like a mark of like a sociopath or someone
who's like... I think I'm funny. Well, what's
funny? What's funny? What's funny? And this is
like staring at you. And that's like as if you
look at a dog and you stare at them. They kind
of like divert their eyes after a while because
it's like a cuz you're the big dog Look away.
Look away Yeah, if a dog runs at you by the way,
and you're like scared of it just stare at it.
That's the whole point Yeah, no, I didn't generally
do that. Definitely. Listen, definitely do that
when princess is charging at you full tilt Don't
run. Don't do anything. Just stare Mm -hmm. I
did work. I mean, yeah, I know I was walking
across like a local park at night and It was
like, I think it was like midnight or something.
And then a big dog started running towards me.
But because I grew up with dog, I just stood
still and diverted at the last second. I was
like, is it playing chicken with me? I don't
know. Sorry. It completely irrelevant story.
Go ahead and keep going. I don't know. But other
than that. I think that's pretty much all the
archive that I had to go through. Is there any
other art pieces you wanted to talk about before
we close this one out? Oh, I think me and Colin
might be able to choose a particular favorite
we could contribute. And give us a second. Oh,
this one, easy. I think I might be choosing one
of the more fantasy ones because I... Got that
one. Yeah, that one I've got a nice high death
one of that too. So if I go ships Now if I can
find it This one's like a good old reliable.
We like yeah, I need to talk about a ship I'm
gonna put this one on it is and it's all I mean
it just kicks ass. That's it's that simple Fellas
you'll see in a moment. Do worry not this one
here It looks like they're exiting out of a portal
to hell because boy it's a lot of gribbly like
fire and brimstone behind these ships. It's a
massive golden like battering ram with another
battering ram on front of the battering ram that
the ship already is with a cathedral on top of
it a cathedral there's a lot of cathedrals on
top of this fucking thing uh guns the size of
that's like a city easily um and in the background
every other ship has is just firing every missile
at once it's a no avail wonderful i said you
might want andy i got that one we had earlier
the ultramarines. Let me just, there's one to
squats. Oh no. Oh yeah. There's the squat tank
one. Oh, I don't know how to tell you this. The
squats predate you. That's okay. I can still
dislike them. I like this one quite a lot because
it just, even though it's not necessarily in
color, you can obviously he's, he's known for
like having his obviously famous kind of color
palette. you can still really obviously tell
like it's his work because of the high level
of detail and the fact like everything's got
some kind of flame checker pattern or like it's
that thing which would go on to like really give
the idea of like grimdark which is something
that has been around like and it becomes like
a relic because every we live in an age of you
know impossible unmoving stagnation so I mean,
they make the joke of the Dark Imperium one,
the Gilliman chair, where they're like, oh, it's
an ancient relic from times long gone. And Gilliman's
like, that's just a chair I sat on sometimes.
But then so that he doesn't care anything he
thought it. But to them, it's like, this is a
10 ,000 -year -old chair that a demigod sat upon.
Again, just iconic, massive machinery, so much,
in a weird way, so much of visual noise going
on in one piece, but yet you can kind of lock
into the actual individual pieces like the ultramarine
at the front, the Terminator, the captain, the
massive plasma gun, the middle, the huge cannons,
the banner, and obviously the buildings, and
then the silhouettes in the background. So like
it can, it creates like the, the full story,
you just stare at it, and then you can find new
details as well, like each time you look. So
damn good stuff, man. Damn good stuff. Other
than that, is that us closing out this episode
then, I suppose? Yeah, I think we wanted to give
you guys a bit of an homage, I think. It's a
cool thing. Maybe if you guys are all doing your
miniatures or other stuff, he's got a style,
so you could lean into it. There are people who
have done videos where they paint their miniatures
in his color palette or his... create things
in his visual language, I believe there is a
grim dark compendium, there's a guy who has a
channel where he just kitbashes miniatures and
it's in the grim dark style and it makes it makes
him act like he makes him in a black templates
video and there's a guy who's got like a little
mohawk of like stripped hair and it's like little
very mad Max's esque. So people can make Jen
like a miniature actually look quite terrifying,
which I was quite impressed with. So uh again
there's lots of things you can do to kind of
really hit that nail in the head and uh yeah
i'll say damn good he's done some damn good work
uh rip boy thanks for all the thanks thanks for
warhammer appreciate it man thanks for the uh
before we before we close out though we do have
one last donation to get through uh this one
is from donkeyman usa would you like to read
this one uh colin You were the fiver. Rogal Dorn
has not changed in 50 years because he is perfect.
Truly, they Rogaled their Dorn the first time
around, and there was no need to change it. I
mean, that's an interesting way to spell fine,
but to each their own. Someone said nice things
about a Primark that wasn't Jagged Eye. It's
a shame, Rogal Dorn is quite interesting. I like
it every time he's every novel he's had has not
been a bad one. So, you know, God bless, but
please let him stay dead. He's fine. He's all
right. Leave him alone. Nice. Other than that,
I say thank you guys so much for listening for
watching a bit different this week. Hope you
had your education hats on. Appreciate that one.
We'll back to be our Reginald. regular schedule,
just combine those two words, regular schedule,
like next week, we've got some more silly stuff,
because obviously we're not usually taking it
seriously. But we, yeah, more silly stuff coming
forward. We hope you guys will enjoy that. Other
than that, thank you guys for listening, for
watching. Of course, we're on Spotify, other
things, or, you know, if you want to watch it
offline. Other than that, this one's pretty visual
heavy episodes. So if you needed to... check
in on out of stuff, you know, maybe go have a
look at some of the art pieces. And we'll see
you guys on the next one. Peace. Bye everybody.
Bye.