agreed

they have been whitewashing 40k for a while, making the Imperium actually the good guys.

To me, the new artwork depicts them not as heroic per se, but grander, like, "this Tyranid vs Guard battle is the most important event this side of the galaxy." My brother in Christ, there is a fleet of ships the size of a city completing a siege on an artifical planet that looks like a pincushion just a few light years away, I don't give a single tuft of Skaven hair what these chucklenuts are doing on the ground.

Agree to disagree- WH40k has allways been about duty in the face of impossible odds. Though the old art does indeed go hard and I do want more if it’s ilk

I think it's not so much about scale as heart. There's an old 2nd edition piece of Artwork, it's 3 Guardsmen trudging through the snow outside a hive city patrolling in the literally ass end of nowhere loaded down by respirator gear, that picture sums up The Guard better than any by the numbers mass battle scene in the last 15 years. The older art was done by artists looking to capture a vibe, the new stuff is made by formula for whatever box art or rule book is next out

It had a charming jank, sure cool, technically excellent pieces are nice poster, walpappers, screensavers, bookc9vers, but the jank gives it a bit of charm

@@JB-ls5pq one reply is worth a thousand likes, thank you uhh... user JB-Is5pq

I LOVE THE COLORS. I’m so sick of the monochrome phase we’ve been stuck in for decades T_T now video games are going greyscale

Hilarious and true

it's called SOVL @@JB-ls5pq

Really?

@@luangomes2431no it’s a joke.

Especially if they are harlequins

@@luangomes2431 Well, yes. But only for one in 4000 people that suffer from PSE.

At least i can come up with a good reason why horus betrayed the emperor Or how the hell he was able to mortally wound a man that was able to fight a ctan shard before space travel was a thing

It was loud, colourful, vibrant and grim with obnoxious colours like look at me And I love it

Hi there. You mean it could be from Frazetta . Have a nice one. Greetings from Germany

Fucking bump into each other, and fall over

“MARSHA! What are you doing here?” “J… _JOHN?”_

Old Warhammer art is massive and stupid and I love it.

In my headcannon I have Krak missiles

It's art from the fall of hellsreach. There is a fananimation about it and you can see the emperor titan and super garagantuan engage in it.

They REALLY remind me of the old Hieronymus Bosch paintings of Hell. Sooo classic, Sooo compelling, so unspeakable. .. Just like Engineering studies

It gives Albrecht Altdorfer vibes.

Yes at 5:20 the classic realm of chaos cover ! This album is legendary!

Yeah, I was a big fan of them in the 90s. I still jam out to all their albums every so often.

Yeah and then games workshop sued them for the rights and they had to change the original cover

I bought the Realm Of Chaos record in a store without having any idea what it was, but I just had to have it. It was only years later that I discovered what Warhammer was. The Chaos painting at 6:00 blows me away, though. That almost can't be a metal album cover because how could you possibly make a record heavy enough to live up to that? Holy shit.

I feel like Power Trip's album art also comes pretty close, it's not licensed 40k art though.

The man deserves all kinds of props as a genuine artist that I fear he will never get because he's a tabletop war game artist

Him, Mark Gibbons, John Blanche and Karl Kopinski are the main artists I can point to and say "This is what I'd consider warhammer". It's really sad modern GW doesn't even credit their artists anymore.

That's the same dude!? That is awesome, thanks for the info

His work defines Warhammer for me. That combination of stately, baroque maximalism applied to characters that wouldn't look out of place on a Judas Priest cover was like art crack to 15-year-old me.

I think that is the single most inspiring thing to tell new, struggling artists. "You see this? It's okay right? Like, your not up to that but you could see yourself getting to that level right? [Shows them the new one] See this immaculate masterpiece? Same artist. You _can_ get to the first, you _can_ get to the second. Keep practicing."

Oh, yes, that one :)

i can't find it

@@thejuiceking2219It not hard

Fully agreed. Adrian's been making art demos on his yt channel for awhile now in case you haven't seen

I think John Blanche is 40k's peak artist. His art is otherworldly, uncanny, and disturbing but beautiful in a macabre sort of way.

​@@Stryker98 John Blanche is perhaps the most iconic, but not the best

I'm still geeking out over the fact that he actually made an album cover for GWAR.

@@Stryker98 Which is why I embraced the path of Blanchitsu and _never_ looked back.

Vibrant? Yes. Aesthetically pleasing? Eh, looked way too childish to me. Like a He-Man universe as opposed to anything actually Grimdark. Tbh I saw some 40k AI Art yesterday that was produced from an excerpt from some book, and it was the best 40k Art I've seen so far lol. It looked brutal & unforgiving, whilst also communicating the theme of combat against the odds perfectly

@@KevinJohnson-cv2no Didn't it take a couple editions for Warhammer to fully embrace grimdark? I think I prefer the modern approach but the old school Judge Dredd violent satire has its charm.

I really want to train an AI in this style specifically.

​@@jtjames79 burh

​@@KevinJohnson-cv2noOlder wfb art wasn't grimdark until 5th-6th ed. Before that it was goofy as all hell, which added to its charm in my opinion

I'm not an art guy, in fact my opinion is more negative on it then positive, but holy fuck, old Adrian Smith art for 40k and Fantasy is amazing. It's as if you took Dark Fantasy/Grimdark and made it into a picture, incredibly detailed too, the best part is he's still active, too!

Thank you for naming the artist. I'll have to look them up.

He has a KZfaq channel: youtube.com/@adriansmithartist

I saw his art for a comic called War in Heaven and wanted to read it but alas...it seems to be lost to time. How fitting that of the first work I wish to check out of this warhammer artist only faint traces and unclear records seem to remain.

I thought that chaos champion was from old world setting and not a chaos space marine.

I never have been able to put my finger on it but you nailed it. I could look at stuff from that era all day.

Im of the opinion that Those Once Loyal was their masterpiece; but hell yeah, that album cover got me into 40k

And they managed to commission John Sibbick to do the *copyright friendly* version

@@ToasterDsG It's hard to choose between Bolt Thrower albums, I think their best was For Victory. But all of their music is quite solid.

Commented along the same lines myself here.

It's the same process that led to mythological art of the classical period

this is trolling, the body armours for example (the beginning of the video) - for warhammer fantasy - were more accurate in the old art, the new art contains more body sexual fetish dysphoria such as obsession with huge shoulder pads - something that was reserved in general for monstrous characters -, in warhammer fantasy in particular, the new art is more toward unrealism (age of sigmar) while being modern cartoon style ( just check on google image for example) or another example, compare the art style of the recent total war warhammer against the older warhammer battle march.

One of the most chilling bits of the Horus Heresy novels for me was when the Emperor first uses the Throne, and we briefly see him from the point of view of a Sister of Silence (a psychic blank). She doesn't feel the glorious presence that other people report, or the sense of immense power. She just sees a man, writhing in agony.

Let people say what they will about Ian Watson's work- but I still say he had the best version of the Emperor. This shattered husk, his mind fractured and openly warring with itself, in agony and yet at peace- all while trying to steer humanity forwards in a "Great and Awful*" plan. And despite it all, he still loved his sons, to the point he openly admitted to Draco during their meeting that Horus "Once shone like the brightest star, was once our beloved favourite". For all of the many, many eccentricities surrounding his works (an understatement), I don't think there's been a scene that sold me on the Emperor as a character quite like it. *Awful in its historical sense, rather than its modern one.

Truly prefer how at least they tried back then to make them more alien not so human similar by giving them a predator like appearance Understand the idea of having tolkienist like elves but that shouldn't stop trying to give them a more alien identity

@@a.r.h9919Exactly I remember this one piece of abunch of Eldar gathered together while a salvo of bright lances fired off in the background and I remember thinking how strangely organic their designs looked. Now everything just looks like generic armor. It's still cool but just a little disappointing.

@@ehsond8160 if they want that armour give it to the fantasy ones and let the eldar have alien features allow them to actually be aliens not bound by the universe of fantasy

Pretty sure it was in the Eldar codex… must find mine!

Of that diptych he liked so much, the image on the left is drawn by Jes Goodwin i believe. For more find White Dwarf 127, the birth of the 'modern' Eldar.

As a fellow 3ed recruit, I feel this. Not sure if it's subjective nostalgia or if it's the real deal but go back to rulebook at that time or the Armageddon codex and tell me that art doesn't kick all kinds of ass.

Looking for that on google the first things that apppear are two pieces of art included in the video.

@@giacomomorandini6770 From the third edition *rulebook?* Can you time stamp them please? Admittedly I haven't read it in a while so I might be wrong

@@leonodonoghueburke4276 well, first of all i have never seen a rulebook in my life and so i am no expert :) Anyway i am referring for example to the image at 3.25, which apparently is the cover of the third edition eldar codex, but then again i might be wrong

Yeah, that was the one I waited for, the best art ever. That one picture is 40k for me

Nagash being a drama queen is 110% canon

@@frostyfoster7267 With a 10% margin of error.

It's just a pity he had the Big Head miniature for so long after he was introduced.

@@paulgibbon5991 his newer model is like, top 5 models imo

@@frostyfoster7267 Legend has it that Gary Morley didn't like the specifications for Nagash he was given, so he made an absurd miniature that would be rejected and let him do what he wanted. But GW went with it.

I’m kinda surprised to not see John Blanche come up in the video. His psychedelic images and iconic color palette defined 40K art for years. Been buying prints of his lately and they’re always just a blast to see

Did you ever see his concepr art for the Tau and the Necrons. We could have had very different Tau and even more batshit insane Necrons. There was a Necron mounted on necron-ized horse.

@@LychgateWraith_Necron-ized horses???_ I feel robbed!

He had a very unique style. His work on the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks is great as well, even though he only did a few books.

@@JT-nr9vl I think that technically speaking he's in there, IIRC the right-hand B&W Eldar pic is one of his.

Agreed

Yea my favourites by far are the 6th edition box art

the art today is better today imo, i like the classics but they havent aged well and thats okay, like skittles marches to war compared to say some art from dawn of war 3 not a great game but still art wise its light years ahead, i get some people prefer the more cartoony 80s style though

@@augistry5439 I'm not only referring to GW, but art in general. D&D is a great example, for 3rd edition you have comic book style, realistic, early 80s throw back, and more. There is a lot of variety in the art so there is something for everyone. With 5th edition, it all blends together and is fairly consistent with the current MTG style. There just aren't many stand out pieces that are visually striking. It all feels very samey.

The need to explain everything really kills the setting for me. Recently got an old copy of Deathwing anthology - so many good stories and art in it!

I’m fairly new to 40k, and have just started getting into the novels. Ciaphas Cain is alright, and I really loved a couple of Necron books (infinite & divine, and twice-dead king: ruin). I guess what I really like about all of them is that you’re following one or two characters who are basically… normal? I mean, they’re absurdly impressive and utterly batshit (like, Necrons will have lulls in their conversations that last for _three years_ at a time) but they’re not *literal godlings.* They’re important enough to have some wild adventures, but you’re still getting sort of a ground-level view of what life would be like in this utterly absurd universe, which is super interesting! It makes the whole setting seem more concrete, which makes it seem all the crazier. But I’ll be honest, I have _zero_ interest in the Horus heresy novels, and I tend to glaze over even with lore videos on the subject. The emperor is the deathless corpse of an atheist who’s worshipped as a god and whose primary purpose is as a psychic lighthouse? YES. *SOLD.* I fucking _love_ that concept… That is basically the coolest thing ever. It’s simple, it’s BONKERS, and it speaks _volumes_ about what the universe is like. It’s like a perfect haiku. But is that concept really improved by eighteen novels or whatever exploring his failings as a dad? I don’t think so… and, hey, maybe I’m totally wrong! Maybe I’ll eventually read the Horus heresy and then write a bunch of breathless KZfaq comments to strangers about how amazing it is and what I fool I was. But at present, I just don’t see that happening.

@@nw42 I'll tell you freely, you're missing nothing by skipping the Heresy. In a subfranchise of over 60 books, about a sixth of those are any actual good, and three of them are the first three books. It's like me skipping ADB's books, because I find him boring to read. I get the NL books were high bar stuff for 40k, but I never really gave a shit about them because the prose bored me- and somehow, this makes me scum of the earth in most 'self-respecting' 40k circles.

​@calebbilling4984 I agree with you 1000% and I always get shunned in those circles as well for speaking it. In my opinion ADB reuses the same tropes for every single one of this books, the exact same character styles even. From Hellsreach to Betrayer. Avoid the Horus Heresy. As a kid it was way more interesting to view it as an age of myth where the God Emperor did not have a name and Ollonius was just a titanium balled guardsman who gave us faith in humanity. That grimdark setting had soul to it.

I’d say it makes it worse. The Emperor isn’t this tragic figure anymore he’s just an asshole who either got what was coming to him, or got exactly what he wanted depending on whom you ask. It was better when he was legitimately a Christlike figure whose teachings, though potentially flawed, were horribly missinterprited to get the Imperium of 40k. Now we know 30k was almost exactly the same as 40k and Guilliman being disturbed by everything on his return is weird as hell, because not that much is actually different.

I love the old dredd and 40 k art work for the same reason I love the old battle tech art: 70/80s album cover look. I eat up that old look that only ages faster and looks more depressing as it gets sun bleached for some reason. Tex and the black pants legion did a two part video with duncan fisher where they just pointed out all the old “me and the boys” looking art in the franchise and it is great.

GW and 2000AD were rather close in the 80s, GW publishing a Judge Dredd roleplaying game (which also had conversion rules for playing it as a hive city game, and its one reason the sentient orangutan Jokaero exist). Apparently there were a few artists that worked between 2000 AD and Rogue Trader.

I did a few comic panels about a year ago for a short story about Thunder Warriors during the Unification War, and one of the best compliments I received from someone on it was “this has some big 2000 AD vibes”.

The 2000 AD influnce probably gives me the clearest view of what was going on in the minds of the creators: just a couple of nerds in the UK fucking around and coming up with a tabletop game by stuffing it with everything that they think is awesome. There’s probably also a bit of Simon Bisley to early 40k art, too, mainly just because of how Lubiquitous his style was to 2000 AD during the 90s.

I don't know what's wrong with the words-reading part of my brain right now, but I saw "Mr. Nowork" and briefly thought that PancreaseNoWork had started using his read name online and his actual last name was "Nowork". But in my mind it wasn't pronounced "No Work" More like "Now-ark."

This is seriously so true

Abaddon would either be killed by Archaeon....or quickly reduced to his minion

Honestly all i see when i look at him is poor man's sauron and he really isn't much better than horus and abaddon

@@jhonnoilcringeincarnato8593 well, I mean, he actually won in the end. I’d say that’s what separates him from all of the rest of them including Sauron, as much as it pains me to say it. I think the ends times was a travesty but… I can’t say that chaos didn’t win.

​@nicksorensen7003 , Chaos WAS going to win, end of story. Now, how they did the end times wasn't good, but chaos was going to win, inevitably.

Ah yes, when a creative company slowly gets overtaken by corporate interest that fail to care for why the company was created in the first place.

@@TornaitSuperBird It's the circle of capitalism.

That goes hard in its own way.

Hold on, i need to do a google search.

No, the artist just got better at drawing proper dimensions

Old 40K/fantasy/DnD art is what comes to mind you listen to a power metal song about post-apocalyptic barbarian warriors fighting mutant dragons. It has that old SOVLFVL aesthetic.

They spew out mush. The artist’s creation that the ai copy’s is actual art.

Ai art may seem good from most peoples perspective, but if you actually try generating some images for yourself then the limitations of the technology become instantly apparent. Also it is probably tainted by chaos. Why else would all the 40k art I tried generating come out looking like vacation pictures taken in the realm of tzeench?