Gandalf casting spell - Mithril M289 (1993)

There's not much to say about this miniature. It's simply great. Great, great, great. Plus, it's Gandalf, one of the coolest characters in fiction.

 

This is the second Gandalf miniature I paint, at least from Mithril. The first one is lost in the mists of time. See for yourself, if you think my skills have improved:

 

2021 vs 1997-ish

I am actually pretty happy with this one. Definitely one of my ten best so far. I am learning to play with that grey.

Skaven Clanrats from Warhammer Island of Blood Box (2010)

 I'll keep it extra-short this time. I've been having fun painting a bunch of Skaven pawns. Originally they're from WFB 8th edition box Island of Blood (dated  2010), the one with the High Elves too, but these are great for any game from WFRP to HeroQuest. Enjoy.

Mithril Mordor Orcs - M151, M310

I have been quite hyped with Middle-earth lately, possibly as a consequence of the new TOR RPG Kickstarter, and I decided to dig up some baddies from the Mithril leadpile. So here we are with these Mordor Orcs: M151 from 1990 ("Mordor Orcs") and M310 from 1993 ("Mordor Orc Standard Bearer").

I went for a simple paint-job: dark brown skin-tone, black and tan clothes, black leather and iron armour and weapons. I added a bit of bronze/brass here and there, and a red eye painted on the standard. Overall I am pretty pleased with the result, considering the effort - Orcs do not require too much detail after all.

Fantasy Visuals: John Blanche - Part IV (the '10s)

Continues from Part III. 

John Blanche's art in the 2010s is not very much unlike that in the 2000s, except that the trends emerged in that period seem to take momentum and impact even more than before. In a nutshell: Blanche, having set up a studio that is able to work by itself, takes more and more distance from the Warhammer products, providing occasional pieces (mostly for the 6th edition of 40K) and a lot of concepts that, although not meant for publication, still make heir way into the Codexes and Army Books. There is, still, a passion that looks back at the '80 in a number of artworks, as if John was remembering old stuff and reworking it into his later art, a quality that is higher than anything in the past ten or fifteen years. 

Necrons (2011)

Nightmare (2011)

Vampire Counts (2011)

Zombie Dragon (2011)

Beast of Nurgle (2012)

Death World (2012)

Exterminatus (2012)

Hour of Darkness (2012)

Imperium (2012)

Keeper of Secrets (2012)

Plague Drones (2012)

Sanguinius (2012)

The Changeling (2012)

The Enemy Within (2012)

The feeling is that creativity is back along with experimentation.  There's less mandatory product sketches from marketing and more stuff that comes from the artist's own imagination. There is an old attention to detail that was almost forgotten after the mid 1990s, this time benefitting from the experience of a navigated artist. The result is amazing.

When Warhammer Fantasy is killed and Age of Sigmar takes its place, John Blanche is only involved in the concept: he will not officially work on it, as his semi-retirements starts.

Kairic Acolyte (2014) 

Nurglings (2016)

Kharadron Overlord (2017)

There is little to no published material of his in the 7th edition of 40K and none at all in the 8th. At this point John mostly draws for himself, for friends and for games he plays. Look at the art below and consider how much it looks like a direct update of the earlier art from the '80s.

 

"Let us dance" 2019

Tarot card (2019)

Innocentius (2019)

Unkown Title (2020)

These days he publishes his sketches through a Facebook page, and he gets involved in many fan projects along with other gamers. Blanche can be occasionally met at gaming conventions around Nottingham, where is often a guest of honour, one of them being BOYL in Newark.

Overall John Blanche is one of the most influential artists in British fantasy art, and certainly the most influential in the history of GW. Even if his art is polarizing and not for everyone, no one can deny that even today all of GW's art exists in his shadow. He is also the only artist that is going to get four posts in Fantasy Visuals on this blog - that was a long ride started a year and a half ago and it took me a long time to go through all his published works. But it was fun, and I learned to appreciate him even more than I did before. I hope you do too!

Leave a comment, if you like, and tell us about your favourite piece from John Blanche. Soon I'll post on a new artist from the '80s.

Theoden, King of the Mark - Mithril M27 (1988)

 

Theoden, King of the Mark is one of the earliest miniatures of the Mithril range, from 1988. It has a nice, fixed pose that is typical of that period when casting was not so advanced and miniatures were simple and solid. It's a nice sculpt - albeit the one I have is second hand and a bit worn out.

Theoden is one of the most popular characters in the Lord of the Rings. He plays a clear archetype, the King: he represents authority, and is often used to display how power can be used for good, when wisdom helps to wield it, or how power can be a burden and ultimately be useless, when justice abandons it in favour of fear.

The story of Theoden is simple, yet great: as a King, he finds himself to rule in a time of great challenges that wear out his spirit, until he becomes the shadow of himself. Because of the dangers, the defeats and the lack of support from his councillors, Theoden grows old and enters a "Winter of the Spirit", from which he is stirred by the unexpected visit of Gandalf. Realizing his mistakes, Theoden casts aside his fears and rides to war against the enemies of his people. He will lead his warriors in a great battle where he will die bravely, after defeating the enemy general. His sacrifice and example will help shape the future world.

If this story seems to touch some special strings in your soul, its' probably because this is the same story as the one of another archetypical King, King Arthur, who is stirred from his Winter by Percival carrying the Holy Grail and rides one last time with his knights against Mordred, to kill him and be killed in turn.
 

And yet once again, Boorman's Excalibur proves to be the best Middle-earth adaptation of all. Not looking at anyone in particular...

Let's look at the other adaptations of Theoden, shall we?

Bakshi's LotR (1978)

The Brothers Hildebrant (1978)

"Theoden Espies the Serpent Banner" by Michael Kaluta (1994)

Angus McBride (mid 1990s)

"Theoden's charge at Helm's Deep" by Timothy Ide (1997)

Ivan Cavini (2006)

"The Ride of the Rohirrim" by Abe Papakhian (2010)

Helena Starostina (2012)

Theoden is described as having a flowing white beard reaching down to his knees (when he is seated and bent), long white hair gathered in great braids and blue, glinting eyes. Although he may look "almost like a dwarf" when he is presented, after he is freed by his fears he appears to be tall and proud.

Now, I am not 100% satisfied with my painting this time - I have tried to portray Theoden as a bright figure, dressed in colourful clothes as befitted an early medieval Saxon king. They are perhaps too bright... especially the green of the robes: what do you think? I am quite happy with the hair and the crown, though, and I am definitely imrpoving in painting yellow, one of the most difficult colours for me.