I loved the disproportionate and brightly colored bullshit they had going on, it also made me feel better about all my terrible pieces. Will be missed.
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
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
So in my headcannon, the Titan and the Gargant are not even aware of each other, much less shooting at each other. There is just so much over-the-top awesomeness going on all the time that they were both engaged in completely unrelated battles and are about to stumble upon one another by pure happenstance.
I absolutely love the old “maybe the original?” Picture of the Emperor on the Golden Throne, the one where he is a withered husk of a being with a mass of pipes and wires plugged into him. And a line of people disappearing into the distance. Also the little IV blood bag is funny
I have always loved the old warhammer fantasy art. It was so much more vibrant and aesthetically pleasing. I’m now constantly looking for old rule and lore books just to appreciate the art.
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.
Speaking of how metal Warhammer art is, there was an old school British death metal band called Bolt Thrower that took the majority of their early inspiration from Warhammer and 40k. They had song titles like 'World Eater' and 'Through the Eye of Terror' and to me sounds exactly like what music themed around 40k would sound like. The coolest part is that Games Workshop even licensed some of their artwork for the band to use on their album covers, the artwork of the Crimson Fists' last stand that you showed was used as the cover of their album 'Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness'. If we're talking about Warhammer art they definitely deserve a mention, even if they didn't do visual art. Because when people say "Warhammer is metal as fuck," Bolt Thrower is the metal they are talking about, even if they don't realize it.
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.
The funny thing is it was Adrian Smith who did both of those Horus Versus Emperor pieces. The way he developed his talent over the decades has always been inspiring.
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.
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."
Adrian Smith to me is peak Warhammer art. He nailed the perfect balance between epic scale and absolute grimdark horror. The Emperor vs Horus piece alone deserves to be in a museum.
Fun game: when looking at old 40k art, play a game me and buddies used to as kids- Find the Hidden Titan! Seriously. When they aren’t the focus, it’s shocking how often they are in this huge subtle background presence that you don’t even notice.
A lot of the old Warhammer art gives me the same feel I get from those late Renaissance paintings of battlefields, especially from those Dutch and Flemish artists who depicted massive battlefields with immense numbers of soldiers. It’s this sense of scale a lot of art doesn’t get at, and it’s kinda niche, but it reminds me of that.
The thing I especially like about the old WH40k Art is that it had this old medieval feel to the pieces, like "what if futuristic war battles were depicted by an artist from the medieval ages/renaissance eras?" kind of vibe. I like the new WH40k art, but something about the old artwork just hits in a way I really love. Great video Pancreas. Edit: Same holds true for the classic Oldhammer art.
It is true, older 40k art had a different tone to it, newer 40k art makes characters and scenes look more heroic, which really seems at odds with the setting for me.
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
0:51 old 30k art like this always gave me a Catholic church mural vibe. Like something you would see at the Sistine Chapel if we worshiped the Emperor today.
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!
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.
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.
I'm so glad you brought up the old black and white Elder Art. No other Eldar artwork gives off just how alien they are to humanity and its really what made me fall in love with them.
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
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.
Can't believe you didn't mention anything in the 3rd edition 40k rulebook. A perfect blend of the high quality of the new art with the character of the old art, that in my opinion creates an atmosphere that far surpassed either. Absolutely entranced my child brain when I first read it.
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.
@@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
Where was the Black Templars art that I’m convinced was the catalyst for at least 50% of Black Templars players to start collecting? Or the artwork of the Emperor on the throne? John Blanche was the 40K artist who created some of the best images of things to this day, why wasn’t he mentioned?
A good 80% of why I love that crimson fists piece so much is because it's the cover of one of my all time favorite death metal albums: Bolt Thrower's magnum opus - Realm of Chaos.
I like the art being inconsitant. Like there's just a bunch of artists spread across the impurium doing their best to paint things they've only heard of in legends.
It feels like companies have pushed so hard for art consistency that the artist's touch has been lost. Looking at the new art I couldn't tell you if it was a different artist who made them. Contrast this with the past where we had artists like John Blanch, for people familiar with his work that name alone conjures his art in our minds. A distinctive style and use of colour that stands out to this day. Who is his equivelant today? Probably someone incredibly talented who will never be given the same freedom to express themselves because generic has mass appeal. I can only guess, I've never worked in art, but I have worked in creative design with a corporation and it was infuriating. We designed room settings and every unique feature or personal touch was quashed for not fitting in with the company mold. The end result was a bland and uninspired setting that felt empty compared to previous iterations where the designers were given the freedom to be creative.
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.
I love the ancient, black and white image of E Money on the throne. It's not a throne at all, it's a torture chamber that his shriveled carcass is plugged into.
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.
My favorite warhammer art is anything by John Blanche.. He really captured the weird horror of 40k and has some of the most iconic art pieces. The most well known is probably big e on the golden throne that has achieved meme godhood thanks to TTS. He also seems to have played a big part in influencing how a lot of 40k stuff looks now. The primarchs I think owe him some thanks for their designs, the Black Templars ESPEACIALLY owe him for that piece of art he did. Honestly you could do a whole video on his contributions to modern 40k.
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.
Adrian Smith and Karl Kopinski will forever be my favorite Warhammer artists, the era of 3rd/4th ed 40k and 7th edition fantasy was just a god damn treasure trove of fantastic art to my young eyes and has continued to inspire my hobby ever since.
@@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.
The older depictions of the imperial navy were just perfect. Especially the piece with the emperor class battleship and the eye of terror (or something) behind it.
I'm 38 and started getting into models and minis back in the late 90's. The artwork for 40k back then, especially John Blanche's work, *terrified* me. The sheer scale and this bright tone that was also so oppressive. Before I even new the word my brain was seized by the grimdark. Been enjoying the thrill ever since
I like how in old Warhammer art they were allowed to show Space Marines dying and losing. Like the Crimson Fists picture is awesome, but it’s also them getting their asses kicked by orcs. And as the cover art of Rogue Trader, that’s technically the FIRST Warhammer 40k art piece ever. The introduction to the setting.
I always figured Warhammer art was at its best the closer it got to being a Renaissance painting. Dramatic and grand, but shockingly intimate in the details.
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."
No one can match Adrian Smith 's old black and white hand drawn Chaos or Tyrranids or Skaven artwork. The mind boggling detail in his early Chaos Space Marines works makes you feel like the warp itself is trying to take your mind.
The old art always reminds me of those historical paintings like that famous Delaware river crossing or Napoleon climbing the mountain with a horse. It makes it feel more historic and impacting that it was an important battle or scene taking place. Warhammer is essentially just a big historical museum filled with Comedy, Drama, Tragedy, and etc.
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 UA-cam 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.
The old art always reminded me of the work of a lot of '2000 AD' comic book artists like Massimo Belardinelli, MIke McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra for stories like 'Slaine', 'Nemesis' and ABC Warriors'. Great edgy quality to the artwork that really suited the grimdark setting of 40K.
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.
Wana know what changed since that golden age of art for Gamesworkshop? The artists. Something your failed to mention about that Horus vs the Emperor pieces of art is that they are both from the same artist, just a decade apart. Adrian Smith is the artist responsible of these arts, like many others literally defined warhammer look (in his case, he define chaos the most, he is the guy responsible of that badass chaos warrior at 6:00) . And interesting information about this piece of art, its almost single-handedly responsible for the existence of the Horus Heresy as a game. Something a lot of people forgot is that the HH was first explored via a card game, a game that GW put all their artist on to create that unexplored part of the lore and put it in image, the result is a very underrated TCG, and the best artbook GW every produced, The Horus Heresy Collected Visions (a merge of the 4 original artbooks). This was how GW worked at the time, EXTREMELY talented artists that also doubled down as art director, writers and creator of the lore. But all this is now over, nowaday their artists are freelances contractor that are told to make art that depict the miniature GW made and nothing else. It's dead and sterile.
so many images here that take me back to my childhood. I spent years drawing these images totally inspired. 30 years later, im working on official art for Warhammer 40k and still pull all my inspiration from this old incredible style. Thanks foir this great nostalgia
The oldhammer art that made the biggest impression on my child self was probably the Blanche version of skarbrand. It looks like something a lone survivor would paint from an image burned into his memory.
the emperor class titan and ork mega gargant artwork was the very first piece of art i saw from war hammer and its still one of my favorites. the one piece fo artwork i also recall was the kharne the betrayer artwork where kharne is holding gorechild and a few skulls by their scalps, while walking directly at the viewer over a mountain of corpses hes just made.
I think the appeal of old warhammer art is that it feels like old medieval or ancient egyptian paintings instead if something you'd find in the modern day
Personal favorite of mine was the cover art for the 4th edition Space Marine codex cover art and the 2 page spread later in the same book. You get everything with it. Big battle, lots of little details, unique designs for almost every Marine. The kind of art that inspires even novice hobbyists to want to replicate those designs as an actual model on the table.
I picked up a stack of old codex's, and white dear trade paper back magazines about a month ago and my god did that art go so freaking hard. I would just stare at the art itself
@@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.
Adrian Smith is probably my favourite warhammer artist (he's the guy behind the badass chaos warrior). I also want to show some love to Karl Kopinski, artist of one of my fav Necron pieces, their 3rd edition codex, another one of his that I love is the cover of a 3rd edition campaign book called Eye of Terror, it could genuinely be the poster for a 40k movie! He also did the cover art for the Fire Warrior game
I remember going to Games Day in 1999 and I still have all my original White Dwarf magazines dating back to 1998 and I totally agree. All the art was amazing! Vibrant even. I remember someone doing that classic Big Daddy E vs Horus art as a diorama for 1999 Golden Demons also and it was so like the art. I love 30-40k. The art today is great. But it was different back then. But oh well things move on....the galaxy gets ever more Grimdark. Great video btw 👌😅
So glad to stumble on this vid, I was thinking about all the old codexes I used to spend so much time going through and admiring the amazing and out of this world art, i miss that style so much.
I love that most of your Eldar art came from the 2nd edition Codex Eldar - the second image in the whole vid is the cover of that book and I love it so much!
Neat pieces for a trip down memory lane! One thing I have always found is that the art reflects different "eras" of Warhammer and WH40K. Ya got good, bad, and just meh all throughout. For example, 2nd edition Dark Angels with the iconic image of the Interrogator Chaplain with the giant sword or the 4th edition Marneus Calgar on this throne. These are amazing but have different feels to them. 3rd edition presented very plain looking space marines vs 4th edition onwards having very baroque looking astartes. Compare the Blood Angels Codex. It's an interesting trip.
My biggest gripe with modern gw art is how quickly the background details just fade away into a smudged mess. Older art would still have less detailed backgrounds, but they'd still have solid silhouettes, so you'd have an idea of what was happening
That artwork of horus and the emperor is iconic ....there have been various prints of it over the years but I have the original large poster that they handed out in one of the older white dwarfs ..so good ....
My absolute favorite is John Blanche's (of course) painting of a Gloriana class battleship leaving the warp with a bunch of smaller ships around it. A friend had a poster of it hanging on his wall when we were kids and I couldn't stop staring at it.
1:08 Thats not Horus, that’s an Ogryn wondering just where the heck he is and why the giant long haired yellow guy is looking at him with a murder boner. 😂
Something to rememeber to "only digital" fans: Warhammer is about COLOR, beautiful and colorful minis/art not darksouls grey/brown/black mess (I'm looking at you, darktide...)
6:34 cant agree more about the classic warhammer fantasy art! I remember the storm of chaos campaign was released near to the time I got into the hobby and the grim dark hopelessness of some of the chaos warriors/spawn art was like nothing I'd seen before. Totally made the world come to life and got me addicted to the lore. The new cleaner aesthetic doesn't work for me :(
Art is take it or leave it for me, everyone has a different interpretation of what happens in the books. What I want back is the lore that inspired this art.
Fun fact: Orkz used to call space marines "beakiez" or "beaky boyz" due to the shape of the old beak helmets. However, the term slowly faded out when the modern helmet shape was introduced
As a kid I had the Eldar Codex with the Skittles Marches to War art on it and I took it on a holiday with me. I remember getting lost in the artwork and just staring at it for hours, poring over every detail.
Fastforward to now and The End and The Death Volume 2 cover evokes disappointment stronger than was felt when The Emperor discovered one of his sons was a furry.
I have countlese memories on reading my Dad's old codexes as a kid, pouring over the amazing artwork and letting my mind run wild in the crisp fall air.
@@N0TYALC No particular reason, it was just when my brother and I found ourselves with the most excitement and energy and curiosity to look in the shed. I suppose the summer and spring were filled with more fantasy/Lord of the Rings-esque adventuring.
this reminds me of how as a kid when you got bought a game while you were at the mall and there'd be a few hours before you got home and you would just stare at the cover art for hours, noticing cool little details in the background, imagining how the scene would play out and what each character was thinking, you could pour over the details in the little booklet in the front of them. Also works for old book covers of mediocre fantasy novels, or for me, the few copies of kid's magazines that i was able to collect over the years because my family was poor growing up, and I would look at every page just imagining all of the cool stuff and all the cool scenarios going on from similar artwork inside of those. I'm very rarely a "kids these days" kind of guy, but i can't help but think that children are missing out on that. I find it hard to image a kid growing up today have that same experience (not only because cover art has gotten less detailed and layered, and physical copies of games with booklets are much rarer), and i think that the level of imagination that those experiences brought out was a really beneficial thing for a kid to have.
The art work being on the boxes was the coolest and I wish they brought it back. I fondly remember buying a Rhino and Land Raider and glaring into the artwork in the car journey home in mum and dads car. Glorious
I used to look at all of these pieces of art for hours as a kid. They just resonated with my imagination in such a big way. I loved the piece on the 2nd edition 40k too. Thanks for the memories
I am a big Warhammer fan, but my cousin was talking to me recently about Warhammer. He is new to the setting and he’s watching a ton of “lore” videos, and he’s been trying to talk to me about Primarch’s and what the Emperor “would have wanted” and Horus Heresy lore. I kept being dismissive about most of his points until he finally was like “do you even like Warhammer? Because it sounds like you don’t”. That really hit me because I didn’t know why I didn’t like the topics he was talking about, because I remembered loving it as a kid, and wasn’t able to give a good response of why I changed. That is until you put it so eloquently, that the real difference is that I had only the sick art to infer the lore, rather than having it spoon fed to me. Making it so much cooler before I even knew what the heck a Primarch was. Thanks for helping to pin the reason down for me, and now maybe I can start giving my cousin a real Warhammer education!
I enjoyed this and enjoyed your commentary. The BW painting with an elf on a horse is something I ve seen when I was just boy in school maybe 20 years ago. I was absolutely captured by this image and how cool this elfs' weapons were. And now 20 years I see this picture for the second time in my life and it is as cool as ever, and now I know it is from WH40k. It's incredible.
I got some of the old army books in my shelf. It's fascinating how they capture their respective factions. For example: The skaven give you the feeling that you're getting a glimpse at some eldritch horror . Thousand eyes in the dark and gigantic underground places that are vast and claustrophobic at the same time. The Bretonnians were great, too. While the knights in their medieval armor sweat glamour in tons, everything around them is distinctly dystopian. The lowborns are barely human, even the fighting men are dirty with mismatching equipment. The more you look at it, the more you feel that Bretonnians are merely worm-stricken apples. Shining sure, but also deeply rotten. They only survive, because some guys with swords would rather torture everyone to death than waking up from their sweet dreams. It's not even on the nose. You have to look for it, but then lose the ability to unsee it.
I loved the disproportionate and brightly colored bullshit they had going on, it also made me feel better about all my terrible pieces. Will be missed.
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
it's called SOVL @@JB-ls5pq
"Everything in my mind is cooler than what GW has come up with."
Immensely powerful statement.
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
@@valletas you dont need a lot of reasons. that guy sucks. i'd betray him too
@@dancinginfernal no you wouldn't, you edgy goof ^^
@@apocako the emperor is an edgy goof yo. I would not wanna be ruled by him! He sucks!
@@dancinginfernal I mean yeah, but the alternative is four satans. I'll take big E if this is the other option.
Old Warhammer art is akin to trippy prog metal album art. Somehow being ugly, beautiful, and a tad cartoony all at once. Its truly the best.
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
or deathmetal like Bolt Thrower albums such as Warmaster and Realm of Chaos
@@illiukko kinda crossed with In Flames' Jester Race
Great way to put it
The primary danger when fighting Eldar is the fact that they trigger seizures whenever they move too fast.
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.
finally 1k likes
So in my headcannon, the Titan and the Gargant are not even aware of each other, much less shooting at each other. There is just so much over-the-top awesomeness going on all the time that they were both engaged in completely unrelated battles and are about to stumble upon one another by pure happenstance.
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.
I absolutely love the old “maybe the original?” Picture of the Emperor on the Golden Throne, the one where he is a withered husk of a being with a mass of pipes and wires plugged into him. And a line of people disappearing into the distance. Also the little IV blood bag is funny
Oh, yes, that one :)
i can't find it
@@thejuiceking2219It not hard
@@thejuiceking2219it’s a very old piece from the rogue trader rule book.
I have always loved the old warhammer fantasy art. It was so much more vibrant and aesthetically pleasing. I’m now constantly looking for old rule and lore books just to appreciate the art.
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
Speaking of how metal Warhammer art is, there was an old school British death metal band called Bolt Thrower that took the majority of their early inspiration from Warhammer and 40k. They had song titles like 'World Eater' and 'Through the Eye of Terror' and to me sounds exactly like what music themed around 40k would sound like. The coolest part is that Games Workshop even licensed some of their artwork for the band to use on their album covers, the artwork of the Crimson Fists' last stand that you showed was used as the cover of their album 'Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness'. If we're talking about Warhammer art they definitely deserve a mention, even if they didn't do visual art. Because when people say "Warhammer is metal as fuck," Bolt Thrower is the metal they are talking about, even if they don't realize it.
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 funny thing is it was Adrian Smith who did both of those Horus Versus Emperor pieces. The way he developed his talent over the decades has always been inspiring.
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."
Adrian Smith to me is peak Warhammer art. He nailed the perfect balance between epic scale and absolute grimdark horror. The Emperor vs Horus piece alone deserves to be in a museum.
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.
Fun game: when looking at old 40k art, play a game me and buddies used to as kids- Find the Hidden Titan! Seriously. When they aren’t the focus, it’s shocking how often they are in this huge subtle background presence that you don’t even notice.
Some of these have this special energy... like they were drawn by a skillfull artist and a five year old at the same time.
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.
A lot of the old Warhammer art gives me the same feel I get from those late Renaissance paintings of battlefields, especially from those Dutch and Flemish artists who depicted massive battlefields with immense numbers of soldiers. It’s this sense of scale a lot of art doesn’t get at, and it’s kinda niche, but it reminds me of that.
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!!!
The thing I especially like about the old WH40k Art is that it had this old medieval feel to the pieces, like "what if futuristic war battles were depicted by an artist from the medieval ages/renaissance eras?" kind of vibe. I like the new WH40k art, but something about the old artwork just hits in a way I really love.
Great video Pancreas.
Edit: Same holds true for the classic Oldhammer art.
It is true, older 40k art had a different tone to it, newer 40k art makes characters and scenes look more heroic, which really seems at odds with the setting for me.
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
0:51 old 30k art like this always gave me a Catholic church mural vibe. Like something you would see at the Sistine Chapel if we worshiped the Emperor today.
Adrian Smith is the artist of the featured Chaos Champion w/ axe and sword. His art is a goldmine of inspiration.
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 UA-cam 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.
The new art is just more interested in realism and grittiness. The old goes hard into the fantasy aspect. Both are amazing
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.
@@blahblah7720 Yap yap yap yap yap
I'm so glad you brought up the old black and white Elder Art. No other Eldar artwork gives off just how alien they are to humanity and its really what made me fall in love with them.
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.
Mark Gibbons's black and white Skaven drawings are what got me into Warhammer. Young me thought it was the coolest thing ever.
Can't believe you didn't mention anything in the 3rd edition 40k rulebook. A perfect blend of the high quality of the new art with the character of the old art, that in my opinion creates an atmosphere that far surpassed either. Absolutely entranced my child brain when I first read it.
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
Surprised John Blanche art wasn’t included. That guy captures the insanity and decay of the imperium perfectly
Where was the Black Templars art that I’m convinced was the catalyst for at least 50% of Black Templars players to start collecting? Or the artwork of the Emperor on the throne? John Blanche was the 40K artist who created some of the best images of things to this day, why wasn’t he mentioned?
A good 80% of why I love that crimson fists piece so much is because it's the cover of one of my all time favorite death metal albums: Bolt Thrower's magnum opus - Realm of Chaos.
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.
1:40 not to mention Erebus’ skinned face being visible on the poldron Horus’ armor just makes the picture that much more great.
I like the art being inconsitant. Like there's just a bunch of artists spread across the impurium doing their best to paint things they've only heard of in legends.
It's the same process that led to mythological art of the classical period
It feels like companies have pushed so hard for art consistency that the artist's touch has been lost. Looking at the new art I couldn't tell you if it was a different artist who made them. Contrast this with the past where we had artists like John Blanch, for people familiar with his work that name alone conjures his art in our minds. A distinctive style and use of colour that stands out to this day. Who is his equivelant today? Probably someone incredibly talented who will never be given the same freedom to express themselves because generic has mass appeal.
I can only guess, I've never worked in art, but I have worked in creative design with a corporation and it was infuriating. We designed room settings and every unique feature or personal touch was quashed for not fitting in with the company mold. The end result was a bland and uninspired setting that felt empty compared to previous iterations where the designers were given the freedom to be creative.
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.
I love the ancient, black and white image of E Money on the throne. It's not a throne at all, it's a torture chamber that his shriveled carcass is plugged into.
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.
If this is one thing that warhammer 40k never fails, is the art. Even when I knew nothing of warhammer, the art and designs always got my attention
My favorite warhammer art is anything by John Blanche.. He really captured the weird horror of 40k and has some of the most iconic art pieces. The most well known is probably big e on the golden throne that has achieved meme godhood thanks to TTS. He also seems to have played a big part in influencing how a lot of 40k stuff looks now. The primarchs I think owe him some thanks for their designs, the Black Templars ESPEACIALLY owe him for that piece of art he did. Honestly you could do a whole video on his contributions to modern 40k.
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.
Adrian Smith and Karl Kopinski will forever be my favorite Warhammer artists, the era of 3rd/4th ed 40k and 7th edition fantasy was just a god damn treasure trove of fantastic art to my young eyes and has continued to inspire my hobby ever since.
Negash always having cool poses and artwork fits perfectly into my headcannon that he is a drama queen and makes sure everyone knows about it
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.
The older depictions of the imperial navy were just perfect. Especially the piece with the emperor class battleship and the eye of terror (or something) behind it.
I'm 38 and started getting into models and minis back in the late 90's. The artwork for 40k back then, especially John Blanche's work, *terrified* me. The sheer scale and this bright tone that was also so oppressive. Before I even new the word my brain was seized by the grimdark. Been enjoying the thrill ever since
I like how in old Warhammer art they were allowed to show Space Marines dying and losing. Like the Crimson Fists picture is awesome, but it’s also them getting their asses kicked by orcs. And as the cover art of Rogue Trader, that’s technically the FIRST Warhammer 40k art piece ever. The introduction to the setting.
I remember as a child being mesmerized by the box art of the wh40k 2nd edition, the detail, the scale, the over the top poses ...
I always figured Warhammer art was at its best the closer it got to being a Renaissance painting. Dramatic and grand, but shockingly intimate in the details.
Yea my favourites by far are the 6th edition box art
This sort of content is really refreshing.
Just someone talking about things that they think are cool.
Mr. Nowork, you are an inspiration :D
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."
No one can match Adrian Smith 's old black and white hand drawn Chaos or Tyrranids or Skaven artwork. The mind boggling detail in his early Chaos Space Marines works makes you feel like the warp itself is trying to take your mind.
The old art always reminds me of those historical paintings like that famous Delaware river crossing or Napoleon climbing the mountain with a horse. It makes it feel more historic and impacting that it was an important battle or scene taking place. Warhammer is essentially just a big historical museum filled with Comedy, Drama, Tragedy, and etc.
instantly recognized the age of mythology soundtrack running in the background. gave me shivers man, makes me want to boot it up to relive my youth.
"The Horus heresy was at its best when it was barely being explained exept kick ass art pieces like this" Couldn't agree more.
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 UA-cam 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.
@@Betrix5060 Ok you either haven't read the HH books or you are exaggerating on a galactic scale.
I like how you are returning to the basics and share your joy over old school wh40k artwork. I apprechiate it.
The old art always reminded me of the work of a lot of '2000 AD' comic book artists like Massimo Belardinelli, MIke McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra for stories like 'Slaine', 'Nemesis' and ABC Warriors'. Great edgy quality to the artwork that really suited the grimdark setting of 40K.
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 think I've found a new favorite channel. The AoM music, classic 40k art, the humor and everything else is just perfect
Wana know what changed since that golden age of art for Gamesworkshop?
The artists. Something your failed to mention about that Horus vs the Emperor pieces of art is that they are both from the same artist, just a decade apart.
Adrian Smith is the artist responsible of these arts, like many others literally defined warhammer look (in his case, he define chaos the most, he is the guy responsible of that badass chaos warrior at 6:00) .
And interesting information about this piece of art, its almost single-handedly responsible for the existence of the Horus Heresy as a game.
Something a lot of people forgot is that the HH was first explored via a card game, a game that GW put all their artist on to create that unexplored part of the lore and put it in image, the result is a very underrated TCG, and the best artbook GW every produced, The Horus Heresy Collected Visions (a merge of the 4 original artbooks).
This was how GW worked at the time, EXTREMELY talented artists that also doubled down as art director, writers and creator of the lore.
But all this is now over, nowaday their artists are freelances contractor that are told to make art that depict the miniature GW made and nothing else. It's dead and sterile.
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.
so many images here that take me back to my childhood. I spent years drawing these images totally inspired.
30 years later, im working on official art for Warhammer 40k and still pull all my inspiration from this old incredible style. Thanks foir this great nostalgia
And it still does.
Agreed
The oldhammer art that made the biggest impression on my child self was probably the Blanche version of skarbrand.
It looks like something a lone survivor would paint from an image burned into his memory.
the emperor class titan and ork mega gargant artwork was the very first piece of art i saw from war hammer and its still one of my favorites. the one piece fo artwork i also recall was the kharne the betrayer artwork where kharne is holding gorechild and a few skulls by their scalps, while walking directly at the viewer over a mountain of corpses hes just made.
I think the appeal of old warhammer art is that it feels like old medieval or ancient egyptian paintings instead if something you'd find in the modern day
Anything by John Blanche goes unimaginably hard.
Personal favorite of mine was the cover art for the 4th edition Space Marine codex cover art and the 2 page spread later in the same book. You get everything with it. Big battle, lots of little details, unique designs for almost every Marine. The kind of art that inspires even novice hobbyists to want to replicate those designs as an actual model on the table.
I picked up a stack of old codex's, and white dear trade paper back magazines about a month ago and my god did that art go so freaking hard. I would just stare at the art itself
5:19, and the artwork for the album Realm of Chaos by one of the best Death Metal bands of all time, Bolt Thrower.
Archaeon's mere presence invokes a feeling of "Oh shit" that Horus and Abaddon WISH they could invoke by cracking planets
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.
My favourite thing about the artwork is that there is always something massive lurking in the distance.
Adrian Smith is probably my favourite warhammer artist (he's the guy behind the badass chaos warrior). I also want to show some love to Karl Kopinski, artist of one of my fav Necron pieces, their 3rd edition codex, another one of his that I love is the cover of a 3rd edition campaign book called Eye of Terror, it could genuinely be the poster for a 40k movie! He also did the cover art for the Fire Warrior game
This was my first Pancreas video (and 40k come to think of it), thanks for introducing me to a near-constant hyperfixation of mine!
I remember going to Games Day in 1999 and I still have all my original White Dwarf magazines dating back to 1998 and I totally agree.
All the art was amazing!
Vibrant even.
I remember someone doing that classic Big Daddy E vs Horus art as a diorama for 1999 Golden Demons also and it was so like the art.
I love 30-40k. The art today is great. But it was different back then.
But oh well things move on....the galaxy gets ever more Grimdark.
Great video btw 👌😅
So glad to stumble on this vid, I was thinking about all the old codexes I used to spend so much time going through and admiring the amazing and out of this world art, i miss that style so much.
Old 40k art is one of the mane things that got me into 40k it felt like a mid evil artist drawing Sci fi
I love that most of your Eldar art came from the 2nd edition Codex Eldar - the second image in the whole vid is the cover of that book and I love it so much!
New art all looks the same: dark, gritty, dark, oppressive, twisted, dark, dark, nightmarish, and did I mention dark?
the age of mythology background sound is fire
Counter argument: all of the old sister of battle art, aka weird fetishes the gallery™
That goes hard in its own way.
Hold on, i need to do a google search.
Pausing about 3 seconds into the video to say mad props for the Age of Mythology music choice :D
As a crimson fists player, I sincerely hope you do a video on them, especially because every piece of their art shows them in a glorious final stand
Tau art is always my absolute favourite. Gorgeous colours and I've straight up never seen art like it.
Neat pieces for a trip down memory lane! One thing I have always found is that the art reflects different "eras" of Warhammer and WH40K. Ya got good, bad, and just meh all throughout.
For example, 2nd edition Dark Angels with the iconic image of the Interrogator Chaplain with the giant sword or the 4th edition Marneus Calgar on this throne. These are amazing but have different feels to them. 3rd edition presented very plain looking space marines vs 4th edition onwards having very baroque looking astartes. Compare the Blood Angels Codex.
It's an interesting trip.
The old dark eldar art especially from the front of their rule book with the thorn covered ground. Just amazing
My biggest gripe with modern gw art is how quickly the background details just fade away into a smudged mess. Older art would still have less detailed backgrounds, but they'd still have solid silhouettes, so you'd have an idea of what was happening
That artwork of horus and the emperor is iconic ....there have been various prints of it over the years but I have the original large poster that they handed out in one of the older white dwarfs ..so good ....
6:58 not the chaos pointing wojack
My absolute favorite is John Blanche's (of course) painting of a Gloriana class battleship leaving the warp with a bunch of smaller ships around it. A friend had a poster of it hanging on his wall when we were kids and I couldn't stop staring at it.
1:08 Thats not Horus, that’s an Ogryn wondering just where the heck he is and why the giant long haired yellow guy is looking at him with a murder boner. 😂
Brilliant video, great to see some of these pieces of art appreciated and talked about.
I have lost myself in them many times, well done 👍
I feel like a lot of new 40k art just has a certain polish and clean style that doesn’t fit the setting, I feel like they just lost the plot.
No, the artist just got better at drawing proper dimensions
And so did the miniatures. God the old miniatures were so delightful
Something to rememeber to "only digital" fans: Warhammer is about COLOR, beautiful and colorful minis/art not darksouls grey/brown/black mess (I'm looking at you, darktide...)
6:34 cant agree more about the classic warhammer fantasy art! I remember the storm of chaos campaign was released near to the time I got into the hobby and the grim dark hopelessness of some of the chaos warriors/spawn art was like nothing I'd seen before. Totally made the world come to life and got me addicted to the lore. The new cleaner aesthetic doesn't work for me :(
Art is take it or leave it for me, everyone has a different interpretation of what happens in the books. What I want back is the lore that inspired this art.
As a semi professional concept artist I love that you did a video on artwork. Could be another set of things to cover in the future
12:02 WTF ?!?!?!?!?!?!
Some of the art from the Necron 3rd Edition Codex has stuck in my mind for years.
Fun fact: Orkz used to call space marines "beakiez" or "beaky boyz" due to the shape of the old beak helmets.
However, the term slowly faded out when the modern helmet shape was introduced
As a kid I had the Eldar Codex with the Skittles Marches to War art on it and I took it on a holiday with me. I remember getting lost in the artwork and just staring at it for hours, poring over every detail.
Fastforward to now and The End and The Death Volume 2 cover evokes disappointment stronger than was felt when The Emperor discovered one of his sons was a furry.
The illustrations were actually what caught my eye and got me into 40k all those years ago back in 3rd ed. Always appreciate the appreciation of them
Not super old but the 3E codex cover art for Necrons and 4E Eldar go hard too.
I have countlese memories on reading my Dad's old codexes as a kid, pouring over the amazing artwork and letting my mind run wild in the crisp fall air.
Why didn’t your dad let you pour over said amazing artwork in the winter, spring, or summer?
@@N0TYALC No particular reason, it was just when my brother and I found ourselves with the most excitement and energy and curiosity to look in the shed. I suppose the summer and spring were filled with more fantasy/Lord of the Rings-esque adventuring.
this reminds me of how as a kid when you got bought a game while you were at the mall and there'd be a few hours before you got home and you would just stare at the cover art for hours, noticing cool little details in the background, imagining how the scene would play out and what each character was thinking, you could pour over the details in the little booklet in the front of them. Also works for old book covers of mediocre fantasy novels, or for me, the few copies of kid's magazines that i was able to collect over the years because my family was poor growing up, and I would look at every page just imagining all of the cool stuff and all the cool scenarios going on from similar artwork inside of those. I'm very rarely a "kids these days" kind of guy, but i can't help but think that children are missing out on that. I find it hard to image a kid growing up today have that same experience (not only because cover art has gotten less detailed and layered, and physical copies of games with booklets are much rarer), and i think that the level of imagination that those experiences brought out was a really beneficial thing for a kid to have.
The art work being on the boxes was the coolest and I wish they brought it back. I fondly remember buying a Rhino and Land Raider and glaring into the artwork in the car journey home in mum and dads car. Glorious
I used to look at all of these pieces of art for hours as a kid. They just resonated with my imagination in such a big way. I loved the piece on the 2nd edition 40k too. Thanks for the memories
The old warhammer art really has that metal album cover vibe, that air of over the top badassery that exists just to be cool.
I am a big Warhammer fan, but my cousin was talking to me recently about Warhammer. He is new to the setting and he’s watching a ton of “lore” videos, and he’s been trying to talk to me about Primarch’s and what the Emperor “would have wanted” and Horus Heresy lore.
I kept being dismissive about most of his points until he finally was like “do you even like Warhammer? Because it sounds like you don’t”. That really hit me because I didn’t know why I didn’t like the topics he was talking about, because I remembered loving it as a kid, and wasn’t able to give a good response of why I changed.
That is until you put it so eloquently, that the real difference is that I had only the sick art to infer the lore, rather than having it spoon fed to me. Making it so much cooler before I even knew what the heck a Primarch was. Thanks for helping to pin the reason down for me, and now maybe I can start giving my cousin a real Warhammer education!
The line "I'd bear his children" is pure comedic genius. You can die a proud man.
I enjoyed this and enjoyed your commentary.
The BW painting with an elf on a horse is something I ve seen when I was just boy in school maybe 20 years ago. I was absolutely captured by this image and how cool this elfs' weapons were. And now 20 years I see this picture for the second time in my life and it is as cool as ever, and now I know it is from WH40k. It's incredible.
i realy like the music playing in the background . Age of Mythology
I love the intersection of Warhammer artwork and Bolt Thrower Album art
I got some of the old army books in my shelf. It's fascinating how they capture their respective factions.
For example: The skaven give you the feeling that you're getting a glimpse at some eldritch horror . Thousand eyes in the dark and gigantic underground places that are vast and claustrophobic at the same time.
The Bretonnians were great, too. While the knights in their medieval armor sweat glamour in tons, everything around them is distinctly dystopian. The lowborns are barely human, even the fighting men are dirty with mismatching equipment. The more you look at it, the more you feel that Bretonnians are merely worm-stricken apples. Shining sure, but also deeply rotten. They only survive, because some guys with swords would rather torture everyone to death than waking up from their sweet dreams. It's not even on the nose. You have to look for it, but then lose the ability to unsee it.