John Blanche - 1948 - 2026

 

Sword of the Demon - John Blanche

Sad to hear of the passing of John Blanche last week. 

Truly one of the greats in the Fantay Art world and a shaper of hobby and tabletop gaming culture and of fantasy and Sci-fi art the world over. An inspiration to millions; gamers, hobbyists and artists alike. A damn good legacy and one which stretches far beyond his GW work.

All of John's enormous wealth of artwork and modelling is well known to all, but I thought I'd share where I first saw John's work. 

This was with the cover of Fantasy novel 'Sword of the Demon' by Richard Lupoff published back in 1976. I was drawn to the book by the cover naturally and believe this was one of John's first professional pieces and before being employed by GW. Don't remember much about the book but the cover has always stayed with me.

The piece has all the hallmarks of John's work with the attention to detail and colour palette that has entralled and captivated his audience's to this day, and will continue to do so.

Will be missed.

Chris Achilleos - 1947 - 2021

I recently learned of the passing of the much loved Fantasy artist Chris Achilleos last week. Chris died following the onset of a sudden illness.

Chris' work has always been a favourite of mine since the 70's and was a stalwart of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi literary and Game industries and produced much of the classic Game and Book artwork through the 70's, 80's and 90's and indeed many well known poster art for the Movies too.

Elven Warrior (Elric) - 1983

A lot of my Fantasy and Sci-Fi reading material was based on picking up the book cover which Chris had produced and introduced a few new writers to my reading material that otherwise I may of missed, much like the works of Ian Miller, Rodney Matthews, Chris Foss and John Blanche, all of which helped steer my gaming and creative directions.

Divine Plague Carrier - 1976
Cover for 'To die in Italbar'

Chris is also reknowned for his fantasy glamour work and I have a couple of signed portfolio print runs of his Sirens and Amazon projects and most of his Art books to boot.

The Mercenary - 1977

His output was prolific and a quick tour of his website ( Chris.Achilleos.co.uk ) will produce much nostaga to those who remember all the GW 80's boxed games, Dr Who and Micheal Moorcock book covers and the Heavy Metal animated movie to name just a few.

A scan through his back catalogue will no doubt surprise and enthrall with a bit of healthy nostalga.

Kane's Stand - 1978

A favourite of mine which I post below adorned the cover of 'War of the Wingmen' by Poul Anderson and believe this eptomises Chris strengths in the attention to detail and textures that set him out from the pack and gave a generation of artists inspiration for all the good stuff that has since been produced by so many in the genre.

War of the Wingmen - 1976

An artist that will be sorely missed but who's work will continue to inspire and engage for years to come.

Kislevite Ice Witch

A bit of artwork here, which was done for myself by one of my siblings namely my daughter, in the form of a Kislevite Ice Witch.

She did the commission for me at my request as a piece to decorate the man-cave which will keep in with the coming season.

Moebius - 1938 - 2012

Arzach

Just learned today that Jean 'Moebius' Giraud the French illustrator/artist has passed away 10th March, aged 73.

The Pope of Comics, his artwork had a profound influence on my own art work from around the age of twenty and always a favourite of mine since, his works Arzach and The Airtight Garage in particular having a special place still in my library.

His original style had influenced two or more generations of artists and continues to do so and definitely ahead of his time and ground breaking back in the seventies and early eighties.

His artwork was the first I saw that had a sense of being pictures  actually depicting another world or place different from our own.

To quote him and paraphrase one of the art journals; ' He once described his life as a train racing to a full stop. ... Now Jean has reached his final stop, and left the world in a more interesting place because of his journey.'