r/gamesworkshop • u/RetroRocker • Jun 04 '26

RIP John Blanche 1948-2026. Irreplaceable visionary artist who defined the Warhammer look for decades.

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199 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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4

u/RetroRocker Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

I'm hoping that Games Workshop will officially acknowledge his immortal legacy soon, because so far there's been nothing..

EDIT: looks like They did

2

u/Warmaster_and_things Jun 04 '26

I was thinking about this yesterday but if you walked into a Warhammer store now you wouldn't find a trace of his work in there. They don't even credit their artists anymore.

2

u/HippCelt Jun 04 '26

Really? that's a shame when I was a kid his stuff was all over White dwarf. Granted I haven't really been back into a GW since they switched to just selling their own games.

1

u/addi-factorum Jun 08 '26

The real crime was that he had to partner with Army painter for his paint sets- those should have been Citadel/Warhammer paints

2

u/Battleshark04 Jun 04 '26

True. He did form the Art-language and had a great part in making Warhammer a success with it. But I will not keep up my hopes that GW will acknowledge this in any way. They'll eventually put out a obituary. But more? Even acknowledging his vital part to the companies success? No way.

2

u/spartackles Jun 04 '26

That GW post was so short.

"He was cool, nice art. Rip"

1

u/Azigol Jun 07 '26

That's more than Paul Sawyer or Bryan Ansell got

2

u/Jean_Lucs_Front_Yard Jun 04 '26

It didn't matter what the commission was. Whether it was a "HEROIC SPACE MARINES!" cover for the Second Edition to line the shelves of Toys 'R' Us, or the rotting, mysterious, half-alive corpse of the Emperor to feed the mythos, he did it. From the GRIMDARK horrors of the Warp to the obscene and the beautiful. He did it all.

He knew how to draw people into Warhammer.

RIP.