Friday, April 1, 2011

Warhammer, my Guilty Pleasure



Warhammer and its successor, Warhammer 40,000 are games that are played by young guys who have an infinite amount of time, money, and patience to paint thousands of miniature figures which they then use in this tabletop fantasy war game. The game has expanded into an international fan base as well as Internet gaming and books set in the Warhammer universe.

I learned about this from deviantART, that endless source of artistic corruption. In search of more corruption and ideas for illustration, I bought a Warhammer text, "The Iron Storm" by Graham McNeill. I regret to say that I love it. In the far future of Warhammer's universe, a mind-bendingly bizarre interstellar Vatican/Roman Empire eternally battles forces of "heresy" and chaos. There are myriads of human, alien, and mechanical beings, which die like flies in titanic battles. This is a universe without morals, pity, kindness, or compassion, where war never ends and over-the-top violence is the universal way.

This digital sketch is my first attempt at depicting a warrior from Warhammer. The elite troops are clad in giant iron power-suits and wield both futuristic and archaic weapons. I am not satisfied with my drawing here because he doesn't look aggressive enough and his sword isn't big enough. I'll read more about the war of all with all and try again. By the way, this is not an April Fool prank. If I did a winged kitten, then you might be right in thinking so.

1 comment:

Mike (Altus) said...

I'm a big fan (original) Warhammer as well. Some friends and I used to paint miniatures, but I lost interest since I wasn't very good at it. :P
Chaos are cool for their armour and weapons, but orks are my favourite.