Warhound

  

Through June there's a lovely challenge on Bluesky to paint something in the style of John Blanche as a way of celebrating his impact as the godfather of Warhammer art style. I already know a lot of people will reach for the "grimdark look", by which I mean painting a model in muted colours, adding a check pattern somewhere, then slathering weathering washes until it's a brown misery, but there's so much more to his work. Picking an appropriate piece as inspiration was difficult but I settled on this gem from my childhood.

Blanche's artwork was instrumental in my love of Warhammer, as it probably was for so many of us *coughs* around their late-forties and upwards. It was his bright, saturated pieces that first caught my eye and the glorious cover of White Dwarf 108 where Titans were presented is a fine example of that, and I feel oft overlooked.

I don't own an old Titan, but I am fortunate to have a Warhound, and painted it as a homage to that magazine cover, complete with Ultramarines captain in front. Blanche's use of reds and oranges was always pleasing to me, so I opted to make this a quartered scheme in the style of Howling Griffons so it can also double as a mascot for my son's upcoming 40k army. There's red, ochre, yellow, magenta and even blue in the scheme, with my old friend Ice Yellow as the final highlight for consistency across the colours.

I'm not very good at freehand (see exhibit A), but hopefully you can overlook the wonky cityscape and understand what I was trying to achieve here. It's a thin piece of plasticard, held upright with a lollipop stick glued to the rear. I tried a few effects to create the gradient but in the end it was as simple as spraying red, then spraying yellow in a gentle gradient over the top to create a fade. The towers are just a series of straight lines in one direction, then crossed at the top to create the shape, then filled in with a mid-grey. At the bottom, ochre creates the gentle fade to make it feel like dust kicking up in the background.

And finally a shot of the Warhound without a backdrop. I've hidden so many crimes over the years with weathering effects, and this is no exception. The sculpt on the feet is horrid! Either a miscast, or from damage, so I've disappeared it into the dust. Happy days.