ammazzabondi

[hellwatermelon]

Nicolas Bruno, The Embellished Collection

[70sscifiart]

Angus McBride's 1966 "Legendary Beasts" series ran in the backs of the weekly magazine Finding Out. Daisy at Beautiful Books has collected all 36 of them over here - this is just half of them!

[artphotographyofmen]

Elric of Melniboné by Jay Anacleto

[chronivore]

Kateryna Shtanko

[trve-grimdark]

Original Realms of Chaos cover (John Blanche)

[thefugitivesaint]

John Blanche, 'The Sea People' (date unknown) lifted from “Fantastic People: Magical Races of Myth and Legend” by Allen Scott & Michael Scott Rohan, 1980

[dungeonlust]

Art by • John Blanche

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Avatar of Ynnead by John Blanche

[oldschoolfrp]

Legendary fantasy artist John Blanche has died. He is known mostly for his long association with Games Workshop, where he served as art director and created many of the iconic images that shaped the Warhammer and 40K worlds. He was capable of working in diverse styles, but much of his art and his own creative miniature conversions made his name synonymous with the "grimdark" aesthetic, mixing elements of moody gothic architecture and body horror with a limited color palette.

He also contributed to GW's UK edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! books, and other books and album covers. Wombat Games recently published an authorised biography, Blanche: The Rise of Grimdark. A skirmish game, John Blanche's En Garde, is in development with a setting and visual style based on his art.

[retroscifiart]

Art by John Blanche for Warhammer 40K

[moociao-after-dark]

Rest in peace, John Blanche

The father of Warhammer 40k art direction and the man that has inspired me as an artist, down to inspiring my current artstyle (and I am sure will continue to inspire me, even in death). 40k just wouldn't be 40k had it not been for the foundation of grimdark sci-fi that he laid.

Farewell, you absolute legend.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Sybil Danning - The Phantom Empire (1988)

[pmamtraveller]

The Forgotten Queen by Rostislaw Tsarenko

[toyastales]

Meyle & Mayer snake brooch, c. 1900, crafted from silver, enamel, and opal.

[miyuliart]

Trying to figure out how to draw armour. These are some of my notes I uploaded on patreon. A lot more to come since I really want to figure this one out.

[blacklotusmuseum]

"Balduvian Horde"

MTG Alliance 1996 | Illus. Brian Snoddy

[sartorialadventure]

Viking dresses by Savelyeva Ekaterina

[petermorwood]

Another visual demonstration that historical clothing wasn’t dingy and monochrome.

All of these colours can be obtained from vegetable dyes, producing different shades depending on what mordant (colour fixative - alum, different metal filings, different vinegars) was used. See here and here for examples.

[willowofthehearth]

BRING THIS FASHION BACK.

[thevagueambition]

Not clothes, but this was a palette developed by the National Museum of Denmark based on paint residue from archaeological finds for the purpose of painting a reconstructed hall.

Apparently, they can tell from the chemical composition that the colours wouldn’t be mixed with black or white to mute them, but be used in their brightest form. Bright yellow and red was achieved with expensive dyes (orpiment and cinnabar) and was thus fashionable. (Source in Danish)

[kalessinsdaughter]

@athingofvikings

[cicadianrhythm]

What is a man? An ecstatic little pile of pigments.

[sartorialadventure]

^reblogging for that comment

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Forever reminder that the ancient world was colorful everywhere, and every attempt to brownwash it in modern fiction is sheer laziness.