Between issues 107 and 111 of White Dwarf, 'Eavy Metal grew up. It lost its 'make it up as you go along' attitude and eclectic contributors (Blanche, Priestley, Sean Masterson etc) and settled down into something we would recognise today. The 'Eavy Metal team were far more visual in the magazine, and it would not be long until their painters would start semi-regular demonstrations in GW stores.
The range of miniatures on show also improves. As does the quality of painting itself, largely due to the arrival of Mike McVey and the employment of various Golden Daemon winners. The quality of writing was also good, with John Blanche and Phil Lewis explaining the artistic approach behind many of the miniatures show cased. Occasionally, guest painters had their work presented, and the extracts that follow contain work from Mick Beard, Pete Taylor and Paul Benson. Oh, and look out for the first appearance of friend to Realm of Chaos 80s, Andy Craig too!
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| Some inspiring Realm of Chaos miniatures and conversions here, including the famous snake tailed Slaaneshi champion and the unreleased plaguebearer the Steve Casey found in Bryan Ansell's collection. |
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| Work here from a number of 'Eavy Metal artists including some conversions by Blanche. Note the painted version of the unreleased Beast of Nurgle. The converted minis with the horror arms is one of my favourite models from this period. |
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| Pete Taylor was a Warhammer Third Edtion hero and his Chaos army was legendary. Here we have a wealth of his converted models with distinctive faces. |
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| This page shows how the miniatures reflected the range of games available at the time, with models from Rogue Trader, Blood Bowl and fantasy all gracing the same page. Note a painted example of the Dwarf Firethrower discussed last post. |
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| Citadel's new plastic horses were also showcased with a brief guide to painting them here. |
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| Andy's now famous Eldar models and a range of squats. |
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| A discussion about how to get the best from your horses and, oh look, a young Andy Craig at work in the studio! |
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| Mick's and Paul's work is discussed and the new plastic horses recieve some fantasy riders. |
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| Paul had a beautiful style. Very individualistic indeed. This page represents some of his best work that was ever published. |
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| Beautiful dioramas from Mick. Though I have wondered for years why the bear rider's back is still white. |
Great times the 80s. For me these early pages of White Dwarf we some kind of inspirations. Cutting away arms and heads to create something new. Lots of bleeding thumbs but hey it was for the greater will of the Caos gods... and The Realms of Chaos allowed all these.
ReplyDeleteToday the Warrios look more identical and uniform not the way they should be. Then back in time they were little gems everyone a champion by itself even when not converted.
I loved the Eavy Metal segments. That tiger stripe horse is something else. I also nicked the horse painting article. I'm going to need some inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThis was really good. Wasn't aware of the 'eavy metal horses article. Will definitely examine that one more carefully as am painting some horses right now. Paul Benson has always been one of my favorite painters.
ReplyDeleteThx/Hans
It's amazing how appealing can these works look after so many years. I still find them inspiring and somehow refreshing, far from what we are used to see in our everyday hobby. I love all those.
ReplyDeleteThis is some of the most beautiful pages you've linked here. All the work of this period has inspired us. The sole fact that each sculptor and each painter had his own style gave us plenty of imagination fodder...
ReplyDeleteThis part given to individuality in the hobby has nearly disappeared from the White dwarf pages, now it has been replaced by the various blogs which have spawned everywhere.
Could last hours looking at these photos...
Thanks Orlygg