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Codex: Blood Angels - Cover Art...makes me cringe


Carmine_the_Wolf

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In general I find that the art involved in the current slew of GW publications has a range of pretty good to fantastic, but the cover art on the current Blood Angels codex just jars with me.

 

It's the guy in the middle...his head just look deformed.

 

Am I the only person who thinks this?

I can't for the life of me remember his name, but he did the Imperial Guard book and Empire (WFB).

And TBH they are painfully bad the proportion, the faces and the Guy on the front of the BA book can't seem to out strech his arm.

I mean thats just my opinion, but I'm not alone on the matter

His left arm is positioned awkwardly and his legs are simply massive. I think the head is fine compared to the rest of the marines depicted, but that left leg.... The tiny marine in front of him doesn't help the scale either...

 

All in all, the cover isn't bad, just the priest in the center is.

 

Well if you look closely, his head looks a bit strange..but I wonder, what are those robed guys doing behind him?

I looks like they're servitors stabbing a dead plague marine. Why? Maybe because they wish they were Ultramarines.

Count me into the "OH DEAR GOD IT'S HORRIBLE!" camp. I flat-out laughed for a good twenty minutes after I saw the thing; it was like a first-year art student did it. Especially after the masterful work of the Wolves dex, both me and my BA buddy were expecting far better. The cover art, as well as the woeful fluff and the piss-poor army list and campy feel, has made him join the ranks of the Wolves.

This guy has managed to do the cover of every book I've considered buying recently, which is real shame.. they're all terrible pictures.

I don't care for the style at all. I think the IG book is the best of a terrible situation, though.

Yeah, tis fairly crap. PA or no, your toes shouldn't be bigger than your head, and your head should be equidistant between your shoulders. I know the minis are in "heroic scale" with big heads and big weapons, but whenever an artist tries to render a marine in realistic proportions it looks awkward. The purpose of the art is to inspire you to buy the models, so keep the proportions from the models IMO.

 

I also dislike a lot of Blanche's stuff, normally his sketchier stuff that has ;) going everywhere and looks untidy - like his Primarch sketches - hate most of those. But at least he's good enough at applying the rules to be good at suspending them as well.

I initially thought they were going for a kind of stylised look that was supposed to make the cover seem to have elements of tapestry or resemble an illumination on an ancient manuscript.

 

But on closer inspection it turned out just to be crap.

As an artist myself, I can safely laugh at it. The porportions of the foreground marines are horrid. Problems in order:

 

'Thunder thighs'

Chests are bigger at the bottom than the top.

Face looks like crap, especially for a 'pretty' BA

Head positioned too far back.

Wrong porportions for a marine.

 

The background marines are OK, bar a plasma cannon firing bolt shells...

I initially thought they were going for a kind of stylised look that was supposed to make the cover seem to have elements of tapestry or resemble an illumination on an ancient manuscript.

 

But on closer inspection it turned out just to be crap.

That is my exact thoughts and reaction as well. :P

 

Given their (BA) art-appreciating background I was hoping for an 'artsy' codex cover, and I thought that that was what they (GW) had gone for when I saw the book on the shelf, so I picked up the book and immediately went: Oh.. :tu:

It does have some major scaling issues, yeah. But compared to the old 2nd edition art (I'm thinking of a picture involving Deathwing terminators in particular), things have come a long way. Heads used to be roughly half the size of the Terminators' torsos :tu:

 

As far as what I think Astartes art should look like, I rather like the artwork in the DA Codex.

i agree the new artwork on the ba codex is wierd. its too cartoon like and the marines all have something that looks out of proportion. also two other wierd things theres a servitor diggin in a plague marines chest with some electro device and who in their right mind would fight plague marines without their helmet on? i understand the emperor protects but damn thats gotta be one helluva bad smell

It's a weak cover.

 

Weak weak weak.

 

As a marketing man, I'm appalled.

 

It's like selling a Ferrari wrapped in a paper bag with a bright red Thomas the Tank Engine splashed on it.

 

However, the art wont intimidate a youthful player considering buying his first pots of paint and models and wont frighten his parents - many other pictures deep in the book evoke contempt, arrogance and all the juicy grimdarkery we love so much along with viscera and devolving the human form.

But this is still pretty weak in my opinion. I think these days, most parents accept detailed depictions of carnage and general thuggery in a fantastical war-game.

 

I'm reminded of a disowned and expunged image of Khârn atop a pile of naked human bodies. GW are pretty careful how their images can be construed by anyone not particularly interested in the hobby itself. I think this policy is probably the best reason for the cover.

 

Personally, I think they should've commissioned an artist to make a colour 'cover' for each and every chapter and kept them as stock until published. I think the consistence would serve them well and add identification to their brand.

it looks like 2nd edition artwork.

 

That's why I love it.

 

yeah this reminds of of one particular picture in fact. the one on the cover of the 2nd ed codex imperialis. as cool as it was then i cant seem to like this style anymore. maybe its just me being a veteran and serving in afganistan and living in a world that has ongoing wars i just gravitate towards art thats a bit more realistic and gritty looking. even if this is all SCI FI.

My copy is currently taped over with art from a friend as his art was 5x better and he's just a student who does it for fun.

 

My first thoughts on seeing it were wow that's a bad joke one someone's part did they just reuse a second edition cover. When the red shirt at the local bunker told me he thought it was great I had to fight so so hard not to laugh in his face. I simply told him we'd have to agree to disagree.

 

My good god I hate that cover art. /rant

 

My copy is currently taped over with art from a friend as his art was 5x better and he's just a student who does it for fun.

 

My first thoughts on seeing it were wow that's a bad joke one someone's part did they just reuse a second edition cover. When the red shirt at the local bunker told me he thought it was great I had to fight so so hard not to laugh in his face. I simply told him we'd have to agree to disagree.

 

My good god I hate that cover art. /rant

And Sanguinius is spelt wrong on his cloak.

 

For god sake, can he do anything right!?! ;) :P

Evidence points to "no."

 

Looking at the different Marine codices, I can't really grasp why the savages have better looking cover art than the artists. Even the crusaders and monks have a better cover on their slightly dated books!

 

The cover art of the Blood Angels codex is horrible, but I can't look away now!

I feel I have been Moderated.
Yup.

 

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