Jes Goodwin is retiring

[Kenzaburo]

2 hours ago, Mmmmm Napalm said:

it's darren latham lol

Which would be great. Darren has done some phenomenal sculpts and kits. I'd have immediately said that he might be a prime candidate if you want someone whose designs are stylistically akin to Jes'.

 

I wish I knew more about who sculpted what at GW, though, or who designed what. I feel like AoS specifically has already veered from the overall "Jes Goodwin" feel - and not for the worse. Meaning: The stuff is fresh and surprising and cool. While the original GW style is nostalgic, classic and cool. 

[Joe]

9 hours ago, Robbienw said:

Big shoes to fill, I wonder who they will get to take over from him. I reckon it might be Darren Latham.

 

Could see this becoming a family affair, as his daughter is employed at the company as well - although I believe she's working on Old World?

 

(Long-term, obviously.)

Edited 9 hours ago by Joe

[Castellan Wulfrik]

Is it me or does Gav Thorpe accidentally imply the reason we never got exodites was Jes Goodwin was opposed to it? 

 

Regardless massive respect to Jes Goodwin, I've spent an untold amount of time looking at his sketches, 40K wouldn't be what it is without him. At the risk of upsetting people I do think this is probably a good thing though, to get some new blood in the driving seat and bring new ideas. 40K has felt stale for a while now, and the Primaris and Votann projects he led had mixed reactions to say the least whilst the Ynnari idea seems to have crashed and burned. I'm not suggesting that is his fault and I loved the concept art he drew up for the Ynnari but it obviously didn't go the way they initially planned. Meanwhile, AoS, TOW and Necromunda seem to be flourishing in terms of creativity. Ultimately I'm more excited for a new era than concerned about losing what we have now. 

[Dried]

9 minutes ago, Castellan Wulfrik said:

Is it me or does Gav Thorpe accidentally imply the reason we never got exodites was Jes Goodwin was opposed to it? 

 

For me it implies that Jes Goodwin will design it before leaving.

[Castellan Wulfrik]

3 minutes ago, Dried said:

 

For me it implies that Jes Goodwin will design it before leaving.

I hope you're right, one last hurrah for the Eldar GOAT. I guess that would all but confirm exodites then no?

[Joe]

Jes has, at least historically, been very hands-on with his babies. Eldar being one of them. Whilst he might not work on the digital design side, we know from his interview alongside Darren Latham that he basically hovered on his shoulder whilst they worked on the Adeptus Mechanicus range. I could absolutely see this being the case for Eldar.

[Firedrake Cordova]

11 hours ago, Robbienw said:

He will be 65 now,

Wow. How on earth did that happen?!?!  

 

More seriously, he's had a profound impact on GW aesthetic design, and he deserves a good break  

Edited 8 hours ago by Firedrake Cordova

[Orange Knight]

It's hard to believe that Jes is actually approaching retirement age, but if he decides to step back it's entirely reasonable and understandable.

 

The man has served the Emperor for the majority of his life, and he deserves some time to rest.

[mini_painting_mike]

His service to the Emperor has been exemplary, those will be some mighty shoes to fill!

[Marshal Reinhard]

A true legend

[Robbienw]

3 hours ago, Joe said:

 

Could see this becoming a family affair, as his daughter is employed at the company as well - although I believe she's working on Old World?

 

(Long-term, obviously.)

Maybe in the longer future, if she is as good as her Dad.  But right now it will be one of the Lead Designers under Jes who takes his spot.

[Wraithwing]

What a legend to the hobby though. I wish him all the happiest in his retirement. 

 

And with the equally amazing Darren Latham still around, I am not worried about Eldar design at all. 

[Evil Eye]

Absolute end of an era if true. The man is an absolute prodigy at sculpting and miniature design- two of the anecdotes I remember about him are that the last traditionally sculpted miniature for GW (the Harlequin Solitaire) was done by him, more or less as a flex to absolutely push the limits of putty sculpting, and that he did the initial mockup for the Hemlock Wraithfighter- and when the digital team went to measure the mockup to get the shapes/dimensions in for refinement and tidy-up they found there was almost no work to be done as the model was already 99% perfectly symmetrical. By hand.

 

I'm kinda hoping he does what so many of the old guard have done and does some post-GW work independently, but regardless of what he does I wish him well. A salute is in order, I think.

[Dried]

13 hours ago, torcathmk2 said:

I was re-reading a White Dwarf from 1988 that had some of Jes' minis in, helluva shift he's put in. That the Eldar range still has minis from the late 90's stands testament to their timeless design. The Falcon grav tank is a wonderful design.
With regards as too who could take over I hope it isn't Darren. He is undeniably superbly talented in both sculpting and painting, but, he poses minis like a painter. I don't need another combat leader at parade rest, helm in crook of arm, sword pointed down into the ground. I want more hacky slashy poses

Like Ragnar Blackmane?

[Mmmmm Napalm]

7 hours ago, Kenzaburo said:

Which would be great. Darren has done some phenomenal sculpts and kits. I'd have immediately said that he might be a prime candidate if you want someone whose designs are stylistically akin to Jes'.

 

I wish I knew more about who sculpted what at GW, though, or who designed what. I feel like AoS specifically has already veered from the overall "Jes Goodwin" feel - and not for the worse. Meaning: The stuff is fresh and surprising and cool. While the original GW style is nostalgic, classic and cool. 

Oh I agree, I think Latham will do fine and I'm pleased he is Jes' successor

Edited 2 hours ago by Mmmmm Napalm

[WARMASTER_]

Sad to be seeing Jes leave! Whilst I’ve never been a fan of much of his later projects Primaris Marines + 40k admech Him and John Blanche were instrumental in creating a game I’ve loved since I was 9 so it’s sad to have them both out of the drivers seat, I wonder what shape 40K will take in future without their input moving forward we’ve already seen pretty striking changes to tone and aesthetic so it’ll be interesting to see where it’ll head in future 

 

I imagine Darren Latham will probably take over as Jes’ replacement as 40K miniatures design lead 

 

Shame it wasn’t a Gav retirement post…

[Casual Heresy]

If any of GWs spies are reading; a lavish hardback of Jes’s concept artwork with commentary would sell out in seconds *nudge*
 

His design work is brilliant and as others have said, many ancient kits have stood the rest of time thanks to him. I think aesthetically Warhammer is safe going forwards thanks to all of his work defining it.