A few John Blanche originals...

[dieselmonkey]

One of the great things about being in the industry is that you get to see some really cool stuff. In this case it was a bunch of minis painted by John Blanche (some of which were in the Ratspike book), so I took a few photos and thought you might like to see 'em.

Looking at them, they're mostly old Ral Partha sculpts, albeit largely heavily converted, so these probably date to the early 1980s at a guess. The quality of thepaintjobs is just stunning.

























Enjoy!

 

[Brother Meredith]

Love JB’s old mini painting! He really was pushing the medium. 😍

 

[Eric]

Wow. Those shields in particular. Man he had a steady hand. Stunning work, what a treat to get to see those up close and personal. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ManicMan]

very nice.

The elf noble re-based?

 

[dieselmonkey]

very nice.

The elf noble re-based?

A bunch of them are rebased yes. These all came from the late Duncan MacFarlane's collection, and he used them in games, so a fair few got rebased over the years.

 

[Fighelm]

That standard is outstanding, a work of art. And the painting of the female face reminds me of something, jolted a memory... (like a Chris Achilleos pic). Interesting.

 

[dieselmonkey]

That standard is outstanding, a work of art. And the painting of the female face reminds me of something, jolted a memory... (like a Chris Achilleos pic). Interesting.

John cannibalised his own artwork repeatedly (just ask the Mona Lisa!) so it could well have been reused repeatedly on other pieces of his artwork.

 

[ManicMan]

I keep going back to them shields... even with my finest brushes, I can't get that level of control.. even with some 'patching' and never been happy when cheating with pens (though I have once in a while done that)

 

[Bong0_clive]

How and where did you see these?

 

[Fighelm]

I keep going back to them shields... even with my finest brushes, I can't get that level of control.. even with some 'patching' and never been happy when cheating with pens (though I have once in a while done that)

We can only presume he used a good quality sable brush, maybe even a feather(!). Reckon he used a Rotring isograph for black lining edges, some infill and writing though...the inks weren't just in black, sepia, all colours...

 

[Fighelm]

......And Rotring technical pens have been around for decades ie Varioscript in the 70's. Or maybe he used old fashioned (dip pen) nibs. Either way tech college wouldve given him a reason for use. His (steady) hand eye coord was excellent as we know from detail in paintings pencil and pen and inks. Case in point https://forum.oldhammer.org/threads/the-ansells-attic.40288/

 

[dieselmonkey]

I keep going back to them shields... even with my finest brushes, I can't get that level of control.. even with some 'patching' and never been happy when cheating with pens (though I have once in a while done that)

These were almost certainly done with Rotring Isograph pens. There were loads of them still floating around the studio even when I was there in the early 90s.

 

[dieselmonkey]

How and where did you see these?

They were brought into work by someone from Wargames Illustrated. They wanted to work out which ones were in the Ratspike book and I had a copy.

 

[Fighelm]

Apologies for banging on, & thanks dieselmonkey for showing us these.

I just can't frame much more how his imagination, penmanship and artistry was so excellent. Even when it wasn't on a flat surface. Consider the size of the pictures, say, 'mona'- currently up for sale for £80k - that pic is only 190x270mm. Blanche's Mona and the moonmanThe detail is incredible. I was originally trained as an architectural draftsman (now retired from practice). His art & technique & appreciation of medieval and renaissance art history to me is pure nectar! Maybe in the future we will see his work in the National Gallery...

 

[Fighelm]

These were almost certainly done with Rotring Isograph pens. There were loads of them still floating around the studio even when I was there in the early 90s.

Fantastic. And if you looked after them proper they can last more than a lifetime. I bought my first set 42yrs ago as a 13yr old at school for use in art and tech dwg, been addicted to them ever since. Trained with them at uni & practice until converted to AutoCAD circa 1995. I've even inkspot tattoos on hands (& a knee) where they used to roll off the board and stick you

 

[Bong0_clive]

How come they're not used for miniatures these days?

 

[dieselmonkey]

Fantastic. And if you looked after them proper they can last more than a lifetime. I bought my first set 42yrs ago as a 13yr old at school for use in art and tech dwg, been addicted to them ever since. Trained with them at uni & practice until converted to AutoCAD circa 1995. I've even inkspot tattoos on hands (& a knee) where they used to roll off the board and stick you

Yeah, I inherited my dads after he stopped using them and moved onto CAD. Still got them in a box somewhere in the hobby room.

 

[dieselmonkey]

How come they're not used for miniatures these days?

At this point probably because they're worth several hundred pounds each and so are seen more as culturally significant (within the hobby at least) pieces of art than as playing pieces.

 

[Fighelm]

Yeah, I inherited my dads after he stopped using them and moved onto CAD. Still got them in a box somewhere in the hobby room.

Brilliant! Keep them, clean them (& use them!!), they are artifacts but fantasticly engineered tools. My 3 have all inherited my artist gene, but insist on using throwaway fineliners. Plebs. ... Anyway, breaks my heart when you see them for sale on ebay, etc as we can only guess what they were used for!

 

[Bong0_clive]

At this point probably because they're worth several hundred pounds each and so are seen more as culturally significant (within the hobby at least) pieces of art than as playing pieces.

No, I mean the pens.

How come I never see anyone using them these days?