AranaszarSzuur
Member
Official Biography of John Blanche is out.
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Eric
Administrator
Cool, I did pop it on the Christmas list - so one can always hope!
His Voodoo Forest book is very nice (all black and white), that's nicely printed, I see the review for the biography is a bit more iffy on printing - which is a shame. Hopefully I'll manage to get hold of a copy at some point as I've been enjoying the other "Citadel history" stuff that has been doing the rounds recently. I think my favourite bits of Blanche art will always be the Knight Panther piece - the one done as a nod to the The Charging Chasseur by Théodore Géricault and the Flying fantasy galleons. I wonder where the original of those are these days?
His Voodoo Forest book is very nice (all black and white), that's nicely printed, I see the review for the biography is a bit more iffy on printing - which is a shame. Hopefully I'll manage to get hold of a copy at some point as I've been enjoying the other "Citadel history" stuff that has been doing the rounds recently. I think my favourite bits of Blanche art will always be the Knight Panther piece - the one done as a nod to the The Charging Chasseur by Théodore Géricault and the Flying fantasy galleons. I wonder where the original of those are these days?
AranaszarSzuur
Member
The quality of many images, including miniature photos is really bad. But the biography itself is fascinating.
My favourite pieces would be Black Templars, Battlefleet Gothic and Epic 40k cover.
Loose Loser
Member
All fantastic pieces. My fav drawing of his is Shakined Bone Bender.
Fimm McCool
Member
I did take a quick look but it seemed really expensive for a paperback with not great quality images. Don't think I'll be picking one up new.
AranaszarSzuur
Member
I think the price and dodgy quality may come from it being print on demand and also extremely niche.
Eric
Administrator
I'd agree. I think quite a lot of print on demand stuff doesn't get the TLC that a proper print run would get in terms of compression artefacts and correct print DPI and so forth in the PDF/EPS (etc) sources that a more manual print run would receive from both the publisher and printer assisting the author. Even things like proofs, etc. go a long way. I remember from some years ago I had a copy of the History of Fighting Fantasy book and that had some full page graphics that were just full of JPEG compression artefacts totally awful. Graphics wise that was very mixed quality suggesting a lack of QA on the production files. That all said I think with a good source from someone who knows what they are doing modern print on demand can be pretty impressive, given, it's well "print on demand"!
AranaszarSzuur
Member
Anyway, I didn't pay for my copy, was gifted it, so it's sort of hard for me to judge it from price/quality side. Like I'm nebulously aware that it costs about as much as RT reprint but I feel it's a sort of a must have for an Oldhammer fan.
Like John Blanche is the soul of Warhammer.
I guess since it's print on demand, it's going to be available forever? Maybe it's better to wait because there's always a possibility they are going to fix the quality issues.
I can't help an impression that images of GW 40k colour art are deliberately degraded in quality or simply too darkened. Since some of other images seem to be much better.
I guess it's a sort of a book that could use an ebook edition.
Like John Blanche is the soul of Warhammer.
I guess since it's print on demand, it's going to be available forever? Maybe it's better to wait because there's always a possibility they are going to fix the quality issues.
I can't help an impression that images of GW 40k colour art are deliberately degraded in quality or simply too darkened. Since some of other images seem to be much better.
I guess it's a sort of a book that could use an ebook edition.
Eric
Administrator
They may well have been limited in access to good quality sources. The original art is probably widely scattered now. I expect GW has some and much is in private collections and Mr Blanche may well still have some pieces. I guess it depends on 1) Who owns the reproduction rights to the piece (GW?) and if you can licence it 2) If you can actually get a decent print quality scan. Obviously second generation scanning from an existing print will be of limited value with the half toning depending on the final resolution. Maybe it was a technical issue, or maybe they felt doing it "okay, but not great" was less likely to cause any lawyer's to rise from the crypts of Nottingham 
Well faults aside I expect I'll try to get a copy at some point!
Well faults aside I expect I'll try to get a copy at some point!
ManicMan
Member
I will say, depending on how you use, POD can be a very good high quality service. It depends on what company you work with and how you work with them.
In reply to Erics last comment.. mm.. the artist depends on the time, content and contract for who owns the rights.. for example, I wanna say Rodney Matthews cause I think it was him, did a piece of work for a Doctor Who BBC project which didn't go ahead. For him to be able to do anything really with the art he edited bits like the Tardis to be a bit more generic. Even though he has the rights to the art, the subject matter itself is very much BBC copyright. That's via UK law. In US law, clearly very much copyright, as in see Disney Vs Carl Barks. Alot of 'artists' doing 'parody' (which are mostly just fan or even just third party art.. It not Parody if you draw the very thing.. for example, IF I drew a Space Wolf Techpriest and called it a Space Wolf Techpriest, its not a parody. if I drew a Space Wolfy cybervicar and it was clearly with a number of details which weren't right etch, then that'll probably come as parody. If I do it on mass, it's not protected parody) still have legal issues OR just 'fly under the radar' close enough. Alot of Crooked dice miniatures are illegal. simple as that. They are very on model and they aren't licensed. IF a company wanted to issue a C&D or something, It would have a clear case (and since BBC can be pretty heavy handed and sell the license to companies, so its always a bit of a nasty thing they others are.. ripping them off compared to ones where they aren't being made, no license is around etc.. gets complex).
So.. depending on the license.. a Picture of Citadel Space Marines (even with that lawsuit a while back) If it's clearly Citadel Space Marines, might have to check boxes on license of the Art with the artist AND with the rights holder of the appearance.. unless genetic enough to not be Citadel Space Marines ones that aren't protected (like how Genestealers weren't quite close enough for any license issues with Alien or H.R. Giger, even though there were still too close for appearing in the Space Crusade video game, so they became Soulsuckers.. which look a bit more like rouge trader less On-model Genestealers..
Oh and in case you think that fan art which is on model is 100% fine and protected.. I'll just say I got a C&D still in my inbox from a number of years back which says otherwise.
In reply to Erics last comment.. mm.. the artist depends on the time, content and contract for who owns the rights.. for example, I wanna say Rodney Matthews cause I think it was him, did a piece of work for a Doctor Who BBC project which didn't go ahead. For him to be able to do anything really with the art he edited bits like the Tardis to be a bit more generic. Even though he has the rights to the art, the subject matter itself is very much BBC copyright. That's via UK law. In US law, clearly very much copyright, as in see Disney Vs Carl Barks. Alot of 'artists' doing 'parody' (which are mostly just fan or even just third party art.. It not Parody if you draw the very thing.. for example, IF I drew a Space Wolf Techpriest and called it a Space Wolf Techpriest, its not a parody. if I drew a Space Wolfy cybervicar and it was clearly with a number of details which weren't right etch, then that'll probably come as parody. If I do it on mass, it's not protected parody) still have legal issues OR just 'fly under the radar' close enough. Alot of Crooked dice miniatures are illegal. simple as that. They are very on model and they aren't licensed. IF a company wanted to issue a C&D or something, It would have a clear case (and since BBC can be pretty heavy handed and sell the license to companies, so its always a bit of a nasty thing they others are.. ripping them off compared to ones where they aren't being made, no license is around etc.. gets complex).
So.. depending on the license.. a Picture of Citadel Space Marines (even with that lawsuit a while back) If it's clearly Citadel Space Marines, might have to check boxes on license of the Art with the artist AND with the rights holder of the appearance.. unless genetic enough to not be Citadel Space Marines ones that aren't protected (like how Genestealers weren't quite close enough for any license issues with Alien or H.R. Giger, even though there were still too close for appearing in the Space Crusade video game, so they became Soulsuckers.. which look a bit more like rouge trader less On-model Genestealers..
Oh and in case you think that fan art which is on model is 100% fine and protected.. I'll just say I got a C&D still in my inbox from a number of years back which says otherwise.
AranaszarSzuur
Member
GW has almost all JB cover paintings for sale as prints. They have highest quality images of them. So I guess it's possible they are put there without GW licence.They may well have been limited in access to good quality sources. The original art is probably widely scattered now. I expect GW has some and much is in private collections and Mr Blanche may well still have some pieces. I guess it depends on 1) Who owns the reproduction rights to the piece (GW?) and if you can licence it 2) If you can actually get a decent print quality scan. Obviously second generation scanning from an existing print will be of limited value with the half toning depending on the final resolution. Maybe it was a technical issue, or maybe they felt doing it "okay, but not great" was less likely to cause any lawyer's to rise from the crypts of Nottingham
When it comes to that specific group of paintings, In book some seem to be scanned from cover of WD, books or in one case Marvel comic with Marvel logo on it.
AranaszarSzuur
Member
After reading through most of the book it seems to me that the quality problems apply mainly to GW images which are too dark/oversaturated. Also with miniature photos themselves which simply aren't good. Dice Men and Heroes for Wargames has much better miniature photos, but printed with visible raster.
When it comes to the rest of artwork reproduction including his earlier and newest works, there's no visible raster which is a common plague of art albums, so printing is high quality.
When it comes to the rest of artwork reproduction including his earlier and newest works, there's no visible raster which is a common plague of art albums, so printing is high quality.