What went in the skip/bin?

from what I know, very little compared to what is claimed, often it would be drafts, rejects etc, or just very damaged stuff. Though It's not like the amount that was stolen from the BBC archives over the years and people claimed 'I saved it cause it was thrown in the bin' ¬_¬;
 
A lot of moulds, both dead and unwanted. GW kept an archive of master casts so they didn't need to keep master moulds (which take more space). I remember being told that when moulds went in the skip they separated the two halves and threw them away separately so people couldn't fish out a whole mould and use them to produce pirate copies.

The most terrible thing that went in the skip? In my estimation, the Games Day displays and full-scale models from Warhammer World. A tragic loss.
 
I think it's quite unclear where a lot of the original art ended up. Much went back to the artists and obviously various bits have been distributed and sold over the years. I've often thought it a shame that it'd be nigh on impossible to create modern digital scans of it all now.

The GW branded dinner plates from the staff canteen ... pretty sure they are all but extinct now. Although to be fair I think more to natural wastage than intentional destruction!

The most terrible thing that went in the skip? In my estimation, the Games Day displays and full-scale models from Warhammer World. A tragic loss.
Some of those old Games Day displays were stunning, many still inspire models I want to make today (anyone remember the large imperial palace like structure with plenty of bulldog buckle Aquila pin badges on it and the Promethium pipes leading in/out of it with catwalks on top of the pipes? I spent so long looking at that one. Such a shame they were disposed of.

It'd be interesting to have access to their internal archive. They had some items from it on display once when I was at Warhammer World. Mostly I remember wincing at the placement of the stickers with the accession numbers on - stuck on the front of boxes and so forth covering artwork and titles - yikes, not sure who thought that was a sensible place to attach something when there is lots of plain un-interesting cardboard on the inside of the box that could be stuck to.
 
I think our resident former employee would have left before too much was done. I'm pretty sure contract job artists like Les Edwards kept originals (or atleast, very high grade copies) of his GW work. Would have made sense from an archive point of view to scan them and store on film which takes a fraction of the space but keeps the quality and detail. these days, digital (which generally doesn't keep the full quality) is the go to for archive storage but has... other issues.

side note.. anyone figured out the origin of that the wood White Dwarf Clock yet?
 
it's quite unclear where a lot of the original art ended up
IIRC Robin Dews (former White Dwarf editor) has a bunch he got in lieu of rent when he let rooms to artists. He's also in some of the art because the artists used other staff as models. Dave Gallagher painted him in "Blood Angel Space Marines" for the cover of WD143.
 
sounds like alot of what happened in the comics field. For a long time, Art was worthless. in the 70s, when you joined DC comics, you got given some old comic pages as a kinda 'welcoming' gift. It was the late 70s when Artists started to be able to make money on the second hand market, and then going into the mid 80s, started to get... erm.. iffy and in the early to mid 90s, draw all pages designed in such a way to maximum their own third party sales.. kinda didn't go well for the comic market.
 
IIRC Robin Dews (former White Dwarf editor) has a bunch he got in lieu of rent when he let rooms to artists. He's also in some of the art because the artists used other staff as models. Dave Gallagher painted him in "Blood Angel Space Marines" for the cover of WD143.
I understand that Tim Pollard had a similar deal with his artist lodgers, I hope his family kept hold of it as there are sure to be some treasures on the walls of his house.
 
Gary Chalk was another one that had work skipped apparently. He mentions it here to orlyrgg back in 2013 (& quoted :

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-lone-wolf-interview-with-gary-chalk.html

GC: I have some of the artwork, but a lot of it has gone missing at Games Workshop. They actually produced a boxed set of Lone Wolf figures at one time and I gave them the artwork for the first Lone Wolf book for the box lid. This is sadly one of the missing pieces. I have it on good autority that some of my artwork, along with that of other artists, was actually seen in a refuse skip outside the studio. Since the witness is an ex-Workshop sculptor, I can only assume this to be true. I am really pissed off about this as you can imagine.
 
scan them and store on film which takes a fraction of the space
You might think so, but we're involved in one large project scanning huge quantities of microfiche film that is rapidly degrading. Good washed film however especially doing colour separations (ie B&W film for each colour) can have a very good (proven) shelf life.
I understand that Tim Pollard had a similar deal with his artist lodgers,
The collection my Blanche piece came from was a similar situation. The painter's equivalent of busking I guess!
 
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yeah. The Stock type and storage can REALLY matter. I mean, even at the time, I think it was the Silver Nirate stock was known for losing it's colour. It's meant to be one reason why the film 'Raging Bull' was made in Black and White. Else it would be very much 'Red and white' now.
 
I was involved in the move from Enfield Chambers to Lower Parliament Street.

At the end of the day there was a skip full of stuff that included a big pile of original artwork, including John Blanche stuff, and we were told we could take what we wanted. Unfortunately it had rained all over it and it was ruined as there were some watercolours that had leaked all over them. I did end up with all of the original scenery that was used in the Slaves to Darkness book though.
 
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