Warhammer 30k: The Unification Wars

Scroll down to see the process.

Massed battle scenes are a staple of Warhammer art and something I have long been fascinated by. As a viewer, there is always something more to see and imagine, placing you right into the heat of battle and the world around it. As an artist, it's an opportunity to make lots of small paintings within one big one and really immerse yourself in the world and process.

I have always felt the Thunder Warriors and Unification Wars before the Emperor ever left Earth are some of the most interesting parts of the lore. I looked a lot at John Blanche's older work depicting this era and there hasn't been a lot since, I thought I might toss my own hat into the ring.

In comparison to their successors: the Space Marines, the Thunder Warriors were more brutal, barbaric, and borderline low-tech. They were less disciplined and mentally stable, but stronger and more savage. I wanted to capture all of this as well as a more ancient and antiquated feel to their look. I looked at a lot of classic Roman and Greek armor as well as gladiators and barbarians. In the end I'm really happy with the frenetic feeling of this battle, the ancient and rugged look of the Thunder Warriors, and the additional representation I could bring to The Unification Wars.

-Sam Bogits

Process

I started this painting with some disconnected sketches of various related subjects, poses, and ideas. This allowed me to create designs I might not otherwise have thought of if I was influenced by finding a composition right off the bat. I also enjoy the feeling of pencil sketching on paper and find it sometimes allows for more flow in posing and attitude.

Here I transferred the sketches to digital and played with various arrangements and aspect ratios in which to place all the elements I had drawn. I then sketched in anything that might need to fill the gaps between them and unite the composition before finally completing a tighter drawing on top of it. Lastly I experimented with two different lighting set ups, one with a harsh light cutting through from the top right. The other with two light sources: a spot light from the top left and a back light in the distance on the right.

I chose a primary color triad, knowing yellow would be in play for the golden armor and blue would be needed to sell the cold atmosphere. Red followed as an accent color. Then I just started to slowly build up detail and definition across the whole piece. I tweaked anatomy and sizing here and there, eventually adding many tiny details. To finish it I added several layers of smoke to separate the composition and add depth. Finally I painted the background architecture of the space and the hordes of fighters in the distance. Below you can see the zoomed-in individual stages of key areas as they developed over the span of the painting process.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse