Son of Carnelian

@jedijune : Resilience

Redraw of Barriss Offee in Tartakovsky's 2003 Clone Wars

In Memoriam John Blanche October 1948 - June 2026

We're going to be doing this more often, you know.

John Blanche died this week, as reported by fellow former Games Workshop alum Trish Carden, passing away at the age of 78. Intensely private in his personal life - his birthday is observed in "late October" - details of his passing are understandably scarce. Although he retired a few years ago owing to poor health, I hope that his ultimate end was a peaceful one untroubled by sickness or infirmity.

I had the unique pleasure of meeting Blanche in a professional capacity, once, and he was precisely the sort of gregarious weirdo that one might assume from his work. Though our acquaintance was brief, it was one of the highlights of my association with Games Workshop.

In many ways, Blanche is synonymous with Warhammer - throughout much of Games Workshop's golden age in the 1990s, it was Blanche's art which formed people's first impressions of the setting and served as the initial hook to draw them into the grim darkness of the far future. It's certainly what hooked me.

His influence on the 40k aesthetic cannot be understated and is still felt, today, in ways both subtle and gross. In celebration of Blanche's life, take a moment to appreciate some of my favorite pieces of his.

Armored Lady Monday

i didnt have that much time today so i went for a simpler armor, a slick and streamlined, possibly dragon hide armor bcus its a bit too shiny to be leather i feel hahaha.

i think she is trying to communicate with her eyes that you should not say aything about what you just saw her do.

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It is the 41st millennium. For more than a hundred centuries, the Emperor has sat immobile upon the Golden Throne of Earth

He is the Master of Mankind in a war between gods and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies.

He is the carrion lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so His may continue to burn.

He is a rotting carcass writhing with power sustained by forbidden marvels from the Dark Age of Technology.

To be alive in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable.

These are the tales of those times.

Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten never to be relearned.

Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.

No peace amongst the stars. Only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting gods.