22 November, 2011

Detail hunting: INQUISITOR Rulesbook backcover

Recently I have picked the Inquisitor Rulesbook from the shelf. I read a few pages, looked through the mini-section, and I turned the book and looked at the barcode on the back. Actually, I did these things in the opposite order. Grabbed the book to look at the code:


Such a cool detail. I remember when I first noticed that particular minuite graphic wonder.
I love great details. And I like to hunt for them. That has to be a new tag - detail hunting.

9 comments:

  1. i keep forgetting i did that - i find legal/commercial stuff can be a bit distracting or breaks the sense of having an artifact from the actual time portrayed - this is a reason for limiting text in the emperors will as i did not want to break the spell - i also see it as a source book rather than an art book - people often wnt a big reveal of how to do things but im not so sure if such a dialogue is very useful as building up a skill base is experience and certainly an organic curve spread over a period of time - i hide many small details in illustrations or page furniture graphics but never out of time or character of the subject matter - visual cross references or small background introductions can add flavour and richness - thats how servo skulls started ......

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  2. I love detail hunting in the far back of GW artwork. I find great inspiration from studying the blurred sketchmarks and suggested images behind the main topic of the artwork. This may be a strange but somehow mutual "space" where the hobbyist and the "official" path of the imagery can meet at chance.

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  3. not sure i understand where the hobbyist differs from the official - theres no gap between hobby [ by which i mean the warhammer hobby ] and any official line .....

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  4. I also love that Magic in the GW books.
    Inquis Exterminatus is one of my big favourites [check the barcode on that one too] very limited text also...I kinda feel tht book is somehow linked to Emp's will in some strange way ;)

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  5. Seeing the finished artwork and the sketch that preceeded it, is enough "how to" for me ;)

    I don't know, mayde it is just me... but I can't see the magic in digitally generated artwork... they just somehow appear fake... (even tho I use Photoshop with Wacom myself sometimes;)

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  6. True, JB. What I mean is that when looking for new stuff (character types, troops, etcetera) to make, the grey areas - such as the Inquisition anno 1999 - are obvious places for the hobbyists to participate and add their interpretations to the fictive GRAND text. In the late 90s there were very few models representing the Inquisition staff - henchmen, servitors, scribes, etcetera - but these type of characters/personae had started to creep into the artwork. So somehow if one tried to explore these "grey area"-persons, the hobbyist might be working on the same new character types as were being designed at the same time. Also, as illustrations go the main focus on a GW illustration is usually a combat situation featuring a troop type or character available as a model. However - for fluff-figure-geeks like myself creating figures from behind the scenes the obvious place is to look behind the main attraction. And I might add that it has been a joy-ride seeing the way the Inquisition has come to life with more and more assistant characters and interesting models. I suppose what I am saying is; that if you as a hobbyist is interested in creating characters and stuff not yet seen as actual models (but with a place in the fiction) a good place to look for ideas is in the artwork backgrounds...

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  7. ah i see - yup twas the way - i had to flesh out the worlds from the start and invented drew and briefed it thus - and yup will part one is an update on inquis - i built both - have the rough white books for them - a bit like anarchic versions - digital art is coming of age to the point where it is becoming hard to spot which is which ....

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  8. I think it is very important that GW has left those GREY areas for the hobbyists to fill.

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  9. Even tho digital stuff is evolving all the time, I still think it's same thing like with special effects in the latest action movies. First you look and think "Wow this is so super realistic stuff"...and then, after five years it is like "J's what a crap"

    Analog rulez...

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