Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings everyone!

...and a Prosperous New Year to you all!!!

Neil

Horus Heresy: Flight of the Eisenstein

I was really looking forward to this cover, I'd wanted to do a proper Warhammer 40,000 'monster' for a long time and what better monster than a Daemon of Nurgle! The Imperial Fist lying on the steps was a direct reference to the marines on the 'Rogue Trader' cover. In the end, BL wanted the Nurgle head to look like the 'Realms of Chaos' cover by Les Edwards, I was only too happy to update it, it's a fantastic image to pay homage to.

Trivia: The far columns are taken from holiday photos of the ancient ruins in Rome, who says you can't mix business with pleasure?

Horus Heresy: Galaxy in Flames

For Galaxy in Flames, Bl Publishing had a fairly specific brief: a pre-heresy Titan, Death Guard, Luna Wolves and a massive explosion on the left hand side. Organising these elements was the tricky part, such as making sure the Titan would be clearly visible after the title box was overlaid. Having a template for the book cover was a real help in laying out the image.

Trivia: In earlier versions of the image, the main Death Guard Marine had no helmet.

Portfolio: Eating Las Vegas

In these posts, we'll take a quick detour to look at some of the artworks that currently sit in my portfolio.

'Cthulhu on Las Vegas Boulevard' was the idea behind this piece. I wanted a bloated, toothy, drooling and plain nasty-looking monster ready to pounce from the backstreets of Las Vegas - all in the style of the 80's horror novel covers. Great fun to do and a nice little test of composition and lighting.

Trivia: Behind it, out of focus, is the entrance/ exit to a sleazy Strip joint - just don't ask what it's been doing in there.

Horus Heresy: Horus Rising

BL Publishing came to me with a commission for a series of books detailing the Horus Heresy and wanted, as a wraparound cover, the Luna Wolves attacking a fortress. At the time I was really into Lord of the Rings films and so I wanted to capture the essence of the flashbacks to the 'Battle of Mount Doom'. Also, I wanted to produce a piece of artwork that would be as inspirational and definitive to others as John Sibbicks' 'Rogue Trader' cover was to me back in 1988.

Trivia: The distant mountains are referenced from holiday photos taken in Snowdonia.

Dawn of War: Ascension

This was my first fully commissioned piece for BL Publishing. It took an age to realise as I was still figuring out my workflow. Based on the previous Dawn of War novel, the composition and colours were made as 'punchy' as possible. It's one of my personal favourites.

Trivia: The Sister of Battle is based on my sisters' facial expression and my wifes' skin texture - so, for your own safety, don't mess with her!

Bringers of Death

This was the first piece I created for BL Publishing. I was in between jobs and had previously worked on character art and marketing images for the cancelled Warhammer Online project. This Space Marine was less resolved when I sent it to BL, however Christian Dunn saw enough potential and asked me to rework a few issues, after which it was used for the anthology 'Bringers of Death'.

Trivia: The clouds were referenced from photos taken from my bedroom window.

First Post!

Hello All,

This is the first post in the revamped SkinnyElbows Blog, the companion site to the more official website:

http://www.skinnyelbows.com/

Time permitting I'll be updating it with final illustrations, WIPs and news from the world of SkinnyElbows Artist - Neil Roberts.

See you around!

N