RIP John Blanche

Sad news, as Trish Carden and others have stated that John Blanche passed away a couple of days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZHy0ysgJyB/

John Blanche was one of the main architects behind Warhammer as a whole, and 40k in particular. His own art helped define the baroque, gothic grimdark of the setting, but he was also the long-serving art director for GW and a conceptual artist, and he thus shaped the aesthetics of the settings more generally.

With the way 40k is developed, that means he played an integral part in the creation and evolution of the lore, too.

He also seemed like a really interesting guy. Hearing about how he would drive his Harley-Davidson motorbike to antiques fairs while listening to Krautrock in the 1980s was very endearing.

It's nice that he received more recognition in recent years, such as in the documentary The Grim and the Dark: Searching for John Blanche: https://trademarkfilms.com/films/d121a6f6-231f-481d-86bc-3fe5ee83847f

And the recently released 11th edition 40k animation trailer harked back to his iconic works, especially of the Emperor, very heavily.

A titan of Warhammer, tabletop gaming, and Fantasy and Scifi art, he will be sorely missed. Condolences to his family and friends.