Black Library: Sons Of Wrath
This one was a killer! Pretty happy with how it turned out though 🙂 My very special thanks to Stepanie Toro for her ideas and guidance on our first time collaboration! (Really happy Zophal has his own page! haha
This one happens to be about the Flesh Tearers, with the first chapter master Amit carving a bloody genocidal swath across a courtyard with the Librarian Nuriel and Chaplain Zophal alongside him, finishing off what he started. The back cover (left half of image) features a fallen Eagle Warrior marine, spent bolter casings raining on him and reflections of tracer fire dancing off his well-maintained armour(shame about all that work!). There was one Flesh Tearer in particular that I like, which is the one carving away with an upside down grip. I imagine he somehow catching glimpses of sanity through his blinding rage disorder and while feeling spent mentally, the combat stimulants boiling through his veins amplifies his physical urges as he saws away at already dismembered remains.
I especially enjoyed designing Zophal’s armour, taking some cues from Neil Robert’s numerous custom pieces from his body of work -namely the exhaust nozzles on the backpack. I thought they looked more ornamental and chalice-like, which I thought quite fitting for the Chaplain and adds some nice material contrast from the gunmetal armour. The helmet, incuding the blood spray pattern and chest ornamentation, borrows aesthetic sensibility from the Mexican Day of the Dead festival, or at least what I remember of it.
Hope you guys enjoy this one! There’s quite a backlog of pieces I’ve done for GW/BL that have yet to be released, so can’t wait to share when I can.
Illustration © Games Workshop
Art director/producer: Stephanie Toro
Special thanks: Rob Ashley White (the lovely trailer!)
Check out the book by Andy Smillie here!
