Art question - The emperor of mankind.

7193 Views 44 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Gizor, Oct 1, 2007

evamonkey

Discussion Starter · Jul 29, 2007

Hi, im a digital artist whos doing a picture as some prize support for a local convention. While not a 40k'r i do appreciate the art in it, and have the big ass art book, which is awesome btw.

Im doing the image as an update to an existing image i have seen in the artbook, but which troubles me on a few points of detail. Im really hoping that being seasoned 40'kers, you guys will have the answers i seek.

The image in question is that of the fallen god emperor on his throne.

Now, here come the thing that trouble me/ seem to contradict from what i have researched.

The emperor received a variety of injuries, listed on wikipedia in his battle with horus.

The tendons of his right arm were slashed so he could not hold his weapon.
His neck/jugular was slashed or partially cut at some point.
His right arm was ripped from its socket.
One of his eyes was ruptured.
His chest was slashed.
The flesh was burned from his face.

However, the image of the emperor on the throne most notably misses out on the right arm being severed. However, to keep in continuity, i plant to have it with the emperor even if it is severed, but being maintained as he is.

The second issue, and the dominant visual one, is that it is mentioned that the chair sustained his life, and is as such tended to with great regularity. However, the image shows the mechanisms to be in very poor condition, and the scene looks like the emperor has not been so much as looked at in decades. His robes are white and tattered. The least i would have expected is that his outward appearance be more maintained, even if the newer cloth is just a throw, or ceremonial covering because they cant move the body.

The last question is to do with the emperors sword. Was it of special build or significance. If so, would it not be kept with him , should i include it in the image? Or was it passed in canon onto someone else. Similarly, is there any canon reason why the emperors robes would be left to go into bad condition, or the machines look poorly that im missing.

Thanks in advance for any clarification you can bring.

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Anphicar

· #2 · Jul 29, 2007

what pictures are you looking at, eva?

Stella Cadente

· #3 · Jul 29, 2007

You raise some good points indeed, especially about the Emperor and his current state, his clothing I would expect to be immaculate, the same as the machines, and I think his sword would be by his side, many times in history great heroes weapons are left with them, usually with some significance to the afterlife etc.

MarzM

· #4 · Jul 29, 2007

Well in the fluff (background) the Emperor could have been resurrected. Perhaps surgins re-attached his arm while he was being kept in stasis while the Golden Throne was being built.

MarzM :mrgreen:

evamonkey

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 30, 2007

Thanks for all the info thus far guys.

Im looking at page 116 of ' The art of warhammer 40 k'.

The reason in my current plan doodles that i keep the sword with him is that he is not dead, so they would definitely not take away the sword, methinks. But if it was just a plain old 40 k weapon, nothing special they probably wouldn't bother leaving it with him. Does anyone know if the sword was especially special?
As for the arm issue, im somewhat inclined to have it semi detached, because i want the image to resolve some of the disparities between that image and the account of what had happened during the battle. I also in visual terms want to bring it up to more along the lines of the 2004 reimagining of the horus/ emperor battle, in terms of iconograpgy, and the use of colour with the emperor, red and gold. So, im kind of updating the throne image to be in line with that reimagining.

Im thinking in terms of clothing that they would not touch the body from sheer fear of doing something/ it being sacred, so they may use forms of throws or cloth draped over, rather than being actually worn. I also in the doodles have the sword laid across his arms.

Ill def keep you guys updated as i go.

Is all that stuff on the wiki about injuries accurate though, or is that all fluff too.

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Anphicar

· #6 · Jul 30, 2007

Ohhh thats totally different, really. Pretty much.

That is John Blanche's work. Everything he does is depicted with a grimy, used look.

But your right, he is depcited like a dustball there. I'd ignore that, it is John Blanche and it is his view and it is often messy.

If you were to create a picture, you should have him clean like a whistle, immaculate, but retain those injuries. His right eye is totally gone- and his face flesh is gone. Also, keep in mind the Emperor did recieve more than physical injuries. His fierce mental battle was won, defeating Horus, yet he was rendered nigh nonexistant with his grevious loss of everything bodily due to the force of the battle.

It is known that his physical form is truely decaying, yet it is rigrously well maintained to the best of the priests' abilities.

That is why traitor to the Imperium call him the "Corpse God" as that is basically, and i say it begrudgingly, he is.

You are right about the arm though--but in the 40k world, anything can be replaced cybernetically and in that picture it looks like it has flesh, but in 40k that is possible. "Synth-skin" i think it is called.

Also--fluff is accurate. The "Fluff" is generally always considered fact. Some fluff is disputed as it may partially conflict with previous "fluff" but then it is just pretty much considered an error of record in the various Adeptus' logs.

Another reason fluff may be disputed is that some people think only things such as Codices (40k rule books) and the Main Rulebook contain the true fluff.

However, 99.99 percent of us agree that any publication in the name of 40k is fact, as the 40k universe is a HUGE one with many possiblities and therefore adding to it only makes it better.

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death_of_life

· #7 · Jul 30, 2007

can somebody post the link for a picture of this?

i cant find one.....

Anphicar

· #8 · Jul 30, 2007

Its in a book, i dont think they have the book available online--the images are just too good to have floating on the net for free. :|

"The Art of Warhammer 40,000"-

Commissar_Mike

· #9 · Jul 31, 2007

I'm pretty sure there's a picture of the Emperor fighting Horus in the main rulebook. If I remember correctly, he had a giant golden power-sword swathed in psychic fire. Although it wouldn't be taken from him, I don't think that he'd want it laying on him for hundreds of years either.

BTW, I'm new. What's up guys?

Anphicar

· #10 · Jul 31, 2007

Whats up Mike!

That is true, he had a flaming sword.

I'm not sure if it was uber special though, but id say anything of the Emperor's was sepcial.

Wrath of Khaine

· #11 · Jul 31, 2007

I'd think the Golden Throne would be more of a sarcophagus, shutting the Emperor's physical appearance away inside like Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor. But in the Emperor's case, an exact likeness of his prouder days would be sculpted into the sarcophagus almost making it seem to be a massive suit of armor upon a throne. His armor and weapons would most likely have been sundered during his battle with Horus and the pieces dispersed to the relic vaults on Terra or even Ophelia VII and spread throughout the segmentums' major temples.
I see something like Dante of the Blood Angels mixed with the Emperor vs Horus with the flaming sword but sitting akin to Marneus Calgar flanked by his Eagle-helmed guards.

hephesto

· #12 · Aug 1, 2007

There have been a number of pics/art of the golden throne and the emperor in his current more or less dead state. I'll have a look around (can't sleep) and I'll PM them to you (GW probably wouldn't be to happy with me just posting the stuff :wink

hephesto

· #13 · Aug 1, 2007

Done, check your PM for what will hopefully be some useful materials :wink:

Commissar_Mike said:
BTW, I'm new. What's up guys?

And hello to you to, hope you'll enjoy your time here mate!

DaemonsR'us

· #14 · Aug 1, 2007

From some fluff ive seen its said that not everything of the emperor was recovered so possibly the sword was lost on horus's ship and also remember a bit about what was recovered from the armor was melted down and used for the eagle thingy or something special on termy armor,

evamonkey

Discussion Starter · #15 · Aug 9, 2007

yee olde under drawing before painting. fluff accuracy/ feedback appreciated.

direct link
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9004/emperortotalbfu4.jpg

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Anphicar

· #16 · Aug 9, 2007

Pretty damned good.

Its hard to criticize and give great information about the things you asked--noone knows exactly how the emperor looks atm.

But i think you did a marvelous job.

Will you be sticking around to post about 40k stuff?

Elchimpster

· #17 · Aug 9, 2007

Wrath of Khaine said:
I'd think the Golden Throne would be more of a sarcophagus, shutting the Emperor's physical appearance away inside like Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor. But in the Emperor's case, an exact likeness of his prouder days would be sculpted into the sarcophagus almost making it seem to be a massive suit of armor upon a throne. His armor and weapons would most likely have been sundered during his battle with Horus and the pieces dispersed to the relic vaults on Terra or even Ophelia VII and spread throughout the segmentums' major temples.
I see something like Dante of the Blood Angels mixed with the Emperor vs Horus with the flaming sword but sitting akin to Marneus Calgar flanked by his Eagle-helmed guards.

Wow, that's one helluva'n idea. The sarcophagus looking "whole" while the Emperor inside isn't. I hadn't thought of that.

evamonkey

Discussion Starter · #18 · Aug 9, 2007

Thanks. Imeant stuff like i maintained the belt from the modern emperor vs horus image. And i included a lot of the distinctive wax sealed scrolls i see in a lot of space marine images. WHta i guess i meant was, thus far does it look like something from 40 k. Is there any piece of iconography or logo missing that might be there. ( emperial logo etc) In terms of colours i plan to dominate in golden hues, reds to match the scheme of the emperors uniform in said emperor vs horus image, and then work in some cooler colours for the background.

As for posting
hahha, i dunno, i think what i know of 40 k could be put fairly easily on a sheet of A4 paper. Having said that, this is def where ill be reading up on 40 k, and if i have questions, you can bet ill ask them.

edit , while i though what was being said about a full enclosure was interesting, The fluff would indicate that the golden throne was not meant to carry out the role it does now. So i wanted it to have a slightly bodged feel. Also, and more primarily, it would prevent me from actually drawing the emperor himself. I also in the image wanted to get across the feeling behind the name 'corpse god'.

And of course, i wanted to stay true to a lot of the previous imagery of the emperor, which shows him openly.

In particular though, as mentioned before, i wanted to illustrate the extent of injury to him that is described in text, but in none of the images. For that i needed to display him.

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Elchimpster

· #19 · Aug 9, 2007

evamonkey said:
yee olde under drawing before painting. fluff accuracy/ feedback appreciated.

direct link
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9004/emperortotalbfu4.jpg

Well done.

The art skills are certainly there, and it's got lots of all the right "stuff" to make it 40k.

The only thing I'd do different is possibly pull back the "camera" a bit, and show that it is high up on a giant mechanism, make it look really huge. (well...that's the idea at least, that it's huge. It would however work as-is in the idea that people THINK it's huge, but really it's not).

I've got some other 40k art ideas I could throw at you. I've been remiss in doing 40k art (which is odd because I love the material)

evamonkey

Discussion Starter · #20 · Aug 9, 2007

Well, i had to make the trade off between showing a huge machine, or simiply implying the machinery extends beyond the sheet. If i zoomed out, the emperor would be proportionally smaller on the page, thus less visible, and his injuries less obvious.

The final painted a2 /a1 size will be prize support at a local 40 k tournament. My only real concern was whether it would look like its part of the 40 k universe. So it certainly takes the edge off knowing it seems to be being accepted.

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