The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Everytime when Games Workshop (or one of its licensees like Fantasy Flight Games or THQ) puts out a new edition / expansion or even a totally brand new game, there’s always bound to be a glorious selection of artwork for the eyes to feast upon. The recent re-release of Space Hulk is no exception despite the fact that it is no new game – the first edition came out 20 years ago in 1989. Nonetheless, it’s bloody nice of Game Workshop to commission fresh new artwork by the likes of Adrian Smith (yum!), Alex Boyd, Dave Gallagher and Paul Dainton specially for this third edition of Space Hulk which is up on the Games Workshop website for your viewing pleasure

Since my favourite artist when it comes to Games Workshop is none other than the mighty Adrian Smith, no prizes for guessing which piece I prefer the most

© Games Workshop

Above is the box art featuring three Terminators from the Blood Angels Space Marines Chapter purging a space hulk of Genestealers with stormbolter, power sword and thunder hammer. The trio aren’t just any random Space Marine Terminators though – they’re artistic impressions of three actual Terminator miniatures from the Space Hulk boxed set.

© Games Workshop

From left : Brother Goriel with Stormbolter and a Genestealer trophy in the other hand, Sergeant Lorenzo with power sword – the Blood Angel’s most experienced 1st Company Sergeant and Sergeant Gideon with thunder hammer and storm shield. Click the links to see 360° views of the miniatures as painted by Games Workshop’s in-house ‘Eavy Metal team.

© Games Workshop

Alex Boyd’s artwork graces the cover of the Rulebook and Mission Book.

© Games Workshop

Being a rather recent convert to the wartorn Warhammer 40,000 universe, I find those old-school Space Marine Terminators in the last two artworks a bit weird – I can almost imagine the agony of the Space Marine being hunched up in one of those uncomfortable-looking Tactical Dreadnought suits while fighting against vicious Genestealers – see the Deathwing Terminators on the far left of the piece above by Christopher Baker.

While you’re there enjoying the artwork, don’t forget to click the tiny green Next button to grab two awesome Space Hulk wallpapers. Naturally, I prefer the one featuring the three Blood Angels Terminator heroes – I never ever pass up a opportunity to collect the artwork of Adrian Smith

Check out Art of Space Hulk and the Space Hulk wallpapers.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (I) – Adrian Smith
Warhammer 40,000 Wallpapers from Firebase Magazine
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VI) – Kevin Chin (King Mong)
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (IV) – Andrea Uderzo
Lord Solar Macharius & The Macharian Crusade

© Ben Stokes

A look at some of Ben Stokes’ creative outputs, who’s probably better known as Dimensional Holofonic Sound or D.H.S to techno fans. His track House of God or one of its many remixes has been played by DJs for two decades now, check out its music video at Youtube, also directed and animated by Ben Stokes himself. Or listen to the track itself at Junodownload.

© Ben Stokes

Also check out the music video for Steel Pulse and Damien Marley’s No More Weapons directed, shot and animated by Ben Stokes. Look for the video labelled Music Videos Part 1 at the Video section of his official website at holofonic.com or at YouTube – you definitely can’t miss the reggae vibes or the animated silhouettes of soldiers moving onscreen (reminds me of the Massive Entertainment animated production logo in the game World at Conflict).

© Massive Entertainment

My favourite work from Ben Stokes is definitely the ultra funky Drum Attack video released in 2003 consisting of multiple video clips of drummers doing their thing and expertly chopped and spliced together into a delicious two and half minute mini-mix, not unlike how hip hop DJs mix in different records at lightning speed like DJ Spinbad (or Aquasky for that matter, who crammed in 150+ records for a 5 minute mini-set for Annie Mac’s show on BBC Radio One in Jan 2006).

© Ben Stokes

Karate chops! Wait, have those got anything to do with drumming?

© Ben Stokes

Ends with a visual of Clyde Stubblefield who played the drums for James Brown’s Funky Drummer.

The quality of the Drum Attack video posted at Youtube is rather crappy so you might want to check out a clearer version at the website for Ben Stokes’ label Tino Corp or the Video section of holofonic.com where a longer 3 minute version of Drum Attack awaits in the Other Works video (fast forward to 2:34 mins).

Enjoy!

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Audiotool – Virtual Music Production Studio
Links to Direct Downloads for Selected Annie Mac 5 Minutes Mixes
Promo Video for Gayle San’s .Network Audiovisual Livemix Compilation
Tony-B Machine – Flash Toy for Creating Early 90’s Techno/Electro
Be Your Own One Man Band

Concepts from the canned guerilla-inspired console game Revolution by Concrete Games which was a subsidiary of THQ until it was closed down in January last year. First read about this game from Joshua James Shaw’s blog where he showcases artwork done for the game together with his personal portfolio.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Reminiscent of games like PopTop’s sunny dictatorial sim Tropico and of course, Avalanche Studios’ Just Cause, Revolution is set similiarly in a tropical country governed by a highly decorated dictator and his oppressive military regime.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Of course, a game with a title like Revolution would be incomplete with the rebels – some are depicted here wearing military fatigues emblazoned with the Marxist red star or with caps in the style of Fidel Castro’s. Surprisingly, there’s no depiction of the rebels wearing Che Guevara’s famous beret, given that the iconic mugshot of Fidel’s comrade is plastered on countless T-shirts worldwide in real life.

© Concrete Games / THQ

I like this piece highlighting the contrasting appearance of two very different warlords – the one on the left with his two henchmen wearing sneakers and sunglasses probably hail from a large town or city whereas the other is dressed like a fighter based in a rural town or in the jungle with a more practical and longer ranged rifle slung on his back. Both do wear extravagant accessories, probably to set them apart from their followers.

© Concrete Games / THQ

The Watch-Dogs – looks like to be a well-equipped CIA paramilitary types (see these photos of Hot Toys’ 1/6th CIA Commando) or simply mercenaries.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Another set of miscellaneous concepts – a Roman Catholic cardinal with the scarlet zurchetto and black cassock, a heavy armoured SWAT-style trooper and a machete-wielding cowboy(?).

© Concrete Games / THQ

For those who can’t get enough of the artwork for Revolution, Unseen 64 has a great selection of concepts done by other artists for the game, including this unequal faceoff between a fearless protester and a entire squad of riot police supported by an armoured car and snipers on the rooftops.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Goverment tanks and artillery securing the entrances to the airport.

© Concrete Games / THQ

The same airport up in flames after rebel “liberation”.

© Concrete Games / THQ

More concepts from the Unseen 64 gallery.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Mother’s Mercy – A heavily adorned rebel M1A rifle modified with a carrying handle. Comes with rusty bayonet (or is that dried blood on the blade?)

View more of these concepts for Revolution at Joshua James Shaw’s blog and at Unseen 64 (Part I and Part II).

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Concepts & Wallpapers from Iron Grip : Warlord
Waltz With Bashir – Award-winning Animated Documentary
Modernized M14 Rifles
A Second Look @ Jagged Alliance 2 Mod 1.13 v 1.0.0.687

Caught the website for The Art of Games off Kekai Kotaki’s blog (he’s the concept art lead for ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2). This Italian exhibition showcases 14 artists, some whose artwork will be instantly recognizable to gamers. Perhaps you’ll even discover the names behind some of your favourite concept art like I did

Well-known artists like Craig Mullins have been delivering quality concept art for computer games for years – The Art of Games showcases his more recent work for Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties and the iconic Master Chief from Bungie’s Halo – but I have seen some of his fantastic stuff for the Myth series (also by Bungie) published a decade back.

While many of these artists have been featured on the web through art and occassionally, game magazines, there’s a couple of artists who are entirely new to me (or I haven’t been looking hard enough). One is Alessandro Taini who is the artist behind several gorgeous concepts of the fiery redhead Nariko from Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword and the other is Jim Murray – I’m not too sure which games some of his artworks were commissioned for, but it’s all good

And of course you shouldn’t miss out on Kekai Kotaki’s incredible fantasy art and character designs at the The Art of Games and his own site at www.kekaiart.com – especially if you’re a fan of Guild Wars 2’s character designs.

For those who like to collect digital art, check out the press kit (look under About > Press Kit). There’s a trio of works from the press kit that I like a lot – Craig Mullins’ Master Chief, Stephen Martiniere’s Spring (apparently a book cover) and this artwork titled MEDIUM_Armor_F.tif (absolutely no idea by which artist or for which game – sorry!).

© Craig Mullins

© Stephen Martiniere

It’s not often that you encounter exhibitions that celebrate the art of computer games yet it’s surprising that they don’t seem to receive much attention through the mainstream gaming press. Really strange since the graphical and visual aspects of games nowadays are often their main selling points.

Check out the The Art of Games. The website is available in English, French and Italian.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Into the Pixel 2006 – Computer and Video Game Art Exhibition
Age of Empires III : The Asian Dynasties Wallpapers
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art
The Art of Phil Wohr – Halo Wars & More!
startdrawing.org – Asia’s Drawing Portal

Found Phil Wohr’s blog by chance from the blogroll of one of his fellow concept artists (only problem is I can’t remember whose blog that was ). A concept artist for Ensemble Studios until it disbanded early this year, Phil did some of the concepts for the Xbox 360 RTS Halo Wars, some of them which can found in the Concept Art gallery in the official Halo Wars website.

© Ensemble Studios / Microsoft

For me, I enjoy his personal portfolio a lot more than his Halo Wars stuff (I’m not a very big fan of Master Chief or the Halo universe), of Kaylyn the Patron Saint with that dangerous-looking hammer and Cujo with a helmet painted to resemble a snarling wolf. View these two paintings at their original size here.

© Phil Wohr

A varied selection of fantasy, sci-fi character designs and environmental design works from his portfolio below.

© Phil Wohr

And saving the best for last, this couple of recently posted artworks Pilgrimage Through the Portals of the Lost and Apocalypse Rider were for CGHUB’s Natives of the Lifeless Forest and Drawing Jam #9 Mount em’ Up! challenges respectively. And yeah, the ominous Apocalypse Rider won Drawing Jam #9

© Phil Wohr

Phil mentions on his CGHUB profile that one of his previous projects is Gearbox Software’s upcoming Borderlands. Hopefully we’ll see some stuff for that game at his blog or CGHUB gallery soon enough

Check out his blog Art of Phil Wohr or his CGHUB gallery for more of his stunning art.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
My Favourite Dominance War III Wallpapers
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VII) – Nacho Fernandez (nachomon)
Dan LuVisi’s Portraits of Movie Characters & More!
My Favourite Pepper Project Entries
Kai (Ukitakumuki) – Concept Art for Nuclear Dawn and More!