Kevin Chin is a veteran illustrator who's worked with Games Workshop for the better part of 8 years and has done some of the iconic pieces for the Fyreslayers and Chaos books. I managed to catch up with him over a cup of coffee while he was back in Singapore recently.
Do you play any of Games Workshop’s games?
All of their games. 40k and Age of Sigmar on a more constant basis. I’ve always been playing those 2. I did play a lot of Lord of the Rings and War of the Rings.
Do you work with a lot of free-lancers as part of GW?
Yes. At one point, there were many freelancers working with us, but not so much now.
Have you worked on any of the recent 40k releases for 8th edition?
The most recent artwork I’ve done specifically for 40k is for the main rulebook itself (on the inside of the cover).
I notice that you did a lot of the dwarf artwork for Age of Sigmar...
Yes, the Kharadron Overlords...even before AoS, the Dwarf book as well, the last dwarf book that was out.
How different is it to illustrate Dwarfs compared to humans?
Most of the time we have to make them look wide and like a rock. A blocky silhouette. They are very wide and horizontal compared to the more vertical of the elves.
Other than illustration, do you do any input for the model design?
Not at all. Model design is specifically handled by the sculptors. The sculptors decide what they look like.
Do you get to sit down with the sculptors and/or the design team to figure out how a particular race will look like before you proceed to your various specialisations?
Not really. Most of the time the models will be done first and when we get them, we will look at them and reference it. The toy soldiers influence the aesthetic, the background.
Speaking of the Kharadron, do you collect any armies?
Yup, I have the old dwarfs. I have a Bretonnian army as well. I have Ogres. I have Fyreslayers as well as the Kharadron Overlords. Just a small force for the Overlords just to test the scheme first and I’ve found the theme but now the difficult part is to figure out how to paint them because painting the crew is one thing. Painting the machines is another. To have them match the theme and overall feel of the army.
Has GW completely transitioned into the digital space for illustration now? I understand they were making that transition over from the more traditional medium.
Yes, completely. It’s easier for me because I started in GW as a digital artist and I had to learn traditional art for 2 years before they made the switch. For me, I’m back into familiar ground.
Have there been any changes to the technology in producing digital artwork since you’ve started on it?
It’s mostly based on Photoshop but the ones that are more important are our monitors because we have to upgrade them to suit both mediums because GW produces both digital and physical products.
The artwork has to look good both digitally as well as in publications but unfortunately no monitor covers both mediums as well. Like the iMac screens cater more for digital art, video and photography so the contrast is higher but it doesn’t translate as well to publication. So we have to get another set of monitors to see the greys more distinctly to be able to proof the artwork. We make sure the colours are accurate and that we don’t lose any details. Some colours can go way off like Turquoise.
Sounds like there’s a fair bit of back-and -forth sometimes.
There is a lot of back-and-forth between us and the designers as well. We have to make sure we fit the requirements like if we’re painting for the cover versus on the inside of the book. We have to make sure to take into account the size of the logo as well.
We have to take into consideration the size of everything else around as well like the spine, the cover text and we have to make sure that the artwork stands out and is in the right size so that you see the figure that’s there. In a way, when we do our covers, we paint a really big picture and the cover only takes up about 50% of the picture.
Do you use parts of that large canvas in other parts of the book as well.
Sometimes we do. If the artworks fits the part of the book, we can use it but present it differently so no part of the book looks the same. We work closely with the book designers to make sure no part of the book feels repetitive. We make sure we put out the best product we can and that the books don’t have replicated artwork and each artwork means something on the page it’s on. The artwork has to sit well with the context so that gamers feel more vested into what they are reading.
That’s great! A lot of gamers may not think of that aspect when they think of illustration or a book being produced.
I think it depends on what things inspire them. Some people just look directly to the model. Some look at the story/background/content. Others look toward the artwork as a source of inspiration. The crowd seems to be drawn into various points and everyone has their own reason. Something to draw them into the hobby. What we try to do with the product is we try to cater to everyone so we can get the maximum effect.
If you’re drawn in immediately when you look at the model when there isn’t even any colour on it, that’s a good sign. It’s easier for us as artists when we look at a model and say “Oh I know what to do with this” or “I have a picture in my mind”. The model has to speak a visual language on its own. I have to make sure I represent what the model means as much as I can.
I know a lot of the people at GW have a lot of their own armies and I don’t know how everyone can work with models day in and day out and still have their own personal projects and keep up their enthusiasm for models.
Chris Peach is a hobby beast. He likes to kitbash stuff for his Azure army* and possesses a craftsmanship that I don’t have. That’s what I admire about Chris Peach. I guess a lot of people inspire you because you are surrounded by people who actually love the hobby and you can feed off each other. Like for Phil Kelly, when you have any questions about rules or background, you can approach him to fill you in.
*Chris Peach's army is featured in the August 2017 issue of White Dwarf
Do you find any difference between painting models and creating artwork?
It depends on what level of the hobby you are in. If you talk about some like John Blanche, his models are an artwork. It’s like he replicates his artwork onto his models or the other way round. The amount of artisanship he has...all of his models are different and none of them are replicated. You find yourself wondering what he used to create a particular effect or you wonder how he does that. He puts his artistic practice into his models. You’re both inspired and intimidated at the same time.
I think a lot of hobbyists are intimidated by the hobbying aspect of Warhammer.
That’s me because I have a fear of cutting up my models. The only ones I’ve extensively converted are my Legion of the Damned and it’s a tiny army for me. That was the only time I dipped my hands into hobbying and I have to say it was rather scary because of the fear of spoiling the models. But as long as you get past of that barrier and fear, you can imagine them to be like lego pieces; you just pick what you need and put them together. Sometimes the fear is to experiment. Depending on what makes it fun for you; what your "hobby" is.
What interests you in 40k art?
The unseen parts of the Imperium I think are the most interesting parts to paint because it’s a huge playground to work with as most people have only seen the surface of this machinery.
I think it surprises people as well because they did not think about this or did not think that it would look the way it does. When you present it in another way; like “this is part of the 40k universe” they might go “ah, I was not expecting that.” That’s the thing that I always enjoy doing. You surprise people and capture their attention by giving them something that they were not expecting and use that as a hook to get people in. It’s difficult to do and is the most challenging aspect and if given a job like that, I would ask myself what kind of hook I want to create or what might that look like in my head and how can I turn that into something that reflects the IP and surprises people.
Have you done any artwork for the Primaris Marines?
Not yet… I’ve done part of the main rulebook itself (Kevin points out the inside of the cover of the new Big Rule Book that is in black and white). This was done as a homage and if you can catch the references, it was done as a homage piece to my favourite black & white pieces that was done in the old days. Especially the gate of the Imperial Palace and i made a few tweaks to it. I’ve always felt like the black and white work from the 80s is a very strong root for Games Workshop art. There is a lot of character there and I wanted to pay homage to all the artwork that was done then.
This is what draws me into 40k and how close the Imperium and Chaos are to each other. It’s just a flip of a coin. And brother against brother is a tragedy.
What are some of your favourite pieces that you’ve done?
I have a few. The ones that I’ve felt that push me beyond my comfort zone in illustration are the Rise of Archaon, the Chaos Space Marine Gate fold from the older codex and the Grimnir vs Vulcatrix piece as well. Those are the few breakthroughs that I’ve had and made me do something that I thought was not possible before.
Has Brexit affect you and your work over in the UK?
We try not to let it affect our work and to remain professional. You will definitely feel it of course but it’s not something you can control anyway. What we can control is the quality of the work we can do.
Change will happen for sure and we just have to take things one at a time. So I try to focus on the things I can control and my family and work as much as possible.
Finally, any advice for artists who might have inspirations to work at GW?
Practice hard. The market is really competitive right now so if you want to get into the illustration industry, be prepared to work really hard and get used to being uncomfortable (improving yourself).
You have to have the mindset to always want to get better; not just good. First of all, pay the bills. Second of all, think about what you really want to achieve and what draws you in. There must be a good reason why you are drawing in the first place and what brought you into the industry in the first place.
The Crossroads would like to thank Mr Kevin Chin for taking the time during his vacation for the interview and hope his work with Games Workshop inspires the next generation of aspiring artists to keep working on their craft to better themselves.