Some new Graham Turner WOTR paintings!

[Charlie_]

Saw these on facebook.

THE BATTLE OF BLORE HEATH




THE HARD ROAD TO TEWKESBURY




THE DECISIVE BLOW





Every painting of late 15th soldiers from Mr Turner is a masterpiece, and they show how such interesting details.

[Captain Blood]

Agreed. Brilliant paintings. I’ve got several large format prints of some of his earlier WOTR paintings framed on my wall. I’ll have to look out for these as well. Good spot, Charlie 

[Plynkes]

I'm assuming this isn't the same Graham Turner who managed Wolves, Villa, Shrewsbury Town and Hereford? 


Love his style. I think I have an Osprey campaign book with his art in it.

[Charlie_]

His paintings are as close as we'll ever get to photos of the era, and he's the person I'd most trust to get all the historical details as correct as is possible.

[HappyChappy439]

Ah excellent! Always great to see more of his work! Thanks for sharing them here!

I like Somerset in that last one just stumbling in like "Oh! Well this is a disaster!"

[Atheling]

I love Graham Turner's work and his attention to detail.

For anyone out there who's interested and not aware Graham Turner has his own web page called Studio 88 and a great Facebook page.

Graham Turner's Studio 88:
https://www.studio88.co.uk/acatalog/Graham_Turner.html

Graham Turner's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GrahamTurnerArtist/

Another Late Medieval artist to watch out for is Matthew Ryan who has just had work featured in the Tower of London right next to Henry V's portrait!

Matthew Ryan's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/matthewryanhistoricalillustrator

Matthew Ryan's Webpage:
http://matthewryanhistoricalillustrator.com/

Two of the very best I think.

[has.been]

Why do I now fancy doing a War of the Roses Skirmish game?

[Ockius]

I like how these remind you that battlefields are very rarely just empty grass expanses set aside specially for battles. They are dotted with trees, thickets, streams and so on, which he has really captured in a lifelike way here. Those small features must have made a big difference to the micro-level fighting.

[Captain Blood]

I like how these remind you that battlefields are very rarely just empty grass expanses set aside specially for battles. They are dotted with trees, thickets, streams and so on, which he has really captured in a lifelike way here. Those small features must have made a big difference to the micro-level fighting.

Absolutely right. I’ve got his painting of Tewkesbury, below, on my wall (well, a print of it). It depicts the fateful turning point of the battle as Edward leads his men down into the ditch between hedgerows to meet Somerset’s rash and unsupported advance. It’s a weirdly bucolic and very English scene. It’s recognisably verdant and unkempt English countryside and I think that’s what helps makes many of his paintings feel so real. Well, to us Brits anyway
The discombobulating effect of seeing armoured men trying to kill each other in strangely familiar chocolate box rural settings.
It’s what I try to capture on the tabletop!

[Charlie_]

I like how these remind you that battlefields are very rarely just empty grass expanses set aside specially for battles. They are dotted with trees, thickets, streams and so on, which he has really captured in a lifelike way here. Those small features must have made a big difference to the micro-level fighting.

Agreed. They give me lots of ideas to think about concerning the appearance of the gaming table, scale of the game being played, rules concerning formations and how they do or do not move... I'm all in favour of hedges, ditches and such having an effect on the game!

[Amalric]

Thanks for posting this!

Graham Turner's work, along with Angus McBride, are two of my favorite historical illustrators.

[Codsticker]

I think that's Peter Dinklage crossing pole arms in the bottom left of that painting...

[Captain Blood]

I know what you mean. Quite apart from the resemblance, that figure doesn’t exactly look like he’s fighting for his life, does he? More like he’s trying to hook a particularly tricky apple off a tree...

If I have one criticism of this artist, brilliant as he is, it would be that his rendering of the facial expressions and poses of men fighting for their lives, sometimes look a bit bland or static. He doesn’t seem to quite get that snarling, terrified, pop-eyed desperation that Angus McBride (mostly) got into his scenes of combat. Turner’s scenes of hand to hand fights to the death sometimes look like slightly staid, technical encounters.

I still think he’s brilliant though. Just being picky... 

[Atheling]

I know what you mean. Quite apart from the resemblance, that figure doesn’t exactly look like he’s fighting for his life, does he? More like he’s trying to hook a particularly tricky apple off a tree...

 

If I have one criticism of this artist, brilliant as he is, it would be that his rendering of the facial expressions and poses of men fighting for their lives, sometimes look a bit bland or static. He doesn’t seem to quite get that snarling, terrified, pop-eyed desperation that Angus McBride (mostly) got into his scenes of combat. Turner’s scenes of hand to hand fights to the death sometimes look like slightly staid, technical encounters.

I still think he’s brilliant though. Just being picky... 

Yep, right on both counts. Graham Turner is a brilliant figurative artist and right that he sometimes struggles to give that sense of terror in the heat of battle. Oddly enough, it's often easier, if indeed that is the right word, to give a sense of foreboding and terror in (*so called) abstract art.

*Abstract Art- meaning to take from nature.