Does the ASP have a specific "Image"?

[Kage2020]

Well, oink has been PMing me recently and asking whether the project has a specific 'image,' both generally (I guess) and for the website.  I pointed him to the current look of the Explore site, but he also commented about whether it was more "end times" or more "upbeat."  To be honest, from an art/image approach, I was a bit flummoxed. 

Do we have an image that is peculiarly associated with the Project?  If so, what?

I've never thought that we've had one before, but perhaps we do?  I know that we have a number of interpretations that are idiosyncratic - perhaps even peculiar - to the project, but for the artwork?  No, not really.  Sure, we've got some artwork that is unique to the project, but again I've never thought that was a part of our "imagery," at least in terms of the 40k setting.

Sound like I'm floundering?  I guess I am.  Help me out!

Kage

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Personally I go for mythic/heroic times, rather then "endtimes" or "upbeat".
This means that the eroes are more heroic, the vilains are more villaneous, the dark is darker, the light is lighter and war is more war.
This might sound like the general specification on WH40k, though I think that it is a bit more extreme.. A bit more grandiouse...
This is what I have personally aimed for with every piece of Art I have submitted to this project (what little it is) and also the idea I have gotten from Mageys images and Heimdallrs images in particular.

But uniform "image"? Not really, not as far as I have seen... We do the things we are good at, in the fascion we are good at it.
I wouldn't want to cut, for instance, Juddski's art, just on account that they are more gritty then heroic, far from it, I like them! They have their space in the ASP.

[Kage2020]

That's exactly what I thought -- we all have our own approach to the 40k universe and our writings, our artwork or whatever, and that comes out in those creations.  I couldn't define one "Image" over another.

Kage

[CELS]

I guess you could say that we're just imitating the image as seen in GW's artwork, but sometimes moderating it and toning it down a bit. The really 'out there' artwork that you'll sometimes see GW do, inspired only by the rule of cool, where people have chain axes taller than themselves, where pistols fire 50 mm bullets and where Space Marines have the proportions of Optimus Prime, that stuff rarely makes it into our art galleries. As to how this happens, well, I guess it's a combination of the ASP (i.e. Malika ) looking for artists with that kind of approach, and those artists coming to the ASP out of their own volition as well.

There is a lot of 40k artwork out there that is really well done, but isn't appropriate for the ASP (or GW) because it's too naive or anime-like. But since our writers tend to reject the overdone rule of cool, having primitive worlds with Leman Russ tanks pulled by horses like chariots, the same seems to apply for our artwork. It's Warhammer 40,000, but less... fantastic, if you will.

[Kage2020]

Well, perhaps that is the answer?  Instead of an image we have a style, which is generally as little "Rule of Cool" approaches as possible...?

Kage

[oink]

my queries are, quite frankly, difficult to pin down on consideration. I mean, the Anargo Sector Project is so huge that, as Kage pointed out to me, its hard to know where to begin... of course there are lots of different social and pshycological elements at play throught each of the areas of ASP that it would be a massive task to understand each element.

I wanted to look to see if there was a particular theme or element running through the works being submitted. without regard to personal style (because of course, each contributer will have their own stamp on works) and more as an ethos of the artists contributing...

I mean, its difficult for me to think about a project like this, do we treat it as if it was a study of the real, or do we explore the boundaries of the real!? what i suppose im trying to ask is;

"is there an underlying phylosophy?"

[Kage2020]

I guess by the examples that you use, Anargo would be a "study of the boundaries of reality in a contextually plausible manner."  Of course, I know that's not going to be much help, but generally speaking if you do artwork for the 40k universe then it will fit in with Anargo with exceptions, generally, that CELS mentions...

Kage

[EarthScorpion]

I know the way I tend to take it, in so far as it is possible in 40k, is a very science fiction way; which is an oddity.  Technology is more common, and more understood.  There are a lot of lay members of the AdMech, and in a lot of places Omnissianism is just as prominent as "conventional" Imperial Cult. Earth-type planets are rare (which you may have guessed from my SRs), and humanity constantly strives to beat its normal enviroments, changing in the process. Basically, I take my cues from Sci-Fi authors like Dan Simmons, the true Dune books (no KJA ever) and (especially) Stephen Baxter than the more traditional fantasy-in-space ones.

"My" personal 40k is cold, efficent, and works well.  It's a well-oiled, well maintained machine which is kept repaired and often improved just as fast as it decays.  I'm more interested, on the whole, in the internal matters; the hereteks and the recidivists rather than the baby-sacrifiers.

[Malika]

I think that the "image of the ASP" (still not 100% what that exactly should be) is very much context bound. Looking at the Imperium we will see that it has a different image in the ASP than lets say the Eldar do. We've been trying to add a layer or realism to the 40k universe (as far as that is possible) so if there is some sort of uniformity in it all it would be that.

[Warboss Waaazag]

I tend to agree with Malika. I haven't been here as long, but I have been perusing the artwork especially as I find good images very inspiring. The theme I feel is encouraged throughout is one of potential realism. I cite the Space Marine Physiology renderings, the Praetorian servitors, and all the sketch-up vehicles, weapons, and ships. Awesome stuff.

[horizon]

...and if you have an endtimes/upbeat scenario I think there is room for both. Through every endtime shines an upbeat and every upbeat has a downfall (Eldar know a lot about this!).

[Kage2020]

That also offers an alternative answer, Horizon.  One thing that I personally tend to moderate, and which broadly is thus far moderated throughout the project, is the tendency to work on the "Golden Age Doctrine."  We're all familiar with it from the 40k universe, but GW is also hammering this like hell in the WFRP game-line as well (thinking specifically of Guardians of Ulthuan tat the moment).  It ties into everything, and is like a cumbersome yoke around creativity, since it strikes me as the application of a theme to create the banal.

So, there's one strike for "upbeat."  The Eldar are not moping in their cups, waiting for the 'end times' -- they are a dynamic race, beset by tragedy and with deep racial guilt, but definitely not a minor side-kick race of the Old Ones, incapable of doing nigh on anything by themselves.

The counterpoint to this, though, which brings it down from the upbeat, is that the Imperium is not super-powerful, filled with glorious heroes that combat all foes and woes.  It is much like any culture, including all the captured cultures -- fraught with internal and external political pressures, economic difficulties, and even internecine conflict.

Kage