Explore fantasy art: Ian Miller
Ian Miller is a British artist who has been producing art for several decades now. His style is highly recognisable.
His art is often like the ents above – made using a limited colour palette. I look at the ents and think about my own miniature painting (I enjoy visual art, but I’m no illustrator!) and wonder whether my models would look better with fewer colours.
Ian Miller’s official site is being rebuilt as I write this article. For now there’s a few illustrations there, but not a whole gallery. You can check out his Facebook page instead.
If you grew up steeped in British folklore and mythology, you’ll find Ian Miller’s art very resonant. If not, I think ‘gloriously weird’ is as good a description as any.
Ian Miller provided art for Games Workshop back in the 1980s, contributing to the early look of Chaos in particular.
Scent of a Gamer 
Thats some awesome looking art!
Interesting to read the comment of limited palettes and applying it to models, I’m curious to see what you come up with and to maybe try it myself sometime too.
Good post, thanks for sharing.
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thanks Jenn!
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The “Facebook Page” link doesn’t appear to be a link.
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Thanks for the heads up. Fixed now, and he’s just posted the new Magic art (his first in over 20 years!) that was revealed yesterday.
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I love Ian Miller’s work, first ran into it at a very old 80s Citadel Journal I think. I found it a bit scary too, as a kid!
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He clearly had a big influence on the likes of John Blanche!
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Absolutely brilliant artists. I have one of his art books and often look through it for inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
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Nice! When I was writing this I was looking to link to one of his art books but they are currently out of print at the moment, hopefully that will change.
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A memorable style. I’ve seen a lot with Warhammer, and on a fair number of novel covers. It’s nice to know he’s still producing art.
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He seems to have moved into doing mainly private commissions these days although he’s still producing commercial work too.
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One of my favourite fantasy artists.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Definitely one of the most distinctive styles in fantasy art.
I think a limited pallette does make for a more interesting miniature. I try it more often these days and are always surprised how much atmosphere it can evoke.
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Yes, I think that I could benefit from using fewer colours on each of my miniatures than I usually do
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I don’t think it comes down to colours used, but rather that you achieve an interesting and coherent result. Still working on it myself. What I do recommend is to use colours of one section in other areas too, say in the shadows etc.
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I like that approach, I will definitely give it a try
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I love his work. I think the first piece I ever saw (and loved) was the death on the reik cover art for the 1st edition WFRP. He also did the art for Middenheim City of the White Wolf. Both had his distinctive dark look about them and it definitely sums up GW’s earlier years for me (at least my memories of it from the 80’s)
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His style really does fit Games Workshop very well. I may have seen his work before but hadn’t put a name to it, so thank you for helping me better appreciate his work!
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No problem, I always love being able to put a name to an art piece I like!
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I have to admit that when I first encountered Miller’s art, probably in the first Realm of Chaos book I didn’t immediately like it, but I quickly did learn to appreciate it.
I think GW’s current art style is technically still very good and their artists turn out some amazing pieces, but I believe they’ve really lost something with the homogenisation of their art. It was so much more when it was a collection of diverse styles, including Miller, Bonner, Blanche (and I don’t really like his “loose” stuff much), Gallagher, Gibbons, and so many more…
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Same here. When I was younger art from Miller, Blanche, and others just bounced off me but over time I have come to appreciate this style over most others.
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