Jes Goodwin is retiring, so we’re cracking open his art sketchbook that shaped Warhammer 40k’s armies, icons, and wargear. See the designs that started it all.
If 40k has a visual rulebook, Jes Goodwin wrote half of it with a pencil. Now that he is retiring, and that makes his art sketchbook feel like required reading for anyone who cares about how many of the Warhammer 40k factions got their look. Let’s flip through the designs that shaped army identities, iconic symbols, and all the wargear details that still define kits today.
Jes Goodwin Retires From Warhammer
Updated on January 15th, 2026, by Rob Baer with the on his retirement and info.
So yeah, it looks like Jes Goodwin is finally stepping away, and that’s as big a deal as it sounds like. This was revealed on Gav Thorpe’s Discord, where he was talking shop about old ideas, shifting priorities, and how things get greenlit at GW. And he more or less spelled out the retirement.
Jes isn’t “just an artist.” He’s one of the key people who helped lock in the look of Warhammer: the silhouettes, the faction vibes, the little details that scream “that’s 40k” from across the table. The shape and feel of Space Marines, Eldar elegance (and reviving Drukhari), Mechanicus weirdness, Skaven nastiness, even the Boltgun, it all has his fingerprints in the DNA.
Sure, his retirement feels like the end of an era, but it could also be also be a turning point and inspiration for a new crop of artists at Games Workshop.
Who is Warhammer’s Jes Goodwin?
So who’s Jes Goodwin, really? He’s not the single guy who “invented Warhammer” in a vacuum, but if we’re talking about the look and feel of the whole setting, he’s absolutely one of the hobby’s founding dads. For decades, Jes has been sketching out the kind of designs that don’t just become models, they become the default mental image of 40k.
He’s even widely credited with basically dragging the Dark Eldar range back from the dead and turning it into the sleek nightmare fuel we got in the 2011 refresh. And the rumors around him are half the fun. Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Knights, Skaven, if a faction has a strong identity and a killer silhouette, people will tell you Jes had a hand in it.
As for the art you’re about to see, it’s pulled from the Jes Goodwin sketchbooks that used to show up at events pre-lockdowns, his Gothic and the Eldritch book from 2001, and the more recent Eldar sketchbook. In other words: the Goodwin vault.
14 of the Best Jes Goodwin Warhammer Art Sketches
Here are some of his incredible works of art you might have seen turned into a model already on the table, starting with the Type Specimen of a Space Marine above!
The ‘type specimen’ of the Space Marine, blown up from Jes’s sketchbook with the man himself in attendance, is the first that clearly describes the silhouette of the marine (though note that these elements existed pre-Jes, he merely refined them). Heavy yet sleek curved armor plate set off by huge armored pauldrons, a massively exaggerated chestplate emblazoned with a huge relief insignia. Menacing helm with a slanted brow. Plenty of real-estate for customization. Plenty of inherent menace. Instantly recognizable.
First up, we’ve got this Necron Destroyer. If you’ve been keeping track of the latest news in 40k, you might recognize this guy.
First spotted in the Necron’s new model range, this Destroyer is big, bad, and definitely inspired by Jes. Sure, there are a few differentiations, but that dude is looking SICK.
Here, we’ve got an Imperial Robot that looks like something crossed between a Servitor and some Ruststalkers for the Adeptus Mechanicus.
We’ve moved away from the one-wound Space Marines in 40k, but this guy was everywhere for the longest time. Especially back when models were still being made in metal.
Here, we’ve got a Valhallan or Steel Legion Guardsman. With their models going OOP not long ago, we might see these guys pop back up at some point. Now that we’ve seen GW use Jes Goodwins art version of a Destroyer and Space Marine in the past, who’s to say the Guardsmen couldn’t look like this in the future…
This sketch is mega old, but that’s one of the first pieces of art on Leman Russ with his two wolves. It actually was a miniature back in the Rogue Trader Era as well.
Jes Goodwin Sketchbook: Adeptus Mechanicus Focus
These looks like some different Tech-Priests. The one on the right with his big plasma cannon arm looks a lot like the new Tech-Priest Manipulus.
Tech-Priest Manipulus
There are still other pieces of art out there, like a Tech-Priest inside a mechanical walking suit as well as one dude that looks like the master of Servo skulls.
This Tech-Priest Enginseer is the sketch of the current model we’ve got in 40k. Now, for the following two pieces of art, we’re not entirely sure who drew them, but they do have some similar styles to Jes Goodwin.
Moving on to more Adeptus Mechanicus good stuff, we’ve got the Dunerider Transport concept art from the side and top.
Some mystery artwork showing a bunch of what looks to be shoulder-mountain cannons also raises a lot of questions about if we’ll ever see a new unit. The unit carrying these weapons will be called “Hephaestons.” If we had to take a guess at what these would look like…
It could be something similar to the Katapron Breachers. Keep in mind that no other units for the Adeptus Mechanicus have been mentioned other than what’s in store for Engine War. It may be a while before we see anything turn up for this artwork.
Jes Goodwin Art: Eldar & Dark Eldar Inspiration
The Mandrake sketch made it to real life as part of the Dark Eldar forces years ago. They’re still used in the meta today!
Moving into the psychic Craftworlds, there’s a guy that looks something like a Spiritseer / Boneseer using his powers to stand on.
Then, we’ve got an Exarch sketch of a Banshee.
If you look at the Exarch for the new Banshee squad out of Blood of the Phoenix, the crossover is almost exact.
Finally, we’ve got a sketch of an entire Craftworld. With spires reaching to the sky and planets in the background, we can get a decent idea of how big these mobile worlds are.
Hopefully, you’ve seen that there are a lot more Jes Goodwin-inspired elements of 40k than you might have first thought!
Final Thoughts on Jes Goodwin’s Art
That’s the funny thing about Jes Goodwin. Even when he’s “retiring,” he’s not really leaving the hobby. His sketchbook is basically a second codex GW can crack open whenever they need a new silhouette, a new vibe, or a “totally original” unit concept that just happens to look like a drawing from twenty years ago.
If Gav Thorpe’s Discord chatter is anything to go by, the studio knows exactly what it’s sitting on. Those old pages are not dusty nostalgia, they’re a backlog of ideas that still feel more 40k than half the stuff the internet argues about all week.
So pour one out for the end of an era, and keep one eye on the preview stream. Because if GW keeps mining the Goodwin vault, today’s “classic concept art” is tomorrow’s must-buy plastic kit that you definitely did not plan for.
