These Sketches Prove Jes Goodwin is the Spiritual Father of 40k

By Wesley Floyd | April 14th, 2023 | Categories: Adeptus Mechanicus, Dark Eldar Drukhari, Eldar, Imperial Guard, Necrons, Space Marines, Warhammer 40k

It looks like Games Workshop is going through the old art book of Jes Goodwin for new models to produce; here’s over a dozen of his best Warhammer artwork sketches.

Who is Jes Goodwin? He might not be the sole inventor of Warhammer altogether. However, he could be described as one of the fathers as far as the look and feel of it! Over the years, Jes has sketched out some incredible pieces and done great works, like supposedly single-handily resurrecting the Dark Eldar range in 2011.

Plus, he’s also been rumored to be the creator of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Knights, and Skaven.

These images come from his own sketchbook, which was usually on display at live events before lockdowns, his Gothic and the Eldritch book from 2001, and his most recent Eldar sketchbook.

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.

14 of the Best Jes Goodwin Warhammer Artwork Sketches

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.

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’re moving 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’ 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.

Adeptus Mechanicus Focus

Here, this 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.

For these following two pieces of art, we’re not entirely sure who drew these, 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.

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.