Adrian Smith

I came to work with Adrian Smith through writing for the Black Library. We had briefly met at a convention but that was about it until I was told by my editor at the Black Library that Adrian had painted a picture for the Armageddon campaign that was being fought as part of a worldwide gaming event being run by Games Workshop. I had been commissioned to write a tie-in novel ‘Crusade for Armageddon’. Adrian’s picture was so large it was going to be split in half and used on two different book covers, one of them being mine.

As it worked out, he then went on to produce the cover for my third BL novel ‘Magestorm’. In this case I had been asked to write something to tie-in with the Storm of Chaos global campaign and to include characters from the WarCry CCG within it. One of these turned out to be the warrior wizard Gerhart Brennend. Adrian had already produced the image of the flame-wielding sorcerer for the CCG and his painting went a long way to inspiring much of the tale I eventually penned. I was fortunate enough to come across Adrian’s website some time after and was able to purchase the original painting, which now hangs on the wall of my office at home. And very smart it looks too.

Gerhart Brennend – a loner whose mysterious past is drenched in tragedy.

A pattern seemed to be emerging here as Adrian then ended up painting the cover of ‘Iron Hands’, my fourth BL novel, this time as a specific commission. This painting of Iron-Father Gdolkin was one of the pictures used in the Black Library calendar that year, and it still one of my favourite book covers.

You can find out more about Adrian’s work here.

Cover images of Black Library novels are the property of Games Workshop Ltd, and used with permission. Copyright © Games Workshop Ltd., 2007, all rights reserved.