Martin McKenna (artist)

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Martin McKenna (21 February 1969 – September 2020) was a British artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics, mainly of horror and fantasy genres.

He illustrated many Games Workshop products in the 1980s, and his drawings were a key part of the visual identity of the first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.^[1] When Games Workshop started its Warhammer fiction line in 1990, he provided internal art.^[1] He contributed to Fighting Fantasy books, Everway, Magic: The Gathering, video games (including Eidos Interactive,^[2] and film and television.^[1] He has illustrated books for numerous international publishers including Scholastic, Penguin Books, Oxford University Press, HarperCollins, Time-Warner, and Hodder & Stoughton, illustrating popular authors such as Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist and Harry Turtledove, as well as some classics including Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and The Silver Sword.^[3] He also wrote books about digital art, such as Digital Fantasy Painting Workshop and Digital Horror Art, and the children's picture books The Octopuppy and The Crocodolly.^[1]

McKenna was born in London and as a child, he was inspired by "the things [he] found most frightening,"^[3] including the gothic horror episodes of Doctor Who and Hammer and Universal horror movies. In 1985 at the age of 16, McKenna started submitting illustrations to fantasy & horror fanzines such as the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Dagon. His first professional commission was for Games Workshop's house magazine Warlock, and this was followed by further work for Games Workshop including Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay publications and the very first Warhammer 40,000 book.^[4]

McKenna was entirely self-taught as an artist and for many years he used entirely traditional materials. In 1997, he transitioned mostly to digital work.^[3]

In Issue 93 of White Dwarf, Phil Gallagher called McKenna's artwork in the Games Workshop publication Death on the Reik "nothing short of superb — he deserves a lot of credit for the way he's captured the atmosphere of the Reikland setting, not to mention the personalities of the dozens of non-player characters."^[5]

In 1995 he was awarded the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist.^[6]

He married and had a son born in 2013. His hobbies included reading, watching films, training his border collie, Nell, for sheepdog trials, hiking Scottish mountains, and flying airplanes.^[3] He lived in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom from 2014 to 2020 before relocating to Scotland in July 2020.^[7]

McKenna committed suicide in September 2020. He was survived by his son.^[8]

Many of McKenna's works are archived on Flickr.^[9]