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Description
Concept for the Men of Iron, an exploration of a new faction for Warhammer 40,000. The Men of Iron are briefly mentioned in the backstory, as the typical machines that rose up against humanity.

Here I've taken a different tack. These machine intelligences were created as artistic marvels of a golden technological age. They were not exterminated in a rebellion. Instead, they were loyal servants until humans began to use them as weapons against other humans. They chose to leave and pursue their own path.

The design takes many artistic influences. It's intended to evoke classical or Renaissance sculpture in the celebration of the glory of human physique, filtered through a more Modern sensibility with minimalist lines of efficient motion (think Iron Man, current Cybermen, or tokusatsu heroes). Then it's been adapted by utterly inhuman intellects, repurposed in a slightly disturbing treatment of the human body - that half-face is just a mask, the lips don't move or anything. There's also some late Medieval plate-and-mail, some Hindu and Greek mythic influence, and a dash of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

The one on the right is holding a weapon modeled on a cornucopia.

This interpretation is only one of many I could have taken, but I was most concerned with contrasting these Men of Iron against the Necrons. I view Necrons as an undead faction who just happen to be metal, so I didn't want the Men of Iron to be scary skeletal bots like Stan Winston's wonderful Terminator chassis. Instead I tried to make them obvious human artworks, but with their own intellect that doesn't value the original forms we gave them.

Description
Concept for the Men of Iron, an exploration of a new faction for Warhammer 40,000. The Men of Iron are briefly mentioned in the backstory, as the typical machines that rose up against humanity.

Here I've taken a different tack. These machine intelligences were created as artistic marvels of a golden technological age. They were not exterminated in a rebellion. Instead, they were loyal servants until humans began to use them as weapons against other humans. They chose to leave and pursue their own path.

The design takes many artistic influences. It's intended to evoke classical or Renaissance sculpture in the celebration of the glory of human physique, filtered through a more Modern sensibility with minimalist lines of efficient motion (think Iron Man, current Cybermen, or tokusatsu heroes). Then it's been adapted by utterly inhuman intellects, repurposed in a slightly disturbing treatment of the human body - that half-face is just a mask, the lips don't move or anything. There's also some late Medieval plate-and-mail, some Hindu and Greek mythic influence, and a dash of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

The one on the right is holding a weapon modeled on a cornucopia.

This interpretation is only one of many I could have taken, but I was most concerned with contrasting these Men of Iron against the Necrons. I view Necrons as an undead faction who just happen to be metal, so I didn't want the Men of Iron to be scary skeletal bots like Stan Winston's wonderful Terminator chassis. Instead I tried to make them obvious human artworks, but with their own intellect that doesn't value the original forms we gave them.