Staz Johnson’s version of Conan holds a particular fondness to me. To start with, it’s the first piece of artwork I’ve ever solicited, and really it’s the piece that lit the fire under me to get Border Kingdom and the Images of Hyboria Gallery going.

Staz is one of a few artists that I stumbled on after they posted in the conan.com forums with samples of their Conan illustrations. In fact, Staz has, in my opinion, one of the coolest sketches of Conan I’ve ever seen. You can see it here: Staz Johnson Conan . If not the coolest ink sketch, it has to hold the cake for the coolest sharpie sketch.

Staz cites in his bio at www.stazjohnson.com that as a kid he was a big fan of Conan and John Buscema… aren’t we all. It’s amazing the influence that John Buscema has had.

Marvel Madness

Staz’s stint in comics has been really impressive, and he’s drawn some of the cream-of-the-crop when it comes characters we all love to read about. Spider-man, Batman, Avengers, Wolverine, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc. Staz is not to be trifle with when it comes to illustration.

Staz has some sweet artwork available in his Staz Johnson art gallery , including individual galleries of his work for DC and Marvel .

More Stazzines

Staz is currently working for Marvel. He’s also apparently working on a Dracula adaptation .

Staz maintains a blog at blogspot, which I routinely see him update with new art all the time.

Staz is unloading art hand-over-fist on ebay. He announces new pieces for sale on his blog. This is high quality stuff from Staz, on main characters like Spider-man and X-men. Check out his ebay auctions for more information on those.

Final Words On Staz

Staz was awesome to work with. His art is detailed and complex and really a treat to own and to look at. Staz’s contribution to the gallery is one of my favorites to go back to and look at.

Make sure you check out Staz’s website for more cool art, and his profile here at borderkingdom.com for more info on him.

There are a couple of commissions that I’ve received so far that really take me back to the old Savage Sword of Conan days. The first one that really took me back, probably because it’s likeness to Buscema, was Benito Gallego’s Streets of Shadizar , the second one though, is Winston Blakely’s Hyrkanian Tracker .

Winston Blakely was one of half-a-billion artists (that’s right, half-a-billion) that responded to a want-ad that I posted a few months ago in some comic groups. I posted a few ads, and the next thing I knew my inbox was full of artists requesting to be apart of the project. It was fantastic, if not unexpected.

Winston was part of the initial group of artist’s that didn’t receive multiple descriptions to choose from when I originally requested the piece from him. I suppose the process was a little more akin to a normal commission solicitation in that I just told Winston what I wanted him to draw, and that’s what he drew (spot on, and great I might add). There really wasn’t any avenue of choice for him to select a particular description that he may have preferred. I’ve revised that process now because I like the idea of artist’s choosing from the descriptions more than me telling artists what to draw, I think multiple choices makes us both feel like their contribution to the project is more personal, and not just some ink on a paper that someone told them to put there.

Winston’s piece is great. I love the creativity in the frame, the footprints left on the ground from the stalked, and of course heads on pikes always do wonders to make a Hyborian Age picture just that much better (i.e. see the header in progress above )

Upcoming Projects and the Art of Winston Blakely

Winston has some nice art online for viewing. You can see a number of his samples at Winston’s Serendipity Art Gallery . His gallery contains several panels, including some rather urm… risque images that we all appreciate from time to time. When I was reviewing Winston’s sample images he sent me, it was actually his work on Little Miss Strange , the world’s first black alien sorceress, that caught my eye the most. Winston teamed up with Luis Sierra (another upcoming contributor to the Images of Hyboria gallery) for a graphic novel of Little Miss Strange that you can find for sale at lulu.com .

PixelStrips also hosts a number of the characters Winston has worked on, including the previously talked about Little Miss Sunshine, as well as other characters like the Sword and Sorcery Kotas the Dragon , which will be featured in an upcoming anthology by Winston, and another story inspired by Jack Kirby called Pozitron .

Another Round of Winston Please

Winston was an all around great guy to work with, and one of the timeliest as well in terms of how quick he was able to complete the project from start to finish. The range of characters that he illustrates and writes for makes his art fun to follow and dynamic. More importantly than that he hosts a lot of his characters online which really makes his work accessible; which I think is a big bonus for attracting fans to your work and continuing to gain exposure.

Winston has agreed to do another piece for the gallery, this time I think I’ll let him choose what he wants to draw and we’ll see what he comes up with.

Check out Winston’s Hyrkanian Tracker in the Images of Hyboria Gallery .

Read Winston’s profile as well, he has some great info in there and it’s always interesting to see how these artists started out in the business.

Dave Simons is awesome . If I were a better man - at least with words - I would write him a song, or perhaps a poem, to express my feelings of gratitude for his exquisite portrayal of one of the roughest taverns this side of the Vilayt, the Maul .  But while I’m told that I’m especially verbose, it unfortunately does not translate to quality… so I’ll leave the prose and the songwriting to those who have experience in doing so.

But enough about my man-crush on Dave… lets talk about his picture. First off, one of the reasons Dave is so awesome is that he immediately volunteered to tackle what I felt was the hardest description to date: the infamous Maul from Robert E. Howard’s story The Tower of the Elephant.

Most of the descriptions I’ve sent artists so far have involved 1-2 character layouts with a little bit of background. That’s what I request at least. Luckily the quality of the artists that have thus far participated, and their desire to produce a fantastic piece coupled with their interest in the subject matter have really yielded pieces far beyond what I’ve requested; nice full backgrounds, lots of detail, and lots of "ooh’s" and "ahhs" for us.

Coupled in with those 1-2 character requests was a description and art request for the Maul; the only description I included at the time that was a specific setting in Hyboria. But no one bit. Now granted, the artists solicited at the time didn’t know me or my project from Adam. There really wasn’t any incentive to tackle what was by far the hardest of the descriptions. But Dave did it… no coaxing, no buttering him up.. he just volunteered, and he knew going in that a scene like the Maul required a little bit more to pull off than the other descriptions: A nice background bar scene, maybe some dancing wenches, and a host of ruffians and thugs therein.

That’s the first reason Dave is awesome just a desire to contribute a quality piece to the project for fans to enjoy regardless of what’s required to do it right.

The second reason Dave is awesome is simply the quality of the picture. Read the first few pages of The Tower of the Elephant , and I think you’ll agree that Dave really tried to capture in ink the atmosphere that Howard created with his words. Perhaps the greatest compliment any Howard fan can pay an illustrator is that the artwork is worthy of representing the story. And this one fits the bill.

There’s yet another reason Dave is awesome though too. Dave is working on two commissions for me, and on both, he requested passages from Howard to help set the tone of his pictures. I’ve allowed enough creative freedom in this project that I want the artist’s interpretation, but it’s refreshing to know that the artist cares enough about the source material to at least consult it for inspiration.

Dave Simons’ Conan Resume

Those of you astute followers of comic art of course probably recognize Dave Simons from his other work including a personal favorite of mine, The Savage Sword of Conan , which was the medium that first introduced me to the Hyborian Age so many years ago as a youngster. Dave’s visited the Hyborian Age a couple of times though, illustrating Conan and King Conan. He also has dabbled in Red Sonja, and even cowrote a Savage Sword of Conan . In issue #95, Dave lays down some airbrush for us in the short story The Hill of Horror . Man.. those comics take me back.

What I Didn’t Expect

What I didn’t expect when I started this project was artists from the days of SSoC (like Dave) being interested in contributing. I’m sure they all have a particular fondness for the barbarian - even moreso than myself - but how do you ask someone that has already made their mark in the Conan world to contribute even more? Well I was wrong about that thought. Dave was interested in the project, took the hardest description of all, and knocked it out of the park. Not only that, but he may not be the only former Conan artist to do so! Stay tuned for more details on that.

Where To See More

You can see more of Dave here at Border Kingdom of course, as he’s doing another one for us that will hopefully be completed and posted within the next few weeks. Dave also maintains a small gallery over at comicartfans, (Dave Simons Comic Art ). He has some really nice panels in that gallery that are just recently posted for fans of the Hulk . You can see a lot of his Conan examples at his Comic art Commissions gallery, including that second one from the top, which is Conan at his best; wenching.

Not just Conan though, for fans of other genres of comics check out Dave’s other drawings on Citizen , Captain America , Punisher , and of course Spider-Man .

Dave maintains his own website as well at Dave Simons Art , and he’s currently working on a show called Maya and Miguel , which airs on PBS.

He’s also started a new blog, with one of his first posts talking about John Buscema. Check out Simon Sez to read that, it’s always fun to read about other artists thoughts on Buscema.

Don’t miss the larger version of his interpretation of the Maul in the gallery , either. In fact, this piece has enough detail that it can’t be properly illustrated within the confines of what the gallery will hold. As such, make sure you check the first comment in the messages in his gallery for a link to an even bigger version.

Read Dave Simons’ profile and check out some of his other art as well.

I suppose it’s true of all art you see in a photograph or on the web - it’s simply more impressive in person. That’s what my immediate thought was when I received Benito’s Streets of Shadizar … and don’t get me wrong either. It’s not that when I saw it after he originally e-mailed it to me that I wasn’t immediately impressed and drooling all over myself with anticipation… believe me I was ; an inebriated Kothian mercenary, a comely Zamorian wench, and a calculating rogue hiding in the shadows waiting to take everthing from his unsuspecting prey… ahh.. that’s the Hyborian Age… all the makings of a fine Howardian story, and a fine piece of art.

Anyway, back to what I was saying… the piece looked fantastic via e-mail, but when you’re holding a nice 11×17 paper inked to the borders that illustrates something you’ve come to love in your life, well… it’s different when the intangible e-mail becomes the tangible new piece of art hanging on your wall… it’s special.

Benito’s Streets of Shadizar was all about mood to me. The picture needed to convey the dangerous atmosphere of walking the streets at night in a city of thieves. In writing the description, I was reminded of a brief passage Howard used in The Tower of the Elephant to describe the natives of Zamora (though I believe that story takes place in Arenjun, also in Zamora):

"Native rogues were the dominant element - dark-skinned, dark-eyed Zamorians, with daggers at their girdles and guile in their hearts."

Benito’s piece is of course excellent. He cites in his profile that John Buscema is a chief influence for him, and I think that’s easy to see in his piece. To get the full-featured effect of this picture, make sure you check out the larger version in the gallery here: Benito Gallego: Streets of Shadizar .

Background

When I was originally perusing comic forums and art gallery Web sites looking for artists that I wanted to have contribute to the project, I stumbled across one of Benito’s inks titled very simply, Conan in the rain . You can see it here in Benito Gallego’s comicartfans.com gallery . If that one didn’t get me hot and bothered by itself, his other piece Red Warrior did me in. You can see Benito’s Red Warrior in his comicartfans.com gallery, or in Benito’s Images of Hyboria profile .

Other Works from Benito

Benito has worked on some cool projects, and has some really nice illustrations under his belt, many of them centering around the Sword and Sorcery/Fantasy genre. His scenery is great, and like Streets of Shadizar above, really helps set the mood in his pictures. Check out this , and this , and this to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Benito’s Dreamers Gallery is excellent, a particular favorite of mine being an illustration he did of The Tower of the Elephant . You’ll find that gallery peppered with images of Conan, a Red Sonja, and even a really nice Tarzan in there.

Haven’t seen enough of Benito’s Conan yet? Me neither. Benito also did some illustrations for an online Conan comic called La Muerte de Conan . Benito hails from Spain, so I can’t read the story, but I flipped through the comic half dozen times to enjoy the illustrations.

Benito also illustrates for Sword magazine in Spain. Their website has some sample interior art that he did that is just great, including this piece , which reminds me of a scene right from The Maul.

Images of Hyboria Gallery: Even more Benito

Many of the artists that are contributing to the Images of Hyboria Project are doing multiple submissions, including Benito. Benito’s second piece should be finished in a few short weeks, so his second appearance in the gallery should follow that up directly… if we’re lucky, I’ll be able to coax 3 out of him…

Conclusion

It really was a pleasure working with Benito. In addition to being friendly and timely, I love it when an artist is passionate about producing a quality piece, and really takes off and runs with the idea. Leave some feedback for Benito and let him know you like his stuff. Benito’s art gallery at comicartfans.com is absolutely worth a visit, and Benito’s profile has some other info and links to interesting information and good art including a piece straight from the Howard story, A Witch Shall Be Born .

The Images of Hyboria project has started off with a thundering BANG and a commission that I simply couldn’t be happier with. Atula Siriwardane was one of the first artists commissioned for the project, and suffices to say, I think he met the task of doing justice to Howard’s Hyboria head on.

Since the time that this piece was originally commissioned, the process of how I solicit art from artists has changed rather significantly. When Atula was commissioned, the project was really in its infancy. I gave a brief 1-2 sentence description of what I wanted drawn, with no visual samples for Atula to refer to, and really no direction after that. Now that the project has evolved a bit, artists are now given 3-4 descriptions of what I’d like them to draw, including multiple character, geographic, cultural, and background settings, and then provided some sample images that hopefully set the mood for the vision that’s in my head. The artist gets to choose from among the descriptions and draw whatever appeals to them the most. I was very pleased with the direction Atula took, and I think his ability to be creative in his interpretation is a great asset and a significant compliment to his art.

The quality of this particular piece, which I’ve called Kushite Warrior , I think speaks for itself, and really demonstrates how serious Atula approaches doing a commission from a client. But aside from the quality, Atula is simply fun to work with. We have a few other projects in the works right now, including a real treat larger in scope than one of these regular gallery commissions, which I’m sure any fan of Conan and Hyboria is simply going to love. Although I’m bursting at the seams to talk about it, I’m going to hold off until I have some sample art available for everyone to look at.

In addition to this fine specimen of a Kushite warrior about to become lunch, and the secret project I hinted at above, Atula is doing the oil painting header for the borderkingdom blog. The current header you see above is the concept art that Atula put together a few weeks ago. It was so good, I thought I’d leave it up until the main header is completed, just to give you a taste.

Background

I first found out about Atula by him posting sample pictures of his drawings on the Conan forums. You can see a few of them in this thread , and a few more really good Conan pieces in Atula’s comicartfans.com gallery . Don’t limit yourself to viewing just the Conan pieces in his gallery either, or you’ll be depriving yourself of some really good art. Atula’s whole gallery is really good to look at, and something to be admired by anyone who appreciates good art.

Not surprisingly, the Conan forums are peppered with talented artists. In fact more than a few of the upcoming Image of Hyboria contributions you’ll see are from artists whose work I had never even seen until they posted it in the Conan forums, including Staz Johnson and Edbon Sevilleno .

Atula hails from Sri Lanka and is really a versatile artist. He’s done everything from children’s book illustrations to landscape illustration. He’s got a fine eye for layout too I might add, and gave some great suggestions for the layout of this Web site.

Upcoming Projects from Atula

Atula has a couple of upcoming projects, one in particular that I think any fan of the Sword and Sorcery genre will be interested in. Taryn is a Sword and Sorcery heroine created in collaboration with Paul Monsky of VaVaVaVoom comics. Taryn will make her appearance in VaVaVavoom #2. Check out some Taryn art , it really has a nice Red Sonja feel to it.

Atula’s first comic book for the USA audience, "Brawn" is also now available after several years in development. The quality of the interior art is great, and the comic features a cover by Anthony Rezendes. Atula has some art samples from Brawn here .

Images of Hyboria Gallery: Even more Atula

Atula will have a number of pieces in the Images of Hyboria gallery when all is said and done, including a second piece scheduled to be included into the gallery in the next few weeks. You can view Atula’s contributions here . Also, be sure to check out Atula’s gallery profile which includes links to his site, his other galleries, and samples of his other artwork, including a great drawing of Bran. If you’re a fan of comic art, Atula is an artist you’re going to want to follow over the next few years.

Conclusion

If you like the Kushite Warrior piece that Atula did for the Images of Hyboria gallery, please leave some feedback for him! He really went above and beyond to give Howard fans a treat to enjoy. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

If you’re interested in securing a commission for a character in the future, you should seriously consider Atula for the job. If you check out Atula’s art gallery at comicartfans.com you’ll see an incredible amount of diversity in his work and you can rest assured you’ll be getting a really really fine piece of art.

Borderkingdom has been a long time in the making… I’ve been stewing on the idea of a blog related to Robert E. Howard, and all things fantasy, for some time. It hasn’t been for want of ambition that I’m finally launching this, but rather time.

It really would have been nice to have this project up and going several years ago, amidst the huge surge and revival of Conan and other publications of Howard, the Dark Horse comic, the MMO, the console game, etc. However… it didn’t; but better late than never, right. It’s launching now though, and I hope to use the site as a vehicle to help promote Howard, fantasy, and other miscellaneous forms of entertainment with some ramblings mixed in.