Conan Art

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 .