Help me illustrate Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age! I've had a few dozen images drawn from my own imagination, but how could this be a community project if you don't get your say as well? Send me all the descriptions of sword cleaving, bar brawling, war mongering, and wenching that you can think of. Khitain swordsmen, Hyrakian Horselords, Shemish Mercenaries, Darfari cannibals, and Brythunian Wenches, if you've day-dreamed about it, I want to get it drawn! Let's leave no stone unturned - or unillustrated - in the Hyborian Age.
FREE Commisison For You:
Submit as many descriptions as you want. At the end of a month, I'll drawn randomly and we'll have one of our artists draw your illustration, which I'll pay for and send to you for FREE! The more descriptions you submit, the better are your odds of winning!
- Free Commission: At the end of one month, I'll choose randomly from the entrants for a winner. The winner will receive their description drawn for free by an artist who accepts the project. The piece will be featured in the Images of Hyboria gallery, but it will be shipped to you, and you can keep it!
- No Limit: No limit on the number of times you can enter... in fact, please submit as many descriptions as you can.. the more you submit, the better your chances of winning are
- Every Entry A Winner: Even if you don't win the random drawing for the free commission, you're still a winner because we'll still get someone to draw your description eventually, and we'll put it in the gallery with the others.
Fine Print
All good intentions here, but there are some things to keep in mind:
- Accepting Artist: You can make a suggestion on which artist you want to have draw your illustration, but I cannot make any guarantees as to who will do the drawing for you. The artist must have already participated in the gallery or be willing to participate in the gallery. No artist not willing to conform to the terms of the project will be considered for the free commission.
- Descriptions: For the description to qualify, your description MUST fit within the world of Howard. Descriptions based on pastiche set in the Hyborian Age could possibly also qualify. Discretion on what qualifies is determined by me. Non qualifying desciptions will not be considered for entry to win the free commission. You're welcome to base a description off of a particular Howard story, but you're not required to do so. This project was founded on the idea to illustrate the heroes of the Hyborian Age that Howard never got to write about. Having said that, if you want a particular scene from Howard drawn, let's do it.
- Right to Edit/Refusal: I reserve the right to edit or refuse any and/or all of any submitted descriptions for any reason. Any refused description will not be eligible to win the free commission. Any edited description will still be eligible to win.
- Gallery Posting: The winner of the contest agrees to give full rights to display and publish the artwork representing the winning description in the Images of Hyboria gallery. Assuming the artist does not keep the copyright, the copyright would be retained by Borderkingdom. The winner will be sent the hard copy of the image as soon as the artist has completed it.
- No Time Guarantee: Given this project revolves around the time of the participating artists, I cannot guarantee when you will receive your commission. I can guarantee that someone will draw whatever entry is chosen as the winner, and that winner will receive the piece. Most artists have completed their assignments within 6 weeks of being given the task.
Example Descriptions
Feel free to submit as detailed of a description as you like. Vague descriptions work too, but if the artist is left with too much to decide themselves, it can be problematic and potentially produce a piece that doesn't fit within the world of Hyboria. Here are some example descriptions that I sent artists for you to consider:
- Dave Simons - The Maul: I gave Dave passages from The Tower of the Elephant for him to consider when drawing The Maul, the infamous tavern at the beginning of Howard's story:
- Torches flared murkily on the revels in the Maul where the thieves of the east held carnival by night...
- In one of these dens merriment thundered to the low smoke-stained roof, where rascals gathered in every stage of rags and tatters - furtive cut-purses, leering kidnappers, quick-fingered thieves, swaggering bravoes with their wenches, strident-voiced women clad in tawdry finery. Native rogues were the dominant element - dark-skinned, dark-eyed Zamorians, with daggers at their girdles and guile in their hearts. But there were wolves of half a dozen outland nations there as well. There was a giant Hyperborean renegade, taciturn, dangerous, with a boradsword strapped to his great gaunt frame - for men wore steel openly in the Maul...
- Benito Gallego - Streets of Shadizar: "Shadizar the Wicked" - full of thieves, assassins, and ruffians. I'd like to have a picture drawn showing the dangerous atmosphere of the city of the Wicked at night. Perhaps a picture of some assassin killing a man in a back ally during the night, or an unsuspecting stranger venturing out at night and being stalked by a would-be assassin.
- Zambolan Caravan: A desert caravan escorting slaves and goods to sale at the Stygian markets. Guarded by Shemite mercenaries or southern camel-riding warriors. Riders carrying scimitars and/or lances.
Submit Your Information
Still interested? Great. Just give me some information about you. Just so you know, I don't sell your info, add you to any mailing lists, or any diabolical things like that. Please use the same name and e-mail address if submitting multiple entries.