By Crom's Will It Was Painted!

Age 14 - Conan the Barbarian -18" x 24" watercolor.

In 1980 as a freshman in high school, I started to get serious about my "art". I worked to learn professional mediums like oils, pen and ink, pastels and watercolors. Yet, my subject matter remained not so serious. Much like today.

I was deep in my barbarian period then. I dreamed of being a comic artist like my favorite at the time, John Buscema. I even dared to imagine, being a fantasy illustrator rivaling Frazetta one day. My copy of "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" and all my "Art of Frazetta" books were falling apart. The bindings had deteriorated from compulsive repeated reading and referencing.

I have sense memory of working on the above - hunched over, carefully painting the blood drips and slowly building the color up in thin layers, like a real artist would. I felt great accomplishment once done. It was a bit of a milestone for me. I found a real love of watercolor which became my medium of choice. Sad to say though, these days, my paints remain very dusty being distracted by Photoshop. I really should find time for both. Maybe even take another stab at my favorite barbarian.

A few months ago, I discovered a fun Conan fan blog, CROM! Enough barbaric nostalgia there to fill all of Cimmeria.