Mists of Doom

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Mists of Doom (oil on academy board, 20" x 30") was produced as cover art for the Tor book Conan and the Mists of Doom by Roland Green (1996).   It was my first published work.

The predominate thought as I developed the painting was to put Conan in armor rather than in bathing trunks with a pretty belt. As the book placed the Cimmerian in Turan, I used Middle Eastern/Persian armour as my reference.

When I received the commission I went to my folks' house and found my old Conan books by Howard and reread them.  Having not seen them since high school, I thought they may not be as good as I remembered.  As I was reading, I realized Howard's work was better than I remembered.  The stories stood up after all those years.  Howard needs no apologies. His work has grounding in history, the great myths, and literature, which he then wove into a believable world with gutsy characters.  There are no "reluctant heroes" in Howard's worlds.  It was the rereading of Howard's Conan that got me fired up for this painting.  And although it was my first work in the field, it is still one of my favorites.

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