SOTHEBY'S AUCTION FOR ED PISKOR'S HIP HOP FAMILY TREE ARTWORK! Bid now online at the links below. Live auction happens September 15! SLIPCASE VOL 3-4 COVER: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-original-slipcase-art-for-volumes-3-4-of PUBLIC ENEMY TOY DESIGNS: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-original-artwork-designs-for-public BASQUIAT AND RAMELLZEE PAGE FROM HHFT: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-ramellzee-basquiat-original-artwork-from HIP HOP FAMILY TREE VOL 3 COVER: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-run-dmc-original-cover-art-from-volume-3 SLICK RICK PINUP: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-slick-rick-original-art-for-pin-up-in LL COOL J: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-ll-cool-j-original-art-from-page-72 FAT BOYS:www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-fat-boys-original-art-for-issue-9-splash GRANDMASTER FLASH IN THE PARK: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-park-dj-original-artwork-for-page-2 -------------------------------- Ed's Patreon: www.patreon.com/edpiskor Jim's Octobriana 1976 Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/jimrugg/fluorescent-blacklight-outlaw-comic-book
A few years ago, Red Nails by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith has been reprinted as an Artist Edition by Genesis West. It was scanned from the original pages (turns out the entire story is in someone's original art collection!) and printed full size of the original pages. I would love to see you guys do a side-by-side comparison of the Treasury Edition and the Artist Edition. Another piece of trivia is that for the original publication of the the Red Nails in the Savage Sword of Conan, Barry Smith ran into some deadline issues and Pablo Marcos inked a couple of the last pages from Chapter 1. For the Treasury Edition, Barry Smith re-inked the pages to make them more in-line with the rest of the book. With the re-inked ages and Barry's coloring, the Treasury Edition is not just a reprint of the Savage Sword of Conan issues, but a book of it's own.
I was lucky to be hanging out with comics nerds during the early '70s, so I got to witness the progressive metamorphosis of Barry Smith from his Kirby pastiche beginnings to his Pre-Raphaelite artistic ascension. What a breathtaking trip! I haven't seen "Red Nails" since that MARVEL TREASURY first came out. It blew our shit away then...and it still stuns me now. Thanks so much!
Back in the 1970s, Barry Windsor-Smith's artwork of Conan was the definitive version for me. I can still recall the draw-dropping moment when Conan met Elric of Melnibone. It has been 45 years since I have seen/read anything else by BWS, but he remains a true master within his chosen field.
Aww man I love me some Conan, been collecting the Conan and Savage Sword of Conan omnibus that marvel has been putting out and they are just full of amazing artwork from real god tier artists!
I first saw Barry Windsor Smith's Conan in a UK comics reprint magazine called Havoc in 1991. It was The Frost Giant's Daughter. The way he rendered the frozen breath as negative space streaking across the otherwise busy panels still sticks with me now. I use that same technique in my own artwork regularly.
Originally published in black and white in Savage Tales #2 and #3, these are among my most treasured magazines in my collection. The Marvel Treasury is great because it's in color and larger. But the Artist Edition really presents the art as it should be seen. The original size and in black and white. Barry Smith surprised many in the comic book community when his artistic growth exploded during his run on the original Marvel comic. His version of The Frost Giants Daughter in Savage Tales #1 was so raw and powerful ! He inspired many other artists who tried to duplicate his style.
If u notice in the afterword by Jose Villarubia, he states that although this is nice, it still is Not what B.W. Smith went onto to do with the Treasury Edition, as he re-inked, and retouched so many panels and pages! Do a comparison and u will see the Treasury is the much superior finished product. And don't get me started about the choice of gloss over matte for the paper stock used for the artist edition. Although nice in so many ways, i think i would've still preferred the paper to be as close to the original paper stock as possible. With the added extras of showing the difference between the original and the Treasury edition versions. Opportunities missed again and again.
This looks so much better in the Conan Saga B&W oversize reprint. Another case of great line art looking far better in B&W than with cheap colour reproduction.
That color version looks great but Ed is right about the black and white version really “popping “ visually. Great video, great review of BWS, and great to see Conan get some love on Kayfabe
One of my personal favourite comics. Originally done in B&W in Savage Sword of Conan, then coloured and some pages re-inked by BWS for publication, oversized in that Marvel Treasury Edition. There's also an Artist's Edition which is just stunning!
I also meant to say, that pin-up on the back cover was also a dynamite B&W plate in the famous tuppenny portfolio and a fully coloured lithograph titled "LORD OF THE BLACK CORSAIRS" - google that for some pics showing a much more dynamic sky. This print hangs in my living room so I can see it every day :)
Glad that you noticed his sense of color. I wonder if he got much chance to work with Marie Severin. I see the same sort of facility with tertiary or even muddled colors, because of the strong blocking, contrast, and composition. I also see more John Severin now, in the placement of figures, and the inking techniques. I see Krenkel, as well. And of course Raymond, Williamson, Frazetta, some Foster, Wally Wood. The other thing is the Latin and Filipino influence of Warren, and I guess DC and Marvel. The line has going from Lou Fine and Fletcher Hanks to Rudy Nebres and Esteban Maroto. You can see a familiarity with such Arthurian or historical illustrators as Charles Keeping or Victor Ambrus. Also, as you say, he did horror well, albeit beautifully. Along with his Studio mates, especially Kaluta, I tend to think of BWS as a contemporary of Charles Vess, another comic book artist and illustrator who brought a strong, century-old "fairy tales" influence into comic books. Jim Fitzpatrick, whose commercial work was in album covers and posters, and anot comic books (or rarely comic books) was a fellow traveler.
The Studio was BWS, Kaluta, Wrightson and Jeff Jones. Twenty-Cent Era stalwarts. They show up in comics after Steranko. They get into fine art, posters, paperbacks and projects partly because of their work in non-superhero comics, like horror, action-adventure, and sword-and-sorcery. Their contemporaries in comics with a similar sensibility were Starlin, Gulacy, Ploog. Right after the Neal Adams explosion, and the coalescing Adams/Cardy/Infantino/Giordano House Style gets established at DC and the Kirby-with-Sinnott/Buscema Bros/Romita Sr/Colan House Style sets in at Marvel. A slew of post-Adams guys, like Perez, would come along and define the Bronze Age take on it.
Red Nails is my favorite Conan comic adaptation. Smith had already established himself as being a premier artist by the time Red Nails was published in Savage Tales 2 and 3. I view this as his Magnum Opus to the genre. None of his later work has matched it in my opinion. I had heard rumor that Smith was involved the coloring for this Treasury Edition as the original artwork was intended for B/W. Either way, the coloring is still better than the later, air brushed effort with the TPB editions.
You can see echoes from1890s Gilded Age fairy books to 1930s Gangster Era weird pulps to 1970s Bronze Age Bohemian Revival in these comics. Red Nails is a masterpiece!
This one too was remade by ABLAZE on their "The Cimmerian" run. Illustrated by Olivier Vatine. It would be awesome to watch a comparison video like you did with the other Conan. cheers!
The Studio didn't get together until after Barry left comics and had already been doing his Gorblimey Press thing for a year or two. There's no overlap of his comics career and The Studio, except maybe a few pieces that weren't published until his return to comics (like A Path of Stars in Epic) or his never finished Robin Hood comic.
The Pre-Raphaelites movement was an English art movement that started around 1848, though inspired by some earlier art, like Albrecht Dürer, and Italian art from before Raphael (not because they hated Raphael, but because of how his stylistic mannerisms became THE academic style.... things like avoiding strong color, harsh lighting, and details, in favor of a generalized approach.... so these young, Victorian age artists began painting with a lot of observed detail, using strong color, rejecting the "soft glow no real light source" lighting...). The Pre-Raphaelite level of detail and use of symbolism is what drew in BWS the most... John Everett Millais, William Holeman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were the main artists in the first wave of Pre-Raphaelites, initially calling themselves The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood... followed by artists they influenced, like Edward Burne-Jones (where I suspect Barry got the hyphenating idea - - originally just Edward - - "Ned" to his friends - - Jones) and John W Waterhouse. The movement started off as an art rebellion, but by the end of the 19th century had become mainstream... only to then be rejected by the beginning of the 20th century, replaced by Impressionism and Modernism. Illustrators of the period, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites were also a big influence and some of Barry's stylized approaches with ink can be traced to Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Le Morte d'Arthur, to Frederick Sandys(a painter, but also a pen & ink book and magazine illustrator, heavily influenced in his line by Dürer woodcuts), Harry Clark, Charles and WH Robinson (2 brothers, both illustrators), Edmund J Sullivan, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham (who was also a big influence on both Mike Kaluta in line style, and Charles Vess in subject matter). Barry also was influenced by Art Nouveau poster artist (and much more) Alphonse Mucha. - - possibly his first, big, influence from outside of comics and touches inspired by Mucha began appearing in BWS' art from Conan issue 3, onward. The Pre-Raphaelite influence started around Conan issue 19. Both Mucha and the Pre-Raphaelites appealed to the late '60s/early '70s hippies on a superficial level - - a sort of near psychedelic beauty balancing some of the ugliness of underground comix ... but Barry absorbed the influences deeper than that.
I have the first volume of The Savage Sword Of Conan [ when dark horse still owned it] Anyway, in that first volume, it had this story in black and white and its really interesting to see it in color
Check out the marvel savage sword of Conan omnibus they are a thing of beauty plus they print the magazines in their entirety so you get the letter pages and side story’s all in glorious black and white. You get a lot of bang for your buck.
Early in the video, you mention Smith's growth during the 2 years of monthly work on Conan. I'll just comment from the peanut gallery -- for Smith, "monthly" was sometimes a flexible term. But he was so exceptionally good, we didn't care.
Influences? I see Steranko. Also in the first story (RitH), BWS looks to be in the same artistic generation as Gulacy, Starlin, Perez, Ploog, et al. I wonder if he was influenced by Lou Fine. He had an almost Golden Age exuberance in the earliest stuff. By the time of Red Nails, his Pre-Raphaelite influences show, as well as his much greater command of texture, and consequent freedom from the bounding line, along with much greater sensitivity to volume, weight, pose, gesture, presentation, restraint. Suddenly he's Hal Foster.
You mention drawing every leaf. Ruskin, who was the first critic to popularize the PRB, insisted on complete Naturalism with a capitol N, especially for foliage. BWS inherited a suite of concerns and techniques as he made his way through studying different artists. His Pre-Raphaelite period shows many. much like Jim Fitzpatrick's Art Nouveau phase. "Mythical" art was moving in that direction, reincorporating the tradition. Action-adventure went along for the ride. See also P. Craig Russell. The equine faces do show up in a lot of fantasy comics, from Elfquest to Poison Elves. A lot of it goes back to the Golden Age of Kids Books Illustration, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Symbolism. A sense of decadent fin de seicle ennui from the post-psychedelic pop paperback era.
He kept refining himself even after this; the new covers for Conan Saga are some of my favorites (and there's a nice black and white reprint of both parts of Red Nails in one issue). I think the last Conan he drew was Conan vs Rune and the drawing is incredibly strong, though marred by some botched color production.
Ed and Jim, I have a big, black and white Red Nails Conan copy I bought for $4.00 at my local comic convention last year. I will record a video for my channel so you can watch it.
Re: the boys' comments re: use of olives and drabs by comics colorists. Check out 1970s DC war comics most often by an uncredited Tatjana Wood (Wally Wood's widow). Russ Heath Sgt Rock and Severin Losers ROCK because of the subtle palette got from the same 4 colours as everyone else. Note: Heath is also said to have taken a hand in things on occasion to achieve the kind of effects BWS and Linda Lessman show off here in Red Nails, at least in the ochre mid-ranges.
The books edited by L. Sprague de Camp are heavily edited and watered down versions of Howards original Conan stories. The originals were recently published in a collection of 3 books. As a result, I sold my edited copies to a used book store, since they don't do the original stories justice. Good luck.
The Pre-Raphaelites were the punks (hippies? beatniks?) of Victorian art in Britain, circa 1850, refusing to spend years conforming to the boring standards of the Academy, and purposely doing work that LOOKED pre-Renaissance. It was still to have absolute Naturalism (because of Ruskin, Romanticism, Realism, Thoreau, etc.), but emphasized more primitive or primal expression, perspective, drapery, draftsmanship. Some might say because it took a while for Rossetti to master those things. BWS was influenced by the most Symbolist Pre-Raphaelites and the Post-PRB Symbolists, but also by the contemporary Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Gothic Revival, Neo-Classicism, Gift-Book Illustration, and the rest of the mood swings of representational and decorative art of the second half of the Nineteenth Century.
Just got my Conan Epic Collection and while it's awesome, the coloring for “Rogues in the House” isn't taken from the Treasury Edition...sigh. I also have the Dark Horse collection with “Red Nails,” sporting the very noticeable Pablo Marcos-inked page a few people have mentioned, which prompted me to order the Treasury (something I stupidly missed as a kid) off eBay-which, by the way, isn’t just reinked and recolored, it’s got added background details in the opening splash page. Incidentally, since I don't have the Marvel Savage Sword collection, anyone know if the version there is the redone one? Oh, and there's an analysis of Smith’s work by P. Craig Russell you guys might wanna dig up (could be from The Comics Journal, but don't quote me on that). Craig got to see and ink original Conan pages as Dan Adkin’s assistant, and while he was obviously influenced by the drawing, it was the panel composition, staging, and layout that blew him away; all supported by Smith’s copious margin notes. Ironic, since much like his idol, Craig’s incredible storytelling is often overlooked in favor of his incredible drawing. Speaking of which, it was the non-comic artists they talked about that sparked my lifelong interest in the Pre-Raphs, Symbolists, and turn-of-the-century children’s book illustrators, so thank god for Bud Plant (and if you don’t know who Bud Plant is, you’re YOUNG, lol).
Check out the Marvel Comics Group $2.50 regular size comic version. It has a tad richer colors than the treasury edition. I have both and prefer the comic size for reading.
Don't feel bad last years marvel Conan omni's u a variation of the same crappy paper😒 it's razor thin and very translucent! Hard to enjoy the page ur reading for all the bleed thru from the page printed on the other side. Bought most of them for historical content but the paper quality is a complete smack in the face for anyone who spent their hard earned money. Marvel never fails to fail, in that respect. So actually all the original books in my opinion have a much better paper stock, imo fyi. If u can them half price it's still hardly worth the money. Go for the original books u won't be disappointed
SOTHEBY'S AUCTION FOR ED PISKOR'S HIP HOP FAMILY TREE ARTWORK! Bid now online at the links below. Live auction happens September 15!
SLIPCASE VOL 3-4 COVER: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-original-slipcase-art-for-volumes-3-4-of
PUBLIC ENEMY TOY DESIGNS: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-original-artwork-designs-for-public
BASQUIAT AND RAMELLZEE PAGE FROM HHFT: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-ramellzee-basquiat-original-artwork-from
HIP HOP FAMILY TREE VOL 3 COVER: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-run-dmc-original-cover-art-from-volume-3
SLICK RICK PINUP: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-slick-rick-original-art-for-pin-up-in
LL COOL J: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-ll-cool-j-original-art-from-page-72
FAT BOYS:www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-fat-boys-original-art-for-issue-9-splash
GRANDMASTER FLASH IN THE PARK: www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/hip-hop/ed-piskor-park-dj-original-artwork-for-page-2
--------------------------------
Ed's Patreon: www.patreon.com/edpiskor
Jim's Octobriana 1976 Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/jimrugg/fluorescent-blacklight-outlaw-comic-book
A few years ago, Red Nails by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith has been reprinted as an Artist Edition by Genesis West. It was scanned from the original pages (turns out the entire story is in someone's original art collection!) and printed full size of the original pages. I would love to see you guys do a side-by-side comparison of the Treasury Edition and the Artist Edition. Another piece of trivia is that for the original publication of the the Red Nails in the Savage Sword of Conan, Barry Smith ran into some deadline issues and Pablo Marcos inked a couple of the last pages from Chapter 1. For the Treasury Edition, Barry Smith re-inked the pages to make them more in-line with the rest of the book. With the re-inked ages and Barry's coloring, the Treasury Edition is not just a reprint of the Savage Sword of Conan issues, but a book of it's own.
Barbara, thanks for that important piece of historical comic art information. Very valuable indeed.
Barry Windsor-Smith's art still blows my mind!
My favorite treasury is Jack Kirby art on 2001 a space odyssey. Barry Windsor Smith definitely stepped his game up on Conan.
I was lucky to be hanging out with comics nerds during the early '70s, so I got to witness the progressive metamorphosis of Barry Smith from his Kirby pastiche beginnings to his Pre-Raphaelite artistic ascension. What a breathtaking trip! I haven't seen "Red Nails" since that MARVEL TREASURY first came out. It blew our shit away then...and it still stuns me now. Thanks so much!
Back in the 1970s, Barry Windsor-Smith's artwork of Conan was the definitive
version for me. I can still recall the draw-dropping moment when Conan met Elric
of Melnibone. It has been 45 years since I have seen/read anything else by BWS,
but he remains a true master within his chosen field.
Aww man I love me some Conan, been collecting the Conan and Savage Sword of Conan omnibus that marvel has been putting out and they are just full of amazing artwork from real god tier artists!
One of my favourite Treasury editions !
Good points on why Conan is trailing Valeria and that Conan is an opportunist!
Cartoonist Kayfabe provides awesome insights about the fascinating world of comic book art - keep up the excellent work guys! 👍
I have the Savage Sword issues, and the Treasury Edition. Probably my favorite Barry Smith comics work. Simply amazing!
I first saw Barry Windsor Smith's Conan in a UK comics reprint magazine called Havoc in 1991. It was The Frost Giant's Daughter. The way he rendered the frozen breath as negative space streaking across the otherwise busy panels still sticks with me now. I use that same technique in my own artwork regularly.
Great great work!
Originally published in black and white in Savage Tales #2 and #3, these are among my most treasured magazines in my collection. The Marvel Treasury is great because it's in color and larger. But the Artist Edition really presents the art as it should be seen. The original size and in black and white. Barry Smith surprised many in the comic book community when his artistic growth exploded during his run on the original Marvel comic. His version of The Frost Giants Daughter in Savage Tales #1 was so raw and powerful ! He inspired many other artists who tried to duplicate his style.
If u notice in the afterword by Jose Villarubia, he states that although this is nice, it still is Not what B.W. Smith went onto to do with the Treasury Edition, as he re-inked, and retouched so many panels and pages! Do a comparison and u will see the Treasury is the much superior finished product. And don't get me started about the choice of gloss over matte for the paper stock used for the artist edition. Although nice in so many ways, i think i would've still preferred the paper to be as close to the original paper stock as possible. With the added extras of showing the difference between the original and the Treasury edition versions. Opportunities missed again and again.
Conan was always my jam when I was younger. BWS stuff always stood out.
I agree, Barry’s artwork comes off great in the Treasurey Edition. I have that book, the cover is a little faded but to me it’s golden!
Thanks!
They need to make this into a movie/!!!
I have red nails in BW!! its awesome....
Originally published in Savage Tales #2 & 3, not Savage Sword of Conan.
This looks so much better in the Conan Saga B&W oversize reprint. Another case of great line art looking far better in B&W than with cheap colour reproduction.
Great review chops you guys have. Insightful and informative. This is my favorite Conan comics adaptation.
What fun. Thank you guys. Love BWS and enjoyed the episode.
BWS' Storyteller via Dark Horse was another highlight of his work!
Got my copy signed by Roy Thomas 🤘
That color version looks great but Ed is right about the black and white version really “popping “ visually. Great video, great review of BWS, and great to see Conan get some love on Kayfabe
One of my personal favourite comics.
Originally done in B&W in Savage Sword of Conan, then coloured and some pages re-inked by BWS for publication, oversized in that Marvel Treasury Edition. There's also an Artist's Edition which is just stunning!
I also meant to say, that pin-up on the back cover was also a dynamite B&W plate in the famous tuppenny portfolio and a fully coloured lithograph titled "LORD OF THE BLACK CORSAIRS" - google that for some pics showing a much more dynamic sky. This print hangs in my living room so I can see it every day :)
Glad that you noticed his sense of color. I wonder if he got much chance to work with Marie Severin. I see the same sort of facility with tertiary or even muddled colors, because of the strong blocking, contrast, and composition.
I also see more John Severin now, in the placement of figures, and the inking techniques. I see Krenkel, as well. And of course Raymond, Williamson, Frazetta, some Foster, Wally Wood. The other thing is the Latin and Filipino influence of Warren, and I guess DC and Marvel. The line has going from Lou Fine and Fletcher Hanks to Rudy Nebres and Esteban Maroto. You can see a familiarity with such Arthurian or historical illustrators as Charles Keeping or Victor Ambrus.
Also, as you say, he did horror well, albeit beautifully.
Along with his Studio mates, especially Kaluta, I tend to think of BWS as a contemporary of Charles Vess, another comic book artist and illustrator who brought a strong, century-old "fairy tales" influence into comic books. Jim Fitzpatrick, whose commercial work was in album covers and posters, and anot comic books (or rarely comic books) was a fellow traveler.
The Studio was BWS, Kaluta, Wrightson and Jeff Jones. Twenty-Cent Era stalwarts. They show up in comics after Steranko. They get into fine art, posters, paperbacks and projects partly because of their work in non-superhero comics, like horror, action-adventure, and sword-and-sorcery.
Their contemporaries in comics with a similar sensibility were Starlin, Gulacy, Ploog. Right after the Neal Adams explosion, and the coalescing Adams/Cardy/Infantino/Giordano House Style gets established at DC and the Kirby-with-Sinnott/Buscema Bros/Romita Sr/Colan House Style sets in at Marvel. A slew of post-Adams guys, like Perez, would come along and define the Bronze Age take on it.
Red Nails is my favorite Conan comic adaptation. Smith had already established himself as being a premier artist by the time Red Nails was published in Savage Tales 2 and 3. I view this as his Magnum Opus to the genre. None of his later work has matched it in my opinion. I had heard rumor that Smith was involved the coloring for this Treasury Edition as the original artwork was intended for B/W. Either way, the coloring is still better than the later, air brushed effort with the TPB editions.
You can see echoes from1890s Gilded Age fairy books to 1930s Gangster Era weird pulps to 1970s Bronze Age Bohemian Revival in these comics. Red Nails is a masterpiece!
This one too was remade by ABLAZE on their "The Cimmerian" run.
Illustrated by Olivier Vatine. It would be awesome to watch a comparison video like you did with the other Conan. cheers!
The Studio didn't get together until after Barry left comics and had already been doing his Gorblimey Press thing for a year or two. There's no overlap of his comics career and The Studio, except maybe a few pieces that weren't published until his return to comics (like A Path of Stars in Epic) or his never finished Robin Hood comic.
I would love to see a Gallery Edition release of the BWS Conan run with original color for the issues he colored himself.
a comic i have been hunting for
Great episode and I'm loving the content of cartoonist Kayfabe. I'm hoping you do an episode on the Moench/Gulacy run on MOKF sometime.
The Pre-Raphaelites movement was an English art movement that started around 1848, though inspired by some earlier art, like Albrecht Dürer, and Italian art from before Raphael (not because they hated Raphael, but because of how his stylistic mannerisms became THE academic style.... things like avoiding strong color, harsh lighting, and details, in favor of a generalized approach.... so these young, Victorian age artists began painting with a lot of observed detail, using strong color, rejecting the "soft glow no real light source" lighting...). The Pre-Raphaelite level of detail and use of symbolism is what drew in BWS the most... John Everett Millais, William Holeman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were the main artists in the first wave of Pre-Raphaelites, initially calling themselves The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood... followed by artists they influenced, like Edward Burne-Jones (where I suspect Barry got the hyphenating idea - - originally just Edward - - "Ned" to his friends - - Jones) and John W Waterhouse. The movement started off as an art rebellion, but by the end of the 19th century had become mainstream... only to then be rejected by the beginning of the 20th century, replaced by Impressionism and Modernism.
Illustrators of the period, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites were also a big influence and some of Barry's stylized approaches with ink can be traced to Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Le Morte d'Arthur, to Frederick Sandys(a painter, but also a pen & ink book and magazine illustrator, heavily influenced in his line by Dürer woodcuts), Harry Clark, Charles and WH Robinson (2 brothers, both illustrators), Edmund J Sullivan, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham (who was also a big influence on both Mike Kaluta in line style, and Charles Vess in subject matter).
Barry also was influenced by Art Nouveau poster artist (and much more) Alphonse Mucha. - - possibly his first, big, influence from outside of comics and touches inspired by Mucha began appearing in BWS' art from Conan issue 3, onward. The Pre-Raphaelite influence started around Conan issue 19.
Both Mucha and the Pre-Raphaelites appealed to the late '60s/early '70s hippies on a superficial level - - a sort of near psychedelic beauty balancing some of the ugliness of underground comix ... but Barry absorbed the influences deeper than that.
Dope episode! I’d recommend the new version of Red Nails put out by Blaze Comics a few months ago. Sweet French art on that one!
I have the first volume of The Savage Sword Of Conan [ when dark horse still owned it] Anyway, in that first volume, it had this story in black and white and its really interesting to see it in color
Yo they go hard
Check out the marvel savage sword of Conan omnibus they are a thing of beauty plus they print the magazines in their entirety so you get the letter pages and side story’s all in glorious black and white. You get a lot of bang for your buck.
Early in the video, you mention Smith's growth during the 2 years of monthly work on Conan. I'll just comment from the peanut gallery -- for Smith, "monthly" was sometimes a flexible term. But he was so exceptionally good, we didn't care.
Just watched Cecil B. DeMille's - The Crusaders (1935) on youtube credited to Harold Lamb a favorite of REH
Cooooooool!
doctor: “you have 23 minutes left to live”
me:
Influences? I see Steranko. Also in the first story (RitH), BWS looks to be in the same artistic generation as Gulacy, Starlin, Perez, Ploog, et al. I wonder if he was influenced by Lou Fine. He had an almost Golden Age exuberance in the earliest stuff. By the time of Red Nails, his Pre-Raphaelite influences show, as well as his much greater command of texture, and consequent freedom from the bounding line, along with much greater sensitivity to volume, weight, pose, gesture, presentation, restraint. Suddenly he's Hal Foster.
You mention drawing every leaf. Ruskin, who was the first critic to popularize the PRB, insisted on complete Naturalism with a capitol N, especially for foliage. BWS inherited a suite of concerns and techniques as he made his way through studying different artists. His Pre-Raphaelite period shows many. much like Jim Fitzpatrick's Art Nouveau phase. "Mythical" art was moving in that direction, reincorporating the tradition. Action-adventure went along for the ride. See also P. Craig Russell. The equine faces do show up in a lot of fantasy comics, from Elfquest to Poison Elves. A lot of it goes back to the Golden Age of Kids Books Illustration, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Symbolism. A sense of decadent fin de seicle ennui from the post-psychedelic pop paperback era.
He kept refining himself even after this; the new covers for Conan Saga are some of my favorites (and there's a nice black and white reprint of both parts of Red Nails in one issue). I think the last Conan he drew was Conan vs Rune and the drawing is incredibly strong, though marred by some botched color production.
Ed and Jim, I have a big, black and white Red Nails Conan copy I bought for $4.00 at my local comic convention last year. I will record a video for my channel so you can watch it.
Re: the boys' comments re: use of olives and drabs by comics colorists. Check out 1970s DC war comics most often by an uncredited Tatjana Wood (Wally Wood's widow). Russ Heath Sgt Rock and Severin Losers ROCK because of the subtle palette got from the same 4 colours as everyone else. Note: Heath is also said to have taken a hand in things on occasion to achieve the kind of effects BWS and Linda Lessman show off here in Red Nails, at least in the ochre mid-ranges.
The books edited by L. Sprague de Camp are heavily edited and watered down versions of Howards original Conan stories. The originals were recently published in a collection of 3 books. As a result, I sold my edited copies to a used book store, since they don't do the original stories justice. Good luck.
Fucking incredible.
The Pre-Raphaelites were the punks (hippies? beatniks?) of Victorian art in Britain, circa 1850, refusing to spend years conforming to the boring standards of the Academy, and purposely doing work that LOOKED pre-Renaissance. It was still to have absolute Naturalism (because of Ruskin, Romanticism, Realism, Thoreau, etc.), but emphasized more primitive or primal expression, perspective, drapery, draftsmanship. Some might say because it took a while for Rossetti to master those things. BWS was influenced by the most Symbolist Pre-Raphaelites and the Post-PRB Symbolists, but also by the contemporary Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Gothic Revival, Neo-Classicism, Gift-Book Illustration, and the rest of the mood swings of representational and decorative art of the second half of the Nineteenth Century.
Just got my Conan Epic Collection and while it's awesome, the coloring for “Rogues in the House” isn't taken from the Treasury Edition...sigh. I also have the Dark Horse collection with “Red Nails,” sporting the very noticeable Pablo Marcos-inked page a few people have mentioned, which prompted me to order the Treasury (something I stupidly missed as a kid) off eBay-which, by the way, isn’t just reinked and recolored, it’s got added background details in the opening splash page. Incidentally, since I don't have the Marvel Savage Sword collection, anyone know if the version there is the redone one?
Oh, and there's an analysis of Smith’s work by P. Craig Russell you guys might wanna dig up (could be from The Comics Journal, but don't quote me on that). Craig got to see and ink original Conan pages as Dan Adkin’s assistant, and while he was obviously influenced by the drawing, it was the panel composition, staging, and layout that blew him away; all supported by Smith’s copious margin notes. Ironic, since much like his idol, Craig’s incredible storytelling is often overlooked in favor of his incredible drawing. Speaking of which, it was the non-comic artists they talked about that sparked my lifelong interest in the Pre-Raphs, Symbolists, and turn-of-the-century children’s book illustrators, so thank god for Bud Plant (and if you don’t know who Bud Plant is, you’re YOUNG, lol).
humm, I think The Hour of the Dragon is the larger Conan story by Robert E. Howard
Check out the Marvel Comics Group $2.50 regular size comic version. It has a tad richer colors than the treasury edition. I have both and prefer the comic size for reading.
Croms bones!!
That map of Hyboria at 8:05 kinda looks like a side-on medical diagram of the male reproductive system.
As lovely as the colouring is in the Treasury, some of the gorgeous linework in the original B&W edition is muted by the colouring.
The only thing I disliked about Marvel Treasury Editions was the cheap paper stock they used to print them on.
Don't feel bad last years marvel Conan omni's u a variation of the same crappy paper😒 it's razor thin and very translucent! Hard to enjoy the page ur reading for all the bleed thru from the page printed on the other side. Bought most of them for historical content but the paper quality is a complete smack in the face for anyone who spent their hard earned money. Marvel never fails to fail, in that respect. So actually all the original books in my opinion have a much better paper stock, imo fyi. If u can them half price it's still hardly worth the money. Go for the original books u won't be disappointed
Use a variation of the cheapest crappy paper*