From the Artist
Digital, 11×14.
Conan the Barbarian at the steps of the Temple of Set
For anyone who knows me, they know I love Conan the Barbarian. In the 80’s it was the perfect fantasy movie. It took the character seriously, while also capturing the sense of high adventure. A tale of Conan was the first fiction I remember writing, back in the 3rd grade. My dad read it and said, “you’re too young to use the word damn so much.”
Conan’s stories, and of course the amazing art by so many great artists, has always captivated me.
During 2020, Laura and I played Conan Exiles, a survival game, with our friends. This helped pass the time and loneliness of quarantine. I think I may have played more Conan Exiles than any other video game ever.
I did this drawing inspired by this pulp hero, and also in reference to Paul’s drawing Courage against Calamity. I hope
More About The Art
“Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars – Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.”
– The Nemedian Chronicles.
About Michael Bielaczyc
Michael Bielaczyc has been working professionally in the art field since 2001 when he founded Aradani Studios with his brother Paul. Together they have exhibited across America selling both their artwork and costuming. He works in many mediums from oil paint to latex prosthetics, video to graphite.
In 2012, Michael started Lone Wanderer Entertainment with his long time friend Dane Clark Collins to publish books based in their dark fantasy world – Atheles. Since then he has authored 4 books and created the SagaBorn RPG system.
