Crowning of King Conan
Argentine artist Tomás Giorello, who’s been drawing Conan since 2007, talks about his work on King Conan
How did you get into drawing comics?
After high school, I studied illustration and drawing comics with the Villagràn brothers. They taught me how to draw and how to get into the comic book field.
How did you end up drawing Conan?
I had finished a five-year run on a Star Wars title at Dark Horse and was asked if I was interested in replacing Cary Nord.
What media did you use for Conan?
I used 0.5 2B and 0.7 2B pencils.
You drew Conan, Conan the Cimmerian and King Conan. How have you developed him, and developed as an artist, over the last nine years?
I think I’ve changed a lot. For some artists, drawing the same character gets tedious, but for me it’s the opposite. The more you draw something the better you get at it and the better it gets, and it’s very exciting to experience it. As for Conan, I’ve always seen him as an experienced warrior, so drawing him in his youth wasn’t easy for me. It was a great change when we jumped into his older years in King Conan. I got the chance to finally give his face harder features and darker expressions, and put scars on his body.
What’s been your favourite storyline?
Hour Of The Dragon and Wolves Beyond The Border, both in King Conan. Those stories show more of his human side. He feels the weight of his crown, finds love, yearns for her once she’s gone. It was a chance to show a wide range of expressions, a more complex Conan. He’s not just a big guy with a sword.
Which is your favourite cover?
The first in the Wolves Beyond The Border set, because it shows his spirit. He’s a king, he has everything power and gold can buy, but he stands there, sword in hand, his armour battered and covered with blood, eyes wild and filled with dissatisfaction, looking for new horizons.
Which other Conan artists do you admire most, and why?
John Buscema, Frank Frazetta, Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, Alex Niño, Cary Nord and many others. They all made the character bigger and more real in one way or another, from the strength in Frazetta and Buscema’s Conan to the dynamism and freshness in Nord’s. But I tried not to look at them while drawing mine, so that I could come up with my own version of him.