Epic Epic 1

Well here it is. I've been working on this piece on and off for months. It was originally intended to be a Frank Frazetta tribute, and it still is, but now it is so much more.  My goal as an artist has always been to create something that would instill the same "wow" moment that I have while looking at Frazetta's work. Here is yet another attempt, hopefully channeling a little of that Frazetta magic.

The zombified character meme is all too common currently, and while a fun visual gag, it is usually a rather shallow flight of fancy. After the idea for Zonan popped into my head ( and the maniacal laughter subsided) he quickly took on a life of his own. Conan hates magic, especially the dark arts.  Given that his greatest enemy is a dark Stygian wizard, it makes some sense that even after his mortal adventures ended, there would be some level of interest in him. Enough interest that a dark wizard might have tried to experiment with his corpse in order to understand how a simple barbarian could possibly thwart so many wizards, and kings, and demons time and time again.  The wizard might even try to use this corpse as a servant, creating a grim irony and a powerful, mindless slave.  But of course, something goes wrong, or else there wouldn't really be much of a story.   Behold Zonan!

Click to see larger and clearer!

 Conan is a super hero.  He doesn't have heat vision or flight or even super strength.  Conan's super power is willpower.  The reason he is victorious is because he wills himself to not lose.  What would happen to a mindless zombie with super willpower.  From there the stories write themselves.  Using the basic structures of Conan stories, Zonan's adventures will twist those classic tales.
Now all I have to do is make them. . .

I hope someone gets some "wow" from this. :)