Ya gotta love Tanith Lee. Or what she wrote back in the '70s. This charming couple is the alien masked "goddess" (whose name is revealed to be "Karrakaz") from "The Birthgrave," paired with her Conan the Barbarian lookalike lover, Vazkor. I love those names. It's not Jake and Sophie, or Fred and Ethel. I had a great time depicting their jewelry. The guy's face and hairdo was borrowed from a comic book version of Conan the Barbarian. There's a little shining star with a trail in the upper half of the picture. That's a spaceship which is orbiting this barbaric planet observing the benighted inhabitants. Another great thing about Tanith Lee, she didn't worry about crossing genres.
Man, I wish I did stuff like this nowadays. Barbarians and fantasy women with bloody knives and elaborate gold jewelry. Orientalist cities in the sunset. Maybe I have more, uh, good taste now?
"Karrakaz and Vazkor" is acrylic on illustration board, 11" x 18", February 1981. Klikonthepic for a larger view.
1 comment:
I LOVE that mask and the gold work on this is amazing!!!
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