Liam Sharp Talks About Creating A Special Double Page Spread For Savage Sword Of Conan

Barbarous Detail

Comic fans may already be aware that Liam’s Sharp’s latest work sees him write and illustrate Conan for Titan Comics. While his incredible work will appear in black and white, Liam has coloured one astonishing double page spread. The results proved so remarkable Tripwire’s contributing writer Paul N Neal just had to find out more…

Tripwire: Liam, it looks like you are having the time of your life illustrating Conan. Would that be true?

Liam Sharp: Oh man, absolutely! That doesn’t make it easy though! I have such high expectations for myself, and a strong idea in my head what I’m aiming for, and basically that’s impossible to achieve, but I’m giving it my best shot.

TW: You recently shared an incredible double page spread on social media. It is insanely detailed! Where does all that passion come from?

LS: It really comes from my love of the great artists whose shoulders I stand on! My Conan work is predominantly inspired by John Buscema, Alcala, Frazetta and of course Barry Windsor-Smith – the latter of whom is the primary influence on that particular spread. The astonishing posters he published at Gorblimey Press blew my mind when I was young. They still do!

TW: Everyone looking at the piece must surely be curious how long it took to produce such a masterpiece. So please can you say honestly how many hours went into this double page spread?

LS: I’m always very slightly reticent around the question of how long a piece of art takes, because the value in art shouldn’t have any kinds of bias based on the perception of effort. Kirby could do four pages a day. Don Lawrence would spend sometimes two weeks or more on a page. It’s a little bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question, and it can set false expectations for other artists too!

I know some very famous artists that have lied about how fast they are to make themselves look better and impossible to match! That said, I didn’t time myself, or keep track, but these are big pages, and the whole spread took roughly a working week, I’m guessing.

TW: These two pages are planned to be published in black and white, I believe. What inspired you to colour it?

LS: Yes indeed! Black and white for ‘The Savage Sword of Conan’ issue 11. But I have always loved Barry Windsor-Smith’s ‘Artemis and Apollo’ piece, and thought a print in that vein would be a nice thing to do. It’s as close as I’ve ever come to doing anything as remotely ambitious as Barry’s masterpiece.

TW: I have been a fan of your art for some years. I often wish your art was published in black and white because it is so detailed. You did such a great job colouring this piece. Can you say as the artist, do you prefer your art in black and white or coloured? Please, you have to pick one.

LS: I prefer my work in black and white. There! I’ve said it!

TW: There may be curious artists that would love to know – What artists’ tools do you use? Do you have a specific supplier for art tools? Is anything you create digital?

LS: My weapon of choice is the trusty Pentel Pocket Brushpen – first introduced to me by my great friend John McPherson, who was working for Pentel back in the early 90’s. Sometimes I’ll go in with a Pigma Micron for the super fine stuff. Colours I do in Photoshop mostly, but I’m wanting to get back to painting in oils again more.

TW: Surely you don’t have plans to top this incredible double page spread? or do you?

LS: Ha! Of course I do!

TW: You have indicated you may have coloured prints for sale at your convention appearances? What are the dimensions? Should fans come ready with cardboard tubes? It may be too early to ask but how much might they cost?

LS: Currently I’m thinking of standard 11 x 17-inch prints. We’ll see!

TW: Would you be happy to continue writing and illustrating Conan until you consider any form of retirement from comics?

LS: Probably not, because I have more of my own stories to hopefully tell, but if I HAD to write and draw Conan stories for the next 30 years I think I could make a pretty good go of it and remain pretty content doing it! And I’ll never retire, as long as I can still make stories.

TW: Is there anything else you would like to say about this astonishing piece of art?

LS: Only that it’s fun to try and guess at all the hidden Easter eggs and symbolism…

TRIPWIRE NOTE: Liam referred a piece of art by artist Barry Windsor Smith titled ‘Artemis and Apollo’. For those interested that image is presented here.

Savage Sword Of Conan#8 is out now from Titan Comics