suburbanbeatnik on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/suburbanbeatnik/art/The-Empress-and-the-Gladiator-106916541suburbanbeatnik

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The Empress and the Gladiator

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Description

This is the cover I did for Astonishing Adventures Magazine #5- you can download it here. [link] Since it accompanies my article, "Toga porn," which is all about pulpy swords-and-sandals books from the '50s, '60s and '70s, it features the magazine's mascot, Scarlet, dressed as an empress, with a buff gladiator wielding a bloody sword before her.

Everything was kept intentionally inaccurate and Hollywood-ish, and I looked at a lot of Frazetta while painting this, because I wanted to make it more painterly than my other work. I also ended up looking at a lot of Peter Lely, the Restoration-era portraitist, because no one does sleepy-eyed, pale-skinned and morally dubious women better than he. Scarlet's costume was inspired partially by Claudette Colbert's outfit in "The Sign of the Cross" (1932) and by Anneka di Lorenzo in "Messalina, Messalina." (1977) Check out the magazine- it's chockful of my artwork and lots of pulpy goodness!
Image size
836x1041px 1.1 MB
© 2008 - 2024 suburbanbeatnik
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