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Brian Mennenoh
21 articles

Conan the Destroyer

November 14, 2024 · in Figures · · 21 · 189

I've been a fan of Frank Frazetta for a very long time. I really never intended to do sculptures based on his works. A friend who commissioned the Death Dealer piece was also interested in this painting becoming a statue. I was not confident in my ability to pull off such an immense project. Not only would multiple characters have to be sculpted, but none of them were not fully visible in the original source material. That both adds a level of freedom and a level of fear that I'd be sculpting without reference. After having a pretty solid success with the Death Dealer, I obviously decided to give this a shot. It did take quite a bit of time to sculpt everything. I do enjoy sculpting realistic musculature, so this was a cool piece to do. I've also loved since I was an early teenager and started reading Conan the Barbarian comic books. so, again, cool piece to do. The next challenge was trying to understand the 'correct' way to cut the sculpt up in order to be able to 3D print it. It also had to be able to be assembled by someone who may someday purchase the kit from me. The parts do need a bit of adjustment in order to be assembled but the adjustments are really quite minimal for it being my first elaborate model kit. There's 30 pieces. Once it was all printed, I was then challenged by painting large areas of skin. I watched quite a few YouTube videos to get an idea of how to approach painting skin with an airbrush (thanks to Ground Effected for showing me the way). Overall, the various skin tones really work well together in my opinion. I'm really happy with the way the whole thing turned out. Thanks to Frank Frazetta for being a lifelong inspiration. He was definitely the GOAT of fantasy art and illustration.

Reader reactions:
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21 responses

  1. That is just fooking amazing, Brian. You've really become a aster of this. Once this one gets known, you should have no problem selling kits.

  2. This really came out great, Brian (@brithebuilder). It was great following along from the original design work, to the printing and revising, then on to the painting. The whole project is a real testament to your skill and artistry. Well done.

  3. @brithebuilder This is just amazing. Realizing a Frazetta painting in full 3d is very cool to see. Your ability to fill in the missing parts of the figures not seen in the painting is truly impressive. Great to follow your WIP and see the final result.

  4. Fantastic result, Brian! This is absolutely stunning! Loved following your build thread, too!

  5. This project turned out wonderful, Brian @brithebuilder
    You created some very nice models with 3D design and printing.
    Thanks for taking us along this journey in your build threat.

  6. Congrats, Brian. Everything about it, from concept to completion, is wonderfully accomplished. Well done!

  7. That is amazing work, Brian @brithebuilder! ๐Ÿคฉ That is an awesome accomplishment. ๐Ÿ† My wife and I were frequent customers at Conan's Pizza in Austin, Texas where the walls were adorned with many Frazetta posters. ๐Ÿ™‚

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