Illustrating the Holy Ale: Designing Terry Testosterone

The Nice Barbarian

As mentioned before, the authors were very much inspired by the old video cover of Conan the Barbarian. One of the main heroes is Terry Testosterone. Terry was brought up as a barbarian and works in the pub as a bouncer. However, for all his muscles he's actually a bit of a gentle giant.

Gene and Andrew wanted him to look like the classic barbarian - muscles upon muscles, wearing nothing but a loin cloth and with long flowing hair. However, they wanted his face to convey that he might not be too bright and he's certainly not too vicious.

Too Nice?

I sketched out a full body Terry and also produced a larger sketch of his face to give more detail to help the authors picture him. Although mostly happy, the authors did feel that maybe I made Terry look a bit too nice. The decision was also made to give Terry a bit more of a mullet for a haircut, hence the lovely bushiness he has in the final cover.

Also, by the time he made it to the front cover, the pint in Terry's hand mysteriously floats out of reach with him desperately trying to grasp it. Finally a huge axe has appeared in his hand for an added bit of drama (that and what barbarian would be without his axe?)