Robert E. Howard‘s Conan is from the land of Cimmeria in the Hyborean Age. It was only in adulthood that I learned Howard had borrowed the name of a real-life location (known today as Crimea). Taking inspiration from this, I created Kuru, a warrior from the historical Cimmeria, transported forward in time to the era of the Soviet Union.

The Librarians of the Oubliotheque. I made these portraits years ago, and imagine the characters quite differently now.