The art of Kevin Blythe Sampson

THE ART OF
KEVIN BLYTHE SAMPSON

12/9/09

my hero for years Frank Frazetta

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Unofficial Frank Frazetta Fantasy Art Gallery

http://frankfrazetta.org/all0001.php

Biography

Early life and career
Frazetta was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. At the age of eight, with the insistence of his school teachers,[citation needBed] Frazetta's parents enrolled him in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts.[citation needed] He attended the academy for eight years under the tutelage of Michael Falanga, an Italian fine artist. Falanga was struck by Frazetta's significant talent.[citation needed] Frazetta's abilities flourished under Falanga, who dreamed of sending Frazetta to Europe, at his own expense, to further his studies,[citation needed] but Falanga died suddenly in 1944[citation needed]. When the school closed about a year later, Frazetta was forced to find work to earn a living.


Chief Victorio Western story by Williamson and Frazetta)
At 16, Frazetta started drawing for comic books in various genres: Westerns, fantasy, mysteries, histories, and other contemporary themes. Some of his earliest work was in funny animal comics, which he signed as "Fritz." During this period he turned down job offers from giants such as Walt Disney. In the early 1950s, he worked for EC Comics, National Comics, (including the superhero feature "Shining Knight"), Avon, and several other comic book companies. Much of his work in comic books was done in collaboration with friend Al Williamson and mentor[citation needed] Roy Krenkel.
Noticed because of his work on the Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies, Frazetta started working with Al Capp on his Li'l Abner comic strip. Frazetta was also producing his own strip, Johnny Comet at this time, as well as assisting Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon daily strip. In 1961, after nine years with Capp, Frazetta returned to regular comics. Having emulated Capp's style for so long, Frazetta's own work during this period looked a bit awkward as his own style struggled to reemerge.
Work in comics was hard to find, however. Comics had changed during his period with Capp, and his style was deemed antiquated.[citation needed] Eventually he joined Harvey Kurtzman, doing the parody strip Little Annie Fanny in Playboy magazine.
Hollywood and book covers
In 1964, Frazetta's painting of Beatle Ringo Starr for a Mad magazine ad parody caught the eye of United Artists studios. He was approached to do the movie poster for What's New Pussycat?, and earned the equivalent of his yearly salary in one afternoon. He did several other movie posters (see notable works). It was also during this time that he turned down an offer from a talent scout to play for the New York Giants.[1]


Frazetta's cover artwork for Conan the Usurper (1967).
Frazetta also produced paintings for paperback editions of adventure books. His interpretation of Conan visually redefined the genre of sword and sorcery, and had an enormous influence on succeeding generations of artists. From this point on, Frazetta's work was in great demand. His covers were used for other paperback editions of classic Edgar Rice Burroughs books, such as those from the Tarzan and Barsoom (John Carter of Mars) series. He also did several pen and ink illustrations for many of these books. Frazetta attributes much of the violence and brutality of these paintings to his actual experiences as a young man defending himself from the street gangs of Brooklyn,[2] who most likely unwisely targeted a man who in all probability traveled with a baseball bat.[3] The cover art only coincidentally matched the storylines inside the books, as Frazetta later explained: "I didn't read any of it... I drew him my way. It was really rugged. And it caught on. I didn't care about what people thought. People who bought the books never complained about it. They probably didn't read them."[4]
Since this time, most of Frazetta's work has been commercial in nature, providing paintings and illustrations for movie posters, book jackets, and calendars. Frazetta's commercial work includes several cover paintings and a few comic stories for the Warren Publishing horror magazines Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella.
Once he secured a reputation, movie studios started trying to lure him to work on animated movies. Most, however, would give him participation in name only, with creative control held by others. In the early 1980s, a movie deal was offered which would give him most creative control. Frazetta worked with animated movie producer Ralph Bakshi on the feature Fire and Ice, released in 1983. Many of the characters and most of the story were Frazetta's creations. The movie proved a commercial disappointment, and Frazetta returned to his roots in painting and pen-and-ink illustrations.
Frazetta's paintings have been used by a number of recording artists as cover art for their albums. Molly Hatchet's first two albums feature "The Death Dealer" and "Dark Kingdom" respectively. Dust's second album, Hard Attack, features "Snow Giants". Nazareth used "The Brain" for their 1977 album Expect No Mercy. Frazetta also created brand new cover artwork that appeared on "Buddy Bought The Farm", the second CD of the surf horror band "The Dead Elvi". Recently, Wolfmother used "The Sea Witch" as the cover for their self-titled debut. Wolfmother has also used other Frazetta paintings for the covers of their singles and for some of their merchandise, such as t-shirts.
In 2008, the cover illustration to the Burroughs paperback "Escape on Venus" sold at auction for $251,000. Frazetta retained the original Conan paintings, and long refused to part with them. Many were displayed at the Frazetta Museum in East Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania. In 2009, Frazetta's "Conan the Conqueror" painting was the first to be offered for sale, and was purchased by a private collector for one million dollars.[5]
Later life and career
Frazetta's primary commercial works are in oil, but he also works with watercolor, ink and pencil alone. In his later life, Frazetta has been plagued by a variety of health problems, including a thyroid condition that went untreated for many years. Recently, a series of strokes has impaired Frazetta's manual dexterity to a degree that he has switched to drawing and painting with his left hand. He still continues to find an outlet through sculpture and other means. In 2003, a feature film documenting the life and career of Frazetta was released, entitled, Frank Frazetta: Painting With Fire.
In July 2009, following the death of his wife and business manager, Frazetta announced the appointment of Robert Pistella and Steve Ferzoco as his exclusive agents, through their company Frazetta Management Corp. Pistella and Ferzoco represent Mr. Frazetta's interests in his entire body of work, including all sales of original artwork, licensing, branding, merchandising, as well as all aspects of media development.[citation needed]
Personal life
As of 2009, Frazetta lives on a 67-acre (271,000 m²) estate in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. They maintain a small museum, open to the public, on the estate. On July 17, 2009, his wife Ellie died after a year-long battle with cancer.[6]

Influence

Frazetta has had a major and lasting influence on many artists within the genre of fantasy and science fiction, such as Simon Bisley.[citation needed] Boris Vallejo is another fantasy artist with a style broadly similar to Frazetta's along with the fact that he also painted several paperback covers of some of the same science fiction/fantasy characters (e.g., Conan the barbarian, Tarzan) as Frazetta. Yusuke Nakano, a lead artist for Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series, cites Frazetta as an influence.[7]

List of works

Selected paintings
  • Golden Girl - 1952
  • Lost City - 1960
  • Reassembled Man - 1965
  • Sorcerer - 1965
  • Werewolf - 1965
  • Winged Terror - 1965
  • Conan the Adventurer - 1966
  • Sea Monster - 1966
  • Spider Man - 1966
  • Conan - 1967
  • Conan the Conqueror - 1967
  • Conan the Usurper - 1967
  • Land of Terror - 1967
  • Mongol Tyrant - 1967
  • Nightstalker - 1967
  • Pony Tail - 1967
  • Snow - 1967
  • The Brain - 1967
  • The Return of Jongor - 1967
  • Conan the Avenger - 1968
  • Rogue Roman - 1968
  • Swamp Ogre - 1968
  • Bran Mak Morn - 1969
  • Creatures of the Night - 1969
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex - 1969
  • Woman with Scythe - 1969
  • A Princess of Mars - 1970
  • Downward to the Earth - 1970
  • Eternal Champion - 1970
  • John Carter and the Savage Apes of Mars - 1970
  • Sun Goddess - 1970
  • Tree of Death - 1970
  • Conan the Destroyer - 1971
  • Desperation - 1971
  • Flying Reptiles - 1971
  • Tanar of Pellucidar - 1971
  • Atlantis Rising - 1972
  • Birdman - 1972
  • Black Panther - 1972
  • Black Star - 1972
  • Flash for Freedom - 1972
  • Ghoul Queen - 1972
  • Monster Out of Time - 1972
  • Serpent - 1972
  • Tarzan and the Antmen - 1972
  • The Silver Warrior - 1972
  • Gollum - 1973
  • The Death Dealer I - 1973
  • At the Earth's Core - 1974
  • Flashman on the Charge - 1974
  • Grizzly Bear - 1974
  • Invaders - 1974
  • Swords of Mars - 1974
  • The Mammoth - 1974
  • Thuvia Maid of Mars - 1974
  • Paradox - 1975
  • Bloodstone - 1976
  • Dark Kingdom - 1976
  • Darkness at Times Edge - 1976
  • Fire Demon - 1976
  • Madame Derringer - 1976
  • Sheba - 1976
  • The Eighth Wonder - 1976
  • Kane on the Golden Sea - 1977
  • Castle of Sin - 1978
  • Cave Demon - 1978
  • Night Winds - 1978
  • King Kong - 1979
  • Las Vegas - 1979
  • Seven Romans - 1979
  • Sound - 1979
  • Witherwing - 1979
  • Savage World - 1981
  • Witch - 1981
  • Fire and Ice Movie Poster - 1983
  • Cat Girl - 1984
  • The Disagreement - 1985
  • The Death Dealer II - 1986
  • Victorious - 1986
  • Predators - 1987
  • The Death Dealer III - 1987
  • The Death Dealer IV - 1987
  • The Moons Rapture - 1987
  • The Countess and the Greenman - 1989
  • The Death Dealer V - 1989
  • Cat Girl II - 1990
  • The Death Dealer VI - 1990
  • Dawn Attack - 1991
  • Pillow Book Cover - 1994
  • Beauty Vs Beast - 1995
  • Shi - 1995
  • From Dusk till Dawn - 1996
  • Vampirella - 1996
  • A Fighting Man of Mars - Date Unknown
  • Black Emperor - Date Unknown
  • Carson of Venus - Date Unknown
  • Egyptian Queen - Date Unknown
  • Geisha - Date Unknown
  • Masai Warrior - Date Unknown
  • Primitive Beauty - Date Unknown
  • Queen Kong - Date Unknown
  • Sorceress - Date Unknown
  • Tarzan Meets La of Opar - Date Unknown
  • Tempest Witch - Date Unknown
  • The Godmakers - Date Unknown
  • The Moon Maid and the Centaur - Date Unknown
  • The Mucker - Date Unknown
Album covers
Movie posters

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Frazetta News, September 2003 from FrazettaArtGallery.com
  2. ^ Frazetta biography, 1940's, Page 2 from FrazettaArtGallery.com
  3. ^ Frazetta biography, 1950's from FrazettaArtGallery.com
  4. ^ http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/full_content.php?article_id=1084&full=yes&pbr=1
  5. ^ http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/full_content.php?article_id=1084&full=yes&pbr=1
  6. ^ THE BEAT, July 17, 2009 from http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/
  7. ^ portrait of Nintendo's illustrator from Zelda Universe

References

  • Book Testament: The Life and Art of Frank Frazetta, ISBN 1-887424-62-8
  • Movie Frank Frazetta: Painting With Fire
  • Magazine article "Mr. Fantasy", Circus, November 14, 1978

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Frazetta"
Categories: 1928 births | American painters | American illustrators | American comics artists | Poster artists | Eisner Award winners | Fantasy artists | Italian Americans | Living people | Science fiction artists | Hugo Award winning artists
Hidden categories: Articles lacking in-text citations from October 2009 | All articles lacking in-text citations | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from January 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from June 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from June 2008
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