(Atlantis)

To conclude The Artisan Series homage to Frank Frazetta let us discuss his influence in various arenas. Frank Frazetta is not the only great 20th century American illustrator, he is in fact one of many. But Frank Frazetta had some rather unique effects on the world around him that benefited both fellow artists and the public at large.

Creator Rights

Before Frank Frazetta came along publishers were not apt to return illustrators work. For some illustrators, especially those in the comics field, the thought hadn’t even occurred to them. Watching Painting With Fire and hearing artists like Al Williamson say that no one ever thought of keeping artwork themselves was almost painful. If you attend a comic convention today scores of artists have their original panels for sale and it is sad to think how many amazing pieces of comic art are not around today because artists and publishers didn’t realize they would be worth anything. When Frank Frazetta first started doing paperback coverwork for Ace he was not allowed to keep his originals. As I mentioned in part two, he was struggling at the time and was also helping out his friend Roy Krenkel so he did the work anyway. As soon as his popularity began to rise Frazetta began insisting on the return of originals. In those days publishers would sometimes sell the works for big profits to others and sometimes would even destroy the works. Can you imagine all the great Frazetta works being destroyed?!?! Frazetta quickly found himself in a place where his work was in such demand that he refused to work for anyone who would not let him retain his originals. This opened the door for other artists to insist on the same rights. Frazetta paved the way for creators to offer only first printing rights to publishers thus retaining future rights for themselves, an important fact given that many of the works we are privileged to see today may not have been as available for access had not creators the rights to keep and distribute their own work as they see fit.

Book sales and the resurrection of the classics

Those of us here in the 21st century might take for granted the prevalence of books in our everyday lives. Today there are mega bookstore chains throughout the world and the internet has opened up one’s ability to obtain almost any piece of literature with a bit of searching and a credit card number. As recently as my childhood this was not the case. Back in the early 60’s when Frank Frazetta began doing cover work book sales were different.

It would be unfathomable today to think that the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard would not be well known, established classics. However in the early 60’s both author’s works had fallen into obscurity from a publishing standpoint. Frank Frazetta’s cover work had an immediate impact on these licenses. Tarzan was ERB’s most well known character but book sales began to make other works of his accessible.

(Cover to The Fighting Man of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of the John Carter of Mars book series…also this month’s calendar image in the cool Frazetta calendar Jeff got me for my birthday!)

For the first time ever paperback books began to have sales figures of a million copies. Today that may not be as astounding given the ease with which one may market and subsequently buy books but in those the cover art was literally the only advertisement of a book and it had to catch the eye of readers in spinner racks in local stores or on the bookshelf, if your town was fortunate enough to have one.

(Cover to Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth in the John Carter of Mars series.)

Riding on the heels of Ace’s success Lancer Paperbacks picked up the rights to the Conan series and Frazetta’s popularity and influence on the book industry reached new heights. The Conan books became the best selling series in history to that point and were selling upwards of 10 million copies.

Frank’s cover images became such big sellers that publishers were asking for any paintings that he had available saying that they would find a book to put it on. This accounts for the fact that there are a number of really bad books with wonderful Frazetta covers, a fact that he quickly put a stop to once he had the clout to be more selective about his work.

Conan

The Conan series deserves further mention here as Frazetta’s influence went far beyond book sales to the point where he has created a character as popular as the source material from whence it came if not more so. Frank Frazetta’s image of Conan quickly became the only image. Frazetta created the iconic look of the barbarian that has stayed in the public mind to this day. Even the comic art of Cary Nord and the illustrations of Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz owe their foundations to the work of Frank Frazetta. No one would dare stray far from the master image that generations have come to associate with Conan. Frazetta’s imagery was so strong that when it came time to make a film version of Conan it was his Conan that they were looking to.

Film industry

Despite the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger today may evoke negative images his early Conan films were not bad. While not as true to the source material as they could have been the film makers did a fairly good job of incorporating characters and situations from Robert E. Howard’s books.

Painting with Fire indicates that various art directors on the film asked to have Frank Frazetta brought in as a consultant but that Dino De Laurentiis would not hear of it. Despite this there are several scenes in the movies that pay homage to Frank Frazetta’s Conan work in the way that the shot is set up or the way that the women pose, etc. I definitely consider that a blunder on Dino De Laurentiis’s part. Could you imagine the Lord of the Rings films without the participation of the two illustrators whose work is synonymous with Tolkien’s books: John Howe and Alan Lee? With today’s technology and a director who would take the time to bring out the depth in Howard’s stories and use the look of Frazetta’s interpretations the Conan stories are ripe for epic film making.

Frank Frazetta’s work made such an impact that director George Lucas asked him to do some work on the Star Wars films. Unfortunately retaining rights was equally important to Lucas and he refused to allow Frazetta to keep any of his originals and so Frank turned him down. As a fan of both I would have loved to see Frazetta’s interpretations of the Star Wars characters. As it was he was asked to do artwork for another science fiction series, albeit on on the small screen, that has seen a resurgence today: Battlestar Galactica.

(TV Guide cover images for Battlestar Galactica)

Conclusion

I am sure it is abundantly clear after three days of posts that I am a big fan of the life and work of Frank Frazetta. His influence on fantasy illustration, illustration in general, the book industry, the film industry, and popular culture are much larger than I even touched on here. In his early days as well as today Frank Frazetta has spawned scores of imitators. It is obvious when one sees work that mimics Frank’s that the artist grew up in the Frazetta generation, a fact that seems to bug Frazetta as he feels an artist should be true to themselves rather than try to copy him.

From his comic work to his painting, sculpture, photography, etc. Frazetta has inspired generations of fans to see dream of different worlds and has inspired many to create fantastic worlds of their own. Through the quality and craftsmanship of his paintings Frazetta has opened the door for the world of illustration to be considered alongside the world of fine art.

I was watching Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow last week a few days before starting the Frazetta posts, while the ideas were germinating in my mind. As I watched I was stunned to see Frazetta work in the film. Sky Captain is of course a homage to the science fiction and fantasy work of the early 20th century…work that influenced who and what Frank Frazetta would become artistically. The character of Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) is the inventor of the group and in one scene he shoves a pile of papers and comic books off his desk. A simple screen shot reveals those comics to be the Buck Rogers Famous Funnies covers of…you guessed it…Frank Frazetta.

Later when Dex is captured and Sky Captain is looking through the rubble Frazetta’s work gets another brief showcase:

The geek in me was thrilled to no end!

Well there you have it. Thus ends my rambling blog posts about the life, work and influence of Frank Frazetta. I will no doubt mention him again as I had before these posts as his work represents all that I like about classic, nostalgic science fiction and fantasy. Again, happy birthday Frank! I hope to see many more years and many more creations before the end. If you are interested in more about the amazing Frank Frazetta I not only remind you of the suggestion of the Painting With Fire DVD but I also point you to three comprehensive, high quality books edited by Arnie and Cathy Fenner: Legacy, Icon, and Testament. The Fenners have a love for the subject and subject matter that permeates each book and the image quality of Frazetta’s pieces are outstanding. And finally if you are interested in obtaining any prints or other Frazetta items I suggest a visit to his official website, a link to which has been in my Art/Comic Links section since the inception of Stainless Steel Droppings. Frazetta’s prints are incredibly affordable and the print quality is excellent.

Thanks for allowing me to share Frank Frazetta with you.

Frank Frazetta…to be honest the attempt to capture Frank Frazetta and the impact his art has had on me in the past year in a blog post, or a 100 blog posts, is simply overwhelming. I sit here somewhat stunned, not knowing where to begin, where to take you the reader, and where to end.

The impact of Frazetta’s fantasy artwork has caused some to call him the Grand Master of Fantastic Art. It is an apt and deserved title. However to put Frank Frazetta in any one category is to ignore the way in which his work in various genres with various media has impacted and at times dominated the illustration world over several decades.

My plan is to do something of a general overview today with some exposure to some of Frank Frazetta’s artwork and what it means to me personally. Tomorrow’s post will focus more on the person of Frank Frazetta: fighter, star athlete, lover, family man…and oh yeah, the fact that he can do some mean art as well. I may then do one more post focusing on the impact that Frazetta’s work has had on the world of illustration, literature and film.

(self portrait)

Today, February 9th, Frank Frazetta is 78 years old. Happy Birthday Frank! To be quite honest I discovered Frank Frazetta’s work when I was a kid. I just didn’t realize it until about a year and a half ago when I picked up the excellent book Testament: The Life and Art of Frank Frazetta by Arnie and Cathy Fenner. I was at once overpowered by his artwork and fascinated with his life story. Many of Frazetta’s seminal works graced the covers of books and magazines that I saw as a child and the emotional connection sparked by the memories I had when reading Testament made me feel as if I had discovered a long forgotten friend. I am not trying to be overly dramatic here, it really felt that way. I soon after shared the book with Jeff who discovered the Frazetta: Painting with Fire DVD and shared that with me. Together we sat in awe of this man, his talent, and his very unique and admirable take on life.

Frazetta’s work invokes the kinds of feelings I talked about when I reviewed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Beyond my initial enchantment with his work came a deeper and greater understanding as I learned who the man is and just how incredibly talented he is. As I mentioned before it is hard to know how to proceed with an homage to Frazetta.

(an early rough for an unused comic strip idea of Frazetta’s. One can see right away the genesis of a look that will eventually become known as Frazetta’s Women.)

Like the truly classic fantasy tales the work of Frank Frazetta seems to be both timeless and vintage. His pen and ink work are examples of the very best of comic art of the early 20th century and his paintings seem to be at once historical and futuristic, earthy and otherworldly, fantastical and yet very real. Part of Frank’s lasting appeal has something to do with the fact that many of his most famous illustrations graced the covers of the classic novels as well as magazines like Creepy and Eerie but the reason they have stood the test of time is that his works are rich with color and drama and atmosphere, they inspire a longing for otherworlds and fantastical adventures. Frazetta’s work arouses a deep nostalgic passion that is undeniable for those who like classic illustration and/or fantasy art.

(Pen and ink illustration from one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels. His detail and line quality is amazing.)

Frank Frazetta can summarize his work much better than I: “[a friend] asked me once if I could put into words how I thought of my career. In answer, I would consider myself to be a creative artist, not just a fantasy illustrator. I work purely from my imagination without swipe files or photographs sitting by my easel while I paint. I stress good composition and a sense of design that borders on the abstract in spite of the subject matter. When people look back on my art, no one is ever going to say that I was the best draftsman who ever lived. And they’re not going to say that I painted the most beautiful women or the most heroic figures. But I think they’ll say that I made the most unbelievable things believable; that standing in front of one of my paintings caused a suspension of disbelief. Achieving that wasn’t done with style or color or technique; it was achieved with attitude, with a look, with a gesture. Imagination is all of it and I firmly believe that is what I’ll be remembered for.”

(I enjoy Leaping Lizards simply because it reminds me of the Gorn episode from Star Trek which is one of my favorites.)

It has been said that Frazetta more than many artists has been able to capture a true moment in time. He seems to have the ability, like a photographer, to catch a piece of dramatic action as it was played out. Pictures in future posts may show this better than the ones I chose for today. Despite the fantastical settings of his most popular work there is a very real quality to what he paints.

(The Silver Warrior. If this looks familiar to you it may be because The Chronicles of Narnia movie borrowed the look of the witch’s polar bear driven sleigh from this piece. It was even more similar in early ads in which her sleigh was pulled by four rather than two polar bears.)

Frazetta’s artistic talent is obvious. What makes his work even more fascinating is that he often would wait until the last day of a deadline before starting work on a painting and would paint through the night using a hair dryer to dry his oils so that he could keep painting. The amazing thing is that Frazetta would still be able to pour his heart, soul, and best creative effort into these pieces which often are the ones he has become most famous for. One of these pictures that took a little over a day has become the most celebrated and recognizable of Frazetta’s fantasy works, the image of the Death Dealer:

In the 1970’s this image brought heaps of attention to Frank Frazetta and his work and further cemented him as an innovator and icon in the world of fantasy illustration. This work spawned a series of poorly written books based on the character that Frank Frazetta did addition Death Dealer covers for. It is sad that some of Frazetta’s most amazing works grace some of the worst of fantasy fiction and is a testament to his amazing talent that the works survived and stand alone despite the poor writing that they were initially attached to. Thankfully enough of his work was featured on classics by writers like Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, writers whose talents were showcased by Frazetta’s art.

(Cover to Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs.)

There is seemingly nothing that Frazetta couldn’t paint well, his men were rugged and adventurous, the animals from apes to lions to tigers were always realisticly dangerous looking, his worlds were unreal and yet believable, but his most unique vision is the way in which he illustrated women.

(Cover to The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs.)

Sure, Frazetta would create paintings with women in the damsel-in-distress mode, valiantly being rescued by the strong hero. However, he would just as often create works with a strong female character, dominating over men, servants, creatures, her world or the elements around her. Frazetta’s women were never skinny, waifish characters. Frazetta’s women are more real, they look more like women like Marilyn Monroe who would be considered overweight by today’s ridiculous standards. “I obviously like to paint a woman who has a little meat on her bones….I like slender, shapely women, but I found that when I was interpreting them on paper it just doesn’t read. I have to exaggerate in order to match my imagination. For me, for my style, if I draw a slim woman, it doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t create the Frazetta effect I’m always shooting for. Its missing the strength, the movement, the dimensions.” The amazing thing about Frazetta’s women is that they personify beauty while having “meat on [their] bones”.

This of course leads to the discussion of the nude. Many of Frazetta’s works feature scantily clad men and women and he has done several nude pieces. Much of the fantasy work reflects the stories that he was illustrating in which the men and women were rugged, savage and quite frankly clothes weren’t an issue. His nudes are tasteful, well done, and extremely real. No fake women in the bunch. I personally would not hang nude art on my walls. Its just me. Until Frazetta, however, I don’t think I really understood artistic nudity vs. pornography/sexualized images. There is a sexuality to Frazetta’s work but they are not sexual. There is an element of the reality of sex as a part of life but they are not sensationalized or pornographic images. I struggled with whether I should include any of these type of images in the post and then realized that some of the best detail in Frazetta’s work were in a few of these paintings so I include two that I consider tasteful followed by highlights of the incredible detail he has in some of his works. I will get into this issue a little more tomorrow in discussing Frazetta, his wife Ellie, and their religious views.

(The Egyptian Queen was a cover to Eerie magazine, issue 23)

One of Frazetta’s works that I really like is the above image of the Egyptian Queen. The lighting and coloring is so rich, warm and dynamic. The marble effect on the column is, in my opinion, some of Frazetta’s best work:

The Moon’s Rapture is another one whose coloring and detail are amazing:

Frazetta’s jungles are always so lush that you feel you could step right into the painting…you can feel the moist, humid jungle climate and almost hear the tropical sounds as you gaze at his work:

The detail is just amazing.

This post is just so inadequate, it is truly only an introduction. It is akin to presenting Mt. Everest at school show-and-tell and only bringing a pebble for the class to look at. My hope is that the trilogy of posts presenting Frank Frazetta will better convey the scope of his work, his influence on the world from Tarzan and Conan to Star Wars and beyond, and that I will be able to give you a sense of what an amazing individual he is.

Tomorrow’s post will be a story of talent, integrity, true American grit and will also be a love story. Frank Frazetta is truly an amazing individual made more so by his wonderful wife Ellie and I look forward to discussing her tomorrow.

(pictures and quotes featured in this post were taken from The Unofficial Frank Frazetta Art Gallery…which I am ashamed of and you will understand why in a few days…and Testament: The Life and Art of Frank Frazetta by Arnie and Cathy Fenner)

April 21st, 2005 I decided to start a feature I entitled The Artisan Series. The idea was that “there are some creators that I feel are a cut above the rest. Not because of their global popularity or name recognition but because their craft has stirred something in me. Reading their books or viewing their art has made a deep emotional connection with me and inspires me to cast off fear and dive into the creative pool. I don’t know that I can adequately describe why their work makes a connection with me but it has.”

Lisa Snellings-Clark was the inaugural artist featured in The Artisan Series and until now she has held the lone spot in that category. One reason for the chasm of time between that first post and this one is that I wanted Lisa Snellings-Clark to hold that spot alone for awhile. Her work and her process made such an impression on me (and still does) that I wanted to honor that by not rushing out and adding names to the Artisan list.

Another reason is that quite frankly writing a post like that takes alot of time and emotional investment. The creators that I have in mind for this list need to be differentiated from those I feature in posts like the Friday Favorites simply because their work goes to the core of my being and doesn’t let go and I believe that if I am to post about them I should really take the time to do an outstanding job. And finally I realize that I am doing these posts primarily for myself, which is perfectly fine. I have proven recently with my Robert E. Howard posts that I am willing to stifle blog conversation with posts about things that I may be in the minority about…I just make some effort to stretch these out and I love the fact that all of you come back and feel free to comment or not comment about whatever the days topic is, bless you!

I say all this today as a precursor to the second ever Artisan Series post coming tomorrow featuring the work of an artist that I have mentioned several times over the past blogging year, Frank Frazetta. Frazetta has been at the top of my list for The Artisan Series treatment since the inception of the idea and tomorrow is an appropriate time to post about Frazetta as it will be his 78th birthday.

At the very least by including this re-introduction to The Artisan Series today it will be less for you to have to read tomorrow! 🙂 I appreciate you all and whether or not you enjoy his work I look forward to sharing my thoughts on Frank Frazetta with you tomorrow.

I frequently mention artists and authors on this site and have posted a few times about those who I particularly enjoy. There are some creators that I feel are a cut above the rest. Not because of their global popularity or name recognition but because their craft has stirred something in me. Reading their books or viewing their art has made a deep emotional connection with me and inspires me to cast off fear and dive into the creative pool. I don’t know that I can adequately describe why their work makes a connection with me but it has. I spent several days thinking about how I could differentiate these special craftsmen/craftswomen from the many artists that I enjoy and I’ve decided to create a category entitled The Artisan Series. The Latin roots of artisan are: ars–art, artus–skilled in the arts, and artre–to instruct in the arts and I feel that this word is an accurate description of the type of people these creators are. Although some of the artists that I’m considering for this series are authors and some are two-dimensional artists, there are some who actually craft things 3 dimensionally and I liked that the more traditional use of artisan really encompasses the work that they do.

I want to share these artists with you. I remind you of my statement in the description of this site, “…I hope to share many of the things that I am interested in with those who have similar interests as well as maybe open people up to things they didn’t know they were interested in”. I don’t expect you to have the same reaction to these artists that I’ve had…that is one of the great joys of art is that the way it is experienced is unique to each viewer. Go to the sites, share your opinions with the creators on their sites and, as always, feel free to express yourself on this site.

The above being explained I am now happy to bring to you the first in this series. I’m very excited about this first artist and am looking forward to sharing my excitement with you. And so, without any further ado, I bring to you: The Artisan Series….