Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo were two of my favorite artists when I was a kid. So long, Frank.
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
Frank Frazetta: 2-9-1928 to 5-10 -2010
Wow, I knew he had to die eventually. I mean, he was getting pretty damn old.
Still, it's really hard to believe anyways. His fantasy paintings and comics were the backbone of many a nerd's shelf porn. (Mine included)
I always admired the construction of the "Frazetta Pyramid", so to speak. There was an infinite amount of variations once could do from it. It's a simple method to display impact, power, stature, and ferocity in one's art.
RIP.
I'll concede that he wasn't young, but these days, 82 isn't as 'pretty damned old' as it used to be. More people are living to see 90 or even 100. Betty White who just hosted SNL this weekend is 88, Phyllis Diller is 92, Zha Zha Gabor, Earnest Borgnine (a bunch of crap, but most recently Mermaid Man in Spongebob Squarepants) and Kirk Douglas are 93, Harry Morgan (Dragnet, M*A*S*H*) and Barbara Billingsley (Leave it to Beaver) are 94 and Joe Simon (created Captain America) is 96.
Man, that's some depressing news. I have a deck of trading cards with his paintings on them, some interesting stuff, I was amazed at what he could do.
When I was really little I'd pull out comic books and those cards and I'd look at his pictures and other ones, and I'd be like "When I'm older I'll draw just like that. I'll just go Snap! and it'll be just as good as this guy." He wasn't my main inspiration or something, but man, I really wanted to be like him.
Someone told me that he couldn't draw anymore in his old age and I'm pretty sure they were correct. I hope he can draw now. T_T
Wha…?!
Frazetta's dead? D:
Greatest fantasy illustrator in existence. He was like a heavenly mix of Gericault and Caravagio! The man was pure painting genius.
…Vallejo is awful. That stuff is like the overdone airbrushing you used to see on the sides of vans and the album covers of the crappier metal bands. -_-
This old American second hand bookshop owner I know used to play softball with Frazetta… Man how I envy him!
Anyway, Frazetta is still the solid gold standard- something you can only aspire to, never truly emulate. We should all watch Conan the Barbarian and Fire And Ice again in his honour. :(
What I loved was that unlike most of the fantasy artists that followed him, Frazetta's work didn't consist of studio lit models posing as heroic figures with slick formulaic paintwork.
Instead, his stuff was often quite loosely painted with stylised figures that seemed to go straight to the raw emotion of a scene. I loved his use of colour too - he was a class act. I keep a book of his paintings close by at all times!
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