Frank Frazetta
- Personal:
- Born Febuary 9th, 1928 and died May 10th, 2010. Ever since Frank was a child he loved drawing. According to him his main source of inspiration was his grandmother who would give him a penny to keep going. When he did it in school his teachers were in complete shock at his abilities. He realized he couldn't get much constructive criticism there so he went to art school and even there his teachers were mesmerized.
- Career:
- In 1964 Frank did a painting of the Beatle band member Ringo for a Mad magazine ad parody. This garnered the attention of the United Artists studios and was hired to do a poster for the movie Whats New Pussycat? There he made his entire year's salary in one afternoon. He would continue to more and more movie posters. Frazetta would eventually move onto doing book covers. Frank eventually got to do the cover of Conan. His interpretation redefined the genre of sword and sorcery and was an inspiration artists to come. It was at this point everyone wanted a piece of the fantasy king. He even got to do classic Edgar Rice Burroughs books such as Tarzan and John Cart of Mars. The irony to it all is that even though Frank's cover art was demanded and praised by all. They only coincidentally matched the story lines and context of the book. Nobody ever complained about it. They probably didn't read them he says.
- Frank's work became very commercial. He was doing paintings, illustrations, movie posters, album covers, calendars, and book jackets. He was doing comic stories in black and white. He was a success. Once he got his reputation movie studios asked him to work on animated movies. However he rarely had creative control and was there mostly in name alone. He would eventually get his control in one movie, Fire and Ice. A fantasy movie that was filmed in live action and then roto-scoped, this created an animated feature that mimicked the style of his paintings. Once the movie was over he returned to doing his traditional work.
- In his later years he would continue painting and eventually publish a magezine. He also suffered from several strokes in his later years, one of which paralyzed his right hand and so he learned to paint with his left.
- Significance:
- Frank Frazetta has been credited as an influence by artists world wide. His interpretation of Conan is believed to have been what got it popular. He is also known for popularizing the sword and sorcery genre.
- Guillermo del Toro says that Frank gave the world a new pantheon of heroes.
- Yusuke Nakano the lead artist to the Legend of Zelda series cites Frank as an influence.
- Chris Perna the director of Epic Games cites him as well.
- Robert Rodruiguez plans to remake Fire and Ice and has acquired the rights from Sony and is now set to direct. He is closely working with the Frazetta family and also hopes to open a museum for Holly Frazetta's collection.
- On March 2010 Frank's son Alfonso Frank Frazetta was arrested for attempting to steal about 90 paintings from the Frazetta museum. He was trying to prevent the paintings from being sold as were the wishes of his father. He was excused of his charges, requested by his family members. Now the Children of Frank work together to keep his paintings protected at his museum.
- Awards:
- Chesley Award (1900, 1995, 1997)
- Hugo Award (1966)
- Spectrum Grand Master of Frantastic Art Award (1995)
- Works:
- Ice and Fire
- Death Dealer
- Conan Cover
- and much more.
- Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Frazetta
- http://herocomplex.latimes.com/uncategorized/guillermo-del-toro-on-frank-frazetta-he-gave-the-world-a-new-pantheon-of-heroes/
No comments:
Post a Comment