Frank Frazetta passed yesterday at the age of 82. What he left behind is a legacy that probably can never be fully understood. I can only speak of what he meant in my artistic life. He was a contemporary of Al Williamson, a man who made a tremendous impression on me both artistically and personally. Al & Frank were part of a select group of young artists who helped create some of the most influential body of comic work ever seen. While Al remained in the field to craft some of the greatest comics ever, Frank moved on to single handedly reinvent the paperback book industry. Okay, I'm sure there were others but Frank and his fantastic images have often been credited with moving more paperbacks than any other artist. This brought fantasy art into the mainstream. The other artist that has had a massive impact on me is Jeff Jones. Without Frank, Jeff may never have developed the style that became a staple of the 70's. Perhaps Jeff would have simply become a fantastic fine artist, but that is only speculation and because Frank blazed the trail we now have some of the most beautiful, in my opinion, art ever created.
Frank influenced so many artists that to count them would be futile. I only hope that one day the rest of the art world realizes that this man was one of the most important artists of the 20th century. If I have my say, he was one of the most important artists of any century.
I watched him warming up and bringing his brush to a point by doing a beautiful little sketch. Tomorrow I'll post my favorite of the sketches I have.
I'm not sure if this was over my pencils or just one of Al's quick doodles. Either way, Al hadn't done much BatMan work so I feel privileged to have as many as I do. Would love to have seen him do a weekly BatMan strip ala Secret Agent Corrigan. What could have been...
Another of Al Williamson's great little sketches. He had a habit of bringing his ink brush to a point by doing these little doodles. Just phenomenal. 
so I'll be posting various things this week. This is one of a precious few Al Williamson original "doodles" that I am grateful to own. When I was a student of his at The Joe Kubert School he would come around to each student and correct their work by placing a piece of tracing paper over the student's page and fix our obvious mistakes. His corrections were remarkable and the ease with which he did them made one feel not so much inadequate but rather hopeful that one day we could do the magic in such a natural way. Al never put anyone's work down, but made you feel you were ever so close to being where you needed to be.
Frank Frazetta passed yesterday at the age of 82. What he left behind is a legacy that probably can never be fully understood. I can only speak of what he meant in my artistic life. He was a contemporary of Al Williamson, a man who made a tremendous impression on me both artistically and personally. Al & Frank were part of a select group of young artists who helped create some of the most influential body of comic work ever seen. While Al remained in the field to craft some of the greatest comics ever, Frank moved on to single handedly reinvent the paperback book industry. Okay, I'm sure there were others but Frank and his fantastic images have often been credited with moving more paperbacks than any other artist. This brought fantasy art into the mainstream. The other artist that has had a massive impact on me is Jeff Jones. Without Frank, Jeff may never have developed the style that became a staple of the 70's. Perhaps Jeff would have simply become a fantastic fine artist, but that is only speculation and because Frank blazed the trail we now have some of the most beautiful, in my opinion, art ever created. 
