Advice from a Master: Frank Frazetta
Published 2022-04-10
L. Ron Hubbard called Frazetta the “King of Illustrators”—a tribute to the artist’s mastery, popularity, and enduring influence over the world of illustration. Frank Frazetta stated, “I loved illustrating action and adventure stories and no one wrote them better than L. Ron Hubbard.”
Frazetta signed lithos available at galaxypress.com/art/
Frank Frazetta (1928–2010) was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of eight, at the insistence of his school teachers, Frazetta’s parents enrolled him in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. He attended the academy for eight years under the tutelage of Michele Falanga, an award-winning Italian fine artist.
At sixteen, Frazetta started drawing for comic books with various themes: western, fantasy, mystery, history 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 such giants 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 comics was done in collaboration with friends Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel.
Through his work on the Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies, Frazetta started working with Al Capp on his Li’l Abner comic strip. At the time, Frazetta was also producing his own strip, Johnny Comet, as well as assisting Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon daily strip. In 1961, after nine years with Capp, Frazetta returned to regular comics. Work in comics for Frazetta was hard to find, however. Because he had emulated Capp’s style for so long, Frazetta’s own work now looked a bit awkward as his own style struggled to reemerge. Comics had changed during his period with Capp and his style was deemed antiquated.
Eventually, he joined Harvey Kurtzman doing the parody strip Little Annie Fanny in Playboy magazine. By 1964, one of Frazetta’s magazine ads caught the eye of United Artists studios. He was approached to do the movie poster for What’s New Pussycat and earned his yearly salary in one afternoon. Frazetta did several other movie posters and started producing paintings for paperback editions of adventure books. His cover for the sword-and-sorcery collection Conan the Adventurer by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp (Lancer 1966) caused a sensation: numerous people bought the book for its cover alone. From then on, Frazetta’s work was in great demand. He did covers for paperback editions of classic Edgar Rice Burroughs books, such as those from the Tarzan and Barsoom (John Carter of Mars) series. He also did pen-and-ink illustrations for many of these books. After the mid-1960s, most of Frazetta’s work was commercial in nature, as he produced paintings and illustrations for such things as movie posters, book jackets, and calendars. In addition, commercial demand for many of his uncommissioned paintings increased significantly.
Frank Frazetta was an Illustrators of the Future Contest judge from its inception until he passed away.
“The Illustrators of the Future Contest is one of the best opportunities a young artist will ever get. You have nothing to lose and a lot to win.” —Frank Frazetta
Find out more at frazettagirls.com
All Comments (21)
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I was doing a celebrity portrait charity auction years ago and was photographing lots of stars and then painting their portraits, then the stars would autograph it and we'd sell it for the charity of their choice. I called Frank and spoke to him for about an hour. He had had a stroke and it was difficult for him to speak, but he agreed to pose for me. Unfortunately he passed away before we had the opportunity to do the session. It was certainly a privilege to have spoken to him.
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I remember being 14 and waiting for the next issue of Heavy Metal to hit the stands. Hoping it would be a Frazetta cover.
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What a great guy he was.
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I’ve enjoyed his art since I first encountered it on paperback covers in my college bookstore, over 50 years ago. I had no idea he looked like James Bond.
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Lots of remarkable, talented artists out there. Frank Frazetta was the best.
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I always liked the way he drew women.
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Frank Frazetta sold a lot of books with his cover art. Typically, during my youth, if I saw a Frazetta cover, I bought the book regardless of who the writer was. He was a true master.
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Came for painting advice, left with the feels
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This man was a genius. One of my favorite artists.
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Franks teacher was a fine artist who was sole instructor at Brooklyn Academy. Michael Falanga was born in Torre del Greco, Naples, Italy on July 5, 1867. [ 1] He studied first with artist Michele Tedesco, then at the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples with Stanislao Lista, Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi. [ 2] Tedesco (1834-1917) was a student of Morelli. [
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I think his comic book background also plays a big part in his art. In that some of the dynamism come from exaggerated poses that can't be duplicated in real life.
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Rudy sent me here 😁 Sorcery Contested Realms is going to be brilliant using Frank art.
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It's one thing to draw what is in front of you and quite another to pull that thing out of your imagination and put it down in such a visceral way.
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His self portrait captures his face perfectly. It’s always so pleasing to hear a master talk on his/her craft. Frazetta is eternal.
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THE master of fantasy art. A huge influence on my own artistic journey.
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What a great artist.
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He was the man when I was a kid. I always looked forward to his covers on any magazine!
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I really love his passion. The ending of this interview should be HIGHLIGHTED to everyone who love the creative process of making art and to all who struggle in these hard times of AI generated stuff (which I am strongly against). Do what you love, stay creative and appreciate the artists (including yourself).
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He was a master of composition and movement. His paintings of combat throw you right into the middle of the fray. Perfect match for Howards writing. If they co-existed at the same time they would have doninated the comics industry.
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That man had a HUGE impact on my childhood.
