Since this time, most of Frazetta's work has been commercial in nature, providing paintings and illustrations for movie posters, book jackets, and calendars. It was also during this time that he turned down an offer from a talent scout to play for the New York Giants.
Frazetta attributes much of the violence and brutality of these paintings to his actual experiences as a young man defending himself from the street gangs of Brooklyn, who most likely unwisely targeted a man who in all probability traveled with a baseball bat.
He also did several pen and ink illustrations for many of these books. During this period he also did covers for other paperback editions of classic Edgar Rice Burroughs books, such as those from the Tarzan and Barsoom (John Carter of Mars) series. From this point on, Frazetta's work was in great demand. His interpretation of Conan essentially redefined the genre of sword and sorcery visually, and had an enormous influence on succeeding generations of artists. Frazetta also produced paintings for paperback editions of adventure books. He did several other movie posters (see notable works). He was approached to do the movie poster for What's New Pussycat?, and earned the equivalent of his yearly salary in one afternoon. In 1964, Frazetta's painting of Beatle Ringo Starr for a Mad magazine ad parody caught the eye of United Artists studios. Eventually he joined Harvey Kurtzman, doing the parody strip Little Annie Fanny in Playboy magazine. Comics had changed during his period with Capp, and his style was deemed antiquated. Work in comics was hard to find, however. Having emulated Capp's style for so long, Frazetta's own work during this period looked a bit awkward as his own style struggled to reemerge. In 1961, after nine years with Capp, Frazetta returned to regular comics.
Frazetta was also producing his own strip, Johnny Comet at this time, as well as assisting Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon daily strip. Noticed because of his work on the Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies, Frazetta started working with Al Capp on his Li'l Abner comic strip. Much of his work in comic books was done in collaboration with friend Al Williamson and mentor Roy Krenkel. In the early 1950s, he worked for EC Comics, National Comics, (including the superhero feature "Shining Knight"), Avon, and several other comic book companies. Some of his earliest work was in funny animal comics, which he signed as "Fritz." During this period he turned down job offers from giants such as Walt Disney. When the school closed about a year later, Frazetta was forced to find work to earn a living.Īt 16, Frazetta started drawing for comic books in various genres: Westerns, fantasy, mysteries, histories, and other contemporary themes. Frazetta's abilities flourished under Falanga, who dreamed of sending Frazetta to Europe, at his own expense, to further his studies, but Falanga died suddenly in 1944. Falanga was struck by Frazetta's significant talent. He attended the academy for eight years under the tutelage of Michael Falanga, an Italian fine artist. At the age of eight, with the insistence of his school teachers, Frazetta's parents enrolled him in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. He is the subject of a 2003 documentary.įrazetta was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. Frank Frazetta is now widely regarded as the master of modern fantasy art.įrank Frazetta (born February 9, 1928) is an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, record-album covers, and other media. A string of spectacular covers for Warren Publishing's titles Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella added to his success.
After creating a series of well-received movie posters and paperback covers, Frazetta's fortune was secured when he painted his world-famous paperback covers for Robert E. Frazetta was forced into the illustration market at large, and it proved to be a blessing in disguise. By the time that Frazetta had quit working for Capp, the comic book market had atrophied and his freelance opportunities had all but dried up. A series of landmark Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies and several outstanding EC jobs brought Frazetta to the attention of comic strip artist Al Capp, and he was soon hired to assist on the Li'l Abner Sunday strips from 1952-61. 1928): An artistic prodigy, Frank Frazetta broke into comic books at the age of 16 out of economic necessity.