FRANK FRAZETTA

    Born in 1928, young Frank quickly turned into a child prodigy- drawing by the age of three, and getting commissions (albeit by friends and family) by the age of eight. Seeing his gifts, his teachers urged his parents to enroll him in art school, and he was soon the favorite of the astounded teacher, Michael Falanga, of the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts.

    Following the death of his beloved teacher when he was only sixteen, Frank turned to commercial art, and for the next twenty years worked for a variety of illustrators and publishing houses, producing an incredible and varied body of work for comic books and comic strips- from “funny animal” comics to the incredible covers he did for the E.C. Comics and Famous Funnies. It was during this period that his work came to the attention of Al Capp, and for nine years, Frank “ghosted” his strip, putting out some of the most voluptuous comic strip women for “L’il Abner” that newspaper readers had ever seen.

    But the daily grind of putting out a comic strip started to wear on Frank, and stifled his tremendous creativity. He started to do illustrations for men’s magazines- beautiful, erotic brush and ink drawings, and ended up working for Playboy, along with his old “gang” from the E. C. Comics days, on the famous comic strip, “L’il Annie Fannie”. This led to several commissions for movie posters, and their soundtrack covers (see the listings in our Frazetta Collectibles)-- mostly comedies, like "What’s New Pussycat", and "After The Fox", where his talents as both a caricaturist and a painter came into play. It was at this time, in the early sixties, that his good friend, and fellow illustrator, Roy Krenkel, was struggling with commissions for paintings he had to finish for Ace Books. Primarily a “doodler” in pencil, and pen and ink, Krenkel was having a hard time finishing full color acrylic paintings, and asked Frank to help him. When Roy saw the results, he generously and unselfishly offered to help Frank get similar commissions. This was the very beginning of Frank’s meteoric rise to fame!

    Commissions poured in. Frank did some outstanding covers for Ace’s Edgar Rice Burroughs series, but became discouraged when the pay didn’t seem commensurate with the labor of love he was putting in them. It wasn’t until Lancer Books approached him, and offered to pay him more like what his work was worth, that he really hit his stride- putting out some truly remarkable pieces for their Conan series (See Frazetta Collectibles), which took off like a sky-rocket. Fans were buying the books for their covers-- reading the material only as an afterthought! Other publishers saw the results- even more commissions poured in- and soon, Frazetta started to command prices that had never been seen before. His most famous painting, Death Dealer (see our Ltd. Ed.) followed, and other outstanding pieces like the Sea Witch, and the Egyptian Princess (see our #3-3 and #2-4). He received commissions for magazines, like “Creepy”, “Eerie”, and “Vampirella” for Warren Publications; and covers for “National Lampoon” and even the prestigious “American Artist”. But it was not until he was approached by Ian Ballantine, of Bantam Book’s Peacock Press Art Book Division, that he really became “mainstream”.

    Until this point, Frazetta had a rabid fan following- but when the art books took off, and sales went through the stratosphere, he became more and more “accepted”. Scholars approached him; art magazines featured articles on how he painted- and even put his work on the cover. Several filmmakers, and actors, like Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and George Lucas approached him to do work for them. By the late seventies, his paintings started to appear on rock albums: Nazareth, Molly Hatchet, and others (see Frazetta Collectibles). A whole new generation of young people discovered his work, and his popularity started all over again.

    Frazetta’s art books, art prints, and calendars poured forth throughout the eighties. His paperback and magazine covers were constantly reprinted. He received every top honor an illustrator could receive: Hugo Awards, Nebula Awards, Society of Illustrator Awards. His powerful, visceral style has also influenced generations of fans- and generations of illustrators: with nearly a dozen artists painting (not as successfully, of course) in his style, and making a lucrative living at it.

    Even into the nineties, his paintings graced the covers of L. Ron Hubbard’s science fiction novels (see our Frazetta Suite), and dozens of other book and magazine covers. His two recent hardcover, coffee-table art books have become bestsellers into the new millennium. His Death Dealer became so popular that book publishers approached him, and hired an author to create novels centered around the character. This had to be the first time a book cover was ever made into a book series! Filmmakers have even approached Frazetta to make them into a movie. Just a few years ago, Quentin Tarantino, the avante-garde filmmaker, had Frazetta design the movie poster for his From Dusk ‘Til Dawn.

    Fine art dealers, recognizing his phenomenal popularity, approached him to put on shows. His originals have been auctioned by the top auction houses, like Sotheby’s and Christies- bringing in six figures. Frazetta’s signed, limited edition prints bring in thousands each-- even in large editions of 500 to 2000. His paintings have been made into bronze sculptures, selling for thousands, and into detailed resin casts, selling for hundreds of dollars. For an artist who was once looked down upon as a mere “illustrator”, Frazetta makes more for his art than most of the highest-paid “fine” artists painting today.

    Frank Frazetta has developed such a following over the years for one simple reason: his paintings affect people. You cannot look at a Frazetta painting and not feel something: love it, or hate it- it affects you.

    What more can be said of an artist?

STEVE HICKMAN

    Largely self- taught, Steve Hickman hit the art scene in the early seventies, with his finely detailed and meticulously rendered illustrations for various books and magazines. While his style has been compared to the Hildebrandt Brothers (of the Tolkien Calendar fame), his work is more reminiscent of classical European and Orientalist fine art traditions. However, taken with the popularity of the Tolkien books, THE HOBBIT, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which were undergoing a surge in popularity in the mid-70s, he rendered a whole suite of incredible paintings inspired by the series. By this time already a book illustrator, Steve approached Ballantine books with the idea of illustrating the next year’s Tolkien calendar- but the Hildebrandts had already been given the job. It was around this time that Christopher Ent. Started publishing his prints, and making them available to his fans.

    Throughout the remainder of the seventies, and through the eighties, Steve put out dozens and dozens of remarkable book covers. His own book, THE FANTASY ART OF STEVE HICKMAN, was published by Donning Press, in 1989. Steve received the prestigious Hugo Award in 1995 for his series of Space Fantasy Stamps for the U.S. Post Office, and has received the Chesley Award three times. His works have been featured in several museum exhibitions, and grace the walls of many astute collectors.

    More recently one of his finest Tolkien paintings, “The Black Rider”, graced the cover of the 1998 Tolkien Calendar- completing the dream he had sought over twenty years before. With the upcoming trilogy of films, being produced and directed by Peter Jackson, there is sure to be increased interest in Steve’s Tolkien Inspired work. The Lord of the Rings films, with a budget at over $200M, a huge cast of name stars, and a tremendous range of special effects, should bring an interest in all things Tolkien to a whole new generation of movie goers, when they start release, next year.

    Steve received “Best of Show” at the 25th World Fantasy Convention, and his popular sculpture of the Lovecraft-inspired C’thulhu was published by Bowen Designs . His newest work, a portrait bust of Lovecraft, is due soon.

BERNI WRIGHTSON

    Propelled by his love of comics, Berni plunged into the world of illustration with dozens and dozens of submissions to the popular fan magazines (“fanzines”) in the mid-sixties. His work struck a chord with both fans and pros alike, and commissions soon followed. His first real job illustrating professionally was with National Periodicals in 1967, drawing comic stories.

    More commissions followed, and more books, until he was handed the landmark series, Swamp Thing- which became one of the best-selling series of the seventies, and spawned both movies and TV shows. Berni came to be considered the best comics illustrator of the seventies, and even had a full-color, coffee-table art book done of his accumulated work, as well as several series of limited edition art prints and portfolios. (See Berni Wrightson Collecibles)

    It was during this time that some feel he did his very best work, producing top-notch, full-color watercolored pen and ink illustrations for record album covers, book covers and magazine illustrations. His Ode to a Scottish Prayer and Counsel to a Minion (see our section of Berni Wrightson Collectibles) color pieces he did during this time are among his best ever. During the latter part of this period, he started work on probably his greatest body of black and white work on one subject: Frankenstein.

    By this time, Berni had already become a master of both the pencil drawing, and pen and ink. The illustrations he did for the Frankenstein novel are perhaps the most remarkable, finely rendered pen and inks of the latter half of this century. Fine hatching and delicate pen and brush work abound. Both the book, and the portfolios (see Berni Wrightson Collectibles) and art prints produced at this time, are masterpieces of illustration.

    More book illustrations followed, including plates and portfolios for the Stephen King book, Cycle of the Werewolf, and illustrations and concept art for the blockbuster movies: Ghost Busters, Heavy Metal (the Captain Sternn sequence was designed from his comics of that character), and others. The exhaustive art book, A Look Back, was reprinted in paperbound, introducing a whole new group of fans to Berni’s work.