My most meaningful experience with his work occurred in early 2003 when I was at death's door with a disastrous appendectomy that left me flat on my back for a couple of months. Flat on my back is not just an expression here. My abdomen had stapled stitches and I was in such pain that rolling on my side was out of the question. I drifted in and out of sleep in a morphine and vicodin haze, alternately bored and hallucinating.
My wife brought me reading material that included Illustration magazine #5. A wonderful periodical, in general, this particular issue was rich with illustrated articles on, among others, Roy Krenkel, Nell Brinkley and Frank Frazetta. I read and reread that magazine, and the Frazetta and Krenkel images reached deep into my subconsciousness, playing havoc with my fever dreams. My hallucinations were like Frazetta paintings come to life, and let me tell you, that's an experience that almost made it worth the pain to get there.
What a wonderful cover
Above is a comprehensive study for the print below. This print was framed and positioned so that I could gaze at it in my morphine haze.
I studied the sketchbook drawing, above, that was printed in the magazine even as I was reading sci-fi books like the one below
Deepest sympathy to the Frazetta family.
3 comments:
There was none like him. His use of interior light was amazing indeed.
It is a profoundly sad day, partucarly for me. I grew up with Frazetta's images constantly around me. It was Frazetta above all others that made me want to be an illustrator.
news of Frank's passing really affected me yesterday. i dont think i even realized what a profound impact that one man has had on my whole life but it all became clear when i realized he was no longer with us. i dont recall a time in my life when i wasnt aware of his work. he's entertained, inspired, enthralled and bewildered (HOW does he do it?) me for 43 years and counting. we will surely never see his like again and it is doubly sad that the last several months of his life he had to witness the complete disintegration of his family, his musuem shut down, his art locked away and scheming collectors circling around like vultures waiting to grab whatever remnants they can. all this starting almost the instant after his Wife had passed away. As much as Frank inspired me, his children and those "vultures" disgust me.
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