Frank Kelly Freas had a quality that was indefinable for me. I associated most all his sci-fi work with my love of galactic empires because, well, so many of his covers were for galactic empire stories. His style teetered on the edge of caricature, yet veered away enough to create a sense of other-worldly exoticism, full of magic and mystery.
I collected his work avidly in my early teens, and his covers led me into some mighty toothsome galactic adventures by intrepid authors.
Plenty of his covers will be popping up here and there in the next couple of weeks.
Below, the working sketch for the cover above.
Below, the working sketch for the cover above.
I had been aware of Freas' work since my teens but did not fully appreciate him as an artist until recently (some highly detailed scans of his originals helped in that regard.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen one of Freas' preparatory sketches until now. Thank you!
I eagerly look forward to seeing more!