R.I.P. Frank Frazetta

Irishmile

Growing up I would stare at his art and dream of being a fraction of the artist he was.... he was a hero of mine.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/frank-frazetta-fantasy-illustrator-dies-at-82/?src=mv

Hayden

Wait, did he do all of Molly Hatchet's album covers? Because I absolutely love the cover of 'Warriors of the Rainbow Bridge'.

Edit: It turns out he didn't do the cover to that one, but he painted the cover of Molly Hatchet's first three albums, their debut having the best cover out of the three:

DoctorCello

Sad, sad news. I mentioned him in that one thread as an example for how to draw good breasts. He really was a talented illustrator, and he's inspired almost every fantasy illustrator out there.

tredlow

Man, this is sadder than when all those celebrities died last year. May he paint God battling giant dragons in heaven.

Irishmile

I would have thought there would be more Frazetta fans here... Maybe the majority of the posters here are too young

Giant Tope

Friar

I've actually never heard of him? Should i have done?

Anyway, it's always sad when anyone dies, especially on loved by lots of people in thpublic.

Vainamoinen

Heard, yes! You really should have. I did not see much of his work, but what I've seen was really, really stunning.

He's about the most influential fantasy artist of the last decades.
You can read about him and his career here:

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/full_content.php?article_id=1179&full=yes&pbr=1

Hayden

Here's a little more info on Frazetta as well as some of his album artwork.

Brainiac

And now Ronnie James Dio has passed as well. It's been a black week for metal, and not in the good sense.

tredlow

Dio has rocked for a long, long time,
Now it's time for him to pass the torch.
He has songs of wildebeests and angels,
He has soared on the wings of a demon.

It's time to pass the torch,
You're too old to rock, no more rockin' for you.
We're takin' you to a home,
But we will sing a song about you.

And we will make sure that you're very well taken care of.
You'll tell us secrets that you've learned. Raow!
Your sauce will mix with ours,
And we'll make a good goulash baby.
Dio, time to go!
You must give your cape and scepter to me.
And a smaller one for KG.
Go! Go! Dio! Dio!

RIP Ronnie James Dio, 1942-2010

Vainamoinen

A tidbit from one of my favourite painters, James Gurney, who has worked with Frazetta for a brief period of time:

I had the privilege of working as a background painter on his animated film Fire and Ice, released from Baskhi productions in 1983 (poster image above). We always tried to get Frank to give the studio a class on figure drawing and composition, but he never did, probably because much of what he did was intuitive. That intuition, combined with a fierce confidence in the power of pure imagination, made his images unforgettable and truly immortal.

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/05/frank-frazetta-1928-2010.html

Vainamoinen

Sorry for this serious necro, but said James Gurney has started talking about his work for Frazetta's "Fire and Ice" movie (1988) on his blog. Check it out - it's hilarious.

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/09/part-2-fire-ice-frazetta.html
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/09/part-3-fire-ice-tom-kinkade.html

Irishmile

He talks about Howard Pyle too... another great artist whom I have art books by.