Frank Frazetta American science fiction artist, illustrator, cartoonist, comic book writer Date of Birth: 09.02.1928 Country: USA

Frank Frazetta: An American Fantasy Artist

Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy artist, illustrator, animator, and comic book author. Born in New York in 1928, Frazetta's talent as an artist emerged at a very young age. At the age of three, he would draw cheerful pictures that were greatly encouraged by his family, with his grandmother even paying him small amounts of money for his work.

Frazetta enrolled in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts at the age of eight. It was during his time in school that he entertained his classmates with his own created comics. At the age of sixteen, he began collaborating with comic book publishers. Initially, he worked on various projects, but he later created his own comic called "Tunda" featuring a main character resembling Tarzan. It was this work that caught the attention of Ace Books, a publishing company that was planning to republish Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous series. They invited Frazetta to illustrate the books. By this time, he was already known for his illustrations of Conan novels and Burroughs' "Martian" series. Interestingly, Frazetta's illustrations for these books had little to do with the actual narratives and instead depicted scenes from the artist's own imagination. However, this fact did not diminish his popularity, and Frazetta cleverly joked that one should not judge a book by its cover.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Frazetta became perhaps the most popular book cover artist. His characters often consisted of muscular heroes and alluring women, and he primarily worked within the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Frazetta also enjoyed drawing nude figures. Although he faced some criticism accusing him of cheap melodrama, poor storytelling, and grotesque beauty in his characters, his success overshadowed the voice of the critics, and he eventually became recognized as a classic fantasy illustrator.

Frazetta was nominated for the Hugo Award six times and won it once in 1966. In the early 1980s, he took a step back from work but continued to create art while living in his own home. In 2009, he buried his wife Eleanor 'Ellie' Frazetta, and following her death, depression hindered his artistic output. On May 10, 2010, the 82-year-old artist passed away in a hospital in Florida after suffering a stroke. Before his death, he had his own museum built according to his own design, surrounded by a moat and fortress walls. Prior to this, in 2009, Frank experienced a shock when his son attempted to break into his museum and steal his artwork, resulting in his arrest.

Frank Frazetta will be remembered as an incredibly successful and talented artist of books and comics. He was also the creator of the animated film "Fire and Ice," directed by renowned filmmaker Ralph Bakshi. Frazetta's artwork has fetched five-figure sums at auctions held by Sotheby's and Christie's. In 2009, his painting "Conan the Conqueror" was put up for auction and purchased by a collector for one million dollars. Without exaggeration, Frazetta was a legend in his genre, a patriarch of fantasy art. They say he did for fantasy art what Pushkin did for Russian literature. He had followers and imitators, not to mention blatant plagiarists. However, the secret of Frank Frazetta's success lay not in what he did but how he did it. The main secret was the sincerity of his work. In fact, Frazetta did not bring anything truly new, as his simple artwork became outdated at the beginning of his career. Nevertheless, the magnetism of his illustrations lies in the sincerity that only a truly great artist can convey.