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Frank Frazetta (born February 9,1928) is one of
the world's most influential fantasy and science
fiction artists. He is one of the most emulated
artists of these genres in the world. 

==Biography==

Frazetta was born and raised in Brooklyn, New
York. At the age of eight, at the insistence of
his school teachers, Frazetta's parents enrolled
him in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. He
attended the academy for eight years under the
tutelage of Michele Falanga, an award winning
Italy|Italian fine artist. Falanga was struck by
Frazetta's significant talent. Frazetta's
abilities flourished under Falanga, who dreamed of
sending Frazetta to Europe, at his own expense, to
further his studies. Unfortunately, Falanga died
suddenly in 1944 and with him, his dream. As the
school closed about a year after Falanga's
passing, Frazetta was forced to find work to earn
a living.

At 16, Frazetta started drawing for comic books
that varied in themes: Western fiction|westerns,
fantasy, Mystery fiction|mysteries,
history|histories and other contemporary themes.
During this period he turned down job offers from
comic giants such as Walt Disney. In the early
1950s, he worked for EC Comics, DC, Avon and
several other comic book companies.

Through the work on the Buck Rogers covers for
Famous Funnies, Frazetta started working with Al
Capp and his Li'l Abner strip. Frazetta's work for
Capp focussed mostly on the Johnny Comet daily
strip, but also filled in for Capp from time to
time. After nine years with Capp, Frazetta
returned to regular comics. Having emulated Capp's
style for so long, Frazetta's own work during this
period looked a bit awkward as his own style
struggled to reemerge.

Work in comics for Frazetta was hard to find,
however. Comics had changed during his period with
Capp and his style was deemed antiquated.
Eventually he joined Playboy magazine doing the
parody strip Little Annie Fanny.

By 1964, Frazetta started producing paintings for
paperback editions of adventure books. His first
cover for the pulp magazine|pulp fiction novel
Conan the Barbarian caused a
sensation—numerous people bought the book
for its cover alone. From this point on,
Frazetta's work was in great demand. During this
period he also did covers for other paperback
editions of classic Edgar Rice Burroughs books,
such as those from the Tarzan and Barsoom (John
Carter of Mars (planet)|Mars) series. He also did
several pen and ink illustrations for many of
these books.

Since this time, most of Frazetta's work has been
commercial in nature, providing paintings and
illustrations from things such as movie posters to
book jackets to calendars. Many of his paintings
are uncommissioned but have nonetheless become
highly sought after commercially.

Frazetta's work has long been admired by many
Hollywood personalites. Clint Eastwood and George
Lucas—fans and friends of
Frazetta's—have commissioned works from him
for some of their film|movie projects.

Once he secured a reputation, movie studios
started trying to lure him to work on animated
film|animated movies. Most, however, would give
him participation in name only—most of the
creative control would be held by others. Finally
in the early 1980s a movie deal was offered which
would give him most creative control. Frazetta
worked with well-known animated movie producer
Ralph Bakshi on the feature Fire and Ice (1983
film)|Fire and Ice released in 1983. Many of the
characters and most of the story were Frazetta's
creations. The movie proved to be a commercial
disappointment, however, as Frazetta's fantastic
imagery could not be sufficiently reproduced via
then-current animation technology and methods. 
Frazetta soon returned to his roots in painting
and pen and ink illustrations.

Today, Frazetta's work is so highly regarded that
even incomplete pencil sketching|sketches of his
sell for thousands of dollars. Frazetta's primary
commercial works are in oil paint|oil, but he also
works with watercolor, ink and pencil alone. He
currently lives with his wife Ellie on a 67 acre
(271,000 m²) estate in Pennsylvania. Some of
Frazetta's sons make a living selling
reproductions of his artwork.

==Notable works==

Almost all of Frazetta's works today are
considered masterpieces. Some pieces that have
continued to bring him admiration include:
* The Death Dealer
* The Silver Warrior
* Snow Giants
* Man Spider
* Conan the Barbarian (cover painting)
* Dark Kingdom
* Egyptian Queen

==References==
* Book Testament: The Life and Art of Frank
Frazetta, ISBN 1887424628
* Movie Frazetta: Painting with Fire (2004)

==See also==
* Boris Vallejo

==External links==
* http://frazettaartgallery.com/ Official Frank
Frazetta Art Gallery
* http://www.bpib.com/frazetta.htm A Frazetta
biography
* http://www.wadhome.org/frazetta/ An unofficial
Frank Frazetta Fantasy Art Gallery
* http://home.mira.net/~galap/frazetta.html A
short bio of Frazetta
*imdb name|id=0292547|name=Frank Frazetta