Frank Frazetta: Conan And Beyond

What does Frank Frazetta, Conan, and art have in common? All together, they make make an awesome blend of magical eye-candy, wondrous stories, and unnecessary naked women. I cannot think of anything better.

Just to give a quick biography: Frank Frazetta was what you would call a natural. Starting from a very young age, Frazetta was able to draw well without any art training. Later he attended an academy of fine arts, which he thinks did not contribute anything. Born in New York and raised in Brooklyn, the self-taught artist was influenced by the combination of a crime-ridden city and the typical things that interest children, such as cartoons and playing ball.

After doing work for Al Capp and being asked to move to a new location for half the pay, Frank Frazetta became hopelessly unemployed until he did a painting for MAD magazine in 1964 that put him on the map. Suddenly, he was asked to paint movie posters which turned out to be more profitable than anything he had done before.

It was not until Frank Frazetta began to do book covers that suddenly made him irreplaceable. Starting with a Tarzan paperback book cover that payed hardily anything, his work was so impressionable that he would be asked to do more paintings on a regular basis. But it was not until he began doing work on his book covers for Conan stories did he began doing his best and most notable work that became his signature style.

Frank Frazetta’s Conan paintings were so influential that it spilled into the movies. The film Conan the Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones would not have existed if it were not for the fantasy art work that it had spawned from.

If you are looking for a great documentary and interview with Frank Frazetta, definitely check out Frazetta: Painting With Fire. The artist himself shows you his best ever paintings in his museum gallery.

Fan of his work? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.