King Kong has died…
May 11th, 2010 by adminLike many of my friends, peers, colleagues, yesterday the world stopped. Frank Frazetta passed away. I could not believe my eyes as i checked the twitter feed in the morning. “What?” I found myself saying…”No no no no no no! This can’t be!” My fiancée, all the while wondering what is going on as tears start steaming down my cheeks. I explained what I was reading and she asked me if I knew him. “No” I said. “Unfortunately I never had the opportunity.”
For me Frazetta was introduced to my life via film. Fire and Ice. I watched that movie a 1000 times. I drew Darkwolf hundreds of times. That was the coolest character in the world to me. When it came out on video my mother was working at a video store briefly and I kept asking her to check it out. I stared at the cover of the video for hours and hours on end. The heavy rotation on HBO was not enough, though I finally recorded it. This movie was my world for a long time. I was a big animation junkie and it was one of the most beautiful things ever. Side Note: I got to meet Ralph Bakshi at Comic Con a few years ago when the reissue of Fire and Ice along with the Frazetta documentary came to DVD (If they would only reissue America Pop..but i digress). We talked for a while about the movie and Franks art. I told him it was a major catalyst in me following my dream to be an artist. He then wanted to see some of my work, so I brought some back to the table. He really liked the things I showed him and he said Frank would be impressed. While I know it was not a direct compliment, it was nice to hear. I graciously thanked him and took my nerve-wracked and humbled self back to my table where I proceeded to finish the day in a daze.
When I was twelve, I eventually found the book The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta (thank you library!) and studied up and down, left and right. I memorized every page, every stroke. I already knew I wanted to draw but seeing Franks work only solidified that in me. I had done the same with a coffee table book of Norman Rockwell that my grandmother had. While Rockwell had the humor and emotional tugs at the heartstrings, Frazetta’s paintings took on the dark side. The adventure and nightmares. With the bold rich shadows, colors and muscles of a modern day Caravaggio. After seeing his work, there was nothing else in this world I wanted to do more, than draw.
I saw a post from my friend Adam Talley…”We creative folk always feel it when we lose one of our own. And today, it feels like we lost our father. RIP FRAZETTA.” This morning saw a comment by William Stout in his blog about Frank’s passing…” For me, it feels as if King Kong has died. Frank Frazetta was a giant among giants. He dramatically changed the world of art. I (and many, many others) stand on his mighty shoulders nearly every single day.” William Stout’s journal http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/
It really does feel like King Kong has died. This man single handedly influenced generations of artists and changed the way this business is done.
As I type this I am still welling up but all I want to do is draw.
Next month, StarWarsShop kicks off a year-long celebration of The Empire Strikes Back’s 30th anniversary with an exclusive new artist series featuring the work of some of today’s most well-known Star Wars illustrators.
I will be at the Dallas Comic Con held January 30-31, 2010 at the Richardson Civic Center. I will have new art, new prints and will be taking a limited number of convention commissions. I also have limited numbers of sketchbooks remaining from 2009 and 2006 (2007 and 2008 are sold out) as well as a limited number of One Night Stand mini comics available at my table.
One Night Stand hits stores today! They are in limited supply. If sales go well they are looking into a second printing.
This is a piece that was done for one of the “Aids to Navigation” Units out of San Diego. They work in mucky and murky conditions while making sure that the traffic lights of the seas are in operation so that ships don’t run aground, or into each other as they enter a busy port.
