Frank Frazetta

My alternate religious history take on the Virgen de Guadalupe. In this version she calls upon the indigenous peoples of Mexico to rise against their Spanish oppressors.


On May 10th, iconic illustrator Frank Frazetta passed away. When I was in high school I collected all the books of his collected works and looked for any book that might have his art gracing the cover. He illustrated comic books, movie posters, magazines but is best remembered for the book cover illustrations for Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan. One year at the carnival, I managed to win the a Frazetta poster for the Clint Eastwood film " The Gauntlet". I don't think I spent more money for anything that year.

He was my idol and I aspired to be like him. I was in awe of his knowledge and use of anatomy. His muscular heroes and vuloptuous women, so powerful and alive, wanted to leap right off the page. The light and color in his work seemed to have a life of it's own too and was simply stunning. I'm no Frazetta but Pammy pointed out how some of my art work clearly shows his influence and one in particular that I did a few years ago was an homage to my hero. When I think about it, the paintings I'm most proud of have plenty of Frazetta-like elements.

A famous clown giving advice to a friend on clowning, said, "Go forth and steal from the best!". By that he didn't mean to literally take someone's work and recreate it verbatim but to take what appealed the most to you, digest it, process it, and let it emerge through your own art in a natural way. For me it was the light and colors that touched me the most as well as his use of composition. So as Bill Irwin once wisely advised, go forth and steal from the best! Happy Sunday.