I’d say it’s about time. I’ve been so loud on this blog about how much I love Frank Frazetta, how his art inspired me, and yet I have neglected to do an #Art of Fantasy post dedicated to him.

I have a good reason, though. As a kid I used to leave the juiciest food for last in my plate. It prolonged my anticipation so that I appreciated the eating experience more.  I don’t do that anymore, of course, but with Frazetta I wanted to pay special attention to his memory and so I waited a while until I felt I was ready.

And here we are. The pieces I selected for today’s #Art of Fantasy accurately reflect my “education” growing up.

I own two art books by Frazetta and his documentary Painting with Fire, so when I say he inspired me I mean his art just smashed open the doors to my imagination. His style was so powerful, so alluring, that when I read a book with a Frazetta cover, I transferred the tone of the cover to that story and for me it enhanced the created world and the happenings in it.

I love how Frazetta painted women, how he created movement and action and injected all of it with hopelessness and despair. I love how you can even see the texture of skin and of bone. The delicate and detailed engravings on sword and dagger and shield. Frazetta did not create superficial beauty. Instead, he created a truer thing that was immune to the process of time or wishy-washy sensibilities of a civilized world.

Frazetta’s style is savage and unhinged. The warriors–both men and women–are barbaric and violent. The worlds they populate are free of light and goodness, and burdened by dark forces. Forces that can only be stopped with more violence and savagery. For some reason this draws me. I’m yet to understand why. Maybe there is something primal laced to my DNA. Maybe Frazetta’s art unlocked an ancient chamber somewhere in the back of my mind. A chamber that was never meant to be opened unless circumstances beyond the now demanded it. And maybe that chamber is actually a gateway to a distant and strange reality and something there is calling me…

Anyway, while I wipe the drool off my keyboard, please check out the images below for today’s #Art of Fantasy post. As usual, the pictures link to the places I found them.

Truth is, Frazetta painted so many things, just choosing a few for a blog post is really difficult. I selected and deselected for over two hours as I painstakingly searched for images that would best represent Frazetta’s abilities. But at the end I simply chose the ones I liked the most. That’s all I can do. The ones above… I love ’em all.

Enjoy!

Woelf