Artist I Admire: Frank Frazetta

This week I'd like to focus on an artist I have never had the opportunity to communicate with but, one whom I admire greatly. That artist is of course Mr. Frank Frazetta.

Style: Mr. Frazetta's style is without a doubt realistic but taking liberties to veer towards the fantasy and & science fiction works that he is renowned for.

Bio: Mr. Frazetta was born on Feb 9, 1928. He was both born and raised in Brooklyn, NYC, NY. By the time he was eight his teachers were encouraging his parents to have him attend a formal art school. He attended the Brooklyn Academy of the Arts and once he graduated he began working in a variety of fields eventually settling in the comic industry in the 50's. In the 60's Mr. Frazetta had garnished enough attention to get the calling from Hollywood to design the art for movie posters.

Today he is best known for the work he's done related to the Conan the Barbarian comic series. His paintings easily sell for six figures on average with a recent auction netting a million dollars for a single painting.

Why I admire Mr. Frazetta: One need only look at his impressive work to see why I would admire an artist of such outstanding talent. His work is so realistic that allows us to become part of his fantasy world. His men are manly and strong and his women are womanly and curvaceous. He gives those growing up reading comics or admiring his artwork something to aspire to be like. He is definitely one of the great, living American artists of the past and current century.

My favorite Frank Frazetta painting - Against the Gods:

This is without a doubt my favorite Frank Frazetta painting and definitely one of the Top 5 painting I've ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on. I don't like it so much in the sense that the hero is challenging the "Gods" but more so because it represents man struggling to conquer the difficulties and challenges set before him and facing them without flinching a moment. If I could own the original of this painting I would be a happy man.

Tips for Tuesday - Great article from artbusiness.com

So I was planning on drafting a few tips about how to be a better artist and business person simultaneously when I came across this article - I believe by Alan Bamberger on artbusiness.com about how to become a better artist and business person.

I was struck by how much good information is all in one place! Although I've never attended art school full-time I loved the part about:

"These days, a decent art education runs around $100,000. Art schools need lots of $100,000's in order to stay in business. If prospective students had any idea how tough making a living as an artist is, how good they have to be to make those livings, and how hard art is to sell, art schools would get fewer $100,000's than they do now. So art schools don't talk about the survival aspects of being an artist, they offer precious little instruction in how to make enough money to survive, and worst of all, they appear to discourage their graduates from venturing outside the academic realm to learn survival techniques. Sure, they expose students to the formal gallery system and maybe show their art to local dealers and collectors, but that's not nearly enough ammo for confronting the realities of the marketplace. "

I guess my "role model's" prodding to back away from art inadvertently gave me a wealth of knowledge about Marketing, Sales and the like as I was going through several professions I did not care for.

In the article Mr. Bamberger explains how it is just as important for an artist (a not-so-hungry artist that is) to develop sales skills as well as their art skills. One cannot survive without the other.

He also, points out that randomly blasting art galleries or art professionals with unexpected requests to represent your art and to -

"rescue [you], and whoosh [you] away to fame, fortune, and scrillions of dollars"

Is something you might want to shy away from.

Anyway, again just an excellent article on how to really get by and hopefully excel in the art business. I highly recommend it!