Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was one of the most famous Fantasy Artists. He started in comics in the '50s and worked his way into movie posters and pinups. His most famous works include illustrations of Conan the Barbarian and John Carter of Mars.
Frazetta is notable not just for his artwork, but also for his savvy business sense: he was able to successfully negotiate to license the artworks he created, rather than sell them outright to his clients as was customary at the time. By the time of his death, the artwork he'd collected in his personal museum was worth several million dollars.
Inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.
Similar artists include Boris Vallejo and Brom.
Trope Namer for Frazetta Man.
Associated Works:
- Fire & Ice
- Conan the Barbarian
- MAD
- Death Dealer
(not to be confused with the trope) - John Carter of Mars
Associated Tropes:
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: See the page image of Conan the Barbarian for one example.
- Author Appeal: He loved cameras, and he loved Disney films—he was even offered to work for Disney at one point, but turned it down for the sole reason that he didn't want to leave New York.
- Career-Ending Injury: Averted. His right arm was paralyzed after several strokes but he taught himself to paint and draw with his left hand.
- Covers Always Lie: Frazetta was open about not bothering to read the books he drew covers for.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Before he became known for his bread-and-butter work on realistic humans, he was a prominent Funny Animal comic artist.
- Frazetta Man: The Trope Namer
- Heroic Build: Many of his male figures. Frazetta himself is a good example, being a great athlete and having a lean muscular build he owed to doing weights and calisthenics to a high level.
- Heroic Spirit: After suffering a stroke that cost him fine motor control in his right hand, Frank taught himself how to draw with his left.
- It's Not Porn, It's Art: While not explicitly sexual, a lot of his works were intentionally erotic in the way characters were clothed and posed.
- King Kong Copy: As well as painting official King Kong posters and the cover for the novelization to the 1976 movie, Frazetta painted Queen Kong◊. A naked Giant Woman standing on a skyscraper holding a regular sized gorilla.
- Kitsch Collection: Of cameras. Frank loved photography.
- Leg Cling: A frequent pose of his female characters (also visible on the Conan the Barbarian page image).
- Loincloth: Often the heroes would be wearing nothing else.
- Nubile Savage: Many of his female figures.
- Rated M for Manly: We dare you to find a Frazetta painting that doesn't depict muscular shirtless men, scantily-clad women, giant monsters, or any combination of the above.
- Ridiculous Procrastinator: He painted almost all of his works start to finish within a day of their deadlines. This would leave him so exhausted he'd be bedridden for the next few days.
- Scenery Porn: The revival of Conan the Barbarian in the 1960s is largely attributed to his cover art.
- Stripperiffic: He drew most of his characters with heroic proportions and very little clothing to obscure their amazing physiques, both male and female.
