Was talking to some people about what make's Frank's work stand out. One is the man is an artist with a capital A. He understands light and composition, he understands anatomy and draws people in dynamic movement. Man has the skills and the knowledge to make it all work.
But the other thing we came up with, is Frank Frazetta fucks.
Like with many fantasy artists, everything is really flat, the characters are clearly models posing for the artist. They're just representations of people. But Frank is painting actual characters, and he's 100% unreasonably horny about it. Dude fucks, he knows what people look like when they're running around naked, he is good at drawing caked up dudes, he knows how to tell a story with the way people are moving, the way they're placed in relation to each other.
I once talked to a comic book writer who said that some of the best artists told him that they referenced sports photos when drawing their characters, because sports photography was best at capturing a human body in dynamic action. He said that he didn't like Alex Ross's work, because while Ross had a great understanding of human anatomy, there's always something static about his compositions because he uses models standing still. This is how I feel when I compare Frank Frazetta to, say, Boris Vallejo. Frazetta's work is always dynamic, like he captured a still of something in motion.
Was talking to some people about what make's Frank's work stand out. One is the man is an artist with a capital A. He understands light and composition, he understands anatomy and draws people in dynamic movement. Man has the skills and the knowledge to make it all work.
But the other thing we came up with, is Frank Frazetta fucks.
Like with many fantasy artists, everything is really flat, the characters are clearly models posing for the artist. They're just representations of people. But Frank is painting actual characters, and he's 100% unreasonably horny about it. Dude fucks, he knows what people look like when they're running around naked, he is good at drawing caked up dudes, he knows how to tell a story with the way people are moving, the way they're placed in relation to each other.
I once talked to a comic book writer who said that some of the best artists told him that they referenced sports photos when drawing their characters, because sports photography was best at capturing a human body in dynamic action. He said that he didn't like Alex Ross's work, because while Ross had a great understanding of human anatomy, there's always something static about his compositions because he uses models standing still. This is how I feel when I compare Frank Frazetta to, say, Boris Vallejo. Frazetta's work is always dynamic, like he captured a still of something in motion.
Apparently Frank was some kind of athlete and brought that energy to his art, as opposed to a studio portrait attitude.