R.I.P. - Frank Frazetta

Perhaps the single most consistent and pervasive influence in my desire to pursue an education and career as an illustrator. I can only think of one other professional with an equal influence in my life but the news of Mr. Frazetta's passing is humbling and heartbreaking.

Whether it was in advertisements in the back of Warren magazines of the 1970's or the covers of the Lancer Conan books, Frank Frazetta's awesome and awe-inspiring art was nearly everywhere during my childhood. Certainly the lavish paintings lured me into the fantasy worlds of both Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and from there my voracious appetite for the fantastical mined other depths. No matter what direction my tastes veer, it is always the artwork and legacy of Frazetta my mind travels back to.

Myself, and many others, owe a humbling debt to the mastery of this illustrator and artist. We continue to pay this debt by remembering his works and offering them the respect and reverence they deserve. 

He made it look easy. He made it look wild. He made it look damn good. And most of all, he made us look.