So Frazetta was beyond talented. Beautiful painter, amazing at figure work, and he certainly got a lot of teenage boys excited about the fantasy genre (a little too excited if you ask me). I have two bones to pick with him. (No pun intended). First he certainly objectified women to high heaven and in my opinion he smutted up one of my favorite genres, but secondly, he claimed to be the Alpha and Omega of illustration, specifically for fantasy. In his biography he states over and over again that he was one of a kind, that he bucked the trend, that he was so unique and such a child prodigy that we humans are blessed to claim him. And all I have to say is this:
You are a big fat copycat. RIP. I realize that nobody creates in a vacuum, and we artists are all attempting to recreate what already has been created in order to be innovative. Most everyone, including me and especially the great artists, are inspired and even might borrow the color palette or a composition, or an idea for a costume from the previous greats... But as you can see in these illustrations, Frazetta basically added new background to pieces that he liked of Howard Pyle (pictured above), and NC Wyeth, and certainly others that I have yet to identify. And I wish it were a one time thing, but I've seen many other pieces that directly echo these great masters of the Golden Illustration.Arg. I HATE copycats.
Over and out.
2 comments:
You must really hate copycats. This has been up for almost a month!
Hehe. Yes I do. But we do collectively like you Tim.
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