Frank Frazetta Art Gallery

When Frank left Al Capp's studio in early 1961 he though it would be no problem to land another steady job. And so, with portfolio in hand, he went searching. But it seemed his work had become poison to any publisher he showed it to. His best stuff was rejected as being too "old style". He honestly believed he'd been blacklisted by Capp because of his leaving the studio on such a down note. This "down time" in Frazetta's career is best shown in the brushstrokes of his "Self Portrait" (1962). It captures well the look of the troubled artist at the time. The story goes that he painted it after another exhaustive day of trying to find work. He wasn't completely out of work though. There were companies that found his talent quite useful. For instance one of those companies; Midwood hired Frazetta to illustrate a few of their spicy novels.

Finally, the slow trend ended in 1963 when Frank's best friend Roy Krekel introduced him to paperback covers (for which many of us are familiar ). He started with Ace Paperbacks doing a series for Edgar Rice Burrough's Novels. This was the fit published appearance of his painted work. It was also his first official work on one of his favorite characters "Tarzan of the Apes" a dream of Frazetta's since childhood. The public response was overwhelming. Other paperback firms started noticing. A back cover for Mad Magazine, a characture of Ringo Star was noticed by United Artists Film Studios who had Frazetta do the poster for What's New Pussycat? For it, Frank received $4,000.00, a whole year's pay earned in one afternoon! It finally started to pay off.

Frazetta's "A" poster art for What's New Pussycat.

An interesting story lays behind his cover for " The Mad King". He so enjoyed his work for the 1964 edition, when it came time to hand over the art for a reprinted 1970 edition he reproduced the entire painting and handed that over instead. Even though the copy was of lesser quality it was readily accepted simply because of Frazetta's popularity. Between 1963 - 1965 Frazetta produced twenty-five covers and twenty-two interior illustrations for Ace.

Then Frank began an inspired series of paintings for Jim Warren's Publishing Company, which provided total freedom for Frank the artist to utilize his talents to the fullest. Just about that same time, Lancer Paperbacks were picking up on Robert E. Howard's Conan series. They engaged Frank to do the covers. When they hit the book stands, they became one of the greatest selling series in history, upwards of 10 million copies. Many people bought the books just for the cover art. and couldn't care less for their contents.

Because Frazetta's covers did sell books, he became more selective about the material offered to him. He retained ownership of all original art and permitted only first printing rights. This in itself started a whole new trend in the paperback industry. To this day Frazetta's work is considered fine art. Fine Art is something that is total, "It has a beginning, a middle, and an end." To prove his point, Frank will talk about design while pulling pictures from the wall and turning them upside-down, drawing the eye toward the center of interest, being pleased that it words from any angle.