Fall 2005 | See Past News

Welcome back,

I apologize for the long delays between updates, but things will change shortly. Now that I have resolved all my business ventures , there should be frequent updates and photos approx every thirty or forty days.

My fathers animated film, Fire and Ice has been licensed by Underworld productions in a double DVD set which includes Painting with Fire. There were always boot-leg copies on Ebay of lesser quality but now the remastered copy in available on our web-site. This double DVD set has the original film, Fire and Ice along with the new documentary. The difference between this double film set aside from the selling price is the newly released documentary offers an additional disc with scenes and numerous clips that were from behind the scenes almost a bloopers kind of deal.

Although the technology was not there with computer generated images in the early 1980,s , it was rotoscoped and did visually come off extremely realistic. What roto-scoped is, live actors are filmed then the actual film cells are traced over at a later time and the final product visually appears as life like but in animation. There were numerous scenes in the film that my father actally did the live action stunts because some stunt men either refused to or said it cannot be done. My father was extremely athletic along with incredibly flexable even at the age of 53. In the opening scene where the first tribe of Neanderthals came charging towards Larn, the younger of two heroes.

He turns back looking for something to defend himself with, locates a spear and rapidly turns and throws a spear into the chest of the ape man. At this point, the ape man fell to his knees, grasping the spear in his stomach and slowly leaned back and fell over. If you see this opening sequence again or for the first time, watch closely because it does not look all that difficult to rieanact, but just try it. My father was not paid to be the stunt man but he was embarrassing many stunt men with things that they said were not possible to do, but he did. This is what sets him apart from others, it is mind over matter, and if there was ever a case senario for proving it my father would be the first and only candidate. I figured if this 50 some year old guy could do it but the underpaid stuntmen could not, I owed it to myself to take a crack at bring a Hollywood stuntman. How tough could it be? All you had to do was lien back, bend your knees and proceed to lay over till you came to rest on the ground. Its not like I was jumping in front of a moving train or truck. But let me tell you, I was never known for my flexability and this small stunt reinforced that I was not a flexable guy in any terms. As I laid back on the canvas holding the spear against my chest I felt muscles in my lower back that I never knew I had. And if they could talk I would not be able to write what they were telling me. Lets not forget the other large muscle groups of the human anatomy that were also yelling out.

Remember, don’t try this at home without permission from your doctor or extensive medical coverage.

All is well at the homestead and my father is enjoying the beautiful fall foliage. The museum has been extremely busy this year with the release of Painting with Fire on the independent film channel. Emails and phone calls continue to flourish daily stating how the film has rejuvenated thousands of Frazetta fans all around the world that had put their books and other Frazetta items on the shelves now that they had careers or families. They all are rejoiced with the film.

One note, the museum will be open for the remainder of the year and will also be open for the last day of the season on December 24th, Christmas eve. So, open Saturday, December 24th, but closed for the season on Christmas day, the 25th. We will reopen sometime in the spring of 2006. It will be posted on the site a few months prior to opening for your convenience.

My father has been working on his first left handed oil painting and one that resembles and colorful Cat Girl rendition. Our new neighbor Kevin enjoys visiting with my dad frequently, talking sports, taking photos or getting free art lessons. I personally look forward to visiting with them more often this winter now that I have sold one of my businesses and as with every holiday season, my mom looks forward to getting another original painting from me. More often than not I rely on my animated ant drawings to bail me out of the grinding realistic art. But this year she was way ahead of me. In October, she gestured I redo an oil painting that my father had painted over years ago, one that she had loved dearly. It was originally a very dark, loosely rendered oil painting, with a woman standing with her back to us some futuristic world or some far off planet that had prehistoric mammoths. I do not recollect ever seeing this painting resting on his eisle, but with the speed that my father did his paintings, it realistically could have been started at 7 in the evening just before I went to bed, then by mid-night, my father obviously painted over it and did what is now known as the Swamp Demon. So I took her up on her offer and did it in less than 6 hours. Before it was finished to my liking she was already showing the fans in the museum what she thought was the finished painting. and her early Christmas present. I have been doing an assortment of my fathers paintings over the past few weeks with my golf shop at almost a stand still until the holiday season kicks in. Last Christmas I had sold 2 or 3 paintings to fans that I had done the majority of the picture and my father added his magical touch in certain areas to obviously make them more collectable and desired to own. If anyone is interested in purchasing something I have done or could do for you please feel free to call me at 570-424-5833 or email me at golf2000@ptd.net. Below are a few I have been working on. The prices have varied depending on size, subject matter and time and amount of input my fathers brush had.

know I have been talking about doing a biography on my fathers life for some years now, but I think I can start in the next few months. But in all honesty, to do it correctly, it would take years of my spare time and devotion and approximately 500 pages. So I have decided to do a short story on him, a brief overture of his career and a father figure he was to his children. This could be done in 100-200 pages without going in-depth about his every career move and painting done since he was a child. So if all goes well this fall maybe I will have something interesting for you to read next fall.

The Dark Kingdom statue is about to go into production by the months end. As with all my foreign ventures and the likely hood that they will be delivered any where near the anticipated delivery date, well here is another one to chaulk up to, I did not think so bin. Plus the overseas foundries shy away from any and all small orders that consist of fewer than 2,500 pieces. I have tried numerous foundries and all produced inferior quality reproductions of what both my father and I were looking for. As with all my prepaid customers, I sincerely apologize for the delay with our Dark Kingdom statue. It will be worth the wait when it finally gets delivered to your door hopefully in February. I hate to say that but I do. It is an extremely large and heavy piece that will be signed and numbered by my father. The other positive note is it will be an extremely limited statue. No more than 500 total and just 250 first edition signed and numbered as I had stated.

The first of the hand painted figures was finished a month ago and will be shipped off to the Orient for their inspection. This time I will be sure the finished painted product matches the original master. My father was extremely impressed with the quality work that Steven Lord did with the anatomy and design of the figure. Just a few minor comments/corrections were made during the sculpting and within a few months the statue was completed in fine detail. But the price will continue to rise accordingly towards the suggested retail price as it nears the final shipping date. It was originally offered at $199.00 almost a year ago because of the time frame to production my loyal fans were willing to pay in advance and patiently wait it out. It is know $349.00 and shortly $399.00. I believe based on our high cost to manufacturing due to the limited quantity and high quality, the weight along with signed and numbered by Frank Frazetta, the retail price will be between $500-$750.00.

We are now offering a collaboration, father and son, Death Dealer cold cast statue by Dark Horse. It is the same statue selling on other sites but these will be personally hand painted/highlighted by Frank SR and Frank JR. It will be signed by both and have the brush that was used to paint the 7 ½ inch tall figure. It is a small figure but very detailed and is based on the original sculpture by Randy Bowen. This is a limited edition item of 5000, and just 50 of them will be hand painted by the two of us. They are available on the site at this time.

Mrs. Frazetta is working on a new book of nudes. Original unseen pencil drawings that were done in the late 1950’s by my father at an art class along with his close friend Roy Krinkle. This may be available later this spring. We have also licensed out a few other works to be made in to sculptures in the upcoming year.
I thank you for visiting with us and if there are any questions pertaining to Frank Frazetta or the museum, feel free to call or email me at 570-424-5833 or golf2000@ptd.net .

Sincerely yours,
Frank Frazetta JR