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Icon: A Retrospective By The Grand Master of Fantastic Art
Frazetta is without question the master of Fantasy Art. He exploded all the old preconceptions of Fantasy as a pastoral realm of cute elves, sprites and wise wizards, and re-envisioned it as a brutal wilderness inhabited by virile, ruthless warriors hewn from pure muscle, and armour-clad amazons with astonishingly voluptuous bodies, locked in perpetual combat with horrific primeval monsters and demons. Once Frazetta had wielded his paints Fantasy could never be the same again.Born in Brooklyn in 1928, he absorbed the colourful pulp adventures of Tarzan and Flash Gordon, and in the fifties he excited the next generation of Fantasy-lovers with his comics and illustrations for the seductive lady blood-sucker, Vampirella, and most fatuously Robert E. Howard's hero, Conan The Barbarian.
His work, with its high levels of testosterone, wicked humour and compositional skill, has been a profound influence on film-makers such as John Milius, Clint Eastwood and George Lucas. In the sixties Frazetta's images became the poster art for psychedelic counterculture. Frazetta was no political radical, but his art ripped apart the clean, ordered world of suburban America and replaced it with a gorgeously rendered wasteland of violence and sensuality.
His work, with its high levels of testosterone, wicked humour and compositional skill, has been a profound influence on film-makers such as John Milius, Clint Eastwood and George Lucas. In the sixties Frazetta's images became the poster art for psychedelic counterculture. Frazetta was no political radical, but his art ripped apart the clean, ordered world of suburban America and replaced it with a gorgeously rendered wasteland of violence and sensuality.
164 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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451 people want to read
About the author
Frank Frazetta
433 books98 followersFrank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, record-album covers and other media. He was the subject of a 2003 documentary.
* Complete list of his book covers.
* Complete list of his book covers.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 16, 2021
Frazetta's paintings are probably the most recognized images of genre work to have come from the field. People tend to either love it unreservedly or just roll their eyes. This is a lovely retrospective of his work, with some samples from his early comics art, introductions and appreciations from Rick Berry, James E. Bama, Arnie Fenner, and William Stout, as well as curiosities such as his caricature of Ringo Starr, movie posters, etc. His covers for Burroughs' works and the Conan books will forever be remembered as the ideal portrayal of the characters, and this volume contains a lot of those of those as well as paintings he did of Karl Edward Wagner's Kane, King Kong, Buck Rogers, the Universal Monsters, etc. It's a lovely book to leaf through, and contains insightful discussions of the individual paintings as well. The cover to Moorcock's The Silver Warriors is my still my favorite book cover, even after all these years. Icon indeed!
August 9, 2010
4.5 stars. What a superb collection of iconic artwork (pun intended). Frank Frazetta was an amazing talent and his artwork is instantly recognizable by fans and collectors alike. From Conan to Tarzan to Death-Dealer to Vampirella, It is Frazetta's artwork that people think of when they visualize these characters. A superb collection showcasing a one-of-a-kind talent.
August 23, 2020
Frank Frazetta is one of my favourite fantasy artists. The dramatic lighting, powerful action and poses, and the dynamic compositions make his illustrations stunning and impactful. This book explores some of his best illustrations while providing an interesting insight into his art and how it evolved throughout his career.
October 25, 2021
It’s a book about the amazing artwork of the legendary fantasy/sci fi artist Frank Frazetta, nuff said. I’ll just add that while the book showcases an amazing number Frazetta’s paintings, there are still a lot not included. Not because of a shortcoming on behalf of book itself, Frazetta is a prolific artist and one volume wouldn’t suffice.
August 12, 2017
I enjoy Frazetta's art. I really wish someone would publish a more comprehensive collection. I feel like I've seen his 10 or so big pieces thousands of times, but a lot of his less popular works I've only seen occasionally and never all in one place.
A book like this should strive for a comprehensive and definite collection of all of his professional works.
A book like this should strive for a comprehensive and definite collection of all of his professional works.
September 9, 2014
A fascinating insight into the life and work of fantasy illustration's principal trailblazer, greatly enriched by examples of his most celebrated works and numerous sketches. A real must for anyone with an interest in fantasy art and illustration in general.
November 2, 2021
As the subtitle of this book states, “A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art”, this book takes a look at a wide range of Frazetta’s spectacular artwork over the years. This includes pencils, ink sketches, comic book pages and of course his great paintings.
Arnie Fenner’s section is devoted to Frazetta’s youth and comic book work, while William Stout covers Frazetta’s movie posters. Both sections are informative and have interesting examples.
However, the main body of the book is devoted to many of the paintings that Frazetta did over the years. Classics such as “Death Dealer” and “Egyptian Queen” are included, as well as many of his other popular works. There is a nice range of material that touches upon a variety of jobs that he did over the years.
He’s considered the BEST for a reason, and this book goes a long way as to proving why!
Great stuff!!
Arnie Fenner’s section is devoted to Frazetta’s youth and comic book work, while William Stout covers Frazetta’s movie posters. Both sections are informative and have interesting examples.
However, the main body of the book is devoted to many of the paintings that Frazetta did over the years. Classics such as “Death Dealer” and “Egyptian Queen” are included, as well as many of his other popular works. There is a nice range of material that touches upon a variety of jobs that he did over the years.
He’s considered the BEST for a reason, and this book goes a long way as to proving why!
Great stuff!!
May 13, 2020
Very thorough view of Frazetta’s evolution over four decades. From black and white comic strips, to water colors, and finally to oil paintings, the dude changed fantasy SF art forever.
December 4, 2012
(More pictures on parkablogs.com)
Frank Frazetta probably needs no introduction. The images that come to my mind straightaway are the almost perfect anatomy drawings of warriors and women.
This book is a biography of Frank Frazetta looking at the illustrations he created throughout his career. It is really humbling to read how he rose from a kid drawing strange title like "The Elephant who wouldn't help" to the famous series of Conan. There are lots of interesting things to read like his working relationships with editors, his choice of keeping all his prints or how he learned anatomy in a day.
The illustrations included are comics from his childhood, movie posters, book covers and paintings. Towards the end, the paintings are given larger print space each with the story behind the creation.
Fans of Frank Frazetta should probably save a space on your shelf for this book.
May 27, 2010
Frank Frazetta died recently and for many art lovers he'll be missed, but especially for fantasy fans it was a sad day. Not only his "Icon"ic cover paintings but his entire volume of work speaks to his talent. This book give a nice look at the man and the history of his work. It's interesting, but I suppose it goes without saying, the paintings are the star of the book.
March 1, 2008
I love fantasy art it one of my favorite mediums a few friends have scene my drawings I aspire to draw half as brilliantly and confidently as Frank his drawings are simply stunning.
February 24, 2018
Here I'm reviewing the Frazetta art book trilogy of Icon, Legacy and Testament, because all the books have the same virtues and a same recurring flaw. They stand alone fine but you should get all three because they cover most of his best paintings and drawings. There's been many more Frazetta books by the same people (including far too many with overlapping contents) but I never felt I needed many of those later ones.
Please keep in mind that some of the books were updated with something like 15 more pages and you'll have to be very careful if you're trying to order the updated versions but I honestly don't know what pictures were added or how much better it makes them.
The quotes from Frazetta are quite interesting, some that particularly interested me were his thoughts on the way he draws and paints women. He addresses the frequent complaint that all his women look the same, saying that he was just never satisfied with his attempts at different looking women. Yet in Testament there's a very good piece called "The Tempters" with a fascinatingly different woman with more facial character than was his normal. I wish he had tried to diversify like this more often.
He also says that in real life he prefers slightly more slender women but is unable to paint them in a way that "reads" right. I'm not sure if I believe that but it is true that we cant always satisfyingly depict everything we wish we could.
Controversially, Frazetta kept working on some of his best loved paintings and many fans (including myself) do not consider most of the later layers of paint to be improvements, although there were some I liked better. In many cases, two different versions of the same painting are shown here, so you can decide for yourself.
My one complaint about these books is that they're like most books and magazines about comics: far too fannish and the constant praise heaped on Frazetta gets irritating. I find many of his compositions too simple or too similar and I would have appreciated a little more real criticism.
He was only a full time comic artist for a relatively short period of his life but he never drifted that far away so it makes sense that his art books have mostly been found in comic shops and his work written about by comics people. And like some other major comic artists, he had an enormous influence on the way fantasy looks today.
These books really deserve a reprint (preferably combined into one huge book) because they are the best printed way to experience Frazetta so far.
Please keep in mind that some of the books were updated with something like 15 more pages and you'll have to be very careful if you're trying to order the updated versions but I honestly don't know what pictures were added or how much better it makes them.
The quotes from Frazetta are quite interesting, some that particularly interested me were his thoughts on the way he draws and paints women. He addresses the frequent complaint that all his women look the same, saying that he was just never satisfied with his attempts at different looking women. Yet in Testament there's a very good piece called "The Tempters" with a fascinatingly different woman with more facial character than was his normal. I wish he had tried to diversify like this more often.
He also says that in real life he prefers slightly more slender women but is unable to paint them in a way that "reads" right. I'm not sure if I believe that but it is true that we cant always satisfyingly depict everything we wish we could.
Controversially, Frazetta kept working on some of his best loved paintings and many fans (including myself) do not consider most of the later layers of paint to be improvements, although there were some I liked better. In many cases, two different versions of the same painting are shown here, so you can decide for yourself.
My one complaint about these books is that they're like most books and magazines about comics: far too fannish and the constant praise heaped on Frazetta gets irritating. I find many of his compositions too simple or too similar and I would have appreciated a little more real criticism.
He was only a full time comic artist for a relatively short period of his life but he never drifted that far away so it makes sense that his art books have mostly been found in comic shops and his work written about by comics people. And like some other major comic artists, he had an enormous influence on the way fantasy looks today.
These books really deserve a reprint (preferably combined into one huge book) because they are the best printed way to experience Frazetta so far.
June 7, 2019
"No bullshit: Frank Frazetta is the Art God Incarnate. The guy rules, and there's no way around that essential, universal truth. His uncompromising vision -- endlessly imitated but never equaled -- has dominated the field, creating a sublime but arresting modern-classical style that's become the era's preeminent visualization of fantasy. Blessed with an uncanny, apparently innate ability to reporduce on paper anything his mind could conceive, this tough-but-nice Sicilian guy from Brooklyn effortlessly forged the paradigm against which ever other fantasy artist has measured him/herself for the last twenty-five years. He imprinted his look onto the unreal estate of our collective imaginary landscape, and brought that world to lush, blooming life, fixing in the mass-mind's eye what had been the unsatisfyingly insubstantial dream images of others, inadequately conuured by clumbsy words and reality-derivative pictures. There is no bigger sin in fantasy than being ordinary, and Frazetta's art kicked ass on the mundane." - Lou Stathis
January 17, 2021
Some nice stuff, inspirational art for tabletop roleplaying adventures! Docked points for racist images that are never explained or contextualized.
September 4, 2024
Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta Libro.
Icon Frank Frazetta: A Retrospective calificación 4/5 estrellas.
Es una recopilación de los trabajos de arte de Frank Frazetta, pinturas, carteles de películas comic. Sus heredareas han desarrollado algunas series de cómics con sus pinturas con temática de Fantasía, Ciencia Ficción, Pin Ups de mujeres sexys para qué inspiren alguna historia.
Icon Frank Frazetta: A Retrospective calificación 4/5 estrellas.
Es una recopilación de los trabajos de arte de Frank Frazetta, pinturas, carteles de películas comic. Sus heredareas han desarrollado algunas series de cómics con sus pinturas con temática de Fantasía, Ciencia Ficción, Pin Ups de mujeres sexys para qué inspiren alguna historia.
April 5, 2023
Fantastic inspiration
February 22, 2017
Love Frazetta (so 5 stars). If I wasn't completely biased, I'd knock a star off for the author's periodic insults to anything that is not by Frazetta.
July 17, 2011
A wonderful compilation of some of my favorite Frazetta paintings. There are large reproductions of most (maybe all) of the Lancer Conan covers (some revised by the artist), many of the later Ace Burroughs paperbacks and even the SF Book Club John Carter of Mars covers. Plus two of my favorites, the original Death Dealer and the cover to Michael Moorcock's Silver Warriors. Not to mention an absolutely glorious reproduction of the cover to Edmund Hamilton's Outlaw World.
A wonderful collection.
A wonderful collection.
June 14, 2016
The incredible artwork that famed Frank Frazetta is best known for is his dark and dramatic Conan the Barbarian oils. He is also well known for art in comic books, Tarzan novels, iconic movie posters and record covers of the 60's and 70's. Icon also describes his incredible fifty-five year career span in the industry. I think all of us who love or create fantasy have looked up to him at some point.
July 20, 2011
A superb introduction to the art and life of Frank Frazetta, one of the foremost fantasy artists of the last half century. This book reproduces full colour examples of his works, from magazine and book covers to film posters and comic strips. The man is a legend and influenced a raft of artists who came after him.
January 4, 2009
Frazetta's art is just amazing. My personal favorites are his Death Dealer paintings, followed closely by his paintings of Kane. This is a nice retrospective on his work, with lots of his paintings included.
January 17, 2016
It begins here. The grand master of fantasy painting is showcase in this 3 part
hardbound coffee table editions. Frank Frazetta arts to life and jump off the
canvas. He has learned to draw with paint and takes you right into the world
of sword and sorcery, sci fi, etc.
February 6, 2015
Frank Frazetta is one of my favorite illustrators. I thought I would have to order this book from Amazon, but as luck would have it, my local Barnes and Noble had it and needless to say the work I had actually intended to get done was necessarily delayed hour and a half while I enjoyed this book.
June 5, 2008
Didn't actually "read" the whole thing, but damn that man could draw him some barbarians and damsels.
April 25, 2009
Great bio, great artwork. The man's a master.
June 25, 2015
Greatest artist of my lifetime. Great book!
January 6, 2016
The finest artist of the 20th century. I am Groot.
February 9, 2016
A whole book of Frank Frazetta art!!! Can't get any better than this. Highly recommended
July 22, 2010
love the art.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews