Katchoo wrote:And the most amusing aspect of that is that he admitted that he didn't even read the books he did covers for.

This was probably more than laziness. Sometimes professional artists have to learn not to become too invested in the subject matter. Human emotions are recognized throughout the galaxy as being bad for business.

Sad news. A great artist passes.  

He was a master of fantasy art and will be missed.  It's a shame he appears to have never fully understood the value of his work to the world.  I am saddened that his frustration manifest itself in the disingenuous statement quoted below.

"I didn't read any of it," Frazetta said. "I drew him my way. It was really rugged. And it caught on. I didn't care about what people thought. People who bought the books never complained about it. They probably didn't read them."

I don't believe he didn't read "any" of it.  Nor, can he possibly think that the rest of us did not read the books.  Most of us have probably bought a book for the cover from time to time, but at their best artists and writers respect each other and the art reflects the contents.  

I hope he did not become so disenchanted with his role as one of the most important "illustration artists" to begrudge himself his own success.  To me, it is coming across that way.  However, young men have a way of becoming grumpy old men and he deserves the license to second guess his career and his decisions toward the end of it.  I am glad for the work he created and left for us and wouldn't change a thing, unless I could grant him greater financial success for his endeavors, bitd.

sauromatian wrote:How long has it been since Frazetta's Conan illustrations have appeared in print with Howard's Conan stories? 30+ years? Maybe it's time to see them together again. A few commercial incentives:

-Frazetta hasn't exactly been under-published of late - the art-book market is pretty much saturated with his work. A volume of Conan stories with lots of illos could sell better.

-The copyrights for Howard's works are disputed, with royalties paid for American editions but not for the rest of the world. An edition with clearly owned art would cut through the red tape.

-Recent editions of Howard's Conan have been on the scholarly & exhaustive side. The most readable 75% of the stories with the 100 best Frazetta illos would be more accessible.

Actually, ...and their Memory was a Bitter Tree... is a hardcover collection replete with Frazetta illustrations (and new cover art by Brom, of Conan and Belit) which came out a couple years back, and is still available on Amazon dirt cheap ($16.50).

http://www.amazon.com/Their-Memory-Was-Bitter-Tree/dp/1599290227/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275069108&sr=8-1

It's a gorgeous volume, though there seems to be some uproar about the book in the REH "scholarly" (i.e., pathetic fanboy) community because the editor claims in his foreword that REH was "not a great writer". Well, duh, it never occurred to me that he might be...

The selection is okay, though not obviously what everyone would choose as the best Conan tales. It does include the Hyborean Age essay, though, which is a plus.

I saw this article today -

PHILADELPHIA - A 1971 painting by fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has sold for $1.5 million, two months after the Pennsylvania artist's death.

Frazetta's managers said this week that a private collector bought "Conan the Destroyer" from a family trust. Managers Robert Pistella and Stephen Ferzoco call it the price the highest ever for a work by Frazetta.

The illustrator died in Florida in May at age 82. His iconic illustrations of Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan and other characters often graced comic books, album covers and movie posters.

In recent years, his children have fought over an estate estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

The feud boiled over in December when Frank Frazetta Jr. used a backhoe to try to break into the artist's museum in the Pocono Mountains.

Michael

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:
...and their Memory was a Bitter Tree...

http://www.amazon.com/Their-Memory-Was-Bitter-Tree/dp/1599290227/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275069108&sr=8-1

This is obviously a quote from REH, although I cannot place it from memory at this distance.

It is certainly one of the best book titles I have read.  

Frazetta has actually been showing up in the comics a bit. Darkhorse has a series called "Conan - the Frazetta covers. I only picked up the first one which had their version of "The Frost Giant's Daughter" with the Frazetta painting for the comic cover. I think they're up to #5 out of 8 so far.

http://www.darkhorse.com/Search/Browse/ ... a/PpwNwkt8

Besides the Death Dealer Statue from Darkhorse, Image came out with a 6 issue series based on the character, as well as other books either based on stories that had Frazetta covers or just based on the painting itself.

http://comics.wikia.com/wiki/Frank_Frazetta

Since a comic is at least twice as big as a paperback, nice cheap way to pick up some prints (and story as well)