Sci-Fi-O-Rama

Earlier this month the we sadly lost one of the foremost and talented Fantasy & Sci-Fi Illustrator/Artists of all time, America’s Frank Frazetta who passed away on the 10th of May aged 82. Franks career spanned an almost unbelievable 60+ year’s when he started working in the comic book industry aged just 15, initially providing pencil clean-ups he soon progressed to drawing comics an by the 50’s was producing work spanning a raft of genres including Western, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical Drama. Later a spoof Illustration of Ringo Starr for MAD Magazine would bring Frazetta to Hollywood’s attention and he was soon producing Poster artwork, the first of which for the 1964 feature “What’s New Pussycat?” earning him $4,000 – then a years salary for an afternoons worth of work!

Frank’s commercial work was primarily rendered in oils, but he also worked in watercolours, Ink’s and Pencils – examples of which I’ve included above – a style which incorporates brooding compositions of ultra-defined muscular heroes and heroines, always poised for or in mid-action. Other telling trait’s include tattered flailing clothing, powerful ornate armour and weaponry, all beautifully lit beneath apocalyptic skies…

Read more about Frank: his obituary at The Gaurdian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/13/frank-frazetta-obituary
or at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Frazetta

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Here’s the notes on Sci-Fi-O-Rama’s visual tribute to Frank and his supreme talent, vision and influence…

Top: “The Silver Warrior” – One of Frazetta’s most famous works. Image via Flickr user mtkup

2nd top: “Death Dealer” (1973) Probably Frank’s most Iconic and recognisable image, originally painted in 1973 the used by for rock group Molly Hathcet for the self titled 1978 album.

3rd top: (1966) Not sure of the title here (please post if you know) image is via net-cafe.hu

4th top: (1977) Movie poster for the Clint Eastwood 70’s action flick “The Gauntlet” (not part of Dirty Harry series). Staring Clint Eastwood and then partner Sondra Locke, this is one of my favourite movie posters of all time! (movie’s not bad)

5th & 6th top : Samples of Frazetta’s Comic book / Black and White work…

Bottom: A portrait of Frank taken in 1984 at the Frank Frazetta Museum, prior to opening. image via Flickr user: StevieB44

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Recommended further reading & viewing:

Frank teamed up with Director Ralph Bakshi to create the 1983 animated feature film “Fire and Ice” check the trailer at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r75CZPk8uPs

Ok Before I start must confess to a bit of stage fright as It’s so long since I’ve actually posted anything!

First off many apologies for the long pause and the lack of response to comments and emails (I will work my way back through them shortly) my reason for extended pause and dropping out of the blogosphere has been purely work related, I will now try and resume a normal level of posting – thanks for bearing with me! – So then, onto the first post…

This superbly executed airbrushing is a follow up to Adrian Chesterman -Tiger! Tiger! another gorgeous (if warped) Penguin SF Book cover that dates from 1979. What I really love the sinister styling and precision Adrian’s deployed in nailing this twisted composition, a fitting feature to kick off the Sci-Fi-O-Rama reboot…

Too see more of british artist Adrian Chesterman’s versatile and extensive portfolio check his new website http://adrianchesterman.com and in addition his older site: http://www.chestermanart.com

Hi, just a quick note…. apologies for the lack of activity on Sci-Fi-O-Rama recently, and the slow response to emails and comments. No real reason other than Work/Life commitments (more of the prior) have got on top this Month, I’m going to try and get a couple of quick posts out this weekend, and then back to normal for May….

cheers

Kie

A polar expedition about to be ruined (in a big way) by a bizarrely crowned, giant furry humanoid…

This is the work of zany Belgian Illustrator Brecht Vandenbroucke, an artist who specialises in mixing playful cartoon like, video game visuals with horror and general weirdness… Suffice to say then, that his portfolio includes some pretty far out work, definitely raises a smile for me!

To see more of Brecht’s work check his Flickr Photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/brecht_vandenbroucke/ or blog http://brechtvandenbroucke.blogspot.com/

Ok this post I’ve put together with the help of Tommi Bren over at the excellent http://www.houdinination.de/ an excellent online archive of science fiction literature…

The above images are taken from the 1971 German Sci-Fi Novella “Der Purpurne Planet” (The Purple Planet) Illustrations are from excellent Werner Ruhner, whom I confess to know little about! though very much like his style… Fortunately Tommi has helped with some translation, and here’s a little bit more on Werner via German Wiki:

Werner Ruhner born 27 May 1922 in Meerane, Sachsen, Germany – According to the very short entry at Wikipedia, he is or was an assistant at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (where the artists Neo Rauch and Peter Piller teach, for example). In the former East Germany, Ruhner was among the busiest illustrators for a variety of genres, science fiction (Verlag Neues Leben Berlin) among them. He allegedly lives in Borsdorf near Leipzig.

Tommi also adds that finding information on German / East German Illustrators isn’t always that easy as not all them have have really made it big – Kelly Freas being the most prominent exception…

Scans via http://www.houdinination.de/