Happy New Year! here’s the first post of 2011 on Sci-Fi-O-Rama. Before I start regular readers may notice some minor aesthetic changes, I’ve altered the design slightly to make use of a header menu as to optimize space. I’ve also added (fixed) a google ad to the bottom of the sidebar – I hope this isn’t too obtrusive – it’s there just to help cover the cost of the bandwidth. So then on with the post and here’s a selection of psychedelic edged female portraiture from the late American artist Frank Kelly Freas (Aug 1922 – Jan 2005).
Frank Kelly Freas (also just Kelly Freas) enjoyed a career over 50 years working at the pinnacle of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Art, including providing countless covers for the magazines and books, such as Astounding Science Fiction/Analog, Mad, DAW, Signet, Ballantine Books . It’s also worth noting that early in his artistic career Freas painted pin-up girls onto the nose cones of bombers for the US Military, and it’s an echo of that inspiration I’ve chosen to focus on, here’s the notes on the selected images:
Top: “Rhapsody in Black” – This sultry beauty I featured in a book jacket context back in August, via research mining I’ve since discovered this larger version of the original painting, I have to say one of my favourite pieces posted in 2010 hence it’s appears again. What I also find most interesting here are some of the shared character traits with the other Illustrations: luscious lips, graceful swooping eyelashes and perfectly formed “Ski Jump” noses.
2nd top: “The Lion Game” – This 1973 DAW Paperback book covers serves a great demonstration of Freas’s super confident brush stroke work…
3rd top: “Our Children’s Children” – Cover art for an edition of the 1974 Clifford D. Simak SF Novel, the plot concerns refugees from 500 years in the future arrive through time tunnels – and hard behind them come ravening monsters… I like the sound of that I have to say!
4th top: “Mayenne” another gorgeous DAW cover with those trademark eyelashes, this one from 1973. Via Flickr user Bmaginnity
5th top: “Mirror Image” This Daw Cover dates from 1972, again via Bmaginnity. The plot of this book sounds good, a neat SF spin on American cold war paranoia of the time focusing on alien impostors and secret invaders; in this case the “amorphs”, who are indistinguishable from us, are themselves convinced that they are human…. Read more on Michael G. Coney at Wiki
Bottom: “On the Symb-Socket Circuit” – This flame haired impish enchanter takes the focus of another classic DAW cover, again dating from 1972. Love this one, close in tone to the work of Leo & Diane Dillon. Via Flickr user Bmaginnity
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For Further Reading: Check out the official Kelly Freas Site http://www.kellyfreas.com/ or the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Kelly_Freas
More Images: a Flickr Search http://bit.ly/gTuygR
