Frazetta LOTR Images and Fantasy art beyond Tolkien

[Primula Baggins]

This discussion was moved from the thread "Frank Frazetta Lord of the Rings Images" in the Shibboleth forum, because the topic had moved on from Tolkien illustrations.

Frazetta does garden-gnome hobbits, too, with feet bigger than their heads.

But nobody beats him for Barsoom. This is probably the iconic image:



A less static one:



I am not an artist, but I like these. They have color and energy and are faithful to the dear, pulpy spirit of the text. And he does pretty bodies so very well. The women are babes, of course, but muscular babes who know how to fight (just as they are in the books).

[axordil]

Muscular, and yet well-padded. A fine combination if you ask me.

[Primula Baggins]

Yes, though my favorite Barsoomian heroine is Tavia the slave girl, who passes as a boy for a good part of her book . . . dressed like that. Granted, the noble narrator-hero is a bit thick, but still, she could not have been "well-padded."

[axordil]

Well, it is fantasy AND fiction.

[Alatar]

Those remind very very much of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell's work. I used to adore Vallejo's style, and through him discovered his wife's work. I love his use of almost photorealistic images in fantasy. I wonder if Frazetta was much of an influence on them.

Here's a famous piece called "The Vampire's Kiss"




Gallery is here

[truehobbit]

Makes you wonder what she's holding on to.

[Primula Baggins]

Awww, nowwwww. . . . .

They did get married later, if that helps.

Alatar, that is a creepy painting. I would have to say either there's some influence, or what they've been asked to paint (on a book cover, say) is so similar that their work can't help but be similar as well.

I've seen his work elsewhere, of course. I did look at part of the gallery as well. Some of it looked a little too sweet for me, but then a lot of it must be book covers.

[Alatar]

Maybe my eye is just drawn to the edgier stuff, but I've never really noticed to much sweetness in Vallejo's work.

Here's another favourite.

[Primula Baggins]

I was looking at some mermaidish stuff that definitely looked sweet, but perhaps they were covers for light fantasies.

That image is not sweet at all, of course. I have to admit that despite the "fantasy" element of the tattoo coming to life, I don't care for it much. It doesn't seem like a story I would enjoy reading.

And, er, he's too muscly, too.

It's rather odd, because I do read edgy science fiction—but I don't care for edgy fantasy. Tolkien's perfect; Burroughs is a fun escape.

[Primula Baggins]

The discussion of Frazetta's non-Tolkien art and of other fantasy artists has been moved here. (link to come)

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

There's a Frazetta painting known as "Deathdealer", a black figure on horseback with red glowing eyes, that always makes me think of Tolkien's black riders.

Of course he did a lot of Conan the Barbarian, like this "The Snow Giants", as well as Tarzan.

The Frazetta that most captured my fancy was "Escape from Venus" which pictured a woman with a dagger standing in a swampy pool in the foreground and a ravenous tiger in the background. The colors, particularly the blue, are fantastic! (The poster was much more captivating than this small image.)

Here's a link to FrankFrazetta.com. If you're near East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania you can visit the Frank Frazetta Museum.