To: Crecente
From: Crecente
I know Frank Frazetta died on Monday, but his passing didn't really hit home until I saw the collection of tribute art created by video game artists for Kotaku.
It reminded me of the first time I laid eyes on Frazetta's rich artwork on the cover of an illicit copy of Vampirella that I some how managed to find while on a ski vacation in South Korea. The art, and to a lesser extent the stories, captivated me as my parents drove my brother and I across the country.
Later I would rediscover Frazetta as I got into the old paperback editions of Conan and, eventually, fell in love with the film Fire and Ice. It was Frazetta's work that also led me to The Savage Sword of Conan, another illicit discovery in Korea, and the wonder of illustrations by the likes of John Buscema, Boris Vallejo and Ernie Chan.
So much of the way I fashioned the fantasies of my childhood were in direct response to Frazetta, that viewing his artwork sometimes leaves me yearning for a youth of jungles, creatures and curvy women that I obviously never really experienced.
And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
He will be greatly missed and I can't think of a more touching tribute than those fond farewells delivered though paint, pencil and ink on Kotaku today.
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