Frank Frazetta passed away the other day and tho his medical difficulties were well known its still a
sad moment. Like many kids I was snared by his jacket illustrations but it was through these early collections of his work that I came to appreciate most his draughtsmanship and staggering pen and brush work in comics, books and his 60's film posters.
I'm happy I made the road trip a couple of years back to see his house and museum, meet Ellie and
take in the originals and be blown away by his pen and ink work in the flesh. Like being a kid again!
Thanks Frank!
You can click on the label below to see photos of that trip from a previous post.

Frazetta Road Trip

'ello 'ello,

Long time since a post but the reasons are both wonderful and sad. Sad because my hard drive had a meltdown and I was without a computer for two weeks. I back up most everything so nothing was really lost except bits and pieces but still a big headache and I'm sure missing things will pop up. Anyway it was quite nice getting a break from the computer screen and having just sent off the last piece for a book illustration and having only hand drawn projects on the table it was as ideal as it could have been.
Last weekend me and a couple of friends, Rich and Serge, went on a short little road trip to East Stroudsperg Pennsylvania
to the home and Gallery of Frank Frazetta. I love driving through that neck of the wooks. A few years back I did a road trip to Norman Rockwells House/Museum and NC Wyeths and the Brandywine and that was a fantastic trip.

Apart from "leadfoot Dannys" landing us a speeding ticked and some lousy nachos it went smoothly. Stroudsberg is a nice little town and
the Frazetta Gallery was wonderful. His wife Ellie was in the gallery but no Frank. It was amazing coming face to face with
with all those images I loved growing up as a kid. The Creepy/EErie covers looked waaay better in person. I wish there was more 50's pen and ink and comic stuff since that and the watercolours are my favourite but its a small complaint.
Seeing all those Conan covers lined up was pretty fantastic.
One pen and ink peice from '51 called beaty and the beast was one of my favourites.

My wife tends to be a tad more organized then myself and she was amused by the fact that Rich [who was driving the rental]
had chosen an atlas from 1962 to guide us down. I admit I did my own bit of eye rolling but who am to tell another fella how to drive especially not doing any back up planning myself, So I had to take this picture of a puzzled Rich and Serge, trying to reastablish our spot while taking the "scenic' route
down to the museum







Some pics of the Frazetta grounds and the museum and Leadfoot in front of one of his favourite pieces









I managed to wake up early and do some sketches around town [as well as in the car] heres a couple of them. I'll post some more later.