The Fantastic Art Of Frank Frazetta [Book One]

Frank Frazetta Book Two

Frank Frazetta Book Three

Frank Frazetta Book Four

Frank Frazetta Book Five
(1975 / 1977 / 1978 / 1980 / 1985 - Peacock Press (Bantam Books))

(edited by Betty Ballantine) In the 1970s & 80s, Ms. Ballantine pulled together Frazetta's work into five volumes. Vanguard's FANTASTIC PAINTINGS OF FRAZETTA and the Fenners' Underwood series (ICON, LEGACY & TESTAMENT) are now considered better compilations of Frazetta's work, but their popularity has made most of this older Ballantine series very affordable in comparison. I will say that those new larger books may be, as a group, more attractive, but these thinner volumes are perfect for pouring over any particular piece. I've collected them all together in this one listing, but know that BOOK FIVE, presentation-wise, is superior to the rest (as well as itself slightly outpacing all those newer books). The avid fan is going to want to pick all of these up in addition to the others, as there are a handful of new paintings and a great number of new drawings scattered throughout.

The first volume is collected as a series of isolated plates. In other words, the page facing each art piece is blank, except for the title of the piece. 44 such pieces in 93 pages. The only text is the introduction. It's tempting to say that this first book was the one that started it all. Certainly there were genre monographs in the decades before this was produced, but this artist's covers were single-handedly selling thousands of novels and here was a first full-color collection of them. There aren't too many modern fantasy artists of my time whose own words don't detail how this book came into their hands and opened their eyes to what could be done. Here you will find many of his first book covers of Conan (& other barbarians) and the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. You also find ruins, swampland, dinosaurs, sailing ships, witches, wizards, monsters and other horror subjects. There are nudes of both men & women, but the ladies dominate. If you have the higher recommended FANTASTIC PAINTINGS OF FRAZETTA, the Underwood retrospectives, THE PILLOW BOOK, FRAZETTA SKETCHBOOK I & II and ROUGH WORK, then you already have every painting presented here, leaving only five large drawings to be found new. This volume presents full-page extracted details from several of the great paintings.

In the second volume, in the same isolated plate style, there are 42 full-page art pieces, mostly paintings. Unfortunately, three of the pieces are presented sideways, but there are four pages that are full-bleed detail extracts of four of the works that are startling. The few text pages are an analysis of the dynamics of what makes so effective the pieces here and in the previous book. His illustrations of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (including Tarzan) predominate, but you'll also find Conan & other barbarians, some cowboys, aliens, monsters, spaceships and castles. Many of the male and female depictions are in some degree of nudity. Two paintings get a better, dedicated presention in this volume than they did in the higher recommended books (FRAZETTA BOOK COVER ART, FANTASTIC PAINTINGS OF FRAZETTA, the Underwood retrospectives, PILLOW BOOK, FRAZETTA SKETCHBOOK I & II and ROUGH WORK), but all the other paintings here are found fine in those books, leaving only seven full-page drawings as new discoveries.

In the third book, there begins a relaxation of the museum mystique. 96 pages in all, the paintings are still presented here as plates, faced by a page, blank except for the caption. The full-page drawings are allowed here to be accompanied by a fellow one. There are a couple of pages where two longish paintings are placed one above the other and finally, many pages are reproduced from the sketchbooks of Frazetta's early career (called doodlebooks by him). I have to say that the smaller, less-distinct sketches are still impressive in their confidence and clarity of line. They're frequently of dramatic or humorous subjects, rather than just body studies, and many are close enough to 'finished' compositions to be their own small art pieces. Anyway, 49 pages are mostly given over to a single painting or drawing and then there's another 20 pages of multiple images. The little bit of text is a short bio and commentary concerning the "doodles". The subjects of this art collection are dominated by barbarians and savages (including Tarzan), but there are a handful of drawings from the Lord Of The Rings. There are also a smattering of monsters, dinosaurs, cowboys, spaceships and ruins, as well as Dracula & the Wolfman. Males and females are frequently nude, or wearing almost nothing at all. There are one new painting here that you haven't yet seen well-presented in the higher-recommended FRAZETTA BOOK COVER ART, FANTASTIC PAINTINGS OF FRAZETTA, Underwood retrospectives, THE PILLOW BOOK, FRAZETTA SKETCHBOOK I & II and ROUGH WORK and another 16 such drawings (and an additional three paintings that got an adequate showing there, but better here).

In the fourth book, the relaxation continues with many of the pages facing the painting plates, left blank in the previous volumes, being here filled with a number of those early Frazetta'"doodles". While some of these are only the thinnest of sketches, the vast majority carry a level of detail, or expressive line-work, that they could stand as their own small art pieces, and carry a dedicated page themselves. The little bit of text is glowing commentary, detailing some of the dynamics found in the artist's works of recent (at the time) vintage. The paintings are captioned with their title and there are also several fully realized drawing illustrations. The book is 95 pages and 49 images are given full-page presentations. Here be his depictions of aliens, spaceships, futuristic cities, bikers, knights, dinosaurs, barbarians & wizards, Dracula, Frankenstein's & other monsters. Male & female nudes abound. In comparing to the higher-recommended FRAZETTA BOOK COVER ART, FANTASTIC PAINTINGS OF FRAZETTA, Underwood retrospectives, THE PILLOW BOOK, FRAZETTA SKETCHBOOK I & II and ROUGH WORK, there are three paintings and two drawings given better dedicated showings. Add to that, 13 new drawings (and worthy sketches) that get spotlighted here.

(This last volume, on its own, scored higher than any other Frazetta collection so far (when only considering presentation)). Being the last of this series, it really focused on lesser-known paintings (including movie & advertising tie-ins) and its slight majority is actually finished drawings and impressive sketches, rather than the color pieces. It scored higher because almost all these pieces are displayed one to page, usually full-page, with few blank. 81 large reproduction pages, out of the book's 96, along with another five with multiple images. The introduction is a three-page dialogue with the artist himself. This hodgepodge gathering is of Tarzan, King Kong, aliens, spacemen, spacegirls, cavemen, dinosaurs, indians, knights, vikings and huns. And dramatic nudes feature prominently, as always. If you already have the greater recommended FRAZETTA BOOK COVER ART, FANTASTIC PAINTINGS OF FRAZETTA, Underwood retrospectives, THE PILLOW BOOK, FRAZETTA SKETCHBOOK I & II And ROUGH WORK, this book gets you one of their exhibits better presented and two others that you don't yet have. And then in drawings, four are larger-reproductions than before and a whopping 35 are 'new' ones (granted, two-thirds of those are Frazetta's personal sketch-drawings (loose & more spontaneous) that perhaps not everyone values worthy to the same extent . . .).