Frazetta and us; a thread for artists.

If you think about it too hard, it can be discouraging. But ultimately, Frazetta's Frazetta, and nobody else can be him, so don't try to be. Find something else stylistically, and make it your own.

I know what you mean and how you feel about being discouraged by hearing about the accolades and success stories of all the great artists and how overwhelming is must be, I myself have come across a few myself. Some such as these:

: Within ten days of living in New York City, Frank Miller of Sin City and Batman Dark Knight Returns fame found work at Marvel comics, when I've been trying my hardest to get a fan comic together and to polish my skills off to the point where they shine like a diamond

: Windsor Mckay the man who created one of the earliest comic strips in Newspaper history in Little Nemo and Dreams of a Rarebit Friend and created one of the earliest and first animated cartoons in Gertie the Dinosaur drew crowds of people and even had people paying him to draw a figure in only one line, never once taking it off the paper and drawing a near perfect figure. I've tried this, and it's never worked for me no matter how hard I tried.

: Like you said in your observation of Frank Frazetta in PWF, when he was just 8 years old, he became better than most adult professional artists, while at age 8 I had only started drawing for a full year by then having started at 7, no way in hell I could have measured up to Frank by then.

Still, no matter what all of these people have done to make them legendary, I've never once stopped I've never quit, and I've always kept a pencil in my hand, because it's my dream to one day make it in the world of comic books.



my poison, when working in art, I work old school. My tools are pencils, usually HB, 3H, and H. My preferred type of paper is the thick stuff, the hard stuff, the kind you can ink, paint, and draw on. It's called card Stock that I can get a whole ream of for about 5 bucks in Wal-Mart, I also go for Bristol tablets, I just got a big one that I'll use for my poster pics. My brands are usually the Turqoiuse pencils or the DESIGN drawing 3800 brand pencils.

My artists that I look up to and adore are "Ayami Kojima" (Castlevania character design) Kentarou Miura (Berserk creator, artist, writer) Windsor Mckay, (Little Nemo creator) Yutaka Minowa, (character designer Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Animatrix: PROGRAM) SHINKIRO (SNK lead character designer from 1987 -2000, now working for Capcom as a cover artist for their games)

That about covers it for me, hope to see what everyone else has to say as well and don't give up, if drawing, painting or anything else is what you want to do don't let the height of the bar discourage you, let it encourage you.

When he says that he was a better artist then most adult artists at age 8, i find that difficult to beleive. i myself am an artist - I am the illustrator/co-writer of Sorta Super ( found at www.sortasuper.aftervision.com :D ) And am currently attending college classes to improve my ability. My goal in life is to be a cahracter designer for a video game company, or at least a comic book illustrator. I know I have a long way to go, and I always get discouraged when I look at these guys or read certain comic books - but think about this for a tic. They've been doing this ALL THEIR LIVES. They do it EIGHT HOURS A DAY. Probably even more.
My own art page - http://ninjakinshu.deviantart.com/gallery/

Don't get discouraged. Try to become better then them - Take pointers. See how they do it, how they put it together, then go for it yourself.

Find your own style.

Film recommendation >>>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/

I love Frazetta and spent most of my early years trying to imitate his style. What I have found now that I am much older is that everyone has their own style and that is one of the greatest things about art. We only need one Frazetta but we need millions of original artists and designs. I thought it was interesting that he was born with that gift. When I watched the documentary, it inspired me to work harder with my own gift.

As far as the equipment I use, mostly pencil and ink. The pencils I use range from Walter Foster to Faber-Castell brands. I am always looking for the finest tip that I can find for fine detail. Some of the best I have found are pigment liners by Staedtler and PITT artist pens by Faber-Castell. As far as the surface (like one of the other entries), the thicker the better. Always remember, art should be original, and anything else is just an imitation of an original.

I've always had the exact opposite reaction, all it takes is a few minutes of Frazetta and I am ready to get going! I LOVE Frazetta's stuff so much I can't help but get motivated by looking at his stuff. It's similar with playing guitar and listening to the late great Randy Rhoads, all I have to do is listen to him for a little while and it makes me want to pick up and play.
Try not to be discouraged, just enjoy it and let it inspire you.

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