Artist Profile: Bernie Wrightson

Bernie Wrightson (b. Oct 27th, 1948 -   )
Media: Comics, Illustration, Concept Art
Medium: Pencils, Pen & Ink

Looking for gruesome visuals to inspire a horror campaign or adventure?  Bernie Wrightson has been arousing fear for forty years.  From four color terror to film conceptual horrors, Wrightson is one of the world’s greatest horror artists.

When I was a studio art major, we would have to do masters studies.  A masters study was where we would have to pick a master artist in a given field and then try to duplicate one of their pieces.  The idea is that you learn technique by emulating the greats.  When it came time for pen & ink, my choice was Bernie Wrightson, and the piece was from his illustrated version of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus.

Style

Bernie’s style is very dark, tends to have deep shadows and has deep roots in the classic sequential narrative look of the EC horror comics from the 50s.  A lot of his work depicts creatures with slime or moisture hanging from them.  He was influenced greatly by “Ghastly” Graham Ingels of the EC era who was spectacular at creating swampy scenes.

Bio

Wrightson began his career as a cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun in ‘67 but soon quit due to the shitty work environment (office politics).  He quickly found a home with DC Comics and began penciling the supernatural title, House of Mystery and soon after began working on House of Secrets.

It would be with the House of Secrets that Bernie would gain fame when he, along with Len Wein, created the Swamp Thing.  After Swamp Thing, Wrightson’s next major contribution to art would be his illustrated version of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus.  The illustrations were rendered in pen & ink and are reminiscent of engravings from the 1800s.  The book was originally published in ‘83 and had a re-issue in ‘95.

He continued to work in the darkside of comics with the Batman story The Cult and Batman vs. Aliens as well as stuff with the Punisher.  He was picked by Stephen King to do the comic book adaptation of George Romero’s Creepshow as well as illustrate King’s own Cycle of the Werewolf.

He has done conceptual art for Heavy Metal, both Ghostbusters movies, Thir13en Ghosts, Galaxy Quest, My Demon Lover, and The Faculty. He was also the creature designer Stephen King’s new The Mist and Romero’s Land of the Dead.

Currently Bernie is working with Steve Niles (of 30 Days of Night fame) on a new comic titled City of Others and is also gathering the original illustrations for an anniversary edition of his Frankenstein book.

Bernie Wrightson’s Site
Wrightson’s Frankenstein
Dark, But Shining’s Interview

Listening to: Sepultura – Dante XXI – City of Dis

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Artist Profile: Frank Frazetta

Frank Frazetta (b. Feb 9th, 1929 -   )
Media: Comics, Magazine & Novel Covers, Movie Posters
Medium: Oils, Watercolor, Pen & Ink, Pencil

Frank Frazetta, the painter/illustrator is the man who is responsible for my interest in many things.  All it took was one print of the painting, “Kane on the Golden Sea” to spark the fire of imagination within me.  I remember when I first saw the print, hanging in my Grandfather’s computer room behind the Commodore 64.

That single painting propelled me into the world of fantasy illustration; which in turn launched me into the worlds of Tolkien, Howard, and Moorcock.  Then I stumbled across Dragon of Doom, which was one of TSR’s Endless Quest books.  Dragon of Doom led me to Dungeons & Dragons and the rest is history.

Style

I usually describe Frazetta’s style as loose or fuzzy dramatic oil illustrations.  While his sketches have loose, rough outlines, his brush work tends to feather edges.  He also makes use of dramatic lighting and composition.  His art usually depicts heavily musckle warriors and voluptuous, curvy women with or without full backgrounds.

The bulk of his work sits solidly in the realm of dark Sword & Sorcery (Conan) but often includes elements of Horror (Death Dealer).

Bio

Most of this bio was found on Wikipedia, but much of it was gleaned off the documentary: Frank Frazetta: Painting with Fire.

Frank was born in Brooklyn, New York on February 9th, 1928.  This means Frazetta has been around for eighty years and he has been creating art for most of that time.  He was enrolled into to the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts when he was only eight.  At age sixteen, when the academy was closed, Frank began working on comic books.  He was offered work with Walt Disney, but he turned him down.

Frank was most well known during this time for his painted Buck Rogers covers on Famous Funnies.  However, as the comic industry evolved, Frazetta’s style was falling out of favor and he found work hard to come by.  His talents found a home with the burgeoning Mad Magazine and a comic strip in Playboy called “Lil’ Annie Fannie.”

A parody painting of Ringo Star in Mad Magazine led to a movie poster deal with Universal Artisits for What’s New Pussycat? which of course led to more poster work including Mad Max.  It was also during this time that he began painting book covers.  Most noteable was his work on Robert E. Howard’s Conan series.  He also worked on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels including those from Tarzan and John Carter of Mars.

After Hollywood and his success in novel covers, Frank’s work was very in demand and many artists began to emulate his style.  Some noteable artists whose works display a strong Frazetta influence include Simon Bisley, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, and prominent Dark Sun artist, Gerald Brom.

Frazetta’s paintings also graced the covers of horror publisher, Warren Publishing, and their successful magazines: Creepy, Eeerie, and Vampirella.  Frezatta also worked with celebrated animation producer Ralph Bakshi on Fire and Ice.  His paintings have also graced the album covers for bands including Wolfmother. Molly Hatchet, Nazereth, and Dust.

For all the Star Wars trivia fans out there, Aggie Rodgers, costume designer for Return of the Jedi has stated that Leia’s chainmail bikini costume was inspired by Frazetta.

Frazetta persevered through a series of strokes that left him without full use of his primary hand, but that didn’t stop the determined artist, as he learned to draw all over again with his offhand!  He currently lives with his wife Ellie on a 67 acre estate in the Poconos of Pennsylvania where they have a museum open to the public.

If anyone is interested in finding out more about Frank Frazetta, I highly recommend the documentary about him: Frank Frazetta: Painting with Fire.  Either that or you go visit his museum and hope you get to meet him in person.

Frank Frazetta’s Official Site
The Unofficial Frazetta Art Gallery

Listening to: Carfax Abbey – Second Skin – Flush to the Floor

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