The Awesome Frazetta...in Person
by Ron Hill
09.01.08
Click on images to see a larger version in a separate window.

Opportunities to meet one's idol don't come along
often. Frank Frazetta was the first and most influential
artist on my work. I learned to draw copying his Conan
and John carter book covers.

So when the National Cartoonists Society planned to
honor Frank Frazetta with the Milton Caniff Lifetime
Achievement Award this past weekend, my wife Margie
and I made the 800-mile round trip from Solon, Ohio
to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania in less than 30 hours.
It was Labor Day weekend, and though I had to be back
for a gig Sunday in Beachwood, Ohio, we hit the road
Friday about 6 PM and arrived at the hotel around
12:30 AM.

The museum is a little hard to find, on purpose. It is only open on Saturdays and
Sundays, May to December. It is best to call ahead and make sure they are open.
When you finally do arrive and turn into the 75-acre estate that is the Frazetta home,
you are greeted by sculptures (like the lizard above) scattered about the grounds.

We arrived a couple minutes before eleven, and Jack Pittman (the organizer of
the event) said Frank was inside. Margie and I stepped inside and Nick Meglin of
MAD Magazine fame and long-time friend of Frank Frazetta was telling stories
to a group of four or five people about one of the artworks as Frank himself listened.
As the group broke up, I summoned the courage to step forward and introduce
Margie and myself. Frank was very kind, and asked if I was an artist and did I bring
any work? I didn't have anything except my Moleskine sketchbook (always in my
pocket). My sketchbooks are not very representative of my finished commercial
cartoon and illustration work. Mostly ink studies, lots of dinosaurs and creatures,
editorial ideas, notes, sometimes watercolor or acrylic thumbnail roughs. . . I enjoy
drawing in them just for fun. Anyway, I handed the book to Frank, and he was very
kind and encouraging about my drawing, and asked where I published them. We
talked for fifteen minutes or so, and his grandson took the picture above.



You are generally allowed to take one photo of yourself standing next to your favorite
painting. I asked if I could take a couple of pictures of the gallery as a whole, and not
individual works. The single room gallery has pretty much all the most iconic paintings
from his career, like the Lancer Conan covers lined up on one wall, The Death Dealer
illustrations grouped together, and all the Ace Burroughs works scattered throughout.
There are works all the way back to the late 1940s when he worked in watercolor, up
through the 80s, 90s and into the 21st century, when Frazetta was slowing down his
professional output to enjoy baseball and family.

Jack Pittman organized a picnic on the lawn outside the museum, next to a lake that
Frank dug out himself when they moved here over 25 years ago.



After lunch, we moved inside the gallery for the
presentations. Above, far left: National Cartoonists Society
President Jeff Keane. of The Family Circus fame, makes
a few comments before presenting the Caniff Lifetime
Achievement Award. Center: organizer Jack Pittman
presents Frank with a scrapbook of original art from
NCS members to commemorate the event. Far right, MAD
Magazine veteran and long-time friend of Frank Nick Meglin
continues his appreciation speech as Frank leafs through
the scrapbook. At left is my page in the scrapbook. All in
all, a very cool day for everyone involved!

Who impacted your career by their example? Email me.

Comments and tribute cartoon copyright 2008 Ron Hill.
Artwork in the photos, obviously, copyright Frank Frazetta.