Frazetta: Painting with Fire

Frazetta is one of those artists who's forceful creativity and technique overwhelms the field he's in and everyone labors in the shadow for years. Comics and fantasy illustration will never be the same because of this man and it will probably be a long time before someone steps into his shoes. A good analogy in films would be Hitchcock in the suspense thriller genre. Nobody has surpassed his mark yet. That said, this documentary partially succeeds in explaining the man behind the work. A lot of time is spent exclaiming about how great Frazetta is. This comes from friends, fans, fellow artists and, amusingly, Frazetta himself. Unfortunately the conceit here is that Frazetta spontaneously burst into his style and that hurts the film more then anything. Anyone with a smattering of 20th century illustration art history can see the influences that Frazetta took from. N.C. Wyeth immediately comes to mind with his color Verne illustrations. Extend that history into 19th century mythological paintings and you'll see more.

What is missed under all the fawning over a bunch of naked barbarian women paintings is that Frazetta was one of the best "realist" painter of the 60's and 70's. Unfortunately that style was out of style and he probably would have never made a living if it wasn't for the paperback books and magazine covers. The documentary fizzles out about an hour in when it spends a great deal of time with the opening of the Frazetta museum. The rest of the film is good for hard-core Frazetta fans but not for anyone else. The constant mixing of live-action with Frazetta's work gets tiresome and there some flimsy contextual editing. At one point, when the film discusses Frazetta's illness (strokes) and how he trained his left hand to draw and paint, the film makers cut to some very odd drawings of naked women with male munchkins who sport large genitals. Sure he did them with his left hand but I'm sure there was something else they could have shown. A film that the typical male fantasy art fan can really enjoy. Everyone else....I'm not too sure.

Overlong but generally informative feature-length documentary on celebrated artist Frank Frazetta (whose work in comic strips influenced generations of designers), which is perhaps slightly too reverential towards its subject. His distinctive three-dimensional style (with which I was familiar, if not the artist's name) is discussed at length - as is Frazetta's personal life, including his recent health problems - and, of course, even features interjections from noted film-makers such as John Milius (who directed the Frazetta-influenced CONAN THE BARBARIAN [1982]) and Ralph Bakshi (with whom Frazetta collaborated on FIRE AND ICE [1983]). Still, one would have liked some narration to smooth over, i.e. put into context, the many anecdotes and opinions - rather than have 90 uninterrupted minutes of just 'talking heads'!

I recently received a present of the Ralph Bakshi animated film "FIRE & ICE" and was shocked to see the documentary "Painting With Fire" included on Disc-2 (well done Blue Underground).

I quickly slipped the disc into the player and pressed "play"...

Right, I'm a Frank Frazetta enthusiast and so I was thinking there's NO way they'll do a good documentary on this fabled artist. Wrong! They did a good job indeed.

The feature-length documentary covers Frazetta's early life and fills in the missing blanks about what he did in the years when he had to fend for himself. For an artist who is extremely private and reclusive, this film peeled back the layers of mystery and revealed the man beneath. It's a very intimate portrait and one that throws light on many aspects of his life as a sportsman and a devoted family man.

The film opens with an absolutely stunning 3-D rendering of the Clayburn Moore "Conan the Barbarian" statue and the painting literally comes to life and moves. The facial bones twitch and the eyes of the Barbarian blaze with intense fire, the sword drips with blood and the slave girl grips onto his leg with unbridled lust conveyed in her luscious legs and flowing hair and across the sky huge vultures circle for the meat on the pile of corpses that the Barbarian stands knee deep in. Skulls lie crushed all around and the sun drips golden fire all over the landscape behind this mighty warrior.

What a truly inspirational opening to the film.

I adored the method used to illustrate and showcase the oil paintings. The colours were rich and the lighting was magnificent. It was like seeing the artworks for the first time. It's one thing seeing them in books and another thing to see them displayed on the screen in such vivid detail. And, what a lovely surprise it was to see rare sketches and variant versions of some of Frazetta's paintings in this film.

Director Lance Laspina's method of using "chapters" to sketch though Frazetta's life reminded me of a book-style presentation and it worked splendidly. This was a very effective format and allowed the viewer to focus in on the different aspects of Frazetta's varied life.

It was great to see Frazetta talk and reminisce about the old days. And despite his ill-health this man is still a fighter! And I noticed that in MANY of the paintings it is Frazetta himself who is the central figure for the model. Just take a careful look at "Conan the Adventurer" (the Clayburn statue) and you'll realize it's none other than Frazetta himself! The lighting in the film really brought out subtle details that are missing in the books. The art had much greater shading and revealed acres of stuff that the books can never get close to due to their "flat" printing process and the quality of paper used.

It was interesting to note that because Frazetta had such a busy life as a sportsman, he sometimes ran out of time for his commissions and was thus reduced to painting the pieces in a matter of hours. If he had run out of paper he would simply tear out a plank of wood from the floorboard and use that as a canvas. He would make a pot of coffee, put on a classical record and finish the painting in six hours or so. He'd then spend a week recovering from this intense battle between his creative juices and his physical body. His hands would literally shake with the exertion after painting these pieces. The impulse and speed of the work actually lent his finished pieces a rawness and savagery that is sorely lacking in the works of other painters such as Boris Vallejo.

The film also discussed the influence that Frazetta has had on the world of movies, literature and art. John Milius, Simon Bisley, Ralph Bakshi, Joe Jusko, Sylvester Stallone, George Lucas, Bernie Wrightson, Clint Eastwood, Michael Kaluta, Steven Spielberg, etc, have all been influenced by Frazetta.

And to compare Frazetta to Michelangelo and Da Vinci was valid. Frazetta is sometimes ignored by the Fine Art community because he is often regarded as an "illustrator". Well, in that case, so were all the past greats because they also illustrated books e.g. The Holy Bible. I think there is idle snobbery levelled at Frazetta because his subject matter usually depicts Fantasy scenes. Nevertheless, Frazetta does not need to prove himself to the Art critics because this man can paint with oils, water-colours, ink, he has produced prints and worked on canvas and also delivered stunning sculptures. A man of many talents then! Just like his fellow painters from the Renaissance period.

It was monumental to see how, after several strokes that left his right arm almost paralyzed, Frazetta taught himself to paint and draw with his left hand. What a great example he is to all of us.

I would have preferred this film to have run for six hours but I can't complain too much since they did cover many of the bases. Even the end credits proved to be fun. Laspina left a little clip after the film closed for the fans - we see Ralph Bakshi walking away from the Frazetta museum with a huge stolen canvas stuck under his shirt! All I now need to do is see the Special Edition of this documentary which contains a second disc of supplemental material where we see Frazetta drawing a panther and the picture gallery contained on the DVD is supposed to be brilliant.

Blue Underground should be congratulated for producing such a lovingly created package.

Highly Recommended.

This is a documentary about Frank Frazetta, the great artist behind the famous Conan book covers and other such fantasy imagery. I'm sure most everyone has seen some of his work whether they've realized it or not, or at least saw some pieces that were influenced by him, of which there are many. His paintings are detailed, striking, and most importantly, alive. The film covers nearly all aspects of Frazetta's life, from his childhood where his talents were already becoming realized, to his family life, to his health problems in later years that forced him to learn to draw with his left hand. It's all pretty interesting, especially if you like his kind of artwork. Catch this documentary showing on either IFC or better yet, get the DVD, which was included with the release of Fire and Ice. The commentary (by director Laspina and producer DiFiore) gives additional insight on Frazetta and his craft. By the way, make sure to watch past the credits for a final bit of humor.

Even if you don't know the man or what he was responsible for, the documentary is very accesible. It actually is easy to watch and be entertained by. As some others have stated, yes Frazetta is the Godfather of Conan amongst other things. And he is being held in high regard by many other creative minds. One of the funniest things was him reflecting on celebrities being intimated or shy meeting him - you got to love a man who's such a creative mind yet so humble.

That is just one episode and he's not the only one speaking about himself or about his career and the way he rose or rather made his way. Others talk about him and the documentary is very well put together. The timelines works and the edit of the footage they shot (apparently mostly at comic cons) is very well made too