Monday, May 10, 2010

Frank Frazetta, inspiration behind Zelda artist, dead at 82

RIP Frank Frazetta
February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010

I grew up on his artwork. He was responsible for some of the Molly Hatchet album covers as well as hundreds of comic book covers, novel covers and many other fantastic works of art. He will be missed.


Frank Frazetta is probably best known for his striking comic book covers of Conan the Barbarian and Buck Rogers -- and for the 1982 animated film, Fire and Ice -- but once upon a time he inspired a Japanese artist who would go on to illustrate Legend of Zelda games Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.

Yusuke Nakano named Frazetta as his inspiration behind "muscular, expressionistic art," which he clearly brought with him to Ocarina of Time.

"It felt great to draw characters like Ganondorf, exaggerating his fearsome, powerful presence," he said in a column published on Zelda Universe. "But my favorite Ocarina illustration was of Impa, Zelda's royal protector: It was extremely rare that Nintendo had such a muscular woman in one of its games. She was a natural fit for my preferred art style."

Frazetta passed away today at the age of 82 from a stroke.


 

No comments:

Post a Comment