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The Frank Frazetta Museum

Saturday, June 22nd, 2024

We’re in Pennsylvania! We’re on our annual fireworks shopping trip but we extended it a day so we could visit the gallery of famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta.

Frazetta was an illustrator that initially worked in comics before a career painting paperback book covers that would influence fantasy and science fiction artwork to this day.

Most of his paintings were oil on canvas, but he was a talented artist that also used pencils, watercolor and ink and painted on various canvases including masonite (as seen above).

The museum is on the property he lived at in The Poconos, and displays 37 original oil paintings as well as a large amount of sketches and other paraphernalia related to his life and career.

Frazetta painted covers for many Conan and Tarzan novels, and his artwork was so recognizable and iconic it sold the books. His depiction of Conan in particular was archetypal, and to this day the usual image of Conan is based on Frazetta’s depiction.

Anyone that’s read any fantasy or science fiction written since 1970 has likely held a book with a Frazetta cover, and it was quite a thrill to see the original art used on so many of these books. In the photo above you can see an original oil painting of a wizard menacing two warriors, and the same image used on the cover of a 1979 calendar and a paperback from the 1970s (which I own).

He often painted over his works, even after they had been used for book or magazine covers. He did this to change lightning, facial expressions, to add/remove elements (such as clothing) or for various other reasons. Looking at the paintings close up it was obvious where paint-overs had occurred, and the gallery often included photographs of the originals for comparison. In my opinion some paint-overs improved the works but others didn’t, and the fact that originals were lost forever is something I find a little sad.

Frazetta was well-known during his life, and such was his skill and renown that he worked extensively in advertising and in the movie industry as well. The museum had many relics regarding this part of his career, but the letters from Clint Eastwood (above, with his phone number!) and George Lucas (thanking him for selling a painting) were my favourite. There was also a signed letter from President Eisenhower, who Frazetta had done a portrait of.

Frazetta died in 2010 (at age 82) and his works were divided amongst his four children. The museum is primarily the collection of one of the children, which is to say it’s hardly the entirety of Frazetta’s works. As probably the worlds foremost fantasy artist his fame has only grown since his death, and recent sales of three of his paintings for over $5 million will put pressure on his surviving family to sell off his works. I hope the museum can resist the urge since we thought it was a wonderful gallery of his life and works, and very much a place any fan of fantasy art would enjoy visiting.

They had an amazing shop with all sorts of merchandise. We bought some books, two canvas prints and a few other items but the real treasure was the above still sealed 1979 calendar! When will I open it? No man knows 🙂

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Enchanted

Thursday, June 13th, 2024

I walked from Ultraman Shopping Street north for about a half hour toward the nearby ward (or suburb) of Setagawa. My goal was a gallery to see a very special art exhibit, and I knew I was on the right track when signs began to appear on community notice boards:

By sheer providence I had seen a sign advertising this in a bookstore the other day. Junji Ito is one of my favourite manga creators, and I love his stories and his art, and to be honest he would have been at the top of my list had you asked who I’d like to see an exhibit of, so I was absolutely overjoyed to have a chance. But would it be good?

It was astonishingly good! This was a full blown exhibit of original art spanning his nearly 40-year horror manga career. There were dozens and dozens of pieces on display, photos were allowed, and we could get right up close to the works to admire their detail.

It was arranged chronologically, starting with Tomie and moving into Uzumaki and Gyo and his many short stories since. Almost all the original art – oils or watercolours – for the covers of his works were on display, as well as massive amounts of iconic manga pages.

Yes this is all his original work, not facsimiles or reprints; Hand drawn by him using inks and screen tone. Many are larger than the size they were printed, and it was fascinating to see how he created his work in detail.

Take the above for instance: the white lines on the top panel are actually painted on to a black background. And you can see white paint was used for the sound effects, which suggests they were added afterwards, over the art. Every black line is hand-inked, and the lightning appears to have been scratched (?) out of the tone used for the sky. In his comments that accompanied several of his example pieces, he mentions he doubts he could produce such detailed work today (he’s 60 now).

Much of the art was presented framed, but the gallery space itself was also wonderful designed and decorated to fit his work.

That’s the Uzumaki room, which contains many panels from the manga, as well as colour art for the covers and even early designs for characters or covers

As technology changed, so too did manga production, and most of it is digital now. Apparently Ito still works with traditional media (they had photos of his studio which didn’t look like it has changed much since the 1980s) and assistants touch up his line art digitally. Here’s a comparison from Hellstar Remina showing his original at bottom and after the tone is added digitally on top:

Those pages were very large, about newspaper sized each.

The exhibition included a lot of original oil or watercolour art pieces not created for particular manga stories, and the above one (look closely in the background) had a comment from Ito that when this was listed in a gallery years ago it didn’t sell but he thinks if he listed it again it would 🙂

For many years he was well known in Japan but a cult creator overseas. In the last five or so years his fame has exploded and he is now extremely successful worldwide. One room of the exhibit contained a dizzying selection of his publications in many different languages, and it was mentioned he’s been selling about half a million copies a year in the USA for several years now.

One room contained work he created as a child or while in high school! This was also the room that featured his famous cat manga (which he wrote about his experiences of adopting cats with his wife). The art in those books – which portrays cats in his distinctive style – is wonderful:

There was also this prototype figure made especially for the exhibit:

And this copy of the first manga monthly he ever had a story in:

I hate to reduce this man’s prodigious talent down to something base, but I just kept thinking about the fact that this exhibit of dozens upon dozens of iconic and extremely talented original manga art and paintings must now be worth a fortune. A quick search online shows that small sketches of his have sold for $3000+ in recent years so I can’t imagine what something like this painting could go for:

I can’t overstate how much I enjoyed this exhibit. I have two shelves of his work at home, and have been reading him since long before he became well known in the USA. It was a privilege to be able to see so much of his original work, and to read about their inspirations in his own words.

This was probably the highlight of this entire trip 🙂

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Let’s Talk About Stamps

Sunday, June 9th, 2024

This post is dedicated to Sue, who (I think) wanted me to send her an eki stamp, and this gave me the idea to blog about rubber stamps!

eki stamps are rubber stamps available at virtually every train or transport station in Japan. Travelers can put these stamps into a stamp book as a record of their journeys, and they are very commonly collected. The first few times we’ve visited Japan we’ve done just this, but in recent trips I usually just put them on a postcard if I have one handy.

The above photo shows the two stamps available at Kinugawa station, and the imprint of the Tobu (as opposed to Metro) Asakusa station stamp.

Eki stamps are so popular in Japan that many other attractions including shopping centers and amusement parks have them as well. Both Tobu World Square and Edo Wonderland had them, but I didn’t have a postcard on me to collect the imprint.

Sometimes time-limited stamps exist to promote tourism or attract customers. An example of this is currently underway in Kinugawa: there are six demon statues around town, and next to each is a little wooden ‘house’ containing a stamp. The idea is to have fun finding all demons and collecting the six stamps. I found four in my wanderings, and put the stamps on postcards.

Another example are six bookstores around Tokyo currently having rubber stamps for the manga Frieren available free to use, and the sign next to them humorously says each time you use one you unlock a fast travel to that bookstore. These stamps are very cute, and I got one in January and another today. I wonder where the other four are?

Another common use of stamps is for a type of bingo or treasure hunt, and there’s one going on right now in Akihabara. Nine stamps related to the series Quintessential Quintuplets are available at various shops in Akihabara, and if you stamp them on the (free) bingo card you can get prizes. This is of course a way to get customers into shops, and it’s clever since 5 stamps are free but the other 4 require you to buy something. So everyone can get at least one free prize (a sticker) but if you spend money in the shops you can end up getting much more.

If you read yesterday’s blog post you will also remember the maze also used rubber stamps as a record of completion, which is the same basic idea.

Of course all these rubber stamps can be used to stamp anything you like, and reports say a handsome and wise young Australian was seen today putting one of the Quintuplet bingo stamps onto a postcard…

And then there’s this incredible rubber stamp at the reception in my hotel. It’s a three-colour design created by successive application of three different stamps. A plastic guide is provided to make sure the three align, and I’m sure you’ll agree it looks great! While using the stamp is free, it’s actually an advertisement, and you can order your own (in multiple designs with whatever text you like) for only $200!

You may have guessed with all the talk of mad postcard stamp applications, but some of you will be getting a card with a stamp on it. I’ll let you wonder which one, but so far it’s not the hotel one since it’s specific to this hotel rather than a place and I’m not sure you’d be interested. But it’s so cool if you want it, just text me or leave a comment (and don’t delay for obvious reasons).

Posted in Art, Crafts, Trip | 2 Comments »

Enter the Machine Brain

Monday, May 13th, 2024

As hinted yesterday, this years postcard contest was separately and individually assessed by an impartial third party. I don’t know her name, so we’ll call her Machine Brain. I also don’t know what she looks like but it’s probably something like this:

Machine Brain is an AI, specifically a ChatGPT-powered AI that utilized image analysis methods to evaluate our works. After a few failures (where the AI had trouble understanding the request) Bernard managed to refine a way for AI to assess and judge our two works week-by-week alongside the other five judges.

The multi-step process was complex, but essentially Machine Brain judged each pair twice (to avoid left/right bias) and gave a score out of 2 (one for each assessment). The score was based on evaluating each painting in four categories: colour, composition, detail and theme.

To be expressly clear: the contest results were decided by the five official judges (the results of which are in the previous post). AI judging was an experiment to see how closely (if at all) a machine could reproduce the opinion of five individuals. Before I get to its results, let’s go through some examples of its evaluations. In every case the text I quote below is verbatim what Machine Brain ‘said’ after she judged the paintings together:

The above was the first country, China, which the judges gave to Bernard (on the left). The AI disagreed and gave me the win with this explanation:

The left image uses simpler, less varied colors and has a less dynamic composition compared to the right. The right image has a richer color palette and a more interesting composition with the mountain shapes and bridge. Both images fit the theme of ‘china’ well, depicting the Great Wall on the left and a traditional Chinese landscape on the right, but the right captures a more quintessentially Chinese aesthetic with its mountain scenery.

Here’s Egypt, which I (on the left) very slightly won. The AI said this one was a tie, with this comment:

The left image has a more realistic color palette but lacks vibrancy, while the right image uses bold colors that catch the eye. The composition on the left is more cluttered and less focused than the right, which has a clear subject and horizon line. Both images connect to the Egypt theme, but the right image’s inclusion of the camel silhouette and pyramid gives it a slight edge in adhering to the theme.

The above seems like a win for Bernard and it was, but as I said the AI judged twice and the second time gave me the win so overall it determined Egypt was tied.

For Japan it agree with the judges and gave me a clear win:

The left image uses a bright palette but lacks some depth in color variation. The right image shows a bit more complexity in its use of color, creating a vibrant scene. Compositionally, the right image shows a more dynamic and engaging use of space with the torii gate framing Mount Fuji, while the left image is more simplistic and less engaging. Detail on the right is better executed with some attention to textures, though both show a naive style. Thematically, both images clearly reference Japan with Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms, but the right image adds the iconic torii gate, enhancing the theme.

And for Antarctica it also agreed with the judges and gave the win to Bernard’s depiction (on the left):

The left image has a brighter color palette, suggesting the reflection of sunlight on snow, fitting for the Antarctic theme, while the right has a more muted palette, but less variation in color intensity. The composition on the left effectively conveys depth with penguins as a focal point, whereas the right has a good central focus with the whale tail but lacks the same sense of space. Both images capture elements of Antarctica but the detailed depiction of wildlife and landscape on the left aligns slightly better with the theme.

These are amazingly nuanced comments from a machine aren’t they?

Interestingly, Bernard also wanted to see what an AI could create if they entered the contest as an artist. This proved challenging, since it was difficult to get the AI to account for the small canvas or inexperience of Bernard and myself. The idea was abandoned but here are some examples of what various AI image generators created:

The above was ‘acrylic painting of Egypt by someone with only a weeks experience’.

The above was similar for Netherlands.

And that was ‘an amateur painting of France on a small canvas’. The entire image above is AI produced, including the background and brush.

On to the results! To summarize:

The five official judges gave me six wins (France, The Netherlands, Egypt, Japan, India and Australia) to Bernard’s four (China, Italy, Antarctica and Atlantis). The final tally was therefore 6 to 4 in my favour.

The ‘Machine Brain’ AI judge gave me six wins (China, France, The Netherlands, Japan, India and Atlantis), Bernard one (Antarctica) and tied three others (Italy, Egypt and Australia). Awarding 0.5 points for a tie therefore makes the AI tally 7.5 to 2.5 my way.

The final judgement is up to you: did the AI agree with the official judges or disagree? And if not, then who was the most accurate?

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Landscape Contest: Results

Sunday, May 12th, 2024

The judges have spoken and the ‘landscape’ postcard art contest is now complete. The first five scores were already revealed, after which I was ahead 3 wins to Bernard’s 2. It’s now time to see the results for the second half…

Japan

Bernard’s is on the left, and mine on the right. We both went for the obvious choice of Fuji, and I’ll humbly point out that only one captured the true colour of the famous mountain! I worked hard on my piece, which is based on a real location I hope to visit one day, and looking at it now I’m proud of how much better it was than my earlier works

The judges agreed and gave me the win 9.6 to 5.4. Here’s what they said:

“I think the painting on the right is a work of fiction. I don’t think this vista actually exists but is a juxtaposition of multiple scenes. Despite that it is very well painted and distills and concentrates the scenic essence of Japan into a small image.”
“Both are unmistakably scenes of Japan. I like the way in the right painting Mt. Fuji is being framed by the Tori, inviting me to walk right along the pathway. The left one however has the best color cherry blossoms.”
“I think both qualify as actual landscapes. I am naturally drawn to Right. The iconic gate, the subtlety of the mountain shading.”

India

Bernard is left, I am right, and once again we’re both choosing the same subject (in our defense what else could we have painted for India?). To be honest I’m not entirely clear what happened with Bernard’s (and the judges were confused as well) which appears unfinished! I went for a sunset view myself, and even attempted a (poor) reflection!

Unsurprisingly I won this one, once again 9.6 to 5.4. Some judge comments:

“This is the toughest one yet!! Left better represents the subject (size and color). Right has better use of paint.”
“The painting on the left suffers from poor colour choices, or being washed out. Right is a much more striking image..”
“I’d be curious to see the completed painting of left because the color is correct. The gold is long gone and if you’re going to say it’s sunset then right is missing the sky!”

Australia

You knew our home country would eventually make an appearance and here it is! Yet again we painted the same subject although our time of day differed. Mine is on left and Bernard is on right, and amusingly some judges assumed the reverse since they thought the silhouette indicated the same as the person (Bernard) who painted Egypt with the camel rider!

Judges seemed to struggle with this one and deliberated quite a bit. Eventually I emerged winner 8.1 to 6.9. There were a lot of comments about this one; here’s some extracts:

“The left one is vaguely Christmas card-ish. For some reason, that bothers me. The right-hand painting reminds me more of when I visited Uluru.”
“Kangaroo says it all.”
“Left is superb. The glowing last rays of the sun before it plunges into the horizon to cast the vacuous landscape into darkness. The anticipation of the twinkling stars ready to ignite across the night sky. And the charming little chap silhouetted against the setting sun. I just love it!!! Right has great detail in Ulu?u and a reasonable attempt at a scrubby foreground with good contrast from the bright blue sky. Two great paintings!”
“Left: Kangaroo is a nice touch.
Right: Best use of color”

Antarctica

Antarctica was Bernard’s choice, which made me think he had a plan. His with penguins is the left, and mine with a whale is on the right. It was clear the judges loved the penguins and it seems many didn’t know whales frequented Antarctica! I spent a lot of time on my iceberg shading. Maybe I should have added a penguin 🙂

This was close and ultimately Bernard won 7.7 to 7.3. The judges words:

“I like the color scheme on the left way more, but the penguins look like they are perched on clouds. Enjoy the crispness of the landscape more on the left, but why is the sky so grey?”
“Left wins because penguins definitely only live in Antarctica. Whales don’t mean it’s Antarctica. However penguins move in groups, how come only two?”

Atlantis

The final choice was mine, and naturally I picked a country I thought others may overlook and one that would give us a good final challenge. Happily we produced very different takes with my mermaid and Cyclopean undersea temple (left) contrasting with a monochrome depiction of a submerged ruin from Bernard (right). Both are I think striking in their own way, and I expected the judges to struggle.

And they did a bit, and as it turns out this category has the two most wildly divergent takes with each of us receiving an overwhelming victory from different judges. In the end though Bernard won 8.2 to 6.8. Here’s what the judges said:

“Wow. I love the painting on the left. Such lovely colours and the composition is superb. The colourful corals in the foreground with the looming ruins. The colour of the water is gorgeous and reminds me of the sapphire seas in the Mediterranean. I love the gorgeous little mermaid silhouetted in the background going to her underground castle bathed in the suns rays. Pure delightful fantasy.”
“I really love the right.”
“These visions of drowned Atlantis show how far both artists have come in mastering the budget paints at their disposal and in the ambition of their compositions. Once again, there are surprising parallels in the two paintings done in isolation from each other. So…does a marker reward a clever use of perspective in a dynamic, vibrant scene OR the not inconsiderable feat of evoking a setting with depth, light, shade and a hint of mystery using only blues? The answer is yes.”

Ten subjects completed, twenty paintings painted, and 100 judges scores tabulated. The final results are in.

The winner was me, with six wins to Bernard’s four! I’m taking a humble bow as you read this, and now it’s time for some final thoughts and comments from the entrants themselves.

Firstly I believe I speak for both of us when I say we struggled with the media and our tools. I recently read an interview with an artist talking about he liked acrylics since he could layer light colours over dark but this absolutely did not work with the cheap paints I bought us for this contest! So any mistake with dark paint was almost impossible to fix, which many times caused problems! Secondly the paint was very sticky to brushes, and with a canvas as small as a postcard obtaining any sort of fine detail was quite a struggle.

What was our best and worst? I felt my best was Japan, and my worst Italy. Bernard felt his best was Japan and his worst India.

Our opinion on the others work? I felt Bernard’s best was Australia and his worst India. He felt my best was Netherlands and worst Antarctica.

Did we agree with the judges? Broadly yes, although Bernard felt I should have won China and he should have won Egypt or Australia. I agree that he should have won China but felt I should have won Antarctica.

And thus another years contest ended, although with planning well along you can bet there will be anot—-

What’s that? The contest isn’t yet TRULY finished? There was a mystery SIXTH JUDGE?!?!??

Come back tomorrow to find out what I’m referring to…

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