Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Godfather of Fantasy Art passing on.
In honour of the great man, my ultimate guide illustrates just how influential paintings were (and still are).
I suppose you could call it 'Franksploitation'.
There's only one place to start.
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| The Norseman (1972) |
Black Tiger, Dragon Slayer and
Castlevania¹
¹Cover art would be recycled for NES and beyond.
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| Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (PC Engine) |
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| Yao hun (1983) |
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| Targhan |
Spectre: "Hey, what about me?"
Okay, keep yer' cloak on.
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| Shapeshifter (PC Engine CD) |
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| The Sorcerer of Claymorgue Castle |
Let's take a closer look.
Oh my fucking God!
Here's more
copy and paste piss takes.
Dying Fetus - Reign Supreme vs Dark Kingdom (1976)
Suicide Angels - Bloodbath vs Swords of Mars (1966)
WHAT?
One more.
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| Wolfmother had permission to use Sea Witch (1967) as cover art for eponymously titled album. |
However, this didn't.
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| Ulysses Siren - Above the Ashes |
Tut tut.
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| The Mammoth (1974) |
Mumakil - Behold the Failure and Far Cry Primal
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| Swords of Mars (detail) |
Galivan and Kentilla
Lord of the Sword and Rygar
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| A Princess of Mars (1970) |
Barbarian II² and Garrison
²ntbcw
Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax, aka Axe of Rage in North America.
Lords of the Rising Sun and The Beastmaster³ (1982)
³Although virtually anonymous compared to the likes of Drew Struzan,
C. Winston Taylor did create some impressive pieces, including The Swarm, The Godsend and Burial Ground.
Some random images.
Weaponlord (Jen-Tai) and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys
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| Lord of the Rings - The Black Nazgul (1975) |
Willow Pattern and Myth: History in the Making⁴ (16 bits)
⁴Adapted for the NES as
Conan in 1991. Mindscape changed player's sprite, added terrible music and for some reason, didn't include final stage.
Cos' I know you're interested, same company got licence rights for
The Last Starfighter, but rather than making a new game, lazy bastards simply modified the C64 version of
Uridium.
Myth II: Soulblighter and Myth III: The Wolf Age
And no, these aren't related to Myth: HITM. The first game was subbed
The Fallen Lords.
Miscellany
Random painting (Echo Night) vs Conan the Usurper (1967)
Korr ending (Weaponlord) vs Against the Gods (1966)
Colarado (alternative art) vs Land of Terror (1967)
Azure Dreams vs Pony Tail (1970)
Ramparts⁵ vs Snow Giants (1967)
⁵Rampage clone shouldn't be confused with Atari's
Rampart.
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys vs Seven Romans
Shadow of the Beast (Master System) vs Land of Terror
Dynasty Wars vs Tarzan and Bolgani
Why is it signed 'For Vern'?
Here's the story.
In 1962, Vern Coriell, head of the Burroughs Bibliophiles (a non-profit organisation dedicated to promote the works and characters of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs) invited Frazetta and his family to Kansas City, and as a thank you, our man created incredible pencil drawing at host's kitchen table.
So now you know.
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| Death Dealer (1973) |
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| Death Adder (Golden Axe) |
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| Golden Axe: The Duel (North American cover art) |
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| Weaponlord's end boss Zarak certainly rings a bell. |
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| As does Shao Khan (Mortal Kombat II). |
Guy Ritchie's
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was a fabulous pile of shit, and rightly bombed.
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| Jude Law's villain Voritgern (in demon knight form). |
If that wasn't enough.
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| Weapon may be double-ended, but shot is extremely similar to 'sequel' painting. |
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| Death Dealer II (1987) |
Multiples
Now it gets VERY complicated.
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| Legend of the Amazon Women |
Land of Terror (1967), Escape from Venus (1972) and The Huntress (1977)
What of battle between prehistoric beasts?
I suspect
Tyrannosaurus Rex (1969) was responsible, especially with warrior present.
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| Rygar |
The Huntress and Conan the Usurper
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| Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PC Engine CD) |
Intro segment stole
three.
Conan the Destroyer (1971), The Brain (1967) and Land of Terror
Worst of all.
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| Duel (PC-88) |
Ghoul Queen (1972) and Land of Terror
Jongor Fights Back (1967) and Sun Goddess (1970)
Central panel is likely based on
Land of Terror.
Conan the Destroyer
Others appreciated masterpiece a little too much.
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| Assassin's Creed III |
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| Gauntlet (Arcade) |
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| Middle-earth: Shadow of War |
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| Paragon is a pinball machine released by Bally in 1979, featuring artwork by Paul Faris. |
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| Flippers, balls and pretty lights can be seen at the start of Rocky III. |
Coming full circle.
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| More often than not, when Golden Axe: Beast Rider loads, you'll see this. |
Looking absolutely nothing like:
Ahem.
On the surface, Sungold's line of
Galaxy Warriors toys screams
Masters of the Universe.
But digging deeper.
Logo vs Against the Gods
Did they really think swapping sword for axe would fool anybody?
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| As an example, packaging for The Fearful Beast from the Planet Ferror splices two. |
Conan the Destroyer and Tyrannosaurus Rex
Huk vs Snow Giants
Spikes vs Atlantis (1973)
Example packaging vs Warrior with Ball and Chain⁶
Once again, weapon was changed.
⁶First appeared on the cover of sword and sorcery anthology
Flashing Swords! #1 in 1973.
In the 90s, Hong Kong manufacturer re-branded bootleg range as
Freedom Fighters.
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| 'Huk' was given a green axe and opponent recoloured red. |
Okay then.
Finally,
shield sticker is basically a shittier version of
sabre-toothed tiger.
Unbelievable.
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