Ken W. Kelly (May 19, 1946 – June 2, 2022) [1] was an American fantasy artist. [2] Over his 50-year career, he focused in particular on paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy subgenres.
Kelly was the nephew of Frank Frazetta's wife Eleanor "Ellie" Frazetta ( née Kelly; 1935–2009). [3]
Early in his career he was able to study the paintings of Frank Frazetta in the latter's studio. [1] In the early 1970s he did a couple of cover paintings for Castle of Frankenstein magazine. [4] Throughout the 1970s he was one of the foremost cover artists on Warren Publishing's Creepy and Eerie magazines.[ citation needed ]
He depicted Conan the Barbarian, [5] Tarzan and the rock acts KISS, [6] Manowar, [7] Sleepy Hollow, Rainbow, and Ace Frehley.
His work often portrays exotic, enchanted locales and primal battlefields. He developed the artwork for Coheed and Cambria's album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow , and a painting of his was used as the cover art for Alabama Thunderpussy's 2007 release, Open Fire . In 2012, one of Kelly's paintings was used for the cover of Electric Magma's 12" vinyl release Canadian Samurai II.
Kelly was a guest at the Kiss by Monster Mini Golf course in Las Vegas, Nevada, doing autograph signings of prints for the classic Kiss albums he drew cover artwork for.
Ken Kelly died on June 2, 2022, at the age of 76. [8]
 |
| |
| |
Frank Kelly Freas was an American artist known for his work in science fiction and fantasy, with a career spanning more than 50 years. He was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists" and he was the second artist inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of Speed Racer. Amano later became the creator of iconic and influential characters such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman, Honeybee Hutch, and Casshern. In 1982 he went independent and became a freelance artist, finding success as an illustrator for numerous authors, and worked on best-selling novel series, such as The Guin Saga and Vampire Hunter D. He is also known for his commissioned illustrations for the popular video game franchise Final Fantasy.
Frank Frazetta was an American artist known for themes of fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of fantasy art", and one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. He was also the subject of a 2003 documentary Painting with Fire.
Simon Bisley is a British comic book artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine.
Gerald Brom, known professionally as Brom, is an American gothic fantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics.
Destroyer is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on March 15, 1976, by Casablanca Records in the US. It was the third successive Kiss album to reach the top 40 in the US, as well as the first to chart in Germany and New Zealand. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on April 22, 1976, and platinum on November 11 of the same year, the first Kiss album to achieve platinum. The album marked a departure from the raw sound of the band's first three albums.
Roy Gerald Krenkel, who often signed his work RGK, was an American illustrator who specialized in fantasy and historical drawings and paintings for books, magazines and comic books.
Love Gun is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on June 30, 1977. Casablanca Records and FilmWorks shipped one million copies of the album on this date. It was certified platinum and became the band's first top 5 album on the Billboard 200. The album was remastered in 1997 and again in 2014.
Ace Frehley is the first solo album by American guitarist and former Kiss member Ace Frehley, released on September 18, 1978, by Casablanca Records. It was one of four albums released by each separate Kiss member as a solo act, but yet still under the Kiss label, coming out alongside Peter Criss, Paul Stanley, and Gene Simmons.
Fire and Ice is a 1983 American animated dark fantasy adventure film directed by Ralph Bakshi. The film, a collaboration between Bakshi and Frank Frazetta, was distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The animated feature, based on characters co-created by Bakshi and Frazetta, was made using the process of rotoscoping, in which scenes were shot in live-action and then traced onto animation cels.
Jeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art.
Craig Mullins is an American digital painter, and leading international concept artist. He has created art for books, video games and films. He is often considered to be a pioneer in the field of digital painting, painting digitally for many years before drawing tablets were available.
Cary Nord is a Canadian comics artist. He has worked on series such as Daredevil, X-Men, and Conan The Barbarian. Throughout his career Nord has worked on books including Superman for DC Comics; Wolverine, Mutant X, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and Thor for Marvel Comics; X-O Manowar for Valiant Entertainment, and Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian for Dark Horse Comics, the latter of which won him the 2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Single Issue.
Action figures have been an important and integral staple of the vast merchandising empire created around popular American rock band, Kiss. Kiss merchandising currently includes more than 2,000 product categories, and the limited availability of many products means that is a popular area of interest with collectors.
Death Dealer is a 1973 fantasy painting by American artist Frank Frazetta. It depicts a menacing armor-clad warrior with a horned helmet, whose facial features are obscured by shadow, atop a horse, holding a bloody bearded axe and shield. The image eventually led to spin-offs of varying merchandise, including subsequent paintings of the warrior, novels, statues, a comic book series published by Verotik and another by Image Comics, and related D&D adventures, published by Goodman Games.
Gary Ruddell is an American artist best known for his figurative representational paintings. As well as his illustrations for works of science fiction and fantasy literature. His cover artwork for Dan Simmons's novel Hyperion was nominated for the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Original Artwork.
John Blanche is a British fantasy and science fiction illustrator and modeller who worked on Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar games and was the art director for the company and illustrated various game books and Fighting Fantasy publications.
The Destroyer is a 1971 painting by American artist Frank Frazetta. Notwithstanding the prolific use of the word "Conan" that's been attached to Frazetta's work for many years, none of his paintings bear the "Conan" name. The painting depicts Conan the Barbarian in the act of swinging an axe with dead warriors around him.
Space Invader is the fourth solo album by former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, released in the UK on August 18, 2014, and in the US on August 19 via eOne Music. His first album of new studio material since 2009's Anomaly, it was produced by Frehley, and recorded at The Creation Lab in Turlock, California.
Spaceman is the sixth studio album by American guitarist Ace Frehley, released on October 19, 2018. The album features a guest appearance from Frehley's former Kiss bandmate Gene Simmons who also co-wrote two tracks.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
