AM: You've told me that Frazetta's Conan covers were the reason you bought those books. How much has Frazetta's work influenced your own? GG: I wouldn't say my work is influenced by Frazetta, but Frazetta almost single-handedly along with Roy Krenkel created the look for fantasy and sword and sorcery. I know the first time I saw a Frazetta cover it was attached to a Robert E. Howard book, so I always found the two synonymous. I know I bought the books originally because of the covers. I didn't know anything about Robert E. Howard. AM: So would you then say that Frazetta was an inspiration to you rather than a direct influence? GG: Yes, I would say that's probably so. I think so many people are inspired and influenced by Frazetta. There's sort of an overlap between inspiration and influence, I guess. I just think he created a world that really wasn't quite there until he started visualizing it. Of course, he has his inspirations, too, like Al St. John and Roy Krenkel and Hal Foster. I even see Remington and Wyeth. Those guys are all good action painters, and Frazetta is an action painter. Yeah, I think he synthesized some ideas that came together in the '60s and created a look that we are all influenced by. Anybody I know looking at Frazetta's stuff is always impressed by it. I'm not sure what he does, but he's great at it. Having said that, though, I'd like to think there's got to be another way to do that kind of subject matter. I just try to be as natural as I can and not rely on things that he's he's created. Nobody can really touch him. It's going to be a really wonderful book. AM: Marcelo says you played a key part in making The Ultimate Triumph happen, that you came up with the initial idea to contact Frazetta. Would you agree? GG: Not much more than suggesting that he call the Frazettas. Well, I will say that Frazetta did see Solomon Kane and apparently he liked it quite a bit. Not only the art, but he also liked the packaging and the sophistication of the whole package. I don't know him but that's what I've heard, that he liked it quite a bit. And that in and of itself was enough to interest him and his wife into having something similar done with his work. I was flattered that Solomon Kane helped him accepting this project, The Ultimate Triumph. When Marcelo was wracking his brains trying to come up with an artist for a new project. I thought it would be such a common-sensical idea to put Frazetta together with Howard for two reasons. First of all, because, like I said, I was introduced to Howard through Frazetta. Second, there are a lot of people out there who read books who don't really know Frazetta. That sounds odd, but there a lot of young people today who somehow don't know Frazetta's work. I think if it were connected to a literary project instead of just another coffee table book, you're going to get another audience all together, the reading audience, exposed to Frazetta. So it seemed just like a natural to me. I think Frank Frazetta is going to be delighted with the results. I think we could all use a book illustrated by Frazetta on a shelf. All those wonderful coffee table books are great, but I just think this is yet another format for his illustrations. AM: Because of Frank Frazetta's strokes, however, Marcelo says he had not thought anything would be possible. He says it was you that opened the door and suggested using existing illustrations? GG: Well, yeah, that's another thing I pointed out to Marcelo. Apparently, Frazetta has a lot of sketches and figures that he's drawn over the years. I've seen pretty nice books done that way--The Sowers of the Thunder, for example, the Donald Grant book, with illustrations by Roy Krenkel, which we used as a model for The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. Actually, I found out that a lot of illustrations that Roy had done for that book really were existing art. AM: Do you think this book will further the cause of finely illustrated books any further? GG: I guess Frazetta has never illustrated a book like this. I don't know if it will forward the cause of illustrated books but it will give us one book illustrated by Frazetta. AM: How did that conversation with Marcelo come about? GG: It was really just an idea that I tossed out in a whimsical manner. I really didn't think the Frazettas would be all that interested. So I was really surprised when Marcelo and Ellie Frazetta, with the help of Dave Winiewicz, were able to work that out. It might have been an idea that Marcelo thought of also. But I think between the two of us, it seemed a little more possible. AM: He credits you for gelling the idea. GG: Well, that's nice of him to do that. But he's still the one who went in there and managed to convince Ellie, a pretty tough customer, to do this. I think most of the credit should go to Marcelo. AM: I think there's definitely a story about Marcelo in here somewhere, too. GG: Yeah, he's a great muse. He has such a wonderful passion, and he's also very honest. I haven't found too many people out there with that combination. And he's got a great deal of incentive and resourcefulness. And I really enjoy working with him. Well, that's another reason. He is so humble and I wish he would take a little more credit on both of these books. This whole Howard series is a long-term dream of his. I hope it's successful. AM: Why do you think Frazetta has continued to hold such an appeal to so many other artists, indeed, so many people? GG: Whether you're an artist or not, I think when it comes to Frazetta everybody has a perspective. You don't necessarily have to be a painter. That's the phenomenon of Frazetta. He's inspired such a fan base and so many of those people may not be artists, but they just love the guy's work. They may not even be able to tell you why. I've seen car mechanics with Death Dealer posters in their shops. That's the thing about Frazetta. He appeals to such a broad spectrum. It's going to be quite a book. AM: So where are you with Bran Mak Morn? GG: I'm in a very early stage where the book is all laid out and we have about 14 paintings inside and about 40 inkline drawings. They are all in a very rough stage where they really don't look like much. But Marcelo and I know what we're looking at. I'm just starting the first painting, and it seems to me there's a lot more research needed than there was in Solomon Kane. At least on my end, I have more of a feeling for Elizabethan than I do for the second century. I find myself running around trying to pick up anything I can on Romans, Picts, Celts, Vikings. As a matter of fact, just today in the mail, I received the Roman helmet that I've ordered. I had to think twice about buying this thing, but I thought I could really use it. This is the kind of stuff I need to pull this job. I really want to base it on as much historical foundation as I can. I'm not turning it into a history book--flights of fancy have to take over--but the more reference I have in the beginning, the more comfortable I feel. It also makes the job seem a bit more overwhelming because you could research this stuff until the next millennium and still not be quite satisfied. At some point, you have to say, well, I've got enough here to work with. Frazetta is a good example of somebody who probably pulled quite a bit out of his imagination. That's another reason his work is so unique and so heavily copied, because it's a universe he made up to a great degree. I'm not trying to denigrate the perspiration he may have put into his work, but I've heard him says himself that when he works he's pretty fast. So I'm sure a lot of that came right up out of him into what he painted. I'm not that way. That's another reason I don't identify with Frazetta in that way. I don't work the way he does. I know I need a certain amount of preliminary work. He seems to explode and stuff comes out of the canvas in a great sense of spontaneity. That's why the figures move and there's so much life and action in his work. I have to work hard to achieve some of those things. I'm not saying he doesn't, but I don't know he seems like such a natural. AM: When's the book got to be finished? GG: I've got about a year to do it. AM: So we might be talking again in about a year? GG: I would like to think that you and I will talk before then. When I start thinking about that it just seems too long, like signing on a seagoing vessel and you're going away for three years. Maybe I'll be back. So I try to take it one day at a time. But there's too much pressure if I think it in terms of a year's worth of work. One day at a time.
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