Frank Kelly Freas

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Kelly Freas

Frank Kelly Freas (27 August 1922 – 2 January 2005), called the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists," was a prolific and popular science fiction and fantasy artist with a career spanning more than 50 years.

Born in Hornell, New York, United States, Freas (pronounced like the English word "freeze") was educated at Lafayette High School in Buffalo, where he received training from long-time art teacher Elizabeth Weiffenbach. Following college and the Army, he went back to school at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and began work in advertising. He married Pauline (Polly) Bussard in 1952; they had two children, Jacqui and Jerry. Polly died of cancer in January 1987. In 1988 he married (and is survived by) Dr. Laura Brodian.

For Weird Tales (November 1950), Freas did his first fantasy magazine cover, illustrating H. Russell Wakefield's "The Third Shadow" with his painting "The Piper." With his illustrating career underway, he continued to devise unique and imaginative concepts for other fantasy and science fiction magazines of that period. In a field where airbrushing is common practice, paintings by Freas are notable for his use of bold brush strokes, and a study of his work reveals his experimentation with a wide variety of tools and techniques.

Over the next five decades, he created covers for numerous books and magazines, notably Astounding Science Fiction both before and after its title change to Analog; Mad magazine (for whom he painted many early covers featuring the iconic character, Alfred E. Neuman) from 1955 to 1962; cover art for DAW, Signet, Ballantine Books, Avon, all 58 Laser Books (which are now collectors' items), and over 90 covers for Ace books alone. He was editor and artist for the first ten Starblaze books. He was a participant in one of the all-time great literary hoaxes, I, Libertine (Ballantine Books, 1956), along with Jean Shepherd, Ian Ballantine and Theodore Sturgeon. That same year he drew cartoon illustrations for Bernard Shir-Cliff's The Wild Reader, also for Ballantine.

Astounding Science Fiction (October 1953)

Freas was commissioned to paint the Skylab I insignia design and posters promoting the space program (used by NASA and now hanging in the Smithsonian Institution); pinup girls on bombers while in the United States Army Air Forces; comic book covers; the covers of the GURPS worldbooks Lensman and Planet Krishna; and many others, such as more than 500 saints' portraits for the Franciscans executed simultaneously with his portraits of Alfred E. Neuman ("What? Me Worry?") for Mad. He was very active in gaming and medical illustration. His cover of Queen's first two-million-selling album News of the World (1977) was a pastiche of his much-admired sad robot cover for the October 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Freas published several collections of his artwork and frequently gave presentations. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions. Among many other awards, Freas was the first person to receive ten Hugo awards. He was nominated 20 times. No other artist in science fiction has consistently matched his record. His smooth and luminous images, amiable aliens and sexy women have become part of today's science fiction visual language.

He died in West Hills and is buried in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth. Both communities are suburbs of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley.

[edit] Awards

Album art: Queen's News of the World (1977)

Freas's achievements include: Doctor of Arts, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, December 2003.

11 Hugos (1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, Retrospective Hugo for 1951, awarded in 2001)
Frank R. Paul Award, 1977
Inkpot Award, 1979
Skylark Award, 1981
Rova Award, 1981
Lensman Award, 1982
Phoenix Award, 1982
Los Angeles Science Fiction Society Service Award, 1983
Neographics Award, 1985
Daedalos Life Achievement Award, 1987
Art Teacher Emeritus Award, 1988
Best Professional, Media, International Fantasy Expo, 1989
Chesley Awards 1989 (with Laura Freas); 1993 (Artistic Achievement); 2000 (Artistic Achievement)