"What I do is create images, period"
About this Quote
The intent is practical and defensive at once. Frazetta came up in an era when illustration, fantasy, comics, and paperback covers were treated as commercial side-alleys, not museum avenues. His paintings lived on Conan covers, album art, posters - mass culture real estate. The subtext: stop asking me to justify my category. Stop trying to separate “high” art from the visual storytelling people actually pay attention to. He’s asserting the legitimacy of impact.
Context matters: mid-century American art institutions were busy rewarding abstraction and concept, while Frazetta was perfecting narrative heat - muscles, monsters, motion, erotic charge, chiaroscuro that looks like it was lit by lightning. “Create images” sounds modest until you remember how hard it is to make an image that becomes a template for an entire genre. He didn’t just illustrate fantasy; he helped standardize its visual grammar.
It also reads like a warning about over-interpretation. Frazetta’s work is packed with myth, gender dynamics, and pulp excess, but he’s saying the primary contract is visceral. The picture is the argument. If you need a thesis statement, you’re already missing the point.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Frazetta, Frank. (2026, January 15). What I do is create images, period. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/what-i-do-is-create-images-period-145743/
Chicago Style
Frazetta, Frank. "What I do is create images, period." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/what-i-do-is-create-images-period-145743/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"What I do is create images, period." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/what-i-do-is-create-images-period-145743/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







