View source for Roy G. Krenkel

(July 11, 1918 -- February 24, 1983)

Roy Gerald Krenkel, Jr. was born in the Bronx and was a lifelong resident of [[New York]]. He studied at Burne Hogarth's School of Visual Arts, and began his artistic career at EC Comics, where he became friends with artists Al Williamson and [[Frank Frazetta]].

Krenkel won the [[1963 Best Professional Artist Hugo]] and was nominated for the [[1964 Best Professional Artist Hugo]].  He also received a special award at the [[World Fantasy Convention]] in 1982.

He worked briefly with Williamson in the comic book field in the 1940s [using the pseudonym of Roy Williams], and began doing pen and ink illustrations for the [[SF]] digest magazines in the early 1950s.  During a brief comic book career in the 1950s-1960s he worked for several comic book companies, including ACG, EC, Harvey, ME, Marvel, and Western Printing.

Krenkel was the cover artist on many [[Burroughs]] paperbacks in the 1960s and also did cover paintings and pen-and-ink illustrations for [[Canaveral Press]]'s hardcover editions of Burroughs during this same period.  He also was a major contributor to [[fanzines]] such as ''[[Amra]]'', and in the early 1970s did many covers for ''Comic Fandom Monthly''.

His first professional SF cover art was for ''[[Weirdbook]] 11'' in 1977.  Later he did cover and interior art for several [[Robert E. Howard]] collections published by [[Donald M. Grant]].  Critics feel his best work was in the field of heroic [[fantasy]].  Over the years he collaborated several times with Frazetta.

Krenkel's art has been showcased in ''Cities & Scenes from the Ancient World'' (1974) [with text by [[L. Sprague de Camp|L. Sprague]] and [[Catherine Crook de Camp]]], in ''Jungle Love: A Portfolio of Drawings by Roy G. Kenkel'' (1974) [12 ink and pencil drawings in an illustrated envelope], in his ''Seven Wonders of the World'' (1975), and in ''Swordsmen and Saurians'' (1989) [introduction by [[William Stout]]].

The only issue of the EC fanzine ''Quo Brot'' (1989) contained [[Bruce Benner]]'s "Krenkel and Frazetta Art Index"; and ''[[Ophemera]]'', a fanzine published by comic fan [[Bhob Stewart]], was devoted to Krenkel and his work.  Some of Krenkel's artwork appeared more recently in [[James Van Hise]]'s ''The Fantastic Worlds of Robert E. Howard'' (2001).  See also ''[[Roy G. Krenkel: The Illustrations of R. E. H.]]''.

{{person | born=1918 | died=1983}}
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