Ken Kelly, one of the most talented fantasy artists of the past 50 years, has passed away at the age of 76.
The nephew of Frank Frazetta, Kelly is famous for his work on album covers, having done everything from KISS’s Destroyer to Rainbow’s Rising to a whole bunch of pieces for Manowar LPs.
Kelly also worked closely with several major toy companies in the 1980s, with perhaps his most recognisable contributions coming with his Masters of the Universe and Micronauts paintings, while he was also responsible for some of the coolest Star Wars: Expanded Universe stuff from the 1990s and onwards as well.
In addition to his more commercial work, Kelly was also notable simply for the amount of badass fantasy art he was able to create throughout his career, sometimes for Conan the Barbarian, other times just because he had an idea for something incredibly metal.
You can see more of Kelly’s works at his personal site.