Ken (Kenneth) Barr (1933 - 2016) Memorial Thread

[Rune]

Ken Barr died Marts 25 2016, shortly after his birthday Marts 17 - so he did live a long life - and thus died 83 years old.

 

More info about his life here:

 

http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/barr_ken

 

http://illustrationartgallery.blogspot.dk/2011/03/ken-barr.html

 

He was also a Honorary Life Member of The Dracula Society in London (no, he was not a vampire nor wished to be one - it's a nice society for fans of Bram Stoker ):

 

http://www.thedraculasociety.org.uk/honorary-members.html

 

Examples of his art have been published in this book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Within-Art-Ken-Barr/dp/086562156X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462702320&sr=8-1&keywords=ken+barr

 

(in hardcover here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beast-Within-Art-Ken-Barr/dp/0865621578/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462702387&sr=8-2&keywords=ken+barr )

 

Synopsis:

 

 

 

Nowadays, pretty much anyone with a computer and a working copy of Photoshop can call themselves an artist. That's very nice, but compared to one of the grand masters of fantasy art, they might as well be fiddling with an Etch-A-Sketch! Ken Barr is old-school masterful, and defines what it is to create whole new worlds of wonder. His storied career is filled with outstanding movie and television projects, science fiction and fantasy book covers, and many iconic images from the glory days of "Marvel Comics". Long before the emergence of such superstar painters as Alex Ross and Joe Jusko, Ken Barr was blazing a trail of acrylic glory, giving fanboys a clear picture of what their heroes would look like in the real world. For the first time ever, a massive collection of Ken's favorite pieces have been assembled for this personal showcase.If you appreciate the intense quality and power this man brings to his work, or just have a fond memory of seeing your favorite character brought to life for the first time, then this book will be a pure pleasure!

 

 

 

As a gesture, I thought it could be interesting - and a nice way to remember him and his art - to show examples of his art in this thread. Especially if you have or know pieces that are special to you (you do not have to own them).

 

I'll be happy to start - I got this piece, and I think it clearly shows the great skills that Barr had aquired in his early 40s.

 

Best,

 

Rune

 

[lobrac]

Thanks for starting this chain! Here is Barr's painted cover to Marvel Preview #8 featuring Morbius and Blade. Easily a favorite piece in my collection. I'll let the image speak for itself.

 

 

And here are two incredible examples of Barr's pencil and ink work. The first piece is from Our Army at War #214:

 

And the second example, the title page to Ghosts #20. The title logo is completely hand drawn too!

 

Clearly Ken Barr was a master in both his painted and black-and-white work. RIP Ken Barr.

[westform]

[Mephisto]

Thanks for starting this chain! Here is Barr's painted cover to Marvel Preview #8 featuring Morbius and Blade. Easily a favorite piece in my collection. I'll let the image speak for itself.

 

 

 

That's one of my favorite pieces on CAF.

[Rune]

Morbius and Blade And the Doc Savage Vol 2 #6 cover is amazing too. Just wanted to mention that in 4 days there's a Barr piece up for auction on HA.com. It's the Marvel Preview #11 painted cover showing Star-Lord:

 

http://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/ken-barr-marvel-preview-11-cover-star-lord-original-art-marvel-1977-/a/7137-92030.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

 

 

Like many of his pieces, it's simply out of this world

[ciorac]

I only own one Ken Barr painting, but it is one of the top two pieces in my collection, in terms of fondness. Just love it

 

 

[jimjum12]

I recently picked up the first twelve issues of Star Reach from Shadroch..... they contained some nice work by Ken..... and a lot of others, some who went on to bigger and better things. Some cool work by a "Howie" Chaykin, for example. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[NelsonAI]

Condolences to all his family and friends.

 

[Rune]

I collect the Savage Sword of Conan CGC magazines, and I just realized that Barr had painted the #11 cover - it may be obvious when you know his style - I just never paid enough attention

 

 

And I always loved his Kung Fu paintings, like this one:

 

 

- he also showed a lot of talent in his drawings, here's John Carter:

 

 

[IngelsFan]

Ken Barr only did 4 covers for DC's war comics, 2 for G.I.Combat, 2 for Star Spangled War Stoires, even though he did a lot of interior work, including some great two page spreads for the "Battle Album" feature. This one is my favorite of the four:

 

[Bronty]

I collect the Savage Sword of Conan CGC magazines, and I just realized that Barr had painted the #11 cover - it may be obvious when you know his style - I just never paid enough attention

 

 

And I always loved his Kung Fu paintings, like this one:

 

 

- he also showed a lot of talent in his drawings, here's John Carter:

 

 

It's cool and I like the figure but it always weirds me out a little when I see mixed techniques on the same piece. Looks like a gouache figure painted with traditional brushes and nunchucks and shadows that were airbrushed. He's clearly way more comfortable with a regular brush than an airbrush, IMO, from looking at that piece so why not just handpaint the weapon?

 

Regardless, terrific artist and RIP sir