If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I have a great interest in film music. I grew up in a musical family, but while my siblings were off having lessons and practicing their instruments, I sat at my little drawing board practicing my skills with pencil and brush. I think the first soundtrack I ever bought was John Williams’ Raiders of the Lost Ark on cassette tape when I was in high school. The collection has grown over the years, and is all CDs these days.
Back in 1995 I first became aware of composer, John Debney. He wrote a brilliant score for the less than brilliant movie Cutthroat Island, and it remains one of my favorites of his to this day. First impressions are lasting I guess. I got to meet John years later when I worked on The Emperor’s New Groove at Disney. John is really wonderful with comedy scores, and his work on that film really injected something special into the storytelling.
Well, this past weekend John’s latest work was heard by the many ticket holders who caused Iron Man 2 to bring in almost $134 million in the United States. The score won’t be available for purchase until July 7th from what I hear, and I, for one, can’t wait. So much so, I felt inspired to do a little piece this weekend.
Breaking out the watercolor paint and colored pencils, I present to you this caricature of John Debney as Iron Man (click on the image to enlarge it):
Iron Man Debney imparting some musical justice.
So, if you are the casual film music fan and aren’t aware of some of John’s work, here are a few scores I’d recommend you start with before enjoying the rest of his oeuvre:
Cutthroat Island
The Passion of the Christ
Liar Liar
Elf
Dreamer
Zathura
The Stoning of Soraya M.
To see a larger list of John’s filmography, you can CLICK HERE!
A couple of days ago I shared with you the step-by-steps of a little piece I did of Disney’s Captain Hook with a caricature of yours truly in the place of Hook’s first mate Mr. Smee (CLICK HERE to see that post). When I created that little watercolor sketch this past winter, it was only one of two pieces on that theme. While that was a close-up, perhaps you’d like to see the second piece, this time full-bodied poses.
Since I went into some detail on each step in the last post, I’ll post these three stages with minimal comment and just let you enjoy the visual progression. So, without further ado, Captain Hook and Chad Frye as Mr. Smee! Peter Pan would certainly not be the same movie had it been done this way!
This is a colored pencil line drawing on nice textured watercolor paper.The purple watercolor paint will take care of all the shading in the painting.And here is the final Capt. Hook with Mr. Shmad – or is it Mr. Chee? Well, while “Chad” and “Smee” don’t mix well verbally, pictorially they go together fine.
I thought I’d share with you a couple of paintings I did this past winter. I got into a Disney’s Peter Pan mode of thinking and envisioned myself as Captain Hook’s first mate, Smee.
Well, while they are technically paintings, I tend to call these “watercolor sketches”. Each of these took maybe an hour or two to do from start to finish, so they aren’t my typical full-blown watercolor illustrations. This is what I do if I’m making a card for a friend, or doing quickie pieces for fans. There is a certain spontaneity to them that gives them a real energy. Everything is fast and loose and hopefully pure fun.
I’d like to show them to you step-by-step, which is something I haven’t done in awhile. Since there will be a few images for each, I’ll show you one of these today, and I’ll post the second one on Thursday.
So, as with any art I do, it all starts with a rough sketch. I don’t have to please anyone but myself, so it can be as rough as I want it to be. As you can see, the rough sketch for this one started with blue pencil, then I finalized my lines with regular lead. Captain Hook is always fun to draw, and it just seemed with my own body type that I was a shoo-in for Smee.
This is the initial rough sketch of the pirates!
Next, I took that rough and put it on my light table and created my final line with colored pencil onto a rough textured watercolor paper. I didn’t want to get too tight with the drawing, so you can see even in this phase the line work is sketchy in places, and not all the shapes are closed.
This is the final pencil line drawing of Capt. Hook and Chad Smee.
Next will be the tones. I often like putting the tones in purple. It looks nice when working with bright colors, which I will be for this piece. The purple seems too bright and dark right now, but later when the final paint is placed on top of it, the purple will get muted a little, and even somewhat blend in to the wet medium. And so that all my shadows don’t have a hard edge, I was careful to have it fade off in certain places like on Captain Hook’s face, and even his hat.
Hook and “Smee” get the purple tone treatment in watercolor.
Then lastly, I painted in the final colors. You can see that some of the purple shadows got absorbed into the final colors, while in other areas it served as an enhancement. Then I ended with flicking some blue specks on with a toothbrush (preferably NOT the one you brush your teeth with).
The final piece bringing Hook and “Smee” to life.
Come back on Thursday to see the second Captain Hook and Chee (or is it Shmad – thanks to my friend Jennifer Hobson-Plattner for the name) full-bodied watercolor sketch!
Well, it’s almost that time once again – the first Saturday in May is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!! Comic shops around the country will be promoting this cultural phenomenon in publishing by GIVING AWAY comic books printed just for this occasion! I’m a big one for stuff for the kiddies. I grew up reading Disney Comics, and my tastes have not changed. I still read Disney Comics, and more recently, some great Muppet comic books all published by Boom Comics.
Speaking of Boom, they have a special Toy Story comic book that you may be able to find out there in your local comic shop on May 1st:
For the grown-ups who like the history and behind-the-scenes of the comic arts, my friends Tom Heintjes and David Folkman who publish Hogan’s Alley Magazine will once again be giving away a free copy of their great publication to anyone who e-mails them ON MAY 1st! Hogan’s Alley is always chock-full of wonderful insightful articles about the creators of some of your favorites in the world of cartooning. Here is the offer in their words:
Why so glum, chum? We’re here to deliver a glimmer of cheer! Mark your calendars for this Saturday, May 1: Free Comic Book Day. Send us an e-mail ON THAT DATE with your mailing address, and we’ll send you a FREE issue of Hogan’s Alley! No obligations, no strings attached; the only thing it will cost you is several hours as you enjoy the issue. (This offer is valid for all U.S. residents, whether you’re a current subscriber or not.) Remember the one condition—we must receive your e-mail request (sent to hoganmag@gmail.com) on Free Comic Book Day (May 1), not the day before or the day after. (Before and after that date, any requests for freebies will receive only scorn and derision.)
So, if you’d like to see what Free Comic Book Day is all about, and whether there are special events and creator signings at a store near you, visit FreeComicBookDay.com!
The other night as I was watching television, I grabbed my sketchbook and just started doodling. I suppose that I wasn’t really paying too much attention to what was on the screen because I started to draw Vikings. There aren’t too many Viking TV shows on these days unless Law & Order sneaked in a new version of their show – Law & Order: The Norse Files. However, about a month ago I saw the brilliant Dreamworks animated movie How To Train Your Dragon, so maybe some thoughts of that lingered in my brain. This one guy emerged from my pencil, and begged to be drawn a little more formally. Over to the drafting table we went where he was fully realized.
But after all that – for some reason, all I could think of while doing the final drawing was Elmer Fudd singing “spear and magic helmet.”
A few years back I was asked to draw a fake comic book cover to be used on CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. In television, deadlines are tight, so I pretty much turned around that first image in a couple of days which is no small fete considering I wasn’t up on my Manga techniques. They liked it so much they asked for two more. It was a busy few days to be sure.
At any rate, the episode turned out to be memorable for fans of the show. It involved a subplot with Charlie Sheen’s character needing to write a theme song for an animated TV show based on these Oshikuru comic books. I’m including some clips down at the bottom of the Oshikuru moments where you can see my comics in the shots, and a couple of stills.
As you may know if you have read recent blog posts, I have been involved with raising money to Help the Hodges via online eBay auctions. You can read all about the family in need by CLICKING HERE. But I mention it again here because I have donated some really nice large prints of two of my Oshikuru covers that have been autographed by the 2 1/2 men of Two and a Half Men – Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus Jones. These items are on eBay RIGHT NOW, and will end this Sunday, March 21.
So, if you’d like a chance at an unusual item from my flat files, and autographed by a few TV stars, here’s your window of opportunity. I posted links to eBay below each signed print below!
Charlie Sheen signed it at the top, Jon Cryer in the lower right, and Angus Jones on the left.
Angus T. Jones looking at an “Oshikuru” comic on the set of “Two and a Half Men”.Jake and Uncle Charlie high fiving each other while working on the “Oshikuru” theme song. Some comics sit on top of the piano.
Back in 1999, I was working for Disney Feature Animation. Tarzan had recently come out to great success, and the studio was busy with more films such as Home on the Range, Atlantis, The Emperor’s New Groove, Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, and the ultimately unproduced Wild Life. So much was going on, and it was a swell place to be employed.
In my early days as an illustrator, I did a few “Where’s Waldo” style books about the Bible. I thought, “wouldn’t it be neat to do a ‘Where’s Waldo’-type painting of the main Feature Animation building?” I just wanted to capture a snapshot of the whole place – kind of a day-in-the-life sort of thing. So, I set out to work on this self-induced project, little knowing that it would take up four solid months of nights and weekends to pull off.
The completed Disney Feature Animation Southside “Where’s Waldo” style print featuring over 800 employees and characters.
To start with, I was able to acquire maps of each floor of the Disney Animation Southside building (the “hat” building) in Burbank, CA. (We had another 4-story building over by the Burbank airport called “Northside” where Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, and visual effects for live-action movies were being done.) These floor maps were great because they outlined every cubical and office with the names of each employee who worked in that space.
Secondly, I needed to know what everyone looked like. Sure, I worked with these folks, but I don’t have a photographic memory. They had an online database used internally called TIMMY where you could type in any animation employee’s name, and their photo and a short profile would pop up. I printed out many such profiles for reference.
A detail of the top right corner. Originally I had “Disney” above that title, but that was the one thing the Disney lawyers would not allow for the print since it wasn’t published by the company.
To illustrate four floors, and the 800+ people who worked in the building, the original art had to be large. I worked on a 30″ x 40″ piece of illustration board, painstakingly pencilling the entire piece, then inking it all with Rapidograph pens and waterproof ink, then painting in every little detail. It was so large that I often laid it on the floor and worked on it there. And it took so long that I even shipped it to myself on vacation so I could work on it then, too. Why? Because I had a deadline.
The studio would allow employees to sign up for personal art shows. The waiting list was two years, but I knew mine was coming up. I wanted to do this for the show knowing it would be well-received by my colleagues. It got finished in time, and was displayed with four 11″ x 17″ charts of each face with the employee’s name next to it so they could see what they looked like, then go find themselves in the painting. It went over so well that many asked for copies.
Details like Marc & Alice Davis giving a talk in the theater, Mickey Mouse entering with his security team, and even Eartha Kitt signing in at the receptionist’s desk.Roy Disney standing in his “show office” in the Hat, and the area where many of the supervising animators worked.The piano room shows a moment with John Lasseter and Randy Newman. At the time, John and other Pixar folk would come down to the studio for meetings. Now, of course, John runs the joint.
So, after getting permission from Disney’s lawyers, I had 27″ x 40″ prints made and sold them at the studio complete with a 10-page list of who was in it and a Certificate of Authenticity. Many people purchased them, and seemed to enjoy them. The ultimate compliment came when one day I had cause to go visit Roy E. Disney at his office on the lot. Roy’s office was in the old office suite of his uncle Walt. As I started down his hallway, there was a poster for Pinocchio, one for Fantasia 2000, and then this one.
I recently donated one of these limited edition prints (#153 of 850) to the Help the Hodges charity art auction run by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF). It has gone live on eBay TODAY, and will be available for bids until March 14, 2010. If you are interested in going for it here is a link to the auction: Chad Frye’s Disney Southside Print
The lower right corner shows a cryogenically frozen Walt Disney. My office was right next door to that room. I always heard mechanical sounds and steam hissing from in there, and imagined this scene. (Walt is actually buried in Glendale, CA by the way.)This is the cover of the 10-page list that comes with the poster. Each colleague’s head is listed with their name next to it for identification purposes in the large print.The COA is hand-numbered and signed to match the print.
