Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans. Stay safe out there!
Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Inking Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook
Author: Chad Frye
Just some random silliness that was inked in my sketchbook with a little color added later in Photoshop.
And yes, I do LOVE Taco Tuesday, but no, I do not eat sleeping people wrapped up in hammocks.
Yes, believe it or not, Flag Day is a thing. The United States adopted an official flag to represent the new country on June 14, 1777 – the flag good ol’ Betsy Ross sewed for George Washington.
Of course, as the country grew to have more than 13 states, the flag changed from the 13 stars to the 50 we have today. However, it wasn’t until 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 to be Flag Day, and it was backed by an act of Congress. Unfortunately, it is not a holiday that warrants a day off from work.
So, celebrate by hoisting a flag in honor of us having one to hoist!
By the way, the late Stan Freberg was a good friend of mine, and I just LOVE his comedy album from the 1960s called “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America.” Stan takes you through the early years of our nation’s history and turns it on its ear. Done in a sketch comedy style, the album remains my favorite all-time comedy album. Just felt like taking one of his jokes and giving it some visuals today. If you think of it, seek out Stan’s album whether via YouTube, or better yet, a real record or CD of it to listen to over and over. GREAT for summer road trips!
Just to give you a taste, here’s the Betsy Ross skit on YouTube. Please forgive the frenetic visuals. Those aren’t Stan’s. Just the audio, and he plays George Washington himself!
I was aimlessly doodling in my sketchbook one day without a thought as to what was going to come forth, and penciled an overly large head with no other details. For some reason, that large blob seemed to suggest that this was a hero’s head of some sort, so my pencil continued doodling until it became clear that that face needed some kind of a retro ray gun. Combined with his old school cape, he looked kind of groovy, and immediately I whipped out my brush pen and inked him.
This fella sat in the sketchbook for MONTHS. I was flipping through the pages a couple of weeks ago, and realized that this odd guy needed to be in color. So, he was scanned into Photoshop, and with my trusty Wacom Cintiq monitor, I proceeded to paint him digitally.
Once completed in all his technicolor brightness, the name “Space Avenger” seemed to fit.
This started as an exercise in trying to sketch an interesting tree in my sketchbook. Suddenly it became a thing. Can you tell I create art to tell stories?
Here in the United States, today is our Memorial Day. It is a day we honor our fallen warriors who gave their lives in the service of our country no matter which war over the course of our country’s history. We are grateful to all our veterans and heartily applaud them for their service today and especially on Veterans Day (which will be November 11 this year), but today is the solemn remembrance of those who gave their lives in service.
When I worked for Disney Feature Animation a few years back, our country entered into war after the events in New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. It was a scary time, not knowing if other parts of our country were also going to be attacked. We had received word that possibly the movie studios in Hollywood could be attacked, and security got really tight for a while with bomb sniffing dogs, checking all employee cars for bombs in trunks and underneath, and etc. We were appreciative of the troops that were being sent to the Middle East to try to prevent such a thing from happening again.
During that time, the studio put forth an effort to have employees draw, make cards, and participate in care packages being sent to our troops. I was asked to create a poster in support of these efforts. This Goofy image is what I came up with, and it was on display in the lobby of Feature Animation in Burbank, CA, for a while.
I was extremely honored to be asked to do it, and did so with an eye on the old posters for World War II. It was my goal to stir folks into helping out by hearkening back to the sacrifice many Americans made during that daunting time in our history. No one knew how long our latest efforts would take. Unfortunately, those efforts continue today, but we also continue to SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
Two years ago I was fortunate to visit the Middle East and Africa with several of my cartoonist mates as we traveled with the USO to bring a few smiles to our soldiers. We visited with many of them listening to their stories while drawing for them. We brought to them a little piece of home, and they brought to us the realities of war. It was a sobering time that I shall never forget. (CLICK HERE to see previous posts of that trip here on the ol’ blog.)
I mention that because I brought this Goofy along with me on that trip. The USO printed up cards that each of us could give to the soldiers as a little memento of our visit, and this was the image that graced my cards. The cards brought many smiles to the folks overseas, and hopefully reminded them of all of us over here in the States.
On this Memorial Day, thank you to all the soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and I wish comfort to those they left behind. I thank our veterans for their service, thinking especially of my father, David Frye, who served during the Vietnam War. And thank you to the thousands of you serving today in some pretty rough places in this world. After having spent just a few days in some of those places with you, I came away with a greater appreciation for what it is you do and where you have do it.
No matter how tough things get in life, I always try to keep this passage from the Bible close to my heart:
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
“No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.”
– Christian Nestell Bovee (1820 – 1904)
Now, I know that title above sounds a bit politically auspicious, especially to those of us who know Bill Morrison, but no, I’m not suggesting anything regarding Washington D.C. Rather, I’d like to call attention to the National Cartoonists Society that is about to invade Portland, Oregon for their annual Reuben Awards Convention over the Memorial Day weekend, and they are being led there by NCS President Bill Morrison!
If you don’t know Bill, he is an amazing illustrator/comic book artist/art director/editor/and probably a few other things that escape my memory right now. You’ve seen his work in the past as cover artist for many Simpsons comic books at Bongo Comics, he has drawn comics for DC and Dark Horse, he art directed the animated Futurama show, and back in the day he illustrated movie posters for films such as House, The Little Mermaid, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Land Before Time, and Mickey Mouse in The Prince & the Pauper to name a few.
Two years ago Bill asked me if I’d do a caricature of him for use in the NCS member magazine, The Cartoon!st. I dragged my feet, wondering what I could do in a clever way. As Bill and I were talking about plans for the Reubens this year, and with his hair style, and the fact that I drive by Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, CA all the time, it seemed like I should draw “Big Bill” holding a Reuben Award instead of a hamburger.
In case you don’t know what Bill Morrison looks like in real life, here’s a photo of him back when he was President of another comic art organization in Los Angeles called CAPS on the night of a banquet in honor of Stan Lee when he received CAPS’ coveted Sergio Award.
