The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyIf you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
I struggled with this image for a bit trying different layouts for the scene. It all came together when I figured out that flooring which created the flow.
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
The cow and the farmer’s happy smiles will soon turn to frowns once that orange exhaust hits them.
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
This was my favorite image for the whole book. I just loved the flow of the poses, and who doesn’t love cows?!
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
Yes, I was thinking of safety issues when I left off the rearview mirror, but this van doesn’t have windows out the back, so it would have been pointless.
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
Clearly, this ServiceMan is able to fix a lot of different types of machines. It looks like if he had to, he was equipped to fix a cold, sick candy-spewing robot that gets milked in the kitchen.
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
The book itself was in a small square format. It was fun playing around with organic shapes in the background when I could!
Back in 2014, I was contacted by ServiceMax, a company in the San Francisco bay area, to create some art for a unique advertising project. ServiceMax is a tech company, and they wanted to showcase an iPad app they created that can help mobile servicemen with other companies to do their jobs better. The idea was to have a sales brochure disguised as a children’s book that ServiceMax intended to distribute at a convention for their industry.
Time was of the essence with this project. I had two weeks to go from pencil concepts to final art, and this all was while I was gainfully employed from 9-6 at an animation studio! Yikes! Under the guidance of art director Percy Chow, I proceeded to tackle the art with the idea of doing it in a throwback style similar to mid-century illustrators H.A. Rey and Syd Hoff. You know – that simplified drawing style and limited color palette thing that looks easy, but really takes a lot of work!
The challenge was fun. With those limitations for that art style, it forces you to be creative in a way you don’t normally think of when left to your own unlimited devices. So I tackled the art with simplicity, but thinking of flow and design since I could only use black, the white of the paper, and the colors from ServiceMax’s logo (light blue, dark blue, & orange).
Since the only way you would ever have been able to see this art before was to have been handed one of the books at that tech convention back in 2014, this remains the rarest book I have ever done! With ServiceMax’s permission, I am happy to share the art with you here on the ol’ blog.
For the next 10 business days (we’ll take the weekends off), I will be posting one page each day for your perusal. The story is about Max, the iPad with ServiceMax’s software on it, and how he helps out ServiceMan with his job of driving around repairing various mechanical devices.
Today, I present to you the front cover:
Just two weeks ago, I was attending the National Cartoonists Society’s annual Reuben Awards convention held in Memphis, Tennessee this year. Our first day at the convention was spent at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital touring the facility, then drawing for the sick kids. What a special day that was.
As we split into tour groups of 5 people each, I was a part of a very special group because it included the legendary Paul Coker, Jr. I’ve known Paul for about a dozen years or so, but probably haven’t seen him in person in about that time since we live several states away from each other. What a treat to spend a chunk of the day with him and his wife Rosemary.
For those of you unfamiliar with Paul’s name, he has drawn for MAD Magazine for many decades, and has had a great career illustrating books, posters, comic strips, and even designed for animation. Ever heard of a little TV Christmas special called Frosty the Snowman? Yep, he did the character designs. We were drawing for the kids with Paul sitting one table away from me. While I was drawing for a child, the father of that child looked past me over at Paul and said, “Whoa, now THAT’S a good Frosty!” I then let him know that Paul was THE Frosty guy, and suddenly my Mickey Mouse meant nothing to him.
I don’t blame him, because it is an honor to get a Paul Coker original. It is even a greater honor to BECOME a Paul Coker original!! That day Paul told me that he drew me into his latest MAD assignment!
Well, just this past week, Paul’s latest assignment for MAD hit the newsstand! It is a funny two pager written by Kenny Keil showing what special perks folks get for the latest high priced Disneyland season pass. When it came time to poke fun at Disney animation artists, Paul put me into the hot seat, and I LOVE it!
If you’d like to see the whole article illustrated by Paul, it is in the issue of MAD in comic shops and newsstands NOW. To wet your whistle, here it is real small.
