The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyIf only all bears would just befriend some bees, honey acquisition might be a friendlier prospect.
A little traditionally inked sketch from my sketchbook with some color added later in Photoshop.
Instead of doing some sketch of a patriot for today, I thought it might be fun to see ol’ British King George III’s reaction to learning that the Colonies decided to rebel against him on that fateful July 4 back in 1776.
I’ll bet ol’ Georgie had wished the postal service had that day off that first year, but that would come later.
Today marks what would have been the great Ray Harryhausen’s 100th birthday. To film and animation aficionados, Ray’s name is highly praised, and rightfully so. He was a brilliant stop-motion animator who, following in the footsteps of Willis O’Brien (the man behind the original King Kong), Ray elevated the world of visual effects in live-action movies that set new standards for decades. His work was often a part of science fiction and fantasy movies, but even if a film itself wasn’t necessarily great, Ray’s work on its own was groundbreaking.
My favorite of Ray’s work, and the favorite of many, is the skeleton sword fight from Jason and the Argonauts. It was made in 1963 , which means there were no computers involved. It was just little skeleton puppets moved one frame at a time, lit to look like it was outside, and large real human actors were filmed separately from the skeletons to look like they were interacting with them. Insanely difficult to pull off, but done so brilliantly. Here’s the scene:
I feel very privileged to work in the animation business, and was thrilled to have had the chance to meet and talk with Ray a number of times before he passed. His tales of working in this business inventing techniques and trick along the way were fascinating. They were especially fascinating because while I usually work on projects that are completely animated, Ray’s objective was to have the make-believe stuff appear to be real by having it interact with real things.
Perhaps the most unique brief chat with him came from bumping into Ray on a sidewalk here in Burbank, CA one day. Most people walked by without giving him a second look, but then a young animation guy like me knew who he was.
Ray passed away at the age of 92, but what an amazing legacy he left behind.
You know all about the other little piggies. This is the one who stayed home.
– John Wayne (1907 – 1979)
Alright, Pilgrims, show some love to those dads out there today because it’s Father’s Day!
This is the first Father’s Day without my pop. Got to thinking about him, and his favorite actor was John Wayne. Dad watched all his movies, and in particular, he loved the westerns. It’s no wonder, growing up in Arizona, Pop had a bit of the cowboy spirit about him, and John Wayne was the ultimate example – the epitome of manliness with the right amount of sentiment. While my dad ended up working in the world of business in the shadow of New York City, he always maintained a touch of cowboy just underneath the surface.
So, call up your dads today, give them a big ol’ “HOWDY,” and make sure they know how much you appreciate how they protected and herded you and the rest of the family over the years.
I was pleased to find out recently from an article on Indiewire that a movie I worked on five years ago is finally going to be seen here in the States. Netflix has acquired distribution rights to the film Animal Crackers!
Super fun story, character designs by Carter Goodrich, and an amazing cast of John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Ian McKellen, Patrick Warburton, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn (inconceivable!), Raven-Symonè, Gilbert Godfried, and more! Congrats to directors Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft!
To see the article that talks about the Netflix deal, CLICK HERE!
Oh, and in case you are wondering, my duties were served as the storyboard revisionist for the movie. As an independent film, they had hired storyboard artists from all over the country who each worked from home. I was the in-house guy working with Tony to help make the boards smooth where needed, and changes on the fly as was desired.
It was great fun not only for the project itself, but we worked out of offices at LA Studios, a voice recording studio in Los Angeles. That meant you never knew from day to day who you might bump into in the halls that had come in to record for any number of movie, TV, or gaming studios’ projects. Might have been the most fun three month gig I ever had!
Earlier this year, I received an assignment from Clubhouse Magazine, a magazine for kids published by Focus on the Family. They wanted a boy exercising the old school activity of writing a physical letter to help advertise Clubhouse‘s summer pen pal program for kids!
So, a little watercolor paint and colored pencil later, here it is as seen on the back cover of the May 2020 issue of the magazine, then my own scan of the original art.
