The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyWhy the long face?
This sketch came about in a strange way. I just decided to see if I could fit three faces on the height of one page in my sketchbook. Mystery solved. I did it.
Today is my pop’s birthday, the man who most influenced me to be a cartoonist even though he may never have realized it.
When I was a kid, my father loved comics. He’d come home from his job in the business world, and we’d get down on the floor and he would read the newspaper funnies to me every day before I knew how to read. He loved comic strips like Nancy, Peanuts, and Beetle Bailey.
What my dad liked, I liked. Back in January of this year, I came across this great piece I created in my youth. I love how this image of Sarge, a character created for newspaper comics, is surrounded by a background of newsprint. I also love how it looks like it wasn’t finished, yet it looks kind of cool in this unfinished state.
Due to becoming a cartoonist myself as an adult, I ended up becoming friends with Mort Walker, the creator of Beetle Bailey, and was able to introduce my pop to the legendary cartoonist. Dad enjoyed meeting my cartooning heroes. Maybe, in a way, they were Dad’s heroes, too.
Dad passed away last September, but his influence lives on. I’m still a cartoonist.
Today is the 100th birthday of the late torch singer Peggy Lee. Not only was she the voice of Peg, the Siamese cats, and Darling in Disney’s original animated Lady & the Tramp, but she co-wrote all the songs!
I had a short fling myself with Lady & the Tramp some years ago. I drew an official coloring book based on the movie before ever entering the animation business in Hollywood. It’s been a while since drawing these characters, but it was fun to revisit them in my sketchbook. They are such appealing designs, and so wonderfully animated in the 1955 original film. It’s no wonder that beautiful film lives on in the hearts of each new generation that comes along.
While Ms. Lee had a long career as a songstress, it is certainly her work with Lady & the Tramp that ensures her legacy.
– Pinky and The Brain (1993 – 1998)
It’s hard to take over the world when your evil lab is overrun with evil cats.
I have been working on something over the past five months that I haven’t talked much about publicly, but today is the day to unveil it. The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) asked me to run their annual illustration competition this year, known as Illustration West. This is the 59th consecutive year of this contest, and I am honored that they have entrusted it to me.
So, as the Show Chair of Illustration West 59, I am pleased to announce that today is our launch of the Call For Entries!! Folks around the globe may visit IllustrationWest.org to see our amazing list of judges comprised of award-winning and highly respected leaders of the illustration industry, review the many categories they may enter, and check out the requirements for submissions.
I was also invited by SILA to create this year’s Call For Entries poster, which was thrilling and a little intimidating. I decided to work up a spoof of monster movie posters from the 1950s, setting it firmly in Los Angeles where our contest takes place!
I wanted to give a special shout-out to my buddy Andy Heckathorne for donating his graphic design skills to creating the type for the poster. It lends just the right touch of vintage monster movie nostalgia to the image!
I am absolutely thrilled with the people who agreed to be judges this year. While you can go to the Illustration West website to read all about them and see samples of their work, I’m more than happy to share with you the list right now:
The deadline for our call for entries is October 31, 2020, after which our judges will be busy reviewing the submissions in November, leading to a physical art show in Los Angeles in February 2021 where the winners will be revealed!
My thanks to everyone on our judging committee, and for my fellow SILA board members and staff who have been involved in helping to get the contest this far!
If interested in joining SILA, or just to learn more about this arts organization that was founded in 1953, visit their website si-la.org.
Well, at least it’s bear country on THIS page of my sketchbook. Grabbed a colored pencil, and once again explored one of the most fun animals to anthropomorphize.
Some do find it undesirous
To wear masks for Coronavirus,
While other breathers it may seem,
Really like them when they’re green.
Yeah. There’s not much to say about this other than that it’s a strange sketch from my sketchbook today. This is what comes from not leaving the house for weeks on end.
Thanks a lot Coronavirus.
