The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyHere’s a little Christmas greeting created for the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society featuring their mascot, Cornelius the bear.
It is rumored that ‘ol Corny had saved the lives of several cartoonists back in the day. Since his own passing, Cornelius looks after cartoonists everywhere.
Merry Christmas!
*from A Visit from St. Nicholas written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1823
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree…
A little inked drawing from my sketchbook with some Photoshop blandishments.
Was doodling the other day, and this Christmas moose came forth. I wonder if eight of these were ever an option for Santa?
Dr. Seuss first unleashed his wonderful Christmas creation upon the world in 1957 in the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Nine years later, the great Warner Bros. director, Chuck Jones, adapted the story in animated form for television that itself has become a classic enjoyed annually by children and adults alike to this day. It has since been translated into two feature films, one of which is currently entertaining people in theaters right now. For me, the Chuck Jones version remains closest to my heart.
The Jones one is the version that introduced me to the character before I ever saw the original book. The Grinch was delightfully mean, the Whos down in Whoville were pure and innocent, and stuck in the middle was the Grinch’s faithful companion, Max the dog. In the end, there was genuine redemption for the green meanie.
When I was young and had first entered the business, I wrote Mr. Jones a fan letter, telling him of my affection for his version of the story. I mentioned that I had even held Christmas parties at my home where I had my guests take a Grinch quiz, and then we would watch the film to mark off the correct answers. (I also had mentioned to him my love for his other Warner Bros. cartoons.) He responded by sending me a sketch of Bugs Bunny dressed in the Grinch’s Santa outfit which I treasure to this day.
So, just because I was feeling a little nostalgic for the ol’ emerald one, I worked up a little piece to post here this holiday season!
Two weeks ago I shared with you a few drawings I did for a Wreck-It Ralph children’s book published six years ago when the first movie came out. Care to see a few more?
After I posted the previous drawings, an artist friend asked me if I hand-inked these or if I used a vector program like Adobe Illustrator. The answer is that they were hand-inked, but not with ink. I drew them by hand in Photoshop. So, no vector tools were used. They were drawn on a Wacom Cintiq monitor that allows me to draw with a stylus directly onto the screen. The monitor is pressure-sensitive, so if I push harder, the lines get thicker just as if I was inking traditionally with a paint brush (which is my preferred method of inking traditionally).
So, take that information as you will. Otherwise, just enjoy the drawings!
It’s hard to believe, but the first Wreck-It Ralph movie came out six years ago, and now today the sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet comes out. I had a chance to see it two weeks ago at the Walt Disney Studio, and I have to say that it was really a terrific sequel.
So, in honor of the sequel coming out this week, I thought it was high time that I shared some Wreck-It Ralph art that I drew way back before the first movie ever came out. Disney Publishing had another illustrator working on a Ralph book that followed in the footsteps of the old Where’s Waldo? books. Each spread was VERY busy so that kids would have to look for little things in the artwork. Having done such books like that myself at the beginning of my career, I did not envy the amount of work that illustrator had to put into the drawings.
One thing that ended up being tough for the illustrator was nailing the exact likeness of some of the characters. I’ve been there. Twenty four years ago I had been doing Disney books, and having trouble with likenesses, mostly due to a lack of reference material sent to me by the publishers. Seeking such images on the internet wasn’t yet a thing, so Disney would send me corrected drawings by some anonymous artist who had access to perfect reference.
Well, whatever the reason, this other artist was needing some adjustments on the characters, so Disney Publishing hired me to do drawing corrections like I used to receive. I became the anonymous artist.
So, the following are some of the drawings I did for that Seek and Find book:
