You know, there’s nothing like holding a palette full of paint in one hand and twirling a brush with panache in the other to really make one truly feel alive.
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Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook
Sadly, even the monster world can’t escape eyeglasses tape and pocket protectors…..
I hope you have enjoyed this week’s batch of monsters! Come back again on Monday for another round of five beasties!
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Prior to this year’s Monster Month, I shared with you some of the art I created as a character designer for the new Zhu Zhu Pets movie, The Quest for Zhu, that came out on DVD last week. The drawings showed lots of cute little hamsters with their big eyes and button noses. What I didn’t tell you was that the movie also contains a few monsters, the most villainous of them all being the evil Mazhula!
Mazhula has a head inspired by a cobra, body of an alligator, and the personality of a jar of mayonnaise that has turned. My colleague Stephen Silver conceived her basic look, and I began to define her behavior and personality with the following drawings….
While the above were character study sketches, towards the end of production I did one more detailed drawing of the evil Mazhula that can be seen during the end credits of the Zhu Zhu Pets movie. Mazhula has this ability to shoot electric fireballs from the palms of her hands, but when she does so, she depletes her own power. To recharge, she plugs her tail into a spittoon-looking device that is an electrical outlet for reptiles of her caliber. The following drawing is based on a moment in the movie that was storyboarded by my friend Mike Kunkel (known for his comic book a few years ago called Herobear and the Kid).
Return tomorrow to see how a monster deals with far-sightedness!
He can’t help it that he was born this way. He’s really an alien with a heart of gold, but no one will really give him much of a chance. All this guy really wants is to make it big on the music scene. You should hear him sing an old fashioned love song, coming down in three-part harmony!
Back in 2004 I was contemplating getting into using the watercolor medium. For many years I created illustrations with colored pencil and gouache, an opaque water based paint. Watercolor paint started catching my eye to the point of inspiring me to give it a try. But what would be a worthy image on which to test this new medium? The first piece to drip out of my brush involved an alligator and a bunny rabbit, but then….. MONSTERS!
In the classic Frankenstein movie with Boris Karloff, there is a moment when this big lumbering beast comes across a little girl. As an audience, you know what this behemoth is capable of, and the little girl who is none the wiser just sees a potential playmate. What if some monsters got snagged into playtime with a fearless little girl who just would not let them go? Instead, she is the monster, and they are the victims. With that backstory in mind, I created this piece which turned out to be the launch of my interest in fun monster art:
Some of you may have seen the above painting on my website, but what you have NOT seen before are some of the preliminary sketches from my sketchbook that were drawn in the quest for just the right combination of monsters to be tormented by this situation. An illustration doesn’t just fall into place with the first critters that come to mind. Below are a few beasties that didn’t make the cut:
The six fellas above were just a few of the dozen and a half heads that came out of my pencil. Three faces were needed, and three faces were found, but not all in a row. Scattered amongst the many pages of exploratory monster drawings were the three you see below – the three that made it into the final painting:
So, there you have the genesis of my interest in monster art! I also happen to love the Muppets, so that might help explain a bit of the ol’ Henson influence that may come through now and then, too. Come back again tomorrow for another strange creation that’s a vision, but only an illusion – a monster that has nothing to hide.
WELCOME to the return of Monster Month!
This is my third annual offering of a piece of monster art every week day throughout the month of October. Some creatures will manifest themselves as watercolor paintings, some as inked drawings, digital art, pencil drawings, and even sketches direct from the pages of my sketchbook.
Word must have gotten out, because this past year I actually had a few commissioned monster assignments come across my desk, so I’ll be sharing some of those monsters with a purpose as well.
As has become tradition the past couple of years, the first monster drawing of the month was inspired by my mirror. In year one I was Frankenstein’s monster, and year two I was the Wolfman. So, with zombies being the most media savvy beasts these days, Monster Month will be kicked off with the Chad Frye Zombie! When creating my art, I’m usually most conscientious about the composition, but this time, I had to keep in mind the decomposition. (Can I have a rimshot, Smitty?)
Well, there you have it. And to think I did have braces when I was a teenager. Zombie life can be so unforgiving, especially on my skin. Sooo hard to keep those pores open.
Tomorrow I’ll share with you some behind-the-scenes goodies on the piece of art that got me started on this whole monster kick.
Have you ever wondered what a chorus line of singing and dancing hamsters would look like? No? I never did either, but this Zhu Zhu Pets animation project gave me the opportunity to contemplate such life-altering matters.
During the production of The Quest for Zhu, little Pipsqueak is magically whisked away to the Zhu Village where she is greeted not by the Lollipop Guild, but rather by a whole community of exuberant little hamsters. I was actually a part of storyboarding that sequence set to a song that we lovingly called “Hey Hamster Homies,” but later was changed to “Celebration” by Mr. Cool and his delightful Gang.
As the hamster dance is such a memorable moment in the movie, it needed to be represented during the end credits. Thus the drawing below was born. Of course, in the movie this piece is in full color thanks to the talents of my buddy Tom Cain who digitally watercolored it, but you’ll have to check out the movie to see that version.
Thanks for following along with these Zhu Zhu Pets illustrations this week. On Monday I shall be unleashing the beasts for my third annual Monster Month which will continue throughout the month of October!
Hide the children,
and bar the windows and doors at night…..
…The monsters are returning for
another month of fright!
That’s right! For the third October in a row, it will be MONSTER MONTH on the Chad Frye • Illustration Guy blog! Each weekday throughout October a new piece of monster art will take to the unforgiving and cruel streets of the internet. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Come back on October 3rd as we unleash the beasts!
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