The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyNow, I have not worked on the Disney show Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but I do remember seeing Jake and his merry band of pirates being developed by some of the fellas who worked in the cubicles around me on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse a few years back. It turned into a very charming show that also happens to have very charming toys.
Recently a friend asked if I could draw Jake for his daughter, and was happy to oblige. Perhaps you might enjoy seeing Jake as well….
You know, lately I have been working on a lot of art that I cannot share at the moment. There are a couple of extensive projects I have going on all at once, and all of it has to be kept under wraps until it doesn’t have to be secret anymore. As a result, I have been lax in posting any new art here on the ol’ blog. So, how about something old that hasn’t seen the light of day before?
I was looking through my archives and came across this fun little character watercolor painting of Disney’s Goofy. I don’t know about you, but Goofy always puts a smile on my face. He is full of an optimistic innocence that can just make me giddy and feel good. I always have fun sketching him, and apparently one day back in 2009, I put paint to paper to create this version of the lanky one.
So enjoy, and always remember it is okay to just be goofy!
HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!!!! Now, for the next month or so, try real hard to not write 2014 on letters, checks, or other important documents. I’m still trying to stop writing 2013, but it is much easier to make a 3 look like a 5 than it is to do so to a 4, so I’ll be okay.
I had the good fortune to visit the country of Russia last year during the summer when the weather was nice. There were hot days, and there were warm days, but was reminded several times by the locals that the winters are long and cold there. I also was told that Christmas isn’t celebrated there so much as New Years is.
So, here is a little painting of the New Year’s celebration in Russia. Go nuts, guys, and dream of summer!
As we enter into the Christmas week, amidst all the hustle and bustle, keep in mind the sobering thought that God came to earth as Jesus to live among men and save those who believe from our sin. Now THAT is something to celebrate! Merry Christmas indeed!
This past Saturday, December 6, approximately forty professional artists from the world of comics and animation descended upon the Warner Bros. Ranch studio in Burbank, California, to draw pictures for the kids and families coming to a holiday party sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House organization. It was such a blast to spend three hours of our day putting smiles on the faces of these kids.
You see, throughout the year Ronald McDonald House helps out families that have kids with some serious health problems. Each December Warner Bros. graciously opens their property to a wonderful party for those families who have needed Ronald McDonald House that year. They come and can ride on carnival rides, they are fed all kinds of goodies, they can meet Santa, they meet Ronald McDonald, there is face painting, free Christmas hats made by a senior citizens group, they can meet child actors that come, and they get lots of toys all for free.
The best part is, they come to the artists for free drawings of whatever they would like, or whatever the artist is able to draw. Sometimes the two don’t exactly match. I’m not afraid to tell folks I don’t know how to draw a particular character, but sometimes they pull up an image on their phones which makes me obliged to accommodate their requests.
Enough chit-chat. How about I let some photos do the talking…
So, that was the great event! Looking forward to joining the group again next year with the hope that we won’t see some of these same kids again because they healed!
This past weekend my mind wandered to a show I started working on for Disney about seven or eight years ago. It was the CG animated My Friends Tigger & Pooh. It was such a delight to draw Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Lumpy, and anyone else who came to the 100 Acre Wood during those two and a half seasons that we created their adventures. You, however, only were able to watch two of those seasons. We actually were halfway through planning the third season before the network decided that the first two were enough.
We did something in our show that seemed to polarize the Pooh fans, though. Christopher Robin was not included. Instead, we introduced a little girl named Darby to the stories. Darby was voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz when she was just a wee lass. She has gone on to bigger things working in movies with directors like Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese, but once upon a time she delivered great enthusiasm in her conversations with Pooh and Tigger.
Despite all of Darby’s cuteness and charm, fans missed Christopher Robin, including Queen Elizabeth who purportedly had an aide call the Disney Channel suggesting that Christopher Robin be returned to the Wood. Regarding the young boy’s absence, “the Queen is not amused,” was the rumor floating around the studio. So, while Darby remained, Christopher Robin did return for a few episodes, though one time the gang spent an episode calling a frog “Christopher Robin” thinking that the boy had turned into the amphibian, naturally.
Another element of this series was that Darby led Tigger and Pooh as the “Super Sleuths.” It was a fun device where something would happen, and the residents of the woods needed help solving the problem. Every episode they would don their Super Sleuth outfits, then go off to “think, think, think” in an attempt to find the answer, often causing more chaos in the process.
You know, while working on the show, my mother sent me a drawing that I did at the age of 5 of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh. It was so surreal to see I had an interest in him all those years ago, and then was making a living drawing him. I tease you with that, however. Little Chad’s art is not available to share with you here at this time, but eventually it will find its way here on the ol’ blog.
My Friends Tigger & Pooh really was a delightful show, and had some really wonderful scripts by our writers led by Brian Hohlfeld and Nicole Dubuc. It was a treat working with everyone, and especially getting to see the great Jim Cummings work his magic as Pooh, Tigger, and the Beaver, Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) who was Eeyore, Ken Sansom who (though now deceased) was Rabbit for many years, Rob Paulson (famous for Pinky from Pinky & the Brain) who did a raccoon, Max Burkholder (from TV’s Parenthood) as Roo, Dee Bradley Baker who was an amazing dog (Buster), as well as even Mark Hamill (yes, Luke Skywalker himself) who did a recurring character of a turtle.
It is available on DVD. Settle down with your little ones, put on your thinking caps and watch all the charming adventures of Darby, Tigger, Pooh and the gang!
While he is small, this is NOT Tiny Tim. This particular Tim was a piece I created a few years back when I was trying to get a short cartoon off the ground with my friend Brian Joseph Ochab. Narrated by Sir Christopher Lee, it was going to be a magnificent stop-motion tribute parody of Tim Burton’s early short film for Disney called “Vincent”. Through various efforts to get it off the ground, our “Tim” did not happen, but some fun artwork was left behind. This is a piece I never shared here before.
If you would like to see more of my development art for our short and even a video of when the project was talked about on TV, CLICK HERE!
Meet the Malffs who rise up majestically from the moist mist while moving their marvelous mugs in magnificent motions timed with their own merry music. Moreover, their mobile members morbidly meander in a most malleable manner to suggest the majority of their bones have no meaningful mass, at least none that can be measured. Contemplating the whole mess can make your mind melt.
Today’s creature is brought to you by the letter M.
