The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyWell, 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.
Hope everyone is staying healthy! And much love and thanks to all those healthcare professionals who have been looking out for everyone, often at the risk of their own good health!
Sometimes I work as a character designer in animation, and one of the things a character designer has to develop is an expression sheet.
Normally an expression sheet just shows how a character looks with a smile, or sad, angry, confused, etc. The designer in me got to thinking the other day about what an expression sheet might look like in these strange times we’re living in.
May I present to you the Coronavirus Character Design…
A little ol’ drawing of Minnie Mouse enjoying life! Hope you all are finding the little things around to enjoy life as it is these days, too!
On a recent afternoon, I visited my mother’s church. While the choir was practicing, I sat there in the pews with my sketchbook preparing to do some doodling when a few little kids saw it and wanted to look inside. After flipping through some pages, one of them said to me, “Do you know Mrs. Frye’s son?”
I looked around to see if I was getting pranked, but no, these eager young art enthusiasts were earnest in their query. I looked right back at him saying, “I AM Mrs. Frye’s son.” Their eyes got big. “Do you know……Chad?”
I chuckled a little and replied, ” I hope so. I AM Chad!”
“Chad draws Green Eggs and Ham!”
“Yes, I know,” said I. “I worked on that show.”
Minds. Blown.
Those three brothers LOVE the Green Eggs and Ham show on Netflix. Seeing my sketchbook triggered something that reminded them that they knew that Mrs. Frye’s son also liked to draw, and that he drew for their favorite show. Apparently they had no idea that there was the remote possibility that her son could be sitting right in front of them.
So, the next week I surprised them with a sketch of their own…
At the stroke of midnight last night, 2019 ended, and 2020 has begun. In an effort to achieve 2020 vision (pun intended), one should reflect upon the past year.
Over on Instagram, they do a thing called “Top Nine” where they show the top nine posts of the year. It was interesting to me that five of the top nine of 2019 were things I posted just in the past two months. Seems that folks can’t get enough Green Eggs & Ham, and they seemed to like lots of my doodles of other people’s characters. Thankfully, they showed some love to one of my originals (dog doodles), as well as a photo of me taken by my pal Brian Joseph Ochab to promote my upcoming appearance at the first ever Bakersfield Mouse Con (a Disney fan convention happening on January 26).
Here’s hoping more fun and exciting projects come across my plate in 2020!
And if you’d like to see my Instagram page, here’s the link: https://www.instagram.com/chadfrye_illustrationguy/
How about a silly Goofy watercolor with which to wave goodbye to 2019?
For me, it’s been an interesting year of professional achievements and personal loss. Looking forward to what hopefully will be a fun new year. I always look forward to seeing what new projects come across my desk. Hope you enjoy seeing them once I’m able to share them here.
One fun thing coming up is that I will be a guest at the Bakersfield, CA Mouse-Con convention on January 26th. It’s a fan run Disney convention, and I just might have this original available for sale. Come on out and say “hello” if you can. CLICK HERE for details!
Have a happy new year!