Stranger Than Fiction

About a week ago, I went to lunch with my pal and Disney animator Kevin MacLean over at the oldest Bob’s Big Boy in the country located in the Toluca Lake section of Burbank, CA. Now, there’s no real point to this tale in specifically mentioning Bob’s other than it is part of the drawing, because this could have happened anywhere.

Kevin and I were returning to his car in the parking lot, and sitting on a park bench in front of the car with his back to us was a man who was wearing a strange headband with a cloth draped down the back of his head, and he was reading a newspaper and talking to himself. Kevin said, “I think he’s wearing a dress.” So, we backed out, and drove around to the exit where we had a clear view of him. Sure enough, he was sitting there nonchalantly reading the paper wearing a low-cut dress in Bob’s parking lot.

Later, when I got home, that image was still mulling around in my mind, so I let it spill forth onto some paper, the results of which you now see before you. Sometimes real life is stranger than anything one could imagine.

 

I wonder if he enjoys Dilbert?

 

You aren’t going to believe this, but Kevin and I were over in Hollywood this past weekend, and we saw the SAME GUY there again, passing us in a crosswalk. Kevin said, “Are you sure that’s the same guy?” I said, “I’d know that dress anywhere!”

Tale of the Whale

Each summer I spend some time in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. One of my favorite restaurants is Tale of the Whale in Nags Head where owners Dan, Kathy, & Carole Bibey always welcome us with open arms. Two weeks ago I dropped in and gave them this drawing that they are now using as a coloring sheet to occupy their youngest patrons.

 

How come we never see a scene like THIS while whale watching?

 

I hadn’t inked something on paper in a while, so I had to brush off the dust from my – um – brush, and supplement it with some of my pens. Always nerve racking drawing traditionally with a medium so permanent as ink after getting used to an undo button on the computer. Thankfully, white gouache still works to cover the few mistakes made.

So, if you happen to find yourself in good ol’ Nags Head, NC, be sure to drop in Tale of the Whale for an exquisite seafood dinner on the waterfront. I’m partial to the shrimp & grits or Pasta Nova – grilled salmon served over pasta covered in a sun dried tomato & lump crab sauce.

And even if you think you are too big to use crayons, feel free to ask for a coloring sheet.

Blackbeard’s Vacation

This summer the Frye family did something it had never done before. We had a family reunion. Yep, my parents, my siblings, their spouses and kids, and yes, even I, gathered on the beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Seventeen of us descended upon two beach houses.

Of course, any good family reunion requires a family T-shirt. For some strange reason, that job fell upon my shoulders. Imagine that! Well, when duty calls….

 

Now, I’m not saying my family looks like this. We look much sillier in bathing suits.

 

I got to thinking that good ol’ Blackbeard, the scourge of the sea that he was, happened to spend the last of his days in the Outer Banks. His end was untimely, of course. No self-respecting pirate dared to live into a life of old age, but was he felled by the sword? Or did Blackbeard and his mates meet their end foolishly surfing the untamed shark infested waves in a hurricane? History says one thing, my drawing says another.

 

A family self-portrait in red.

 

As you can see, everyone seemed to enjoy the shirts. However, a few nephews wondered out loud why Blackbeard’s beard was actually purple. Uncle Chad’s answer? Because.

Friendly Neighborhood Giacchino-man

Spider-man Homecoming is the big new movie this coming weekend, and I am especially excited to hear the music written for the film. Past Spider-man movies have set a very high bar for exciting compositions from some of film music’s best composers such as Danny Elfman, Christopher Young, James Horner, and Hans Zimmer. No doubt this latest iteration of the web slinger will meet that bar and possibly exceed it with music slung by Michael Giacchino!

Giacchino is the perfect choice to bring something fresh and exciting to a character that Disney/Marvel hopes to make cinematically fresh and exciting again. This project comes after a year where the composer has set his own personal bar very high with amazing work for films that include Zootopia, Star Trek BeyondDoctor Strange, Star Wars: Rogue One, and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes.

So, in anticipation of some thrilling musical delights, I present to you my latest inked and watercolored piece called “Giacchino-man!”

 

Spins a musical web – any size!

By the way, those musical notes are from the opening of the original Spider-man TV show theme song from the 1970s. 😉

 

Independence Day 2017

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans. Stay safe out there!

 

Yee haw y’all!

Taco Tuesday

Just some random silliness that was inked in my sketchbook with a little color added later in Photoshop.

And yes, I do LOVE Taco Tuesday, but no, I do not eat sleeping people wrapped up in hammocks.

 

 

Happy Flag Day!

Yes, believe it or not, Flag Day is a thing. The United States adopted an official flag to represent the new country on June 14, 1777 – the flag good ol’ Betsy Ross sewed for George Washington.

Of course, as the country grew to have more than 13 states, the flag changed from the 13 stars to the 50 we have today. However, it wasn’t until 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 to be Flag Day, and it was backed by an act of Congress. Unfortunately, it is not a holiday that warrants a day off from work.

So, celebrate by hoisting a flag in honor of us having one to hoist!

 

 

By the way, the late Stan Freberg was a good friend of mine, and I just LOVE his comedy album from the 1960s called “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America.” Stan takes you through the early years of our nation’s history and turns it on its ear. Done in a sketch comedy style, the album remains my favorite all-time comedy album. Just felt like taking one of his jokes and giving it some visuals today. If you think of it, seek out Stan’s album whether via YouTube, or better yet, a real record or CD of it to listen to over and over. GREAT for summer road trips!

 

 

Just to give you a taste, here’s the Betsy Ross skit on YouTube. Please forgive the frenetic visuals. Those aren’t Stan’s. Just the audio, and he plays George Washington himself!

 

 

 

The Space Avenger

I was aimlessly doodling in my sketchbook one day without a thought as to what was going to come forth, and penciled an overly large head with no other details. For some reason, that large blob seemed to suggest that this was a hero’s head of some sort, so my pencil continued doodling until it became clear that that face needed some kind of a retro ray gun. Combined with his old school cape, he looked kind of groovy, and immediately I whipped out my brush pen and inked him.

This fella sat in the sketchbook for MONTHS. I was flipping through the pages a couple of weeks ago, and realized that this odd guy needed to be in color. So, he was scanned into Photoshop, and with my trusty Wacom Cintiq monitor, I proceeded to paint him digitally.

Once completed in all his technicolor brightness, the name “Space Avenger” seemed to fit.

 

If you see this guy out and about, just let him avenge all the space he wants to.