Whether you like white meat or dark meat, this turkey will taste like watercolor paint and paper. Bon appètit!
I thought I would reach into my archives this week and pull out a Thanksgiving themed illustration I did a few years ago based on a favorite television family of mine – the Barones.
I was a big fan of the Everybody Loves Raymond show on CBS, and often went to the live tapings on the Warner Bros. studio lot here in Burbank, CA. It was always so much fun to see the familial relationships played out amongst the actors who seemed to genuinely get along with each other. If they shot a joke a certain way, they’d do take after take with a different punchline until they got the biggest laugh, and all were funny.
I am also a big fan of Norman Rockwell’s paintings, a sentiment I share with many Americans who are moved by his idyllic depictions of life in this country. I was thrilled to see a traveling exhibit of his original work a few years back first in San Diego, then again in New York City. The exhibit included what have become known as Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” paintings. The Freedom from Want piece in that series always struck a chord with me with its portrayal of a family enjoying each other around the Thanksgiving table.
Well, it isn’t necessarily from Marie’s Italian cook book, but even the Barone family can enjoy a bit of a traditional turkey dinner. In one episode, they tried a tofurkey to great comical effect.
So, when I heard that Everybody Loves Raymond was going to come to an end, immediately Norman Rockwell’s famous painting came to mind. It seemed to be a perfect fit, all the way down to putting Robert in the lower right corner partially cut off as he would expect. Robert always felt he was getting the second fiddle treatment from the family. With a bit of watercolor and colored pencil, this piece was created just for the fun of it.
You know, during the time I was finishing up the painting, I took in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl where I bumped into Doris Roberts. She didn’t know me from Adam, so I probably spooked her a bit when the first words my mind thought to say were, “Oh hi! I was just painting you today!” Smooth, Chad. Smooth.
Pictured with the turkey is Peter Boyle (who passed away a few years ago) and Doris Roberts, then on the left Madylin Sweeten, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, and Sawyer Sweeten. On the right is Monica Horan, Sullivan Sweeten, and of course, Brad Garrett. On the back wall is show creator Phil Rosenthal.
On an interesting side note, last year Brad did the voice of a character I designed for a third Zhu Zhu Pets movie that has yet to be released. It was literally a talking rock. It seems as though Robert Barone STILL can’t get any respect.
Enjoy Thanksgiving with your own friends and family this week, and remember not only to be thankful for the blessings in your life, but to whom that thanks should be directed. The holiday is modeled after the Pilgrims who gave thanks to the almighty God for their survival in this untamed land. In many ways it is still untamed, and God is the One who deserves our appreciation.
Psalm 136:1 “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Who is ready for tonight’s final presidential debate? I’ve listened to all the debates thus far and came away with one major observation – both sides have spent much of that airtime attempting to tear down each other without saying much of anything solid about what they can do in the next four years. It has been downright monstrous!
So, in the spirit of the Halloween season, I drew Barak Obama and Mitt Romney as they will likely appear tonight – as raging zombies.
Must….have….American……braaaaaaaains!!!
And for those of you Monster Month fans of the past keeping track at home, this counts as the second monster drawing of the month! Hopefully next year I can return to the “one a day” principle.
A couple of months ago I discovered a page on Facebook called Humans of New York (also known as HONY). The page features multiple portraits of New Yorkers as seen through the keen eye of photographer Brandon Stanton. With over 300,000 followers, I was a little late to the party.
Brandon does what I like to do – he people watches. I tend to sit in public places and covertly try to capture someone in a sketch. He takes a much bolder approach by asking his subjects to quickly pose for a photo wherever he happens to see them. The result is a fascinating cross-section of humanity sharing the streets of the Big Apple.
One of Brandon’s shots a few weeks ago really snagged the attention of the character designer in me. He got this shot of an old weathered Greek man who, despite having been in this new country he now loves for fifty-two years, still looked as though he was from his homeland.
The whole Old Country immigrant in America thing really struck me when I saw the photo. Not only did this gentleman have a great look, but it triggered the personal remembrance that I am only a few generations away from immigrants in my own family. My great grandparents came here from Europe for a new life, and I have a relative that passed through Ellis Island. Like this gentleman, they held a soft spot for home, but were intensely proud to become Americans.
Each year I like to get away from it all to a place where I can just put my responsibilities behind me and relax. I just returned from my happy place in the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina where I go during hurricane season. Mind you, I don’t go with the hopes of experiencing a hurricane – it’s just that I usually go there during that time. If a hurricane should actually blow into town, relaxation requires a bit more concentration.
Of course, many hours are spent on the beach taking in the breeze, the surf, and the wide array of interesting people who under other circumstances would never be seen in public the way they freely saunter along the sand. This is why I bring a sketchbook to the beach.
This first drawing is of two beach-walkin’ fellas who did not look like they had any earthly connection to each other. You can see that the fella in the foreground was hanging onto his days when he was in an 80’s hair band despite the fact that his former 80’s physique has gone the way of 8-track tapes. The other guy hit his middle age in stride with a laid back attitude and a lanky walk. Both had kids accompanying them running around looking for shells and playing in the surf. I like to think that they were probably brothers-in-law taking the kids on a walk to give their wives a break.
Whether you’re a mother or whether you’re a brother-in-law, you’re stayin’ alive….
There is something about going to the beach so late in the summer season. With many schools in session, the beaches are quieter than during the prime summer months, the heat is no longer debilitating, and all the mature and <ahem> well-rounded adults venture out into the light for their daily dose of vitamin D. Such was the case with this next gentleman.
Now, when the kiddies come to the beach with kites, they don’t care if there is wind or not. They gleefully run up and down the beach to launch their technicolor plastic playthings. When adults get that same gleam in their eye, they have the good sense to come on a day sponsored by a strong wind. On this particularly windy day, four adults wandered over the dunes where two of them immediately dropped their chairs to the sand and launched their kites with nary a trot between them necessary to generate any wind speed. Although I imagine trotting was not a common activity for either of them.
Beach kites bring out the kid in all of us even when the kid in all of us was long ago absorbed by life.
Well, now you know about my happy place. Where is your happy place? On second thought, don’t tell me if you really don’t want me to show up with my sketchbook.
Recently I was going through some old digital files of mine and came across an ad I created at Disney Feature Animation for an employee screening of the classic John Wayne film The Searchers. I always really liked this caricature of Wayne and thought it deserved to get dusted off and shared here on the blog.
Brush and ink art of the Duke.
John was drawn entirely with brush and ink. You can see that I kept the line work thick and rugged which suited the subject matter well. Not only did John Wayne have a thick and rugged face, but I was going to be taking this art into Photoshop to try to make it look like it was cut into a piece of wood. The thickness was going to be an asset in that process.
Here’s a close-up of the line drawing after being given the woodcut treatment in Photoshop.
Those years I spent at Disney Feature Animation were with the Artist Development department. It was our job to make sure the staff as a whole at the studio were up on the latest computer programs, inspire them with special guest speakers and screenings, and to keep the artists sharp by providing drawing classes whether that be life drawing or special classes with animals.
For a time we were regularly screening classic films, and for each screening I created the flyers that were posted around the building. This one for The Searchers was my favorite. I even made that “cowhide” from a wrinkled up piece of paper rubbed in coffee and pencil shavings. Notice the date on the flyer? I thought it would be fun to post it here twelve years to the day of the screening at Disney.
Here is the whole flyer never before seen outside the walls of Disney until now.
The drawing of John Wayne had one more day in the sun (not counting sharing it with you here today). Disney would allow folks who worked at Feature Animation to have art shows of their personal work. The Animation Research Library folks (you should visit their Facebook page) would help us post our art in a hallway in the Southside building where it would hang for a month, then move it to another building across town that we also used (called “Northside”) where it would hang for another month. There would be a nice reception on opening night where colleagues and friends from outside could come see the work. I put John Wayne in a frame and included him in the show.
William Sanderson and Chad Frye in the halls of Disney Feature Animation’s “hat” building in Burbank, CA.
Thought it might be fun to show you the above photo of the Duke flanked on either side by yours truly and actor William Sanderson who came to see my work that night with his lovely wife Sharon. While he has been in many television shows and movies, Bill is often remembered for being on Newhart where he would always enter a scene by saying, “Hi, my name is Larry. This is my brother Darryl. This is my other brother Darryl.” I keep that photo taped up next to my drafting table where it reminds me of some good times twelve years ago.
Thanks for letting me share the art, memories and good times with YOU today!
I wanted to say a few words about the great Stan Freberg today. Do you know who he is? He has been a gold record selling comedian, cartoon voice actor, movie and television actor, radio show host, a puppeteer, an author and a pioneer of using humor in advertising. He even came up with the name “Grammy” for the recording industry’s highest award. And if you are in the Los Angeles area this weekend (August 4-5, 2012), you have a chance to shake his hand and get an autograph. (DETAILS HERE!)
Stan Freberg as he looked in the 1950s during his Capitol Records comedy days.
Stan Freberg got his start in the entertainment business as a teenager. He literally got off the bus in Hollywood and immediately landed a job doing voices for the classic Warner Bros. cartoons. That’s right, despite all the title cards saying Mel Blanc did all the voices, Stan was right there doing many voices as well along with folks like June Foray, Arthur Q. Bryan and others.
Perhaps Stan’s most iconic Warner Bros. character was Pete Puma, the mountain lion who Bugs Bunny tricked into getting many lumps pounded into his head in several cartoons. Stan also did the hilarious Junyer Bear who was far too big for his diaper. He was also one half (the other half being Mel Blanc) of the mice Hubie & Bertie and half of the Goofy Gophers. The list of other characters is quite long including being the voice of a cat in the first Speedy Gonzales cartoon.
Pete Puma after asking Bugs Bunny for “A lotta lumps”.
Junyer Bear who always loves his paw.
The one time Stan got screen credit was when he was the ONLY voice in an entire Warner Bros. cartoon. Friz Freleng directed Stan in The Three Little Bops that was a zoot suited version of the story of the Three Little Pigs. Stan sang the song and voiced every character.
The Three Little Bops
Stan did cartoon vocal work for other studios, too. Disney was one. He sang a song about the Jabberwocky for Alice In Wonderland that Walt ultimately cut from the movie, but he also memorably did the voice of the beaver in Lady and the Tramp. As you recall, the beaver helps get the muzzle off of Lady when she and Tramp come to see him at the zoo. Walt Disney himself directed Stan in that performance.
This beautiful pencil drawing of Stan Freberg’s character of the beaver from Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp” is on an 8×10 that Stan has available at public appearances.
Out of a pure indulgence of mine, I also want to mention Stan’s role as the Yawning Man in the 1958 movie Tom Thumb. Tom Thumb was a wonderful fantasy movie directed by the great George Pal who loved incorporating stop-motion animation into his movies. He did it the hard way, too. The characters faces would all be sculpted in wood. George had Stan play a small but memorable role of a toy that helps put Tom Thumb (played by Russ Tamblyn from West Side Story) to sleep. Here’s the scene for you to see. I dare you to not yawn during this wonderful vocal performance by Freberg:
I first learned of Stan’s name when I was in high school. I was working at a summer camp on an island in the Delaware River sharing a cabin with several other staff guys. My friend Kevin Wertz had a copy of Freberg’s The United States of America album on a cassette tape that we listened to over and over after our long day’s work. That just might be the funniest album by any comedian I have ever heard, and am thrilled to have my own signed copy on LP framed on the wall in my studio. Later I discovered that Stan had made MANY records, most of which were song parodies of the day. His cover of Harry Bellefonte’s Banana Boat Song put me in stitches. It is no surprise that “Weird” Al Yankovic counts Stan as one of his inspirations.
This is perhaps the best of Stan’s hilarious records with Capitol Records.
Another guy inspired by Stan was the late Jim Henson. Stan, along with Daws Butler, were the guys who brought Bob Clampett’s creations of Beany & Cecil to life as a live television puppet show called Time For Beany. Stan was the original Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent as well as Dishonest John. Stan once told me how he showed a young Jim Henson how to make Kermit the Frog seem as though he was smiling.
Stan Freberg with puppets of Dishonest John and Cecil from “Time For Beany.”
Freberg’s later career as an advertising man broke new ground for that industry. He broke away from the fake testimonial ads common in the day, and from the ads that made all kinds of promises to make ads that made people laugh. He was wildly successful and we have had funny ads ever since. One of the big accounts Stan had was doing all the TV and radio ads for the movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in which he also had a silent cameo (he’s the sheriff’s deputy sitting in the background of Andy Divine’s scenes), but he also did funny ads for Sunsweet Prunes, Geno’s Pizza and many others.
As you can tell, I love the guy. I could go on and on about his career, but you would be better served if you could find a copy of his out-of-print autobiography titled It Only Hurts When I Laugh so that you can read his funny tales about all of the above and more in his own words. If you come see Stan this weekend at The Hollywood Show in Burbank, you might be lucky enough to score one of the few copies he has left.
That’s right, so if you would like to come see Stan, shake his hand, and get an autograph he is appearing at the Burbank Marriott by the airport along with many other Hollywood celebrities. To see more details about The Hollywood Show and who will be there, CLICK HERE! Stan will have photos of Pete Puma, the beaver and other shots of himself for sale. He has a couple of books, and some record albums and CDs from his own collection that he will be selling, along with a few copies of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 that has cartoons of Junyer Bear, Pete Puma and The Three Little Bops on it (Stan even provides voice commentary on that set)!
Oh, and if you drop by, be sure to wish Stan a Happy Birthday! He will be 86 years old on August 7!
This is a great casual shot of Capitol Records stars all together. You might recognize Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Nat “King” Cole, Dean Martin and Stan Freberg.
Today’s drawing is an exercise in vanity. I was thinking that it was time to try another cartoony self-portrait. I’d like to say that there was a noble reason for doing it such as it was needed for advertising an upcoming personal appearance at a children’s hospital, or perhaps it was to be used on “sorry you are in here” sympathy cards to send to the nursing home. No, nothing as honorable as that. Instead, it is just for my Facebook profile “photo”.
However, I did want to challenge myself creatively a little. I love the seemingly simple look of the old UPA cartoons – you know, like “Gerald McBoing-Boing” or even the old Mr. Magoo cartoons. The use of straight lines and round shapes intrigued me, so I set out to work up a version of myself inspired by that look.
Now does that look like a happy cartoonist or what?
For those of you who like to know the details, it was hand inked with a brush pen on a bumpy Strathmore watercolor paper pad. That’s why the line skips here and there giving it a loose quality. Then it was scanned into Photoshop where color was applied loosely, erased a little with a dry brush built into Pshop, and then a dot pattern was applied across all the color. Voilà!
It is always fun to try to work in a different style. It is easier to experiment on a subject matter that one is familiar with. There’s a reason my blog has a “Self Portrait” category over on the right side – so you can see many experiments in style using myself as the guinea pig. If you’d like to explore them now CLICK HERE! There are two pages of images to peruse.
Today on the Chad Frye • Illustration Guyfan page on Facebook I launched a new special feature for those who “LIKE” the page – EXCLUSIVE ART!
That’s right! Beginning today, my public Facebook fan page has a photo album that will be the exclusive home of some of my drawings. They won’t be posted here on the blog or on my regular website. It’s a little “thank you” to those of you who come spend a little time on my Facebook page.
If you haven’t “liked” my Facebook page yet, come join the fun! I post weird random thoughts that pop into my head during the day while I’m drawing, I post links to all my blog posts, sometimes I hold contests where you can win art and books, and now exclusive drawings!
So, to come see what all the fuss is about, click on the mysterious eyes above and you’ll be whisked away to the Chad Frye • Illustration Guyfan page!
