Yes, the time has come to allow all you little people to have a peek into the lofty lives of we cartoonists. Each Memorial Day weekend, the National Cartoonists Society blesses a random city with its presence. They like to choose a community that never ever has the opportunity to see a real live cartoonist, so this year they chose San Diego, California. (What’s that? The largest comic convention in the world? Each July? Really?!) Moving on…
The view from my room at the Omni. Having only been to San Diego during Comic Con, it was hard to believe that you could ever see the ground around the convention center.
Cartoonists from all over the world descended upon the Omni hotel located directly across from the convention center where Comic Con rears its nerdy head every summer. The Omni is also located directly next to the ballpark where the Padres play. In fact, they had their own ramp right from the hotel into the stadium. The Cubs were in town that weekend, and also chose our hotel to rest their weary heads where they could dream about what it might feel like to be in a World Series.
The Omni Hotel directly next to Petco Park where the Padres play baseball. Sadly, no baseballs were hit into my room.
Things really got underway at the Reubens at 1pm on Friday, May 23rd. That is when the seminars began. I’ll let the photos tell the story…
The first speaker of the weekend was Eddie Pittman, a former Disney Feature Animation artist who recently worked on “Phineas & Ferb” and draws his own web comic “Red’s Planet.”John Lotshaw (on R) ran the technical side of all the seminars. Here he is helping Chris Houghton (on L) set things up for his talk.Having travelled from Spain to be there, Josè Villena from the online strip “Onion & Pea” talking with Tom Gammill, cartoonist of “The Doozies” and writer for “The Simpsons” television show.Chris Houghton, the first recipient of the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship five years ago, spoke about his work in comics and animation.Hector Cantú, one of the creators of the “Baldo” comic strip chatting with “MAD Magazine’s” Sam Viviano.Mell Lazarus (“Momma”) chatting with Lynn Johnston (“For Better Or For Worse”).Bill Hinds (“Tank McNamara”), Wiley Miller (“Non Sequitur”), and John Hambrock (“The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee”) chatting between seminars.The third speaker for the day was Greg Evans, creator of the comic strip “Luann”. Despite the photo, no, he did not blow lots of kisses into the audience.Nick Meglin (former “MAD” editor), Linda Maloof, and Grant Geissman (composer for “2 1/2 Men” and author of a new book on MAD man Al Feldstein) all riveted by Greg Evans’ talk.Darrin Bell (“Rudy Park” and “Candorville”) chatting with Mike Cope who does a variety of work.The most familiar view of David Folkman who is always gracious to be the official unofficial photographer of the Reubens.Two little Mr. Burnses making their maniacal presence known at the Reubens.The two little Mr. Burnses turned out to be Caiden and Macey Silver (who seem to still be feeling the effects of the masks), the children of Heidi (seen here) and Stephen Silver as Pauline Goldberg (Stan’s wife) looks on.Another shot of Mell Lazarus catching up with old friends.Suzy Spafford was our last speaker of the day who spoke all about her world of “Suzy’s Zoo” that she has been creating for 45 years!
After Friday’s four seminars were through, it was time for the opening night party where everyone gathered by the pool at the Omni and enjoyed a buffet style dinner with friends, family and colleagues!
Winner of a Reuben Award last year, Brian Crane (“Pickles” comic strip) meeting my mother, Barbara Frye.Cartoonists Sean Parkes, Stephen Silver, and Ed Steckley/Mr. Hyde.John Kovaleski examining Randy Rider’s tonsils.Chris Houghton with his wife and fabulous cartoonist, Kassandra Heller.My parents, David & Barbara Frye, having a marginal meeting with “MAD’s” Sergio Aragonès!Nick Meglin (“MAD”), Jerry Van Amerongen (“Ballard Street” comic strip) and Charlene Aragonès.Bill Holbrook (“On the Fastrack”, “Kevin & Kell” & “Safe Havens” strips) with his daughters chatting with Suzy Spafford (Suzy’s Zoo) and her husband Ray Lidstrom.Scott Ketcham who has taken over much of the writing of his father’s creation “Dennis the Menace”.Stephan Pastis (“Pearls Before Swine”) with Jerry Scott’s wife Kim, and daughters Abbey and Cady Lane.The new Charlie’s Angels: Jennifer George (Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter), Heather Steckley, and Heidi Silver.Greg Evans’ very cheerful wife Betty sharing a laugh with my mother, Barbara.Jerry Scott (author of “Zits” and “Baby Blues”), Stephan Pastis wearing a broken cloak of invisibility, and Dave Coverly (“Speed Bump”).
If you want to see MORE fun photos of cartoonists not drawing anything, stick around. There are more from the Reuben Awards yet to come!
This past Saturday night, March 1, was the opening of Moosylvania: A Group Art Show Tribute to Jay Ward(curated by Phillip Graffham) at Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks, California. Hundreds of people came to see the art by many local Los Angeles creators.
My Jay Ward Studio tribute piece focused on Rocky & Bullwinkle, but instead of “moose & squirrel” as so eloquently referred to by Boris Badenov, I painted “June & Squirrel”. My friend June Foray created the voice of Frostbite Falls resident Rocket J. Squirrel all those years ago, and continues to perform him today at the age of 96. She recently recorded him for a short cartoon that will run in front of Dreamworks’ new Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie. (June was also the original voice of villainess Natasha in the classic cartoons.)
“June & Squirrel” was created entirely in gouache with the big circles and necklace details in colored pencil.
June had asked me earlier in the week if I had a piece in the show, and I told her, “Yes, but you will have to come see what it is.” It was thrilling that she came out to the show Saturday night, and equally thrilling that she seemed pleased, and not offended, to have been portrayed in paint.
Chad Frye with the grand dame of voice actors, June Foray.
In case you are curious, perhaps you would like to see the preliminary drawing made in the planning of the painting. I usually work out my ideas in Photoshop where this was sketched and colored. Then I print it out and trace it down onto watercolor paper where it gets the full-on traditional treatment. And no, no compass was used for all those circles. They were hand painted and painstakingly outlined in freehand with a Lilac Prismacolor pencil on the final piece.
This is the rough concept of “June & Squirrel” worked out in Photoshop.
If you are in the Los Angeles area, please swing by Van Eaton Galleries to see all the art. Some amazing creations are on display until March 15 (beware the Ides of March). My favorite is a seven foot tall sculpture of Rocky & Bullwinkle carved out of a tree with a chainsaw by artist Johnny Daniels.
A few months back, I was invited to create a fresh and tasty piece of art for an art show to be held at Van Eaton Galleries. The show opens this coming Saturday in Sherman Oaks, California. Naturally, I put it off until the last minute and finished my painting just this past weekend.
The show’s theme is “the Jay Ward Studio”. Ward was known for television shows such as “The Bullwinkle Show”, “Mr. Peabody & Sherman”, “George of the Jungle”, “Crusader Rabbit”, “Dudley Do-right” and many more. They even were responsible for television commercials and character designs for Capt. Crunch and Quisp cereals.
While I shan’t reveal the whole 13×17″ gouache and colored pencil painting today (although it IS pretty epic), I will share a snippet…
This Rocket J. Squirrel is just a smidge of my original painting in the show.
The show features the work of over 100 of my entertainment business colleagues, and promises to be memorable. All are invited to come to the opening reception THIS SATURDAY!!! Along with all the great art, they will also be hosting TWO book signings that night: Darrell Van Citters will be signing his great new book The Art of Jay Ward Productions, and Jerry Beck will be signing his new tome The Art of Dreamworks’ Mr. Peabody & Sherman.
So if you are in the Los Angeles area and want to have a good time and meet a LOT of cartoonists, come on out to the show! Details are on the poster below!
My recent trip to Eastern Europe was a river cruise tour with the Grand Circle company. (Do I get a discount on my next trip for mentioning you GC?) These tours make international travel easy because when you book your trip, they make all the arrangements: flight, meals, accommodations, and guided tours at stops along the way.
This type of travel results in being a very social experience. You are on board a ship with 150 or so other people for two weeks. In my case, it was with 150 people who were mostly 30 or more years older than I. You get to meet many single ladies, all of whom are widowed octogenarians. One woman asked me how old I was. I replied, “Young enough that I had to take time off from work to come on this trip.”
In all seriousness, I do enjoy talking with folks older than I. They have so many stories to tell filled with wisdom, humor, and life experience. When you are trapped on a ship, you have the time to hear EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of those stories.
You also have time to draw those around you. During travel time on the Danube, I would often sit in the ship’s lounge with a hot cup of coffee and pick out interesting people to sketch. Once word got around the ship that I was a cartoonist, folks wanted to look at my sketchbook. One lady saw my sketches of the other guests and said, “Please don’t draw me.”
So, below are a few of the 150 I travelled with. More travel drawings to come in the days ahead!
The lady in the lower right I nicknamed “Cruella de Vil” because not only did her look remind me of the dalmatian diva, but her behavior on the boat was pretty atrocious. It’s a good thing pets were not allowed.
I just returned from a trip to Eastern Europe where I had an amazing time touring parts of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. Naturally, I took along a sketchbook hoping to capture some of the people I encountered on my journey. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share with you some of my observations that found their way onto its pages.
First up are some faces seen on my 9+ hour flight from Los Angeles to Amsterdam on November 10. I flew on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines which, despite the name, was not very royal. Nothing was covered in gold, the seats were not lined with ermine, and there was no discernible trumpet fanfare when I entered the plane. Maybe you have to be Dutch to experience that part of the airline’s name. Had I read the fine print, I would have learned that in actuality, KLM stands for “Kramp Legs Much”.
That being said, I had a pretty good view of the lavatory line. With the exception of the smiling stewardess, these are the faces of international travelers awaiting international relief.
If the fella in front of me hadn’t put his seat back onto me, I might have had more drawings of desperate faces after one of the lavatories went out of service. Good times.
When the heavy heat visits us every summer, I light out for the beach to visit with family. Since the age of ten, I look forward to the start of every trip while each trip’s ending brings regret. This year my sister and brother-in-law dared to bring their two little sons to experience Uncle Chad. While I shall spare the details of teaching bad habits, the tale of indulging the curiosity of a two-year-old is in order.
Little Hudson is at that age where everything is a new discovery. Building things out of the ground we walked on was a novelty to him. We had some technicolor plastic molds that allowed us to create various sea creatures in the sand, all of which Hudson promptly destroyed like a mighty Godzilla rampaging Tokyo.
Hudson does have an affinity for Disney characters (he IS my nephew after all), so I set out to blow his mind. We started out piling up some sand together, and fetching water as needed. Two-year-olds being what they are, he soon lost interest in these technical aspects of beach building, and wandered off somewhere. I don’t know where. I was busy carving him a mouse.
Oh Boy! Sand can do the neatest things!
When Hudson regained interest in what Uncle Chad was doing, he took one look at it and said, “Wreck it now?” His momma said no, and we posed for a picture. You can see his enthusiasm has no boundaries.
Hudson with Uncle Chad next to the giant dismembered Mickey Mouse head in the sand. Good times.
A few days later my sister’s family departed for their home, but Mickey remained intact. Hudson never did wreck it, but neither did anyone else. A week after his rise from the shadows of the sand, Mickey lived on. Sure, he was a little weathered as any 85-year-old mouse would be, and had become home to several sand crabs who must have been Disney fans. I like to think that after I made my way back to California, Mickey continued keeping his watch over our little spot on the beach waiting to enthrall the next two-year-old to come along….
Here he is a week after being built. Nothing was going to end his existence except a “cease and desist” from Disney lawyers.
I dropped by the barber shop this past weekend with a sketchbook under my arm. Barber shops are always populated with a cross section of ages and personalities that make for an interesting time. The regulars carry on conversations and offer unsolicited opinions on just about any topic. The newer guys sit and listen participating only with facial expressions. You never know how long you will have to wait on a Saturday morning, so why not capture these moments with a pencil?
I go to Arenas’ Barber Shop on Victory Boulevard in good ol’ Burbank, CA. The shop is run by second generation barber siblings Denise and Steve Arenas whose pop got them going down the path of hair manipulation many years before. They used to work in the hair salon on the Disney Studio lot for years until current management starting eliminating some of the family atmosphere of the employment experience there, and forced out the Arenas along with other follicle folks.
Ten years ago Denise took over an old time barber shop run by an old timer named Chuck (I used to go to him, too), fixed up the joint and created a fun atmosphere for parting parts and taming tresses.
Denise will cut any hair no matter how much or how little you have.
So, the next time you get your hair cut, look around and take it all in. There are few experiences in life where complete strangers can all be the best of friends for an hour while waiting their turn for a trim before walking out the door into harsh, cold anonymity once again.
Back in 2005 I was thrilled to be asked to come on board a new show for Disney called Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I had doodled and painted the mouse just for fun for many years, even subtly sneaking him into the background of boring still life paintings that were required in college. To finally have an opportunity to work on the mouse and his pals every day as a part of my career was a privilege indeed. I put my all into the first two of Mickey‘s five seasons before moving on to other projects.
When I first walked into the party, I thought this was one of the Clubhouse toys, but it was actually a CAKE!
Well, now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company. While the last of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse‘s new episodes are being finished up, production on Clubhouse is ending. Last Wednesday the Disney Channel threw a nice party for those of us that were a part of re-introducing Mickey to a new generation.
However, Mickey is NOT going away! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will continue to air for some time, as well as new Mickey Mouse short cartoons that are being made in a retro style for the Disney Channel, and I hear rumblings that Disney Feature Animation may be making a big screen Mickey short, too.
For now though, I thought I’d share some pictures with you of the people who were responsible for bringing all that joy to your kids. Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog!
Disney Channel executive Nancy Kanter thanking the troops for a job well done in bringing Mickey back into the consciousness as an entertainer and paving the way for pre-school shows at Disney.Here I am with Kelly Ward (Putzie from “Grease” who directed the voices for our show and wrote a few episodes) and the great line producer Bradley Bowlen.Even Mickey and Minnie dropped by for the festivities. (Minnie gave me a smooch when Mickey wasn’t looking. I have that affect on large rodents.)Series music composer Mike Himelstein and director Sherie Pollack have a discussion in the foreground while Disney Channel’s Emily Hart, story editor and producer Mark Seidenberg and executive producer Rob LaDuca get ready to be filmed for a little flipbook.
There were two really neat gifts that they gave us at the party, the first were those baseball caps. Stitched onto the back of them in small lettering was “Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse!” which is always said on the show to make the Clubhouse appear. The second cool thing was the custom flipbooks! You stood in front of the white screen seen in the picture above, and they film you for seven seconds. They then instantly printed out little flipbooks of you with a special Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cover on them. It was a really great idea for an animation party!
Writer Tom Hart, story editor and producer Mark Seidenberg, composer Mike Himelstein, and writer Brian Swenlin all looking at Mark’s newly minted personal flip book.Me with Sy Thomas who was really the art director of the series, and one swell guy. Our cubicles were next to each other when I was on the show.
Did I mention it was a bowling party? The Disney Channel rented out an old 8-lane alley in Montrose, CA naturally called Montrose Bowl. The alley looks like it is still in the 1950s, and is a GREAT place for parties of a moderate size! This is where we had our first crew wrap party at the end of season 1!
Bradley Bowlen bowlin’.Bill Farmer, the voice of Pluto and Goofy, as he gets ready to throw down during a game with me. Bill must have had five or six strikes during our game.The very talented layout artist (designer of backgrounds) and amazing photographer David Beall who now works on “Family Guy”.The lovely Carmen Cano, one of the coordinators on “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”Here with editor Reid Kramer, and executive producer Rob LaDuca who I just found out was an effects artist on “Return of the Jedi” when I recently revisited the film!Parting shot with the affable and extremely talented voice artist Bill Farmer.“It’s the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Come inside, it’s fun inside!” Let me just say that the song don’t lie.
So there you have it, a few shots of some of the crew that brought Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to your television sets. It was a joy to work on, and I hope I have another chance to work with not only members of this crew again, but also with the Mouse himself.
