Category: Character Designs

O Come All Ye Faithful

Here we are a week away from Christmas. I usually make my own Christmas card every year, but the past three months have had my head spinning, which resulted in a lack of a new card for this year. If you saw my last post, you know what has been occupying my drawing time. So, I thought I’d reach into the ol’ archives to share with you one that I like that was created for 2010.

This is a special one. It’s not often that I illustrate tons of people into a piece, but I was able to include a special couple that mean a lot to me. Kind of in the middle top area, you’ll see a portrayal of Evelyn and Carl Boone. They are not related to me by blood, but have been surrogate grandparents to me since I was born. They are Grandma & Grandpa Boone to me. Grandma passed away a few years ago now, and Grandpa is still a blessing to those who know him at the age of 92. He has always been a wonderful purveyor of biblical advice when one needs it most – a man who has put Christ first through many days both joyful and difficult. While I’m sure he had his days, I never once heard him complain over many years of looking after Grandma. He is the very definition of one who has been faithful both to his Lord, and to his wife and family. There are many generations of Boones and Fryes who love and appreciate him.

So, this piece of art has a bit of a personal story to it. Oh, and yes, that’s a self-portrait in the upper right side, too. 🙂

May you and yours have a blessed Christmas, and I pray that if you have not made Christ the focus of your life (John 3:16), that you will do so and join those who can be truly counted as the faithful.

 

O Come All Ye FaithfulO Come All Ye Faithful lyrics

 

And just in case you were wondering, it is drawn with colored pencil, watercolored with a non-permanent ink, and color tinted in Photoshop.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Photoshop Art: Watercolor Bible Art Caricature Character Designs Illustrations Self Portrait

New & Improved!

Lately the bulk of my time has been spent at The Third Floor company where I have been working as a storyboard artist on a film. It has been tough to set some time aside for other projects between the day gig and preparations for Christmas. However, I have been helping out an old friend from my Disney days in redesigning a character I first came up with for his online traffic school, ComedyTrafficSchool.com.

Yes folks, Captain Traffic is back, and better than before! My pal Brett Drogmund first asked me to develop this character as a mascot for his then brand new company at least 15 years ago. My drawings have graced his website (and the side of a car) ever since then. (You can read about it HERE!) But it was time to update this road warrior with a more contemporary look.

While staying true to the cheesy essence of the good captain, I made him more sleek and sophisticated in his coloring style. This is the first drawing in a series of them I am working on, and it just so happens to currently be on ComedyTrafficSchool.com’s homepage right this very moment!

 

Captain Traffic – the hero of every traffic violator’s sentencing.
Categories
Art: Painting Art: Photoshop Character Designs Illustrations

2017 Monster Month: Day 22 – Coming & Going

Beware the fire “breathing” dragon that is dangerous both as he comes and as he goes, so to speak.

 

If that was the bluebird of happiness, we’re in trouble.

 

And thus concludes Monster Month for 2017. Twenty-two beasties from my drafting table to your eyes. I hope you enjoyed them once again. These are always fun for me to draw, and almost all were drawn just for fun.

As always, I am available to be hired should you have a project requiring my abilities, whether it is a monster or something else. There is plenty of variety of subject matter on my blog, and also over on Instagram where I post regularly, too! I’m chadfrye_illustrationguy over there.

I can be reached at chad@chadfrye.com with serious inquiries. I have illustrated children’s books, magazine articles, and regularly work in animation as a character designer and storyboard artist.

Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Photoshop Character Designs Illustrations Monsters

2017 Monster Month: Day 21 – Russian Rascal

You’ve seen several Monster Month posts this year of sketches and drawings I did while nestled in the cold cockles of the heart of a Russian winter last January. I got to thinking that none of those monsters seemed particularly Russian in their design. So, I grabbed my trusty brush pen and white paint (with some red accents), and created this Russian Rascal on some Canson paper for the eve of Halloween!

 

Truly, the only real monster here is the cruelty of a Russian winter.

 

Come back tomorrow to see the grand conclusion of this year’s MONSTER MONTH!!

Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Character Designs Illustrations Monsters

2017 Monster Month: Day 20 – The Job Interview

You know those job interviews where the interviewer can just tell by looking at the applicant that they wouldn’t be a good fit in their office environment? Yeah, this is THAT guy.

It just seemed funny to me that this monster thinks he is being turned down for his tattoo, when really it is likely due to the fact that he won’t be able to fit into a cubical, or control his oral excretions.

There’s also probably several folks whose dander allergies would be set off working side-by-side with Norman. (He just looks like a Norman, doesn’t he?) Anyway, he was accomplished traditionally in ink, watercolor, and gouache paint.

 

Human Resources – HUMAN. Not Monster Resources.
Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Cartoons Character Designs Illustrations Monsters

2017 Monster Month: Day 19 – Coffee Monsters

Today you don’t get just one, not two, but THREE monsters for the price of admission!! How about that, huh?!

These are three monsters that I drew in just good ol’ ink for some folks who worked at LA Studios in Hollywood when I worked there on the movie Animal Crackers a couple of years ago (the TRAILER is out now). LA Studios is really a posh recording studio, but our Blue Dream Studios production was in some spare offices on the second floor where we were working on story. Two of the folks these cards went to worked the kitchen and would make drinks for us, as well as for the actors and folks who came in to record in the many studios they have there. Many a time I was made a frothy coffee or a special iced tea. The third was for the valet. While employees like me parked down the street in a lot, I enjoyed the daily conversations with Brandon, and made him a card, too.

Since giving them the cards, I decided to go back this month and do a bit of shading on them. No, I didn’t ask for the cards back. I kept scans of the art, painted the shading on new watercolor paper, then married the two in Photoshop.

And why do I call this post “Coffee Monsters?” The paint was COFFEE! Genuine liquid coffee. Creme BrĂ»lĂ©e coffee to be precise (don’t lick your screen). You can actually see some of the grinds in the paint within the characters. A former drawing teacher of mine when I worked at Disney, Walt Stanchfield, sometimes would show us paintings he would do with coffee when he was in diners. He’d illustrate other customers and shade them with his coffee. I never did try it until now. Kind of a fun experiment!

 

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Character Designs Monsters

2017 Monster Month: Day 18 – Snot Monster Redux

Again I am revisiting a monster from last year in this new version. Remember the Snot Monster from last year’s Monster Month? He just stood there with a schnoz ready to blow. After I did that drawing, I thought of an fun application to draw him again, though slightly more cartoony.

I was writing a letter to a good friend, and decided to have some fun on the back of the envelope. Yep, that little snot monster seemed like a perfect choice to help seal the envelope shut. Good times.

 

That’s not an envelope you’d want to lick.
Categories
Art: Inking Art: Watercolor Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles

2017 Monster Month: Day 17 – Hipster Frankies

Last year my Hipster Frankenstein debuted on the ol’ blog. (CLICK HERE if you need a reminder.) When a drawing like that is born, it comes from reflective study. One does not often just spit out a sketch and there it is. Several sketches are explored to find the perfect look for what the artist is trying to achieve. Thus was the case with ol’ Frankie.

So, here is a page from the sketchbook where Frankenstein’s monster was sketched in a variety of ways looking for that perfect hipster persona to apply to the creature. A whole page of Frankies, each unique in their own way, and none exactly like the final one from last year. These were necessary to inspire the final look.

 

Look, they really are drawn in my sketchbook!
Categories
Art: Inking Character Designs Frankenstein Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook