Category: Character Designs

Merry Christmas 2012

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date December 21, 2012

Christmas is upon us once again. Many thoughts and prayers have been with the families of Newtown, Connecticut following their unspeakable sorrow this season. When news of that tragedy crackled over the airwaves, I was putting the finishing touches on the painting for my annual Christmas card – a card with the theme of coming to Christ the Savior with a childlike faith.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

I pray this Christmas that you will hug your kids a little harder, open a Bible to Luke chapter two, and read to them the reminder of how God the Father sent his only Son as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Whether or not you are religious, let your children hear the reason for why the name of Christ is a part of the name of this holiday we hold dear.

Merry Christmas.

Frankensketch

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date October 31, 2012

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This Frankensketch came alive in one of my sketchbooks!

Well, I managed to squeeze out one more monster drawing here in what I usually dub “Monster Month”, and I leaned on my go-to guy Frankenstein. This one started as just a Prismacolor pencil sketch in my sketchbook, and I liked how he turned out so I added some watercolor right there in the book!

Yes, you purists out there will say that technically he is Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, and not actually Frankenstein. I differ with you on that, thou nay sayers! If one gives birth to a new life, they take your name. Dr. Frankenstein birthed, sort of, this creature, so by all rights he should also bear the name “Frankenstein”!

Regardless, Frankenstein has appeared a few times on the ol’ blog. In case you would like to explore my past with the big green guy, CLICK HERE to see all the Frankie posts.

Hopefully next October I’ll be back with monster art for each weekday. Until then continue to enjoy the various other art that I post here throughout the year!

Art: Drawings Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Character Designs Frankenstein Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

Beast of Burden

For the past three Octobers, I posted a new monster drawing almost daily in what I called “Monster Month”. Here we are in the middle of October, and only one person has asked me where my creatures that go bump in the night are this year. One person.

Well, Mom, it has been an extremely busy year for me working on a new television show, the occasional illustration here and there, and trying to work on a new children’s book. What it boils down to is that there has been a whole lotta art goin’ on that I can’t share on the blog for now, and the monsters I love to draw in my spare time haven’t had room to roam and groan.

That being said, yesterday I got the itch and sketched out this beleaguered beast. It was just one of those things that came out of my stylus without a plan in my head. I began with the mouth, and the rest just fell into place. Background is courtesy of Canson paper, and the art was all done in Photoshop.

It’s a hard-knocked life for him.

So, perhaps I’ll get another monster or two up on the blog before October is over for the fan who asked. The rest of you can take a look at them as well if you’d like.

Art: Drawings Art: Photoshop Art: Preliminary Sketches Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

The Asphalt Jungle

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date October 10, 2012

Last year I did a few character concepts for a potential television program set in New York City. I can’t divulge anything more than that about the project, but I can show you some of the drawings since the producers decided to go in a different direction.

I liked the way these sketches turned out. They were pencil on paper, with a splash of Photoshop color thrown in for good measure. While they all should look like they are living in the same universe with each other, hopefully they portray specific personalities with just their expressions, costumes and body language. That’s always the goal when working on good character design — unless the client wants a series of characters that are cookie cutter to each other. I’ve worked on those kinds of projects, too.

If you’ve already had your shots, enjoy the drawings!

Animals Art: Photoshop Art: Preliminary Sketches Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Care Bears – Raccoon

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date September 13, 2012

Well, since posting the squirrels I drew for the pilot episode of The Hub channel’s new Care Bears show, I thought I’d show you another critter drawn during the devlopment of the show. I really don’t know how this raccoon evolved for his existence in Care-A-Lot after my involvement, but I thought these rough sketches had a little of that Care Bears charm. Enjoy!

Animals Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook

Care Bears – SQUIRREL!

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date August 29, 2012

Back in the beginning of 2011, I was asked to help out a bit with the pilot for a new Care Bears television series. The director, Jeff Gordon (no relation to the race care driver, but he can manipulate a mean pencil) was developing it at a studio called Moonscoop for broadcast on The Hub channel. Yep, those of you with The Hub know that it has already begun to air just this past June.

One of the things Jeff asked me to do was to design a squirrel family – a mama, papa and baby squirrel. I got the ball rolling with some developmental designs for all three and took them as far as I could go before I moved on to begin working on another project for Moonscoop. The squirrel family made it into the show, and even appear in the opening titles of The Care Bears.

I thought I would show you some of my drawings of the baby squirrel. As you can see, the young toothy one went through a transformation over the four images here. I’m sure he changed even more from this to the final because the show is done in CG (computer generated).

Cuteness runs rampant in Care-A-Lot.

In case you are curious of how the squirrels turned out, you can see them in the opening title sequence of the show. Covered in turquoise fur, they only get seen from behind during the song, but make their presence known in some of the episodes. Perhaps another time I can show some other characters I drew during the development of the pilot.

Animals Character Designs Development Art Videos

The Space Cadet

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date August 10, 2012

I don’t know why. I got to doodling the other day and my mind wandered to the chiseled-chinned science fiction heroes from yesteryear. So, before you knew it, this Space Cadet came forth. It was just one of those doodles that started with the face, and without a plan in my head, it grew into this guy. Even the space gun was an afterthought. I had originally roughed in a pointing hand, but thought the point would be more authoritative with a retro spiffy space gun.

Enjoy this Space Cadet. He may be the only thing standing between you and the destruction of the planet.

Infinity and beyond doesn’t have a fighting chance with THIS guy!

Art: Drawings Art: Photoshop Character Designs

An Exercise In Vanity

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date July 30, 2012

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.

Enjoy!

Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Caricature Character Designs Self Portrait