“If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.”
– Epictetus (55 – 135)
It really is an interrogation – not some twisted version of “pull my finger.”
It is hard to believe, but the last Drawn & Quoted column was posted way back in June of 2010! It is high time to resurrect these combinations of quotes by famous people with drawings that relate to their words of wisdom in some way. I say “some way” because some drawings have been straight forward while others have travelled the path of the sick and twisted. If you would like to see any of the previous Drawn & Quoted columns, just CLICK HERE!
First, let me extend a hearty THANK YOU to those of you who may have given TIM a financial pledge in the past few days on Kickstarter! Over the weekend, we jumped up over $5000 in pledges!
Today I wanted to share some thoughts with you about the art that has been the face of my film from the beginning. Appropriately, it was also the first painting I did in the development of TIM. My producing partner Brian Joseph Ochab and I needed something that could very quickly say what our project was all about while invoking the spirit of the animated projects of Tim Burton.
Chad Frye at his drafting desk working on an original watercolor painting for “TIM”.
Anyone familiar with those Burton produced films can easily see in this piece the influence primarily from The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it may feel as though it is directly out of that movie, I was careful to put my own hand in it. Brian and I did sit and watch Nightmare together, and while sitting there in front of the television with a sketchbook in my lap, the following extremely rough drawing spilled forth:
1. The first rough sketch. Notice the double moons? I was undecided on how large it should be and where it should go.
Drawings such as the one above are quick brain blorts of mine. It was probably whipped out in about a minute or two just to quickly get a visual idea on paper. That image mulled in my head for a few days to the point where it felt like there might be an idea there needing to be developed further. So, I grabbed my sketchbook again and did the following drawing:
2. The second pass at this idea, still just a sketchbook drawing.
It still wasn’t quite right, but that was it! Later I sat down at my drafting table and worked on a large tight pencil drawing on tracing paper choosing a low vantage point looking up at the cemetery gate and moon, add in a couple of jack-o-lanterns, and finesse the whole scene. You can see that originally I intended to include even more jack-o-lanterns than what appeared in the final, but later while working on the painting, they just felt excessive.
3. The final actual size pencil drawing with all the details worked out.
From that final pencil drawing, I created the watercolor painting with a limited creepy color palette. That low vantage point was intentionally designed so that your eye is guided right up there to the title of the film, but also the use and placement of color and lighting was to achieve that same end result. Colored pencils were used to further tie things up and accent other details.
4. The final watercolored painting along with the tagline direct from our script.
When I go to a museum to look at paintings, I love getting my nose up as close as I can without setting off alarms so that I can really see the details of what the artist had done. With that idea in mind, here are a few close-ups of the final painting. Enjoy!
The angel statue is a direct homage to the angel that “catches” Jack Skellington in Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas.”You can really see how the colored pencil was utilized in the piece from this close-up.And a close-up view of a jack-o-lantern showing every gritty paint and pencil stroke.
TIM is still very much in need of every pledge small and large if we are to reach our goal by March 29. If we don’t reach that goal, then all those fine and generous pledges will not be able to be fulfilled. The fate of our film is in YOUR hands! Click on any of the images above to come support TIM!
Welcome to another fine addition to my Tuesdays with TIM posts showing you some of the artwork created in the development of this exciting short film project I’ve been working on with my producing partner Brian Joseph Ochab!
When trying to develop the visual style of TIM in early 2010, we didn’t wish to stray from the visuals of Tim Burton’s creepy animated films. We wanted to channel the look of Burton’s 1982 short Vincent while combining it with the visual sophistication of films like Corpse Bride and Henry Selick’s Coraline. Vincent was in black and white, and had a certain economy of scenery that was inexpensive to produce yet visually compelling. The latter films incorporated color and style to their imagery that just captures the imagination.
A close-up of Timothy Todd from the development painting below.
So, with visions of the macabre dancing in my head, I grabbed my sketchbook and started to draw various scenes based on lines in the script. We chose a couple of them to illustrate, and I got to work on this particular piece.
This is the rough sketch from my sketchbook inspired by a few lines from the script where Timothy Todd can only see ghosts and ghouls when channeling his hero.
Yes, the art below is a genuine old school painting in real life. I created it primarily in watercolor, and incorporated the use of colored pencils just a tad. I really love the watercolor medium, and use it often for my development art on this film. I think the uneven nature of it helps give a certain tactile feeling to each scene, and helps give the viewer a certain uneasiness with the creepy subject matter.
The final watercolor painting of Timothy Todd lost in the world of his imagination.
If you would like to hear Christopher Lee’s narration that goes with this piece, we feature it in our promo film over on Kickstarter. If you watch it long enough, there’s even a quick shot of me working on this very painting. You can go there right now by clicking on www.TIMtheMovie.com.
If you go to Kickstarter, please consider pledging some money to us so that we can actually make this film. We are in our final month of fundraising. I know at the $100 level, one of the things you’ll receive is a special limited edition print of one of my paintings. We have a few to choose from, so the print might even be of this particular painting.
Come back again next Tuesday for more revelations about TIM the movie! And come join the TIM Facebook page by CLICKING HERE!
Well, today over on the TIM the Movie Facebook page, we have just unveiled a contest to win the original art seen here! This drawing was inspired by something in our script that I was working on this past week with my pal and Director Brian Joseph Ochab. I created the 8.5×11″ drawing over the weekend with black and purple Prismacolor pencils on some nice textured paper, and both Brian and I signed it for whichever one of you may possibly win it!
Below the art are all the rules about how you can win this art! Enjoy!
Nothing excites a young goth lad like a shrunken zombie head I always say.
Welcome to the first ever TIM the Movie spectacular contest!!
The prize? We’ve gone all out to create a very special one-of-a-kind original pencil drawing by TIM’s co-Producer/Art Director Chad Frye signed by both Chad AND Writer/Director Brian Joseph Ochab worth $350!* It’s a drawing of our lead character Timothy Todd dressed as his hero while gleefully holding a shrunken zombie head.
To be entered into a drawing to win the, ahem, drawing, all you need to do is to make a monetary pledge of $10 or more to our film through Kickstarter between now and Thursday night, 11:59pm Pacific time on February 24th! The contest is open to ANYONE who makes a NEW pledge during the contest period, so the odds of winning the drawing are up to how many of you participate!!
And the best part of it is the drawing will be sent to the lucky winner NEXT WEEK – you won’t have to wait until our fund drive is over on March 29th like you do for the other Kickstarter rewards.
Here are the only two things you need to do to enter the contest:
1. Go to http://www.TIMtheMovie.com and make a monetary pledge to our film there on Kickstarter for $10 or more. You will be eligible for whatever rewards package you choose from the list, plus be entered in this special contest.
2. After making your pledge, you must send an e-mail with “TIM CONTEST” in the subject line to: WonderMotionStudios@gmail.com and tell us:
• your name
• your Kickstarter screen name
• and an e-mail address where we can notify you if you are the winner.
Keep in mind that these are just pledges. You are not charged any money right away. When you make a pledge on Kickstarter, you are only charged at the end of the pledge drive IF we have raised our total amount by that time.
The contest ends promptly at 11:59pm Pacific time Thursday evening, February 24th after which time one winner will be randomly chosen from among all the new pledges. The winner will be contacted to see where we need to send the original art!
Last Tuesday I unveiled to you the news about a short animated film I am art directing and co-producing (with my friend Brian Joseph Ochab) called TIM. If you missed that post, you can CLICK HERE to get caught up. The short summary is that it is a parody of Tim Burton’s early stop-motion animated short Vincent in which a little boy named Vincent Malloy tries to emulate his hero, master of the macabre Vincent Price. In TIM, the young Timothy Todd wishes to be just like Tim Burton.
Today’s Tuesdays with TIM features a piece of visual development art I created of the star of my film, Timothy Todd, dressed as his hero, Tim Burton. I believe this is the first version of him in color, and he continues to go through changes as we proceed with developing the film. I painted him with watercolors, and a touch of colored pencil. And no, the website address isn’t on the actual art. We just want folks to be aware of where they can go for more information about the film. (If you click right on the image, it will take you there.)
“He was really quite normal, but longed to be odd…”
The other news since last week is that we now have a special fan page on Facebook for TIM, and it is growing strong! In just a week’s time, almost 1000 of you have “Liked” us! If you would like to get a steady stream of updates on TIM, come join the fan page! Click on www.facebook.com/Timthemovie and you’ll go right there!
And lastly, in order for us to see this film to completion, we need YOUR help! Come check us out on Kickstarter.com to see what kind of neat goodies we are offering you in thanks for your financial support. You can see our Kickstarter promo movie featuring our narrator Christopher Lee by CLICKING HERE!
Come back next Tuesday when I plan to show you more goodies!
Just before the holidays, actor Daniel Roebuck called me up to ask if I’d be able to help with the poster art for a local theater production he was producing, directing and acting in, Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys. I have a vague recollection of the George Burns/Walter Matthau film version from some Saturday afternoon television airing in my youth, and thought the assignment might be a fun one.
The story focuses on two elderly actors who had hit their prime as young men in the days of vaudeville. Daniel wanted the image to show the two lead actors as they are now in their twilight years, and also show them from their bygone days of the stage all while expressing that the play is a comedy.
A very stylized version of actors Daniel Roebuck and Jim Roope as young vaudevillians on the left with their elder counterparts looking down.
In researching old posters to elicit a nostalgic feel, I stumbled across a great French poster for The Marx Brothers movie A Night At the Opera. It provided a style and layout that would fit the needs of the play perfectly! I don’t often follow another artist’s vision so closely as I did this time, but I figured “why not?” After all, the French artist liberally “borrowed” his caricatures from the great American artist Al Hirschfeld.
A 1936 French poster for the Marx Bros. famous film “A Night At the Opera” that is clearly based on the caricatures of Al Hirschfeld.
I believe the art will also serve as the cover of the program. If you’d like to get your own copy, Dan Roebuck’s play opens tonight in Burbank, CA and will be playing for two weekends (January 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15) as a fundraiser. If you are interested in seeing the production, tickets are available by calling (818) 504-4400.
Well, another year has come and gone. Living here in Los Angeles, Christmas has a way of sneaking up on you. I blame the weather. Sure, we have had some frigid temperatures here of 40º, but usually that’s at night for a week here or there. As I write this, it is 2:30am and only 52º outside right now. So, not having cold winters gives Christmas a chance to tip-toe up through December without one being entirely aware.
That being said, I am a bit behind in getting my Christmas card art created. With having some recent freelance, then being sick for a week, it was looking like the card might not happen this year. That would have been a personal tragedy because if memory serves, I have prepared a fresh & tasty original Christmas card every year since 1995.
I know what you are thinking. “If you know Christmas comes every year, why don’t you do the art in August?” My answer to that is, “If you think warm LA winters hurt the mood of the holidays, try dreaming of a white Christmas in August!”
That being said, I finished the art on December 18 by the hair of my chinny chin chin. This year inspiration came by way of the great Christmas hymn O Come All Ye Faithful. It was originally written in Latin, but thankfully years later it was translated into English. (I spared you the Latin.) Set to a soul-stirring melody, the verses of this song celebrate the story of Christ’s birth and what it means to those who trust in Christ – the “faithful” to whom the song speaks. Also included is the Bible passage found in Matthew 11:28-30 that seems to compliment the message of the song nicely.
So, presented to you here is my 2010 Christmas card celebrating the birth of Christ whose sole purpose was to die for the sins of man. Can you truly be counted among “the faithful”? It is my prayer that you and yours may experience the joy of Christ this Christmas by trusting in Him.
Last year, as part of my Drawn & Quoted series, I created a pencil drawing of a wide-eyed fuzzy monster that just exuded optimism (If you’d like to see it again, just CLICK HERE!) It received wonderful reaction from folks. It is fun to know that such a positive pencil drawing elicited such a positive response. I got to thinking that perhaps this purveyor of positiveness should see the light of day in full color!
So, fresh from my drafting table just today comes this turquoise Joyful Beast in living watercolor paint and colored pencil:
The pessimist in me thinks the monster is noticing his own reflection in the mirror, while the hopeful optimist in me thinks he’s met his perfect match. What do YOU think is floating his boat? Leave a comment!
Well, here we are – Day 31 of 31 days of Monster Month – a fresh and tasty brand new monster drawing each day in the month of October. I truly hope you have enjoyed looking at each creature as much as I have enjoyed creating them. There will be other monsters here on the blog now and then along with other art that keeps me busy, so please visit again to see what is new!
