This past weekend I attended the birthday party of a friend. A few weeks before, she had told me a story of how a few years back she was on a quest to get a pink Eeyore doll that The Disney Store had produced. She had told several friends about it, and then within a day, she was given multiple copies of the pink plush. D’oh!
As her birthday approached, this story had stuck in my head, so I went ahead and made Lauren a picture of more of the gang in this off-model color. Well, all were off except, of course, little Piglet who felt right at home in the color.
Someone must have washed them together with a red shirt.
While the above piece is a traditional watercolor and colored pencil painting, just for kicks for those of you who enjoy seeing more of the process, I’m including the original rough sketch that I did in Photoshop. I cleaned things up when I traced this rough onto the final watercolor paper.
Pink Pooh. Sounds like a medical problem, doesn’t it?
I woke up this morning oblivious to the fact that today is a milestone in the life of cartoonist Sergio Aragonès. Today is his 80th birthday!!! I read about it online. The reason for not realizing that today Sergio is 80 is because he seems like a man twenty years younger creating wonderful whimsical drawings more common for a man fifty years younger!!!!
Sergio is a cartoonists cartoonist. He’s the guy we all would like to be professionally speaking – prolific and hilarious. I also like to think of him as the Hemingway of cartoonists. He is a man who has lived a life of adventure around the world. He has the BEST stories of where he has been, and what has happened in those locales. They are absolutely amazing (and have cropped up in his comics from time to time). “The world’s most interesting man” is an amateur compared to Sergio.
I first met Sergio at a National Cartoonists Society gathering in New York City in 1996. The next year I moved to California where seeing Sergio became a regular thing, and a friendship ensued. I became involved with a Los Angeles based professional cartoonist organization called the Comic Art Professional Society, otherwise known as CAPS. Sergio was one of its co-founders and biggest cheerleader.
Ten years ago, CAPS established The Sergio Award, unbeknownst to Sergio himself. The first recipient at a banquet was Sergio’s fellow MAD Magazine artist Jack Davis. After Jack was given an award, CAPS gave one to Sergio as well. All the artists in the room were aware there would be two awards that night except for Sergio. We all had drawn tribute art to Sergio that was published in a second secret program book that was handed out when the award was being presented. Below is the piece I did for Sergio featuring his popular comic book characters Groo the Wanderer and his dog Rufferto.
I drew this at the time I was working on the show “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”
The very next year after that banquet, it was the 25th anniversary of the Groo the Wanderer comic book. While drawn by Sergio, it is written by one of CAPS’ other co-founders Mark Evanier. The gang at CAPS each drew their own version of Groo which was put together in a big jam drawing and was published in the pages of San Diego Comic Con’s program book that year. Some of the folks who contributed their own version of Groo included illustrator William Stout, Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker, Momma comic strip artist Mell Lazarus, current MAD Magazine editor Bill Morrison, Mulan director Tony Bancroft, children’s book illustrator Mark Fearing, Usagi Yojimbo comic book artist Stan Sakai, and comic book legend Dan Spiegle to name a few.
A gaggle of Groos created for San Diego Comic Con’s program book in 2007.
Of course, I contributed one to the above composition. Can you find it in the crowd?
This is my take on Sergio’s Groo for CAPS.
Well, all this was written just to honor the man of the hour by saying a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sergio!
The other day when wondering what I could sketch, it dawned on me that I hadn’t done a caricature in a while. Disney’s Moana was on my brain, and the voice of Maui, Dwayne Johnson, popped into my head as a possible subject. He’s got those great big muscles that most fellas don’t have, and such a gregarious personality. It was quickly decided that I should flex my own seldom-used caricature muscles to work out a drawing.
So, here is Dwayne Johnson with his own tribal tattoo converted to represent Maui and Moana. I noticed that Dwayne has a bull tattoo on his other arm, so I Disneyfied that one, too, by making it a tattoo of Ferdinand the bull from one of my favorite old Disney shorts.
You’re welcome.
If you would like to see the original rough sketch I did of Dwayne for this final drawing, come follow me on Facebook! It has been posted there as an exclusive. Just CLICK HERE to go to the page!
I realized a little late that today, July 7, 2017, is exactly my 20th anniversary of working in Hollywood!
My professional art career really began in 1991 when I started illustrating my first children’s book, and my career in animation actually started in 1994 back in South Carolina for a small cinder block studio behind a car wash working on computer games (anyone remember King’s Quest VII?). When that studio folded, I spent a couple of years illustrating children’s books before the lure of year-round sunshine and Mickey Mouse came calling.
Just look at that clean-shaven face all full of youthful enthusiasm.
In the summer of 1997, a fresh-faced young Chad made the move to CA with eyes bright and wide to work for Disney where his first project was behind-the-scenes on Mulan. (My shirt is correct – my first Disney boss was Walt Sturrock who had hired me.) I remember flying out on a Friday, and had the weekend to start looking for an apartment. When Monday morning rolled around, I started work.
That first month was tough. I lived out of the Burbank Hilton (now the Marriott), worked by day, apartment hunted at night, and somewhere in between I illustrated the cover for a book I was still under contract to produce. Yep, set up a make-shift studio in my hotel room complete with an airbrush compressor. (I also remember being robbed in that hotel room, and the Hilton did absolutely nothing to compensate me for the items stolen from my dresser – one item being my favorite Mickey Mouse watch. Haven’t stayed in a Hilton since.)
While my time at Disney was almost ten years collectively, other studios also found use for my abilities. Eleven feature films, three television series, several DVDs, many web cartoons, and even a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade have encompassed the past twenty years! It has just flown by! With my slate currently open, I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds!
Spider-man Homecoming is the big new movie this coming weekend, and I am especially excited to hear the music written for the film. Past Spider-man movies have set a very high bar for exciting compositions from some of film music’s best composers such as Danny Elfman, Christopher Young, James Horner, and Hans Zimmer. No doubt this latest iteration of the web slinger will meet that bar and possibly exceed it with music slung by Michael Giacchino!
Giacchino is the perfect choice to bring something fresh and exciting to a character that Disney/Marvel hopes to make cinematically fresh and exciting again. This project comes after a year where the composer has set his own personal bar very high with amazing work for films that include Zootopia, Star Trek Beyond, Doctor Strange, Star Wars: Rogue One, and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes.
So, in anticipation of some thrilling musical delights, I present to you my latest inked and watercolored piece called “Giacchino-man!”
Spins a musical web – any size!
By the way, those musical notes are from the opening of the original Spider-man TV show theme song from the 1970s. 😉
Here in the United States, today is our Memorial Day. It is a day we honor our fallen warriors who gave their lives in the service of our country no matter which war over the course of our country’s history. We are grateful to all our veterans and heartily applaud them for their service today and especially on Veterans Day (which will be November 11 this year), but today is the solemn remembrance of those who gave their lives in service.
When I worked for Disney Feature Animation a few years back, our country entered into war after the events in New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. It was a scary time, not knowing if other parts of our country were also going to be attacked. We had received word that possibly the movie studios in Hollywood could be attacked, and security got really tight for a while with bomb sniffing dogs, checking all employee cars for bombs in trunks and underneath, and etc. We were appreciative of the troops that were being sent to the Middle East to try to prevent such a thing from happening again.
During that time, the studio put forth an effort to have employees draw, make cards, and participate in care packages being sent to our troops. I was asked to create a poster in support of these efforts. This Goofy image is what I came up with, and it was on display in the lobby of Feature Animation in Burbank, CA, for a while.
For those of you who are interested in art creation, Goofy was painted in gouache paint with colored pencils. Tanks and helicopters were inked on paper, then the rest was painted and assembled in Photoshop.
I was extremely honored to be asked to do it, and did so with an eye on the old posters for World War II. It was my goal to stir folks into helping out by hearkening back to the sacrifice many Americans made during that daunting time in our history. No one knew how long our latest efforts would take. Unfortunately, those efforts continue today, but we also continue to SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
A little close-up of Goofy.
Two years ago I was fortunate to visit the Middle East and Africa with several of my cartoonist mates as we traveled with the USO to bring a few smiles to our soldiers. We visited with many of them listening to their stories while drawing for them. We brought to them a little piece of home, and they brought to us the realities of war. It was a sobering time that I shall never forget. (CLICK HERE to see previous posts of that trip here on the ol’ blog.)
I mention that because I brought this Goofy along with me on that trip. The USO printed up cards that each of us could give to the soldiers as a little memento of our visit, and this was the image that graced my cards. The cards brought many smiles to the folks overseas, and hopefully reminded them of all of us over here in the States.
One of the posters in the Middle East advertising the arrival of we cartoonists coming to visit with the soldiers.
On this Memorial Day, thank you to all the soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and I wish comfort to those they left behind. I thank our veterans for their service, thinking especially of my father, David Frye, who served during the Vietnam War. And thank you to the thousands of you serving today in some pretty rough places in this world. After having spent just a few days in some of those places with you, I came away with a greater appreciation for what it is you do and where you have do it.
No matter how tough things get in life, I always try to keep this passage from the Bible close to my heart:
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Here we are at the end of the week, which means we have come to the final post in this step-by-step explanation of my Indiana Jones and Rocketeer dynamic duo. Once again, if you are just joining this party, perhaps you should start back at Step 1 to truly understand the anatomy of this painting. CLICK HERE to do so.
STEP 5
While Indy and the Rocketeer were outlined with a black Prismacolor pencil, the nuances of their inner details utilized many colors. Lilac, parma violet, deco yellow, violet, cream, sand, some greens, various reds, pinks, and maybe more not coming to mind right now. The point is, colors are important to the success of the piece!
Take for instance this close look at the Rocketeer. There are so many colors working together to create his details. See the lighter highlights on his flight jacket? That’s deco pink! The same deco pink creating highlights on his hands and on his pants. It was a nice gentle light color that also happened to tie him in with the colors around him on the background. You need your figures to look like they belong in their setting, and to do that is to use the same colors as would happen in real life with the idea of reflected light. (I’m not going into a deep explanation of reflected light, but you can look it up.)
The ONLY white used directly on this painting was for the bright highlights on the Rocketeer’s helmet and jacket buttons, and a little on Indy’s teeth. No white is in the Rocketeer’s eye pieces – that’s just a light green in there.The man with the hat ready for his close-up.
And with that, the piece is all done! Here is a scan (not a photo this time) of the final art ready to be framed and hung in a gallery.
Whew! All done!
THE SHOW
On April 22, the Rocketeer art show opened at Creature Features in Burbank, CA. There were MANY great pieces created in all mediums such as oil paint, sculpture, latex, metal work, vinyl, watercolor, marker, acrylic, ink, and the ever popular digital media.
Film score composer Christopher Young dropped by to check out the show!My old friend from our days in New Jersey, Walt Sturrock, who is also an amazing painter. We even worked together at Disney for six years.A wide shot of one of the gallery rooms at Creature Features with everyone enjoying the show.
FOR SALE
ORIGINAL 18X24″ WATERCOLOR & COLORED PENCIL ILLUSTRATION –$1,750.00
Yesterday I finished explaining the painting stage of this Rocketeer/Indiana Jones mash-up illustration. Today begins the explanation of incorporating colored pencil into the piece. This is when the details begin to come forth. If you are just joining our discussion, perhaps you should start with the first post for context. CLICK HERE to start at the beginning!
STEP 4
With the painting portion all done, and the focus having been on the central characters for a while, let’s look at our supporting cast – the Nazis. Now, I’m not in favor of glamorizing Nazis, but I sure don’t have a problem with showing them about to get their hindquarters kicked by a couple of legendary heroes. All that red paint has hidden our villains of the piece, so it is time to bring them back so our heroes can see who they are about to beat down.
I use Prismacolor colored pencils in my work. They sure are expensive. I remember when they were about 50¢ per pencil, while these days it can be $1.50-2.00 each! I buy mine in bulk which helps get the price down, and am happy to utilize rebates that Prismacolor often offers, but they are still very pricey even with discounts.
To get the Nazis going, I chose a violet pencil. Ultimately this color didn’t stand out enough on the red background, so I went over the lines later with a darker violet blue pencil. Using a purple color on the soldiers helps to tie the piece together with the central characters who, as you may recall from yesterday’s tutorial, were shaded with purple paint.
The original pencil lines under the red paint were just visible enough to be easily followed with the dark purple colored pencils used to outline the soldiers.
Once the soldiers were outlined, two pencils were used for the highlights. White? Nope, white wasn’t one of them, though your eye may think there is white in there. Working from back to front, I started with a nectar colored pencil, then lightly applied deco rose for some brighter spots. Both are shades of pink, and worked well against that red BG.
You can really appreciate the texture of the paper when in the colored pencil phase. It almost has a quality of oil pastels, but is less messy.
In keeping the soldiers primarily the red of the background, using these two highlight pencils makes it feel like you are sculpting the characters out of the scene. You are bringing them forth from the flatness of the paper by giving them a bit of dimensionality with well placed tones.
Here’s the piece with all the soldiers completed with their highlights.
And just like that you have a Nazi army poised to cause trouble. Our heroes aren’t quite ready to respond in kind to their imposing enemy. They are still locked in the realm of nebulous paint. They require some definition, too.
Originally I was going to outline Indy and the Rocketeer with a really dark purple pencil called black grape, but when I started using that, their outlines looked a little foggy. There wasn’t enough contrast between the outlines with the color of the BG. I hesitate to use black pencil for outlining in a painting, but it was the only color darker that would work with the color choices in the piece. The lines needed to really pop not only because of that intense red, but because I was thinking about Dave Stevens’ masterful inking in his comics and wished to channel a little of that sensibility.
The heroes now have their outlines, and are ready for their interior pencil work.
Come back tomorrow for the final step that finishes up our heroes, and to see a couple shots of opening night at the Rocketeer art show in the gallery at Creature Features!
