The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyIf only all bears would just befriend some bees, honey acquisition might be a friendlier prospect.
A little traditionally inked sketch from my sketchbook with some color added later in Photoshop.
– John Wayne (1907 – 1979)
Alright, Pilgrims, show some love to those dads out there today because it’s Father’s Day!
This is the first Father’s Day without my pop. Got to thinking about him, and his favorite actor was John Wayne. Dad watched all his movies, and in particular, he loved the westerns. It’s no wonder, growing up in Arizona, Pop had a bit of the cowboy spirit about him, and John Wayne was the ultimate example – the epitome of manliness with the right amount of sentiment. While my dad ended up working in the world of business in the shadow of New York City, he always maintained a touch of cowboy just underneath the surface.
So, call up your dads today, give them a big ol’ “HOWDY,” and make sure they know how much you appreciate how they protected and herded you and the rest of the family over the years.
I was pleased to find out recently from an article on Indiewire that a movie I worked on five years ago is finally going to be seen here in the States. Netflix has acquired distribution rights to the film Animal Crackers!
Super fun story, character designs by Carter Goodrich, and an amazing cast of John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Ian McKellen, Patrick Warburton, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn (inconceivable!), Raven-Symonè, Gilbert Godfried, and more! Congrats to directors Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft!
To see the article that talks about the Netflix deal, CLICK HERE!
Oh, and in case you are wondering, my duties were served as the storyboard revisionist for the movie. As an independent film, they had hired storyboard artists from all over the country who each worked from home. I was the in-house guy working with Tony to help make the boards smooth where needed, and changes on the fly as was desired.
It was great fun not only for the project itself, but we worked out of offices at LA Studios, a voice recording studio in Los Angeles. That meant you never knew from day to day who you might bump into in the halls that had come in to record for any number of movie, TV, or gaming studios’ projects. Might have been the most fun three month gig I ever had!
Earlier this year, I received an assignment from Clubhouse Magazine, a magazine for kids published by Focus on the Family. They wanted a boy exercising the old school activity of writing a physical letter to help advertise Clubhouse‘s summer pen pal program for kids!
So, a little watercolor paint and colored pencil later, here it is as seen on the back cover of the May 2020 issue of the magazine, then my own scan of the original art.
Why the long face?
This sketch came about in a strange way. I just decided to see if I could fit three faces on the height of one page in my sketchbook. Mystery solved. I did it.
I have been working on something over the past five months that I haven’t talked much about publicly, but today is the day to unveil it. The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) asked me to run their annual illustration competition this year, known as Illustration West. This is the 59th consecutive year of this contest, and I am honored that they have entrusted it to me.
So, as the Show Chair of Illustration West 59, I am pleased to announce that today is our launch of the Call For Entries!! Folks around the globe may visit IllustrationWest.org to see our amazing list of judges comprised of award-winning and highly respected leaders of the illustration industry, review the many categories they may enter, and check out the requirements for submissions.
I was also invited by SILA to create this year’s Call For Entries poster, which was thrilling and a little intimidating. I decided to work up a spoof of monster movie posters from the 1950s, setting it firmly in Los Angeles where our contest takes place!
I wanted to give a special shout-out to my buddy Andy Heckathorne for donating his graphic design skills to creating the type for the poster. It lends just the right touch of vintage monster movie nostalgia to the image!
I am absolutely thrilled with the people who agreed to be judges this year. While you can go to the Illustration West website to read all about them and see samples of their work, I’m more than happy to share with you the list right now:
The deadline for our call for entries is October 31, 2020, after which our judges will be busy reviewing the submissions in November, leading to a physical art show in Los Angeles in February 2021 where the winners will be revealed!
My thanks to everyone on our judging committee, and for my fellow SILA board members and staff who have been involved in helping to get the contest this far!
If interested in joining SILA, or just to learn more about this arts organization that was founded in 1953, visit their website si-la.org.
Just last night, I got to thinking about how Norman Rockwell depicted Easter morning back in 1959, and then kind of wondered what Easter morning 2020 was going to be like during the coronavirus scare with most churches around the U.S. live-streaming their services through the computer to their congregations’ homes. Church together in jammies! Thus the explanation for my sketch down beneath Mr. Rockwell’s.
Hope everyone is staying healthy! And much love and thanks to all those healthcare professionals who have been looking out for everyone, often at the risk of their own good health!
