Had some time between storyboards the other day to just let my mind and hand wander. This was the result.
Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Cartoons Character Designs Illustrations
Category: Illustrations
I’m still playing around with some digital brushes in Photoshop, and recently worked up this painted sketch with a gouache look.
It’s kind of fun trying to play around with broad strokes and tones rather than the endless noodling I do when I paint traditionally. Also, painting digitally allows me create subtle color builds MUCH easier than when trying to paint traditionally. However, at the end of the project, there is no original painting. It only exists in the ether.
For this drawing, I reached back into my brain thinking of the style of great European comic book characters such as the original Smurfs and Asterix for inspiration. I always LOVED that kind of art style, which seemed to be seldom utilized by American cartoonists.
Jack is a super tiny Englishman being confronted by the giant who really is the victim of a home invasion when you think about it. You’d be upset, too, if some punk kid slid under your door to eat your food and steal your golden goose all from right under your nose. Fe to the Fi to the Fo to the Fum.
I had a few minutes to doodle something the other day, and returned to the topic of cats. Then the few minutes turned into another few when it felt like the little guy (and his even littler buddy) should be in color.
A little ol’ digital gouache painting, all in Photoshop. Having fun with the Kyle brushes.
Earlier this summer, I created a summertime illustration that debuted on a promotional card for my attendance at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference held the first weekend in August in Los Angeles. It was inspired by a pencil sketch in my sketchbook created this past spring (which you can see if you CLICK HERE.)
I remember silly images like this in my favorite picture books when I was a kid, overcrowded with visual stimulation that made my little mind soar with wonder and amazement. This was likely how the seed was planted in me to one day wish to illustrate children’s books.
While in recent years I’ve worked primarily in animation, my career actually started in children’s books with the first one published way back in 1992. Hard to believe it has been that long. I have worked on around 30 or so books both on my own and together as a team with other illustrators. Maybe one day a blog post about that should be in order.
So, I’d like to do more children’s books, which was why I went to that conference earlier in the month – to get an idea of the state of the industry today. It would be nice to think that my brand of silliness could find a place once again on the shelves of Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or any number of small intimate bookshops scattered across the country.
For now, though, I leave you with some close-ups of this traditionally watercolored and colored pencil painting. (Only the lens flare was added digitally for those of you curious about such things.)
If you would like to see the major steps in the creation of this piece from rough sketch to final art, feel free to seek out my Instagram page where those were posted earlier this summer. You can get to it by CLICKING HERE!
Every now and then I get a little time where I can experiment. Still playing with some new brushes (to me) in Photoshop, working in a rough painting style. It’s kind of fun blocking in colors to get the feeling and action across instead of the detailed noodling I’m used to doing.
Also, I’m Batman.
Move over Captain Hook. There’s a new menacing pirate on the high seas! Arrrrrrrrrmeow.
I generally don’t get too personal here on the ol’ blog, but today is a mighty special day in the Frye family. On this day in 1968, my parents were joined together in holy matrimony.
I wanted to do something a bit special for their 50th anniversary. I hope they don’t mind, but I decided to interpret their 1967 engagement photo in my own little way. A time when I could only possibly have been a mere twinkle in their eyes as they prepared to spend their lives together.
As my own experiences have taught me, that had to have been a HUGE decision for them to make. I often marvel at how two total strangers from different upbringings can find each other and choose to craft a life together – a life that will undoubtedly have many ups and many downs.
Through thick and thin, and always with an eye towards the Lord, my parents have come through the ups and downs that 50 years together have presented. They have four children who love them, and love the Lord because of them. They have two sons-in-law and a daughter-in-law who are grateful to them for the children they taught and nurtured. And they have nine grandsons, all in varying stages of awareness of what their 50 years mean to our family.
Due to some mitigating circumstances, we all gathered together on their 49th anniversary last year. It is unfortunate that we couldn’t all be there to jump up from behind doors and couches to surprise them today on the day.
To my folks, thank you for always putting Christ first, and training up your children in the way we should go, so that when we reach your age, we will not depart from Him. (Proverbs 22:6) I love you.
Two of the summer’s hottest films are Pixar’s The Incredibles 2 and Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Both serve up thrills, chills, laughs and excitement. They also both serve up amazing soundtracks written by the same composer – Michael Giacchino!
Incredibles 2 has a boffo score that jumps and jives with the best energetically melodic groovy jazz, while Jurassic World 2 soars with classic intrigue and adventure in the vein of the musical path first blazed by the legendary John Williams, while taking us to new places of big teeth and terror.
So, what if for their next sequels, both movies were combined? What would THAT soundtrack sound like?!
