Earlier this year a friend talked me into joining Instagram. I was apprehensive at first because it was going to be yet another thing to update constantly, but when I took a look and saw all the amazing creativity there, it felt like I should have joined that party long ago. So, I got on my computer and joined it, not realizing that the only way to post was to do so from a mobile device. As a non-mobile phone user, this complicated things.
Well, I got it worked out, and have been posting lots of art there. While some drawings only make it to Instagram, some also get posted here on the ol’ blog. So, I invite you to check it out if you also are an Instagram user, and follow me there. My handle is ChadFrye_IllustrationGuy (naturally), and you can get to it by CLICKING HERE!
You can also be whisked away to Instagramland by clicking on the image below that features some Instagram posts.
Some of the many pieces posted on my Instagram. Click on the image to check them out!
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you the fact that Paul Coker Jr. drew me into his story in the August 2016 issue of MAD Magazine. He later gifted me with the original art which I received two weeks ago. Since he poked fun of my Disney past (CLICK here to see Paul’s version of me), I thought I’d make him a thank you “card” that was Disney themed. So, it was time to draw the fellas again – Mickey, Donald and Goofy.
I liked how the finished piece turned out, so I thought I’d take you through four of the major steps in creating the painting.
STEP 1: Sketch the Image
I tend to sketch out all my illustrations on my Cintiq monitor. I draw with a stylus right on the screen using Photoshop. I am a sloppy sketcher. Lots of extraneous lines come out of my pen as I look for the right shapes. Quite frankly, when it is a piece just for me, I don’t need to be any neater. I know where I’m going with it. If I am working on something for a client, I would likely clean up the sketch by going over it one more time to make it less sketchy.
A few sketchy characters.
STEP 2: Underpainting
Well, before I start the underpainting, I need to transfer the art from the computer to actual watercolor paper. I print out the drawing in black so it is nice and dark, and I put it on a lightbox to trace it onto the final paper. It is at this time where I draw nice clean lines, and I finesse the drawing a little by making little tweaks to improve it.
Once the pencil drawing is on the paper, I did a purple underpainting of all the shadows. This is a little thing I picked up from Jack Davis who just passed away this week. (CLICK HERE to see the eulogy I wrote for the National Cartoonists Society’s website.) The idea is to let the purple do all the hard work of creating the shading when I lay down the colors in thin layers later.
It’s kind of neat to see them in this monochromatic stage, but this is just one step in their quest for color.
STEP 3: Upperpainting
This is simply picking the final colors and painting them down quickly over the purple underpainting. I say “quickly” because A. you don’t want the paint to streak by drying before you can continue the color, and B. if you linger too long, you will start to smear the purple underpainting and get a muddy mess.
Almost done. Colors are in place, but now for some final touches.
STEP 4: Final Details
This final step involved using colored pencils to give the characters an outline which tightens them up, and I added colored pencil here and there to accentuate the shadows and to create highlights. Very rarely did I use white. In most cases, the highlights were created with lighter shades of purple, pink, blue, etc.
Here are the fellas all finished with colored pencil and a little paint splatter tossed on for interest.
So, there you have it – a super quick tutorial on how to create an appealing piece of art in a relatively short period of time. The more you do it, the less time it takes. Also, this fast technique creates a certain loose quality to the art which gives it more energy.
Today’s sketch was a little something I created on the first page of a sketchbook I gave to a friend’s niece. She is a creative 10-year-old, so why not make a little gift of something to encourage her with her art!
The sketchbook is your regular ol’ white-paged book and the drawing was inked in it with a brush pen with just a splash of yellow watercolor to define the honey. I just decided to goose it a little digitally by scanning it into Photoshop, dropping it onto some brown Canson paper, and then adding some modest highlights and shadows on the bear.
A bear in his natural habitat. Just don’t ask where he got the straw and little umbrella.
A few years ago, I was hired to create a portrait of Noah that was to be used as Noah’s profile picture on Facebook. Yes, you read that right. Noah was going to join Facebook.
Answers in Genesis, the organization in Kentucky behind the Creation Museum in Petersburg, had announced back then that they were going to build a full-scale replica of Noah’s ark. I was told by the ad agency hiring me that they wanted to set up a Facebook page for Noah where he could talk about the new Ark Encounter theme park, and answer questions from kids and the like. Well, tomorrow the Ark Encounter opens in Williamstown, Kentucky after all these years of planning and building. I’ve seen pictures, and think it looks pretty neat!
Sadly, I don’t think Noah ever joined Facebook. I never saw this portrait used there as it was meant to have been. So, five years after having painted him, it is time to let him “out of the ark” so to speak. His look is based on photos of Noah mannequins on display in the Creation Museum, but hopefully with a little more life and a twinkle in his eye. (Museum mannequins tend to creep me out a bit.)
This Noah was created with watercolor paint and colored pencils, just as they would have used back in Noah’s day. Well, maybe not EXACTLY like back then, but certainly no digital art methods were used back then.
Actually, come to think of it, it makes sense that they would have had WATERcolors available. (rimshot)
I know what you are thinking, and no, the dove is not trying to stick the branch in Noah’s ear.
If you are just joining us, please know that this is the last page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
Page 9
Nuthin’ says “good job” like a high five with your teammate! OH YEAH!
And that’s the end of Max Visits the Hospital! Hope you enjoyed it. Even with a couple of years to reflect on it, I’m pretty happy with the results of this two-week rush job! It was a fun challenge. I believe I finished it late one night, and the next morning I was on a plane off on a long-planned trip. Got it done by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!
Now for the final word on what this book was actually selling when it was handed out at that 2014 convention for which it was created!
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
Page 8
Those are some pretty happy customers. Now the kids are back playing with their toy, which might actually be how it came to be broken in the first place.
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
Page 7
“Gimme that doohicky, STAT!” (No, I do not have an intimate knowledge of x-ray machine parts. 1. I made up that part, and 2. I’m pretty sure that is not a real x-ray machine design. However, walking talking iPads definitely are real.)
If you are just joining us, please know that this is one page of a 10 page series being posted here on the ol’ blog. Please CLICK HERE to start back on the first page to see a full explanation of what this art is all about. Thanks!
Page 6
I struggled with this image for a bit trying different layouts for the scene. It all came together when I figured out that flooring which created the flow.
