Now and then I’ll do a little something for the fun of it for family. My late Uncle Ken was a big fan of Tweety from Looney Tunes. He was so much of a fan, that he even had a Tweety tattooed on his ankle.
I can’t actually remember what the occasion was for creating this pencil and watercolor piece a few years ago, but I know it was something I did for Uncle Ken. You see, he lived in Arizona in the shadow of Superstition Mountain, which explains all the cactus and cowboy gear. Whatever the reason, I thought you might find it interesting as this is the rare Warner Bros. piece you’ll find here on my blog. It may only be the second WB thing I’ve posted here. I grew up loving the Looney Tunes characters, but just don’t often get asked to draw them.
“I tawt I taw a sidewinder!”
Speaking of Warner Bros., this coming Saturday I’ll once again be at the Warner Ranch studio lot in Burbank drawing for the families who needed the services of the Ronald McDonald House this past year due to an ill young member of their family. Should be fun drawing for folks who probably need a little cheer in their lives about now.
Whether you like white meat or dark meat, this turkey will taste like watercolor paint and paper. Bon appètit!
I thought I would reach into my archives this week and pull out a Thanksgiving themed illustration I did a few years ago based on a favorite television family of mine – the Barones.
I was a big fan of the Everybody Loves Raymond show on CBS, and often went to the live tapings on the Warner Bros. studio lot here in Burbank, CA. It was always so much fun to see the familial relationships played out amongst the actors who seemed to genuinely get along with each other. If they shot a joke a certain way, they’d do take after take with a different punchline until they got the biggest laugh, and all were funny.
I am also a big fan of Norman Rockwell’s paintings, a sentiment I share with many Americans who are moved by his idyllic depictions of life in this country. I was thrilled to see a traveling exhibit of his original work a few years back first in San Diego, then again in New York City. The exhibit included what have become known as Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” paintings. The Freedom from Want piece in that series always struck a chord with me with its portrayal of a family enjoying each other around the Thanksgiving table.
Well, it isn’t necessarily from Marie’s Italian cook book, but even the Barone family can enjoy a bit of a traditional turkey dinner. In one episode, they tried a tofurkey to great comical effect.
So, when I heard that Everybody Loves Raymond was going to come to an end, immediately Norman Rockwell’s famous painting came to mind. It seemed to be a perfect fit, all the way down to putting Robert in the lower right corner partially cut off as he would expect. Robert always felt he was getting the second fiddle treatment from the family. With a bit of watercolor and colored pencil, this piece was created just for the fun of it.
You know, during the time I was finishing up the painting, I took in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl where I bumped into Doris Roberts. She didn’t know me from Adam, so I probably spooked her a bit when the first words my mind thought to say were, “Oh hi! I was just painting you today!” Smooth, Chad. Smooth.
Pictured with the turkey is Peter Boyle (who passed away a few years ago) and Doris Roberts, then on the left Madylin Sweeten, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, and Sawyer Sweeten. On the right is Monica Horan, Sullivan Sweeten, and of course, Brad Garrett. On the back wall is show creator Phil Rosenthal.
On an interesting side note, last year Brad did the voice of a character I designed for a third Zhu Zhu Pets movie that has yet to be released. It was literally a talking rock. It seems as though Robert Barone STILL can’t get any respect.
Enjoy Thanksgiving with your own friends and family this week, and remember not only to be thankful for the blessings in your life, but to whom that thanks should be directed. The holiday is modeled after the Pilgrims who gave thanks to the almighty God for their survival in this untamed land. In many ways it is still untamed, and God is the One who deserves our appreciation.
Psalm 136:1 “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Who is ready for tonight’s final presidential debate? I’ve listened to all the debates thus far and came away with one major observation – both sides have spent much of that airtime attempting to tear down each other without saying much of anything solid about what they can do in the next four years. It has been downright monstrous!
So, in the spirit of the Halloween season, I drew Barak Obama and Mitt Romney as they will likely appear tonight – as raging zombies.
Must….have….American……braaaaaaaains!!!
And for those of you Monster Month fans of the past keeping track at home, this counts as the second monster drawing of the month! Hopefully next year I can return to the “one a day” principle.
Recently I was going through some old digital files of mine and came across an ad I created at Disney Feature Animation for an employee screening of the classic John Wayne film The Searchers. I always really liked this caricature of Wayne and thought it deserved to get dusted off and shared here on the blog.
Brush and ink art of the Duke.
John was drawn entirely with brush and ink. You can see that I kept the line work thick and rugged which suited the subject matter well. Not only did John Wayne have a thick and rugged face, but I was going to be taking this art into Photoshop to try to make it look like it was cut into a piece of wood. The thickness was going to be an asset in that process.
Here’s a close-up of the line drawing after being given the woodcut treatment in Photoshop.
Those years I spent at Disney Feature Animation were with the Artist Development department. It was our job to make sure the staff as a whole at the studio were up on the latest computer programs, inspire them with special guest speakers and screenings, and to keep the artists sharp by providing drawing classes whether that be life drawing or special classes with animals.
For a time we were regularly screening classic films, and for each screening I created the flyers that were posted around the building. This one for The Searchers was my favorite. I even made that “cowhide” from a wrinkled up piece of paper rubbed in coffee and pencil shavings. Notice the date on the flyer? I thought it would be fun to post it here twelve years to the day of the screening at Disney.
Here is the whole flyer never before seen outside the walls of Disney until now.
The drawing of John Wayne had one more day in the sun (not counting sharing it with you here today). Disney would allow folks who worked at Feature Animation to have art shows of their personal work. The Animation Research Library folks (you should visit their Facebook page) would help us post our art in a hallway in the Southside building where it would hang for a month, then move it to another building across town that we also used (called “Northside”) where it would hang for another month. There would be a nice reception on opening night where colleagues and friends from outside could come see the work. I put John Wayne in a frame and included him in the show.
William Sanderson and Chad Frye in the halls of Disney Feature Animation’s “hat” building in Burbank, CA.
Thought it might be fun to show you the above photo of the Duke flanked on either side by yours truly and actor William Sanderson who came to see my work that night with his lovely wife Sharon. While he has been in many television shows and movies, Bill is often remembered for being on Newhart where he would always enter a scene by saying, “Hi, my name is Larry. This is my brother Darryl. This is my other brother Darryl.” I keep that photo taped up next to my drafting table where it reminds me of some good times twelve years ago.
Thanks for letting me share the art, memories and good times with YOU today!
This past weekend I made a quick trip from my California home to visit my parents in Delaware. I’m not usually the fast jet-setting type who just flies off to the other coast for the weekend, but this was a very special occasion – a milestone if you will. My father was turning 70.
Technically Dad turned 70 back at the end of May, but we were gathering to celebrate it here in June unbeknownst to him. Carefully laid plans for this momentous family celebration began last year. We wanted it to be a grand festive time with food, family and friends. Mother tried to find clever ways to get Dad out of the house so she could have freedom to make her preparations. I worked on getting invitations into the hands of their many friends both near and far – a list that seems to grow shorter with each passing year.
Dad was born in the thick of World War II in May of 1942. He was the second of two sons born to a photographer and a home maker. WWII was the impetus for what we were going to do for the party. I began with researching old war propaganda posters when creating the painting for the invitations. One poster in particular reached out and slapped me like the Allies did to Hitler. It had a ferocious yellow sky with bomber planes and a rugged Uncle Sam right in the middle. I made my Uncle Sam hold a baby that resembled an infant version of my father, and the bombers became a flying fleet of storks ready to drop their bundles of joy onto unsuspecting families.
Changing the word “Dave” to “Dad”, I sent my father a birthday card with this art a week or two before the surprise party.
Carrying the WWII theme inside the invitation was a newsreel spiel I wrote appropriate for the occasion:
NEWSFLASH:In late May of 1942 in the midst of WWII, the stork visited Kenneth and Jeanetta Frye of Wisconsin, U.S.A. with their second little bundle of joy. That year the advance of the evil Axis was curtailed, Bing Crosby opened up a Holiday Inn and had time for a trip to Morocco with Bob “Where’s My Oscar” Hope, Glen Miller earned the first ever gold record for riding the Chattanooga Choo Choo a million times, Bambi lost his mother, General Douglas MacArthur promised to return, and Sam was playing it again in Casablanca.
The day of the party was very special. Somehow through all the planning, Dad never caught on and was genuinely surprised to see us all there in the kitchen where he stood dripped in sweat from a golf outing with my uncle. Along with my aunt and uncle, all my siblings travelled from their far away homes, and old friends from Arizona, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Tennessee joined those newly formed friendships from Delaware. We had times of reflection, played games about 1942 and made fun of growing old, listened to 1940s music, and enjoyed good food and greater laughter. Best of all, we were able to give thanks to the Lord for the wonderful life He has given my father, and in respect, the life He has given us for having been a part of Dad’s life.
The next day as we all dispersed into the haze of our own corners of the country, the thought struck me that we aren’t promised long life, good health and happiness. We just take each day as a gift and live as we can before the Lord. I love my dad, and look forward to however many more of those special days God will give us together, and be grateful.
While most of what I draw and paint skews mostly to the cartoony side of life, now and then projects arise that just deal with type. I actually was trained in school as a graphic designer where dealing with type is VERY common, but I never worked as one. My focus was always illustration and cartooning, so it is interesting when illustration projects come up that deal with typography.
A few weeks ago I was approached with a project to help out my Sunday school class. The class name is called GraceLife, and they already had a logo designed years ago that they used for everything. For this piece, they wanted the logo given a handmade treatment. It was to be used on the cover of a keepsake book for one of our class’ pastors who was leaving us to pastor a church in Ohio.
So, it was drawn on a beige piece of Canson paper, given an ink wash, some red watercolor paint, and a dash of white highlights. It was then finished up with colored pencils and a spritz of ink from a toothbrush.
One week ago today I had the opportunity to attend a Q&A session at Warner Bros. Records with the one and only Danny Elfman. Noted film score historian Jeff Bond sat on a makeshift stage in the woodsy outdoor setting and conducted an interview with Danny for almost two hours including a generous amount of questions from the rapt audience. Danny’s latest film score, Dark Shadows, was released by Warner that day on CD and marks the 14th big screen collaboration Danny has had with film director Tim Burton that began twenty-seven years ago with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
As a genre, I am enamored with film music. It is music that tells a story – quite literally. As an illustrator and artist for animation, my drawings are also used to tell stories. There’s nothing more appropriate to draw to than a great film score. In fact, I created this little caricature illustration of Danny from the Q&A while listening to his hauntingly beautiful new score.
Danny Elfman at Warner Bros. Records on May 8, 2012
I first became aware of Danny when I was in high school. Tim Burton’s gothic Batman was unlike anything we had seen before of the Caped Crusader on screen, and that music with the swirling moody melodies and the creepy chorus was just exhilarating. Mr. Elfman has continued to carve out a most unique voice in the world of film music, a few of my favorites being Edward Scissorhands, the rapturous Black Beauty, Good Will Hunting, and Standard Operating Procedure. He is having a busy 2012 – still to come will be Men In Black III and his 15th Burton movie, the black and white stop-motion animated Frankenweenie.
Thank you, Danny, for all the auditory enjoyment you have summoned from the shadows thus far, and yet to come. Whether or not you agree when looking at this piece, my drawings truly ARE better for it.
The news of Maurice Sendak’s passing this morning over breakfast sent a pang through my drawing hand. Hundreds, maybe thousands of new children’s books come out every year, but only a few will stick in the heart of a child as they grow into an adult. Even more so, few illustrators have such a unique vision that their work lives on for multiple generations. Maurice was one such artist.
While Sendak had worked for many years on many books, he is best known for Where the Wild Things Are that was first published in 1963. It had already been republished several times when little Chad discovered it about 16 years later while first learning to read. How could I not LOVE the tale of young Max, my peer, having adventures with those enchanting beasts (although, I was decidedly MUCH better behaved than Max <cough cough>). I likely read the story from the library because until a couple of years ago, I didn’t own my own copy. However, the fact that a brand new copy can still be easily acquired is testament of the appeal Mr. Sendak’s story has had for generations.
A couple of years ago, my friend Cory Godbey had an inspired idea. Cory, an amazing illustrator himself, invited me to do an illustration in tribute to Mr. Sendak’s most famous work. I was very happy to participate, as were the other 179 artists who also contributed. Cory put them all together on a website called TerribleYellowEyes.com where you can still go to enjoy them.
Chad Frye’s art for the “Where the Wild Things Are” tribute website TerribleYellowEyes.com.
So, while there is a twinge of sadness in the news today, Mr. Sendak’s work will live on to entertain and inspire many more children over the years as it has done with their parents and grandparents before.
LET THE WILD RUMPUS CONTINUE!
I originally talked about this Where the Wild Things Are tribute piece back in 2009 and showed step-by-step its creation in eight parts. If you’d like to revisit those details,CLICK HERE.
