Category: Monsters

2016 Monster Month: Day 5 – Bad Apples

My friend Rick Detorie, the cartoonist of the syndicated comic strip One Big Happy, has a collection of vintage produce labels originally intended for the sides of crates back in the day. They are all gorgeous old designs in immaculate unused condition. Rick doesn’t like them the way they are, though. He asks his cartoonist buddies if they would draw all over them.

So, Rick let me choose one, and this one with three big apples just spoke to me. I immediately could see their potential. First of all, I was amazed at the magical apple tree that could grow three different types of apples, so that impressed me. Secondly, I could tell those were bad apples that needed to be exposed.

So, with a little white gouache and some black ink, this produce label takes on a much improved form…

 

I like a nice still life painting, don't you?
I like a nice still life painting, don’t you?

 

I especially like the touch of the small print that came on the label which says….

 

It's nice that these apples come with a guarantee like this.
What a nice guarantee. I wonder whose hand these apples picked?

Be sure to come back on Monday when more monster madness will continue!

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Inking Cartoons Character Designs Illustrations Monsters

2016 Monster Month: Day 4 – The Eyes Have It

Would you like to see a typical page from my sketchbook? Not everything is great that goes into it because this is where you need to work out the bad drawings. So, some pages are just a real mess to try to look at, but this is one that is worth sharing. It still isn’t full of the greatest ideas, or the best draftsmanship, but it helps lead to those kind of drawings. It works out nicely that this page just happened to be full of monsters.

 

It is fun to play around with eyes. So many expressions can be conveyed just in the eyes.
It is fun to play around with eyes. So many expressions can be conveyed just in how you can draw the eyes.

 

If you love drawing, by all means, get yourself a sketchbook and keep it handy at all times. I often use my sketchbook to experiment, to practice drawing, to figure out new ways to do things, and even to work out early concepts of things I wish to illustrate. I have made it a habit to travel with a sketchbook so that it is handy to do all of the above, plus it helps kill time while on the road. These sketches were created while traveling through Israel this summer!

Categories
Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2016 Monster Month: Day 3 – Bauble Diva

What lovely lady monster doesn’t enjoy a few baubles now and then? A girl needs to look her best, and she deserves every extravagance life has to offer. What could be better than to wear every shiny and sparkly thing she can get her claws on – all at once?

 

She deserves the best.
Tiaras aren’t just for princesses anymore.

 

The story behind this piece is that my aunt was having a birthday when I was visiting the east coast of the U.S. earlier this year, and I wanted to do something nice for her. She does enjoy jewelry, and knows a lot about it having once been in the jewelry retail business. I was feeling the urge to draw a monster, so her birthday card combined my love of drawing creatures with her love of baubles, bangles and beads.

And I know what you are now thinking – NO, this is NOT a portrait of my aunt!!

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Character Designs Illustrations Monsters

2016 Monster Month: Day 2 – The Red Scourge

Beware of the Red Scourge!

Oh, don’t get me wrong. He’s not mean or anything. You just don’t want him preparing any meals for you because you just know you are going to end up pulling great big long red hairs out of your dinner, and that’s just nasty.

 

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On the plus side, the hairs are long enough so that you could use them as dental floss after the meal.

 

You are probably thinking he is named the Red Scourge because I drew him with a red pencil, and you would be partially correct. The “Red” part is also is because of where I drew him. This monster was added to my sketchbook this past summer when I was on a camping trip in the heart of Russia. I know that sounds like I just made it up, but it’s true! I actually went on a six-day camping trip in Russia. I’m glad I had my sketchbook because there was LOTS of time to add things to it in between swatting mosquitoes.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Character Designs Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2016 Monster Month: Day 1 – Frankenstein

Welcome to the creepy, spooky, and altogether ooky (I may have borrowed those words from somewhere) very first post of this year’s Monster Month here on the ol’ blog.

You may have noticed that last year I did not do any Monster Month posts because scary as it may sound, I was so preoccupied with work that it had slipped my mind that October had come once again.

There has been no mental slippage this year! Get ready for a new monster to be posted each weekday during the month of October. You will see twenty-one sketches, ink drawings, paintings, and various other artistic expressions of strange things that go bump in the night.

What better way is there to start such an entourage of entwined entities than with one of the greatest classic monsters who has been fearing fire since 1818, your undead favorite and mine, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster!

 

Frankie is just waving a Monster Month welcome to you!
Frankie is just waving a Monster Month welcome to you!

 

Frankenstein’s monster has made so many appearances over the years on my blog that he has his own category on the home page. If you would like to see other iterations of him from the past, CLICK HERE! Regarding this new one, this Frankie is a traditionally drawn ink sketch from my sketchbook that was later color tinted in Photoshop.

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Character Designs Frankenstein Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

Monster Month 2016

It’s baaaaaaaack….

 

chadfrye_monster_month_angry_eyes_2016

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Character Designs Monsters

Do You Instagram?

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!
Some of the many pieces posted on my Instagram. Click on the image to check them out!
Categories
Animals Art: Animation Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Photoshop Art: Watercolor Bible Art Caricature Cartoons Character Designs Disney Illustrations Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

The Monsters Have Left the Building

…and I mean that literally! Yes folks, unless this is some kind of an elaborate April Fool’s joke being played on me, the monsters that have lived in the apartment above me for the past three years, four months, five days and 18 hours have finally up and vanished into the misty night air from whence they came.

You may recall these folks. I have mentioned them several times here on my blog, along with the random comment on Facebook and Twitter. Here is a photo I secretly took of them after the first year of sleep deprived nights.

 

Noisy Neighbors
When they get home, I’m convinced that my neighbors’ front door is a mystical portal that returns them to their natural forms seen here.

 

Here’s to all the foot stomping, toilet seat slamming, hammering after 10pm, hour and a half to two hour long showers, two flooding mishaps, music loud enough to understand the lyrics, listening to their movies while trying to watch mine, slumber parties, chalk drawings on my doorstep, bed jumping, Olympic gymnastics practice, track meets in the living room, door slamming, shot-put throwing, bowling, peasant whippings, chains scraping, and I’m pretty sure dragon feeding.

May the new tenants be kind and gentle souls sensitive to those around them.

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Chad's Editorials Character Designs Illustrations Monsters