What better way to get Monster Month kicked off than with a self-effacing interpretation of the Wolfman. This is a version of how I look before I’ve had my coffee in the morning.
This is how I really am. When a full moon appears, I become normal looking.
For those of you paying attention to my signature, I originally drew this one back in 2010. It was a sketch in my sketchbook that I inked, then scanned and colored in Photoshop. I was playing around with the idea of turning myself into the Wolfman for 2010’s Monster Month, when a funnier idea came to mind. I redrew myself a little less angry getting scolded by a police officer. CLICK HERE if you’d like to see THAT drawing which was inspired by THIS drawing!
The next installment of boogie monsters arrives here on Friday!
Today’s drawing is an exercise in vanity. I was thinking that it was time to try another cartoony self-portrait. I’d like to say that there was a noble reason for doing it such as it was needed for advertising an upcoming personal appearance at a children’s hospital, or perhaps it was to be used on “sorry you are in here” sympathy cards to send to the nursing home. No, nothing as honorable as that. Instead, it is just for my Facebook profile “photo”.
However, I did want to challenge myself creatively a little. I love the seemingly simple look of the old UPA cartoons – you know, like “Gerald McBoing-Boing” or even the old Mr. Magoo cartoons. The use of straight lines and round shapes intrigued me, so I set out to work up a version of myself inspired by that look.
Now does that look like a happy cartoonist or what?
For those of you who like to know the details, it was hand inked with a brush pen on a bumpy Strathmore watercolor paper pad. That’s why the line skips here and there giving it a loose quality. Then it was scanned into Photoshop where color was applied loosely, erased a little with a dry brush built into Pshop, and then a dot pattern was applied across all the color. Voilà!
It is always fun to try to work in a different style. It is easier to experiment on a subject matter that one is familiar with. There’s a reason my blog has a “Self Portrait” category over on the right side – so you can see many experiments in style using myself as the guinea pig. If you’d like to explore them now CLICK HERE! There are two pages of images to peruse.
This is my third annual offering of a piece of monster art every week day throughout the month of October. Some creatures will manifest themselves as watercolor paintings, some as inked drawings, digital art, pencil drawings, and even sketches direct from the pages of my sketchbook.
Word must have gotten out, because this past year I actually had a few commissioned monster assignments come across my desk, so I’ll be sharing some of those monsters with a purpose as well.
As has become tradition the past couple of years, the first monster drawing of the month was inspired by my mirror. In year one I was Frankenstein’s monster, and year two I was the Wolfman. So, with zombies being the most media savvy beasts these days, Monster Month will be kicked off with the Chad Frye Zombie! When creating my art, I’m usually most conscientious about the composition, but this time, I had to keep in mind the decomposition. (Can I have a rimshot, Smitty?)
You might think this is a creepy drawing, but it’s really how I look in the mornings. Be thankful this is only a drawing – I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.
Well, there you have it. And to think I did have braces when I was a teenager. Zombie life can be so unforgiving, especially on my skin. Sooo hard to keep those pores open.
Tomorrow I’ll share with you some behind-the-scenes goodies on the piece of art that got me started on this whole monster kick.
I wanted to wish my fellow Americans a happy Independence Day!
I don’t mind the powdered wig so much, but the splinters left behind by the wooden teeth are a bit much.
I grew up in Florham Park, the town next to Morristown, New Jersey where George Washington had his headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Seems like every old house in the area claims good ol’ George slept there, including one down the street from my former homestead. Florham Park was actually incorporated BEFORE 1776. Back in those days, the land I grew up on once was part of an apple orchard. Despite his history with cherry trees, perhaps George rested for a spell against an apple tree there contemplating the daunting task that was before him. It is interesting, and sobering, to consider.
I hope you all enjoy the festivities of the day with your families remembering the trials and risks our forefathers took to establish this country, and that we need to stand strong against those who wish to chip away at those same freedoms whether from outside our borders or from within.
?…my oh my what a wonderful day! It’s beginning to look a little like one of them zip-ah-dee-doo-dah days! Perhaps I should explain…
Over the past seven weeks, I have mentioned and illustrated several times here on the blog that on May 10, Hotmail had turned it’s back on me. I was locked out of the e-mail account that has kept me in touch with friends, family and business associates for the past thirteen years. The digital wasteland of Hotmail rejection was quiet and lonely – I couldn’t have felt more shunned had I been wearing a big red letter on my clothing.
The reason for the lock-out? I was the victim of a drive-by hacking. Someone had violated the sanctity of my little ol’ e-mail doing who-knows-what in my name. I sat before my screen with grumpy displeasure conjuring up thoughts of random people getting bad knock-knock jokes from me, or perhaps “yo’ momma” insults that would come back to haunt me one day. I could be walking down the street at some point and a stranger would stop me on the sidewalk to say:
“Are you Chad Frye?”
“Why yes, yes I am.”
“Well, YO’ momma is sooo ugly that children shriek when she passes by!”
I would be shocked and appalled at this unnecessary act of verbal abuse from someone I had never met before, only to have the realization a few minutes later that ah yes, this must have been retaliation for something a hacker sent them in my name.
Well, my previous blog posts on this issue were not written in vain. Two weeks ago I received an e-mail from an employee of Microsoft (Hotmail’s owner) who had seen my blog and offered suggestions on how to get back in. He had nothing to do with the Hotmail division, but rather was just being a good Samaritan.
So, I followed his advice which amounted to typing up an inordinate amount of facts about my account to submit to Hotmail, then hitting “send” and going to bed. Waking the following morning and wiping the sleep from my eyes, I sat down at the computer to some stunning news. There on the screen was an e-mail from Hotmail (to an alternate account) stating that I now had permission to re-enter my account!!!
I don’t mind Mr. Bluebird being on my shoulder so long as he doesn’t leave any residue behind.
OH HAPPY DAY!!! The advice had worked and I have since returned to e-mailing everyone willy nilly like a giddy little schoolgirl! From all the e-mails I am now receiving, many people in foreign countries seem to be trying to get a hold of me to give me millions of dollars in transfers and lotteries once I provide them with my bank information. So, not only did I get my e-mail account back, I soon shall be RICH! Win-Win!
Back in the 1990s when the internet was young and naive, something called “e-mail” began to creep into our collective consciousness. I am usually not one to jump on a technological bandwagon immediately, choosing rather to observe its acceptance by others to gauge the likelihood of its staying power. For example, only recently have I been convinced of radio’s permanence.
That being said, I wasn’t the first to join the world of e-mail, but when I finally did almost fourteen years ago or so, I chose to set up my tent with the likes of Hotmail. For these many years, it has been a blissful existence where they have granted me access to instantly send a note to friends, family and business associates whenever I wanted to. As a result, the world was a smaller happier place.
Life as experienced with a functional e-mail system.
However, Hotmail giveth and Hotmail taketh away. Two weeks ago, my blissful web existence was given quite a jolt when I tried to log in to my Hotmail only to be callously and digitally informed that I no longer could have access to my e-mail account with the excuse that it was perhaps hacked.
To further complicate matters, I was being asked a security question I have no remembrance of setting up, and as a secondary measure, I could contact them via a questionnaire in which I am to remember details of my account that I no longer can open. I filled this questionnaire out twice, only to have Hotmail continue to say they don’t believe that I am me.
Without my Hotmail, it is as if the world has come to an end.
Hotmail does not provide a phone number. They do not provide an e-mail address, nor a live internet chat system. So, what is a cartoonist to do? Well, here in my case I am letting the hundreds, perhaps even thousands of you to know of my struggle with this Microsoft product through my drawings and words. Treasured messages from family, important business e-mails, and not to mention my contact list are all locked behind whatever reason they have decided to bring my life to a screeching halt.
If one can’t depend on something as simple as an e-mail system, how can one ever be convinced to get a cell phone or to believe in the existence of Bill Gates? If the internet is no longer young and naive, then neither am I.
UPDATE: This issue did eventually get resolved. This post remains live, though, as a word of caution to you!
Well, another year has come and gone. Living here in Los Angeles, Christmas has a way of sneaking up on you. I blame the weather. Sure, we have had some frigid temperatures here of 40º, but usually that’s at night for a week here or there. As I write this, it is 2:30am and only 52º outside right now. So, not having cold winters gives Christmas a chance to tip-toe up through December without one being entirely aware.
That being said, I am a bit behind in getting my Christmas card art created. With having some recent freelance, then being sick for a week, it was looking like the card might not happen this year. That would have been a personal tragedy because if memory serves, I have prepared a fresh & tasty original Christmas card every year since 1995.
I know what you are thinking. “If you know Christmas comes every year, why don’t you do the art in August?” My answer to that is, “If you think warm LA winters hurt the mood of the holidays, try dreaming of a white Christmas in August!”
That being said, I finished the art on December 18 by the hair of my chinny chin chin. This year inspiration came by way of the great Christmas hymn O Come All Ye Faithful. It was originally written in Latin, but thankfully years later it was translated into English. (I spared you the Latin.) Set to a soul-stirring melody, the verses of this song celebrate the story of Christ’s birth and what it means to those who trust in Christ – the “faithful” to whom the song speaks. Also included is the Bible passage found in Matthew 11:28-30 that seems to compliment the message of the song nicely.
So, presented to you here is my 2010 Christmas card celebrating the birth of Christ whose sole purpose was to die for the sins of man. Can you truly be counted among “the faithful”? It is my prayer that you and yours may experience the joy of Christ this Christmas by trusting in Him.
One of the perils of winter is the proclivity for one to become ill. How the evil germs seek out their victims is beyond me, but this past week I fell prey to their maniacal misdoings.
Just last Friday I finished my character design and storyboard revising job on two Zhu Zhu Pets movies. I packed my things, went home, enjoyed a nice Saturday, then BUM bum buuuummmm – Sunday hit with a thud. I started coughing in morning church, and after a two-hour afternoon nap, it was evident that something was wrong.
I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again – curse that mischievous Murphy and his confounded law! My first week out of work and I have been spending it nursing a fever, achey back, and runny nose having never been ill while I was employed. Today is the first day I have felt well enough to even sketch something, which I’m sharing with you:
My infernal Cheshire Cat mug just sat there mocking me all week in my sick stupor.
This is not the first time I’ve ever been sick, but somehow it always strikes me as a big surprise when it happens. I tend to forget what it feels like in between illnesses, so when it hits, all the symptoms are rediscovered anew – much like how you look for Waldo again after having not picked up the book in a year – only less fun. Stupid germs.
So, whether you live in the cold reaches of Indiana, or in the 70+ degrees of southern California as I do, the winter bug may seek you out. Try not to be too hospitable to it, ok? Especially if it is wearing a striped shirt and glasses.
