Hopefully you don’t store your computer under your bed, for if you do, you will find a frightening scourge of MONSTERS under there during the month of October. Yes, that’s right – Chad Frye • Illustration Guy announces that from October 1st through October 31, it will be officially MONSTER MONTH on the ‘ol blog!
So, what does this mean exactly? It means that every day in the month of October a new drawing, sketch, or even painting of a monster will be showcased here on the blog. Some may be frightening, some silly, others just weird. But all will be fun!
Also, at some point during October in conjunction with MONSTER MONTH, a NEW CONTEST will be announced on the Chad Frye • Illustration Guy Fan Page on Facebook. If you are a Facebook user, be sure to join the Fan Page so you can have a crack at the contests held there where signed books and real live drawings have been given away! Click HERE to see the Fan Page.
So, hopefully you have stocked up on night light bulbs, because beginning TOMORROW the blog will be inundated with MONSTERS!
“Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly seventy-three percent of all accidents involving falling objects.”
– Dave Barry
This past summer I was riding the red trolley in San Diego when this lady struggled onto the train. She had a bit of a sad persona about her – everything about her drooped. That may sound funny, but she really was quite a sympathetic character. She made so much of an impression on me that I did this drawing of her two days later.
Last year when I was working at Disney Television Animation on My Friends Tigger & Pooh, a colleague of mine on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse asked if I’d be willing to do a drawing of Captain Hook for her. I love the design of the characters from Disney’s Peter Pan, so I thought it might be a fun project. It was. I hope I have the chance to do more with Captain Hook in the future.
Thought it was about time I shared the resulting watercolor sketch with you here. Enjoy!
A watercolor sketch of Disney’s Captain Hook. Click on the image to see it larger.
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
– Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
A few months ago in a mental stupor, I was channel surfing the television. When my remote landed on an episode of America’s Got Talent, this fella happened to be on screen. He was an older gentleman, perhaps in his 70s, that just started wiggin’ out to disco music. He was truly a sight to behold, particularly with an I-can’t-believe-it expression on my face – not because he was the best disco dancer to ever boogie, mind you, but because he was a spectacle. After his segment was over, I instantly grabbed my sketchbook and did this drawing of the fella from memory.
Yesterday I promised you the godfather of the beach. I’m a man of my word. Let’s just hope I don’t get whacked for sharing this sketch with you of the patriarch of a family that sat beside me on the beach in Kitty Hawk, NC for a week last month. No, I did not make this up. He was really sitting there like he was large and in charge, glistening in the sun.
The Beach Godfather (click on image to see larger).
Like I said, he sat there presiding over his family. This second sketch is of the “godfather’s” son flying a kite that looked like a Blue Angels’ jet plane.
Click on image to see it larger
Thanks for coming to the blog this week to see the life drawings of my summer travels. If you are out and about, be careful of your appearance should you encounter me. When I’m out and about, I often have my sketchbook under my arm ready to record interesting people! YOU could be next!
Here is the third installment of my beach sketches drawn on the sand in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina this past August. Today’s sketches are just of some of the various people that would come down to the Outer Banks for a week and play in the sand and surf. Thankfully, as they were creating sand castles and running out of the water from jellyfish, they never noticed what I was up to over in my little beach chair sheltered from the sun beneath a baseball cap and an umbrella. Enjoy.
This man intrigued me. He was a grandpa who just stood there barely moving with a slight grin on his face watching his grandkids. With that interesting physique, I wished he was a little more active so I could see him in motion doing something, but the best I could hope for was for him to slightly turn……which he did do for me to capture this slightly different angle. Once he sat down, he was out of my line of sight.I really liked how this lady had her legs kind of twisted as she just stood there with her camera waiting to get a shot of her kids.Speaking of kids, there were a few of them at the beach, but mostly pre-school aged kids since in the South, school starts by mid-August. It was tough to draw them as they never held still long enough for me to see a strong pose. This girl’s attention was held slightly longer than most when she played in the sand.And this might be my favorite sketch of my time at the beach. This little girl was maybe 6 years old, and had that delightful awkward gangly thing going for her. She reminded me of children’s book character Eloise.
Most people often primp and prime to tuck, disguise and at times, enhance aspects of their physique to look a certain way before leaving their homes to go out. They go out of their way to acquire certain undergarment devices that lift, squish, and support the structure as if their bodies were to be seen as elegant Roman sculptures. Those same people will, for some reason, put on figure hugging or figure revealing lycra and gladly let it all hang out when going to the beach. To me that is one of life’s great head-scratchers. It also provides me with great material for sketching.
So, here is part two of my 2009 Beach Sketches. Today’s post is concentrating on the beach walkers. You’ve seen them. These are the people who walk up and down the beach in a constant unorganized parade of exhibitionism. It is usually quite a sight to behold. Here are a few of the more interesting characters that crossed my line of sight:
More beach sketches to come tomorrow! Come back again!
During much of August, I spent some quality time taking in the beauty of God’s creation in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina – the sun, the sand, the surf, and the various shapes, sizes and personalities of humanity.
Often in walking down to the beach, I would take along my sketchbook wondering who might be my unwitting subjects for the day. Will there be some kids burying each other in the sand? How about a good looking couple whose physiques will allow me to brush up on my muscle knowledge? Or perhaps there will be a little old granny riding the waves on a boogie board. Regardless, there is always someone of interest to sketch at the beach, and hopefully I won’t get caught doing so.
On this one day in particular, it wasn’t hard to notice this family who set up shop next to my family. They broke out some lawn darts to toss – not far from my head. Besides seeing sharp pointy objects that glistened in the sun flying through the air in my general direction, I noticed the fun that these adults were having, in particular the patriarch of the family.
This individual was a large man. He was tall with an imposing presence. His size was only equalled by his personality which was evident in the fun he was having with his sons and daughters-in-law tossing those weapons of mirthful competition. They partook of some friendly trash-talking, and this gentleman was not above striking silly poses to get the goat of family members, even to the point of performing mock hulas. This large man was, in short, a big loveable character. I had to draw him.
Well, when one is drawing strangers, one must be as discreet as possible so as to not offend nor frighten the subject in question. I am usually very good at that – usually. As I was about to finish my sketch, I overheard some of their family commenting on my drawing from behind me. I had, in fact, been discovered. This is what they saw:
Click on image to see it a little larger.
Thankfully, no one seemed offended nor upset by my doodle. If they were, they never told me. Though I wonder why they sat down the beach away from us for the rest of the week after that? Hmmm. Oh well.
Come back again tomorrow as I’ll be sharing with you some more doodles of beach goers who did NOT catch on to my observances.
So, what does this mean exactly? It means that every day in the month of October a new drawing, sketch, or even painting of a monster will be showcased here on the blog. Some may be frightening, some silly, others just weird. But all will be fun!
