The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyAgain I am revisiting a monster from last year in this new version. Remember the Snot Monster from last year’s Monster Month? He just stood there with a schnoz ready to blow. After I did that drawing, I thought of an fun application to draw him again, though slightly more cartoony.
I was writing a letter to a good friend, and decided to have some fun on the back of the envelope. Yep, that little snot monster seemed like a perfect choice to help seal the envelope shut. Good times.
Last year my Hipster Frankenstein debuted on the ol’ blog. (CLICK HERE if you need a reminder.) When a drawing like that is born, it comes from reflective study. One does not often just spit out a sketch and there it is. Several sketches are explored to find the perfect look for what the artist is trying to achieve. Thus was the case with ol’ Frankie.
So, here is a page from the sketchbook where Frankenstein’s monster was sketched in a variety of ways looking for that perfect hipster persona to apply to the creature. A whole page of Frankies, each unique in their own way, and none exactly like the final one from last year. These were necessary to inspire the final look.
Dragons are often misunderstood. They rant and roar, and breathe fire all over the place, but this is really because they are lonely. If only more people like Adelade here would take them in and give them some love, the world would truly be a safer place.
How does that saying go again? “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”
Well, today’s monsters have something old that we are borrowing for this year. Do you recognize that monster on the bottom with the little tyke pulling his hair? That was a monster I featured in full color last year (which you can see by CLICKING HERE). It was an inked drawing from my sketchbook.
I never did show you the whole page from that sketchbook last year, so it seemed like a good idea to bring it back complete with the two menacing monsters leering above the family duo. Just some blue was added in Photoshop to give the ink drawings a little extra pizzazz.
Here is another full page from my sketchbook of some random drawings that have nothing to do with each other, or do they? Hmmm. They were originally drawn without any real plan, but sometimes random doodles such as these can inspire a whole other image when put together.
This is often the point of drawing in a sketchbook. It is a place to get the bad drawings out of you so the good ones can see the light of day, but it is also a place where your mind can run free and slap out innocuous little drawings that can actually inspire real creativity later on.
Which of these drawings do you think were turned into a painting? Come back tomorrow to see a watercolor creation inspired by these sketches.
Okay, I realize that TECHNICALLY, this lady does not look like a monster. However, the whole scene gives me a bit of the creeps, so it is being included in this creepfest I call Monster Month.
This started as a sketch of a gnarled old tree in my sketchbook drawn lightly with a blue pencil. As it started to take shape, the birds seemed like a natural addition. Then, of course, an old woman needed to be added, who is likely the birds’ mistress, or perhaps she is not. That is the beauty and mystery that a single drawing can do to the viewer. It makes one ask questions. Who is this woman? Why are those birds there? What do the birds and the woman have to do with each other? Why doesn’t this artist seem to know the answers to these questions?
Well, maybe I do have these answers, or maybe I don’t. That is the beauty and the mystery that an artist can wield with his ink brush pen…
Here is another page from my sketchbook that began with the short knight (where was he two days ago when we had all those dragons?!), and the rest of the page filled in with other short creatures that might be more comfortable in a J.R.R. Tolkien tale than in the cold winter of Russia where they were sketched in ink.
Here is a page from my sketchbook with a massive infestation of dragons. They came out of my pencil in all shapes and sizes, and with varying degrees of dangerosity. (That’s a real word – at least today it is.) You never can find a brave knight when you need one. Although in this case, the knight would really only need an eraser to defeat the dragons.
Incidentally, much like some sketches I showed you last week, these creatures came forth while traveling in Russia earlier this year.