Today is the final of three illustrations that appear in the July 2017 issue of Clubhouse Magazine for kids published by Focus on the Family. (If you missed the other two, just look at the previous two posts here on the ol’ blog.) All three images belong to a fun quiz that kids can take to help prevent summer boredom!
This image is of a little girl who, out of desperation of being stuck inside for a three-day rainstorm, has decided that her bed is the ark, her toys are the animals, and yes, that she is Noah in search of dry land with the rubber ducky she is about to release.
As in the previous posts, here is the rough drawing with a rough color job all worked out in Photoshop in preparation for the final traditionally created illustration.
This girl takes her playtime very seriously.
To help dry up “Noah’s” water problem, water was used with watercolor paint and colored pencil on textured paper to create a scene that is epic in this little girl’s own mind.
I’m sure to a child, three days of rain can seem like forty.
I sure enjoyed this assignment. Hope you enjoyed seeing all three illustrations created for it!
If you are interested in owning this original published art measuring roughly 14×12″, it is available for $700. Shipping is included within the USA. Additional charges will apply for international shipping. Feel free to contact me at Chad@ChadFrye.com if interested in purchasing this or any other art in my FOR SALE category here on the ol’ blog.
Last week I started sharing with you the first of three illustrations created for the July 2017 issue of Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine that is available NOW if you reach out to Clubhouse! Today you get to see the second piece.
This one is a tad bit unusual. Lobster Lad is a boy who is pretending to be a lobster in order to get out of a writing assignment. After all, how can a lobster ever hold a pencil with those sharp and powerful claws? Also, it is terribly difficult to write on wet paper. The boy’s plan is genius.
First, here is the final rough drawing that was colored in Photoshop to work out the color scheme.
You might say that this is the lobster art before it is cooked.
Here is the final watercolor and colored pencil illustration that appears in the magazine.
I wonder how much a 50 pound lobster would cost?
If you are interested in owning this original published art measuring roughly 11×12″, it is available for $500. Shipping is included within the USA. Additional charges will apply for international shipping. Feel free to contact me at Chad@ChadFrye.com if interested in purchasing this or any other art in my FOR SALE category here on the ol’ blog.
Earlier this year I worked on some illustrations for the July issue of Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine. Clubhouse is a Christian magazine for kids that along with teaching life lessons and biblical principles, it is LOADED with fun!
My assignment was to create three illustrations to go along with a silly multiple choice quiz to help kids avoid summertime boredom. So I whipped up some concoctions with genuine watercolor paint and colored pencils for maximum entertainment! I’ll spread them out over the course of this month, but for now, here’s one to remind you to stay alert on road trips!
To start, I send an uncolored rough drawing to my art director for approval. If she wants changes, I make changes.
Then I do a color rough for myself in Photoshop. It helps to figure out what colors work in the composition in this way before going to the trouble of mixing paints. There was also the added issue of doing three illustrations for one story, so I wanted to be sure my colors would help all three pieces look cohesive.
Photoshop helps set the scene.
Next is the fully traditional illustration created in watercolor and colored pencil on genuine paper. Believe it or not, some artists still work this way.
While the destination is the goal of a road trip, there sure is a lot to enjoy on the way to the destination. Don’t miss it!
If you are interested in owning this original published art measuring roughly 13×12″, it is available for $600. Shipping is included within the USA. Additional charges will apply for international shipping. Feel free to contact me at Chad@ChadFrye.com if interested in purchasing this or any other art in my FOR SALE category here on the ol’ blog.
Spider-man Homecoming is the big new movie this coming weekend, and I am especially excited to hear the music written for the film. Past Spider-man movies have set a very high bar for exciting compositions from some of film music’s best composers such as Danny Elfman, Christopher Young, James Horner, and Hans Zimmer. No doubt this latest iteration of the web slinger will meet that bar and possibly exceed it with music slung by Michael Giacchino!
Giacchino is the perfect choice to bring something fresh and exciting to a character that Disney/Marvel hopes to make cinematically fresh and exciting again. This project comes after a year where the composer has set his own personal bar very high with amazing work for films that include Zootopia, Star Trek Beyond, Doctor Strange, Star Wars: Rogue One, and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes.
So, in anticipation of some thrilling musical delights, I present to you my latest inked and watercolored piece called “Giacchino-man!”
Spins a musical web – any size!
By the way, those musical notes are from the opening of the original Spider-man TV show theme song from the 1970s. 😉
Now, I know that title above sounds a bit politically auspicious, especially to those of us who know Bill Morrison, but no, I’m not suggesting anything regarding Washington D.C. Rather, I’d like to call attention to the National Cartoonists Society that is about to invade Portland, Oregon for their annual Reuben Awards Convention over the Memorial Day weekend, and they are being led there by NCS President Bill Morrison!
If you don’t know Bill, he is an amazing illustrator/comic book artist/art director/editor/and probably a few other things that escape my memory right now. You’ve seen his work in the past as cover artist for many Simpsons comic books at Bongo Comics, he has drawn comics for DC and Dark Horse, he art directed the animated Futurama show, and back in the day he illustrated movie posters for films such as House, The Little Mermaid, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Land Before Time, and Mickey Mouse in The Prince & the Pauper to name a few.
It’s traditionally created art with genuine watercolor paint and colored pencils.
Two years ago Bill asked me if I’d do a caricature of him for use in the NCS member magazine, The Cartoon!st. I dragged my feet, wondering what I could do in a clever way. As Bill and I were talking about plans for the Reubens this year, and with his hair style, and the fact that I drive by Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, CA all the time, it seemed like I should draw “Big Bill” holding a Reuben Award instead of a hamburger.
In case you don’t know what Bill Morrison looks like in real life, here’s a photo of him back when he was President of another comic art organization in Los Angeles called CAPS on the night of a banquet in honor of Stan Lee when he received CAPS’ coveted Sergio Award.
Bill Morrison with Stan Lee in 2007.
So there you have it. If you live in Portland, get ready because the cartoonists are about to invade your fine city led by Bill Morrison and his wife Kayre who have planned what is sure to be a GREAT convention!
Here we are at the end of the week, which means we have come to the final post in this step-by-step explanation of my Indiana Jones and Rocketeer dynamic duo. Once again, if you are just joining this party, perhaps you should start back at Step 1 to truly understand the anatomy of this painting. CLICK HERE to do so.
STEP 5
While Indy and the Rocketeer were outlined with a black Prismacolor pencil, the nuances of their inner details utilized many colors. Lilac, parma violet, deco yellow, violet, cream, sand, some greens, various reds, pinks, and maybe more not coming to mind right now. The point is, colors are important to the success of the piece!
Take for instance this close look at the Rocketeer. There are so many colors working together to create his details. See the lighter highlights on his flight jacket? That’s deco pink! The same deco pink creating highlights on his hands and on his pants. It was a nice gentle light color that also happened to tie him in with the colors around him on the background. You need your figures to look like they belong in their setting, and to do that is to use the same colors as would happen in real life with the idea of reflected light. (I’m not going into a deep explanation of reflected light, but you can look it up.)
The ONLY white used directly on this painting was for the bright highlights on the Rocketeer’s helmet and jacket buttons, and a little on Indy’s teeth. No white is in the Rocketeer’s eye pieces – that’s just a light green in there.The man with the hat ready for his close-up.
And with that, the piece is all done! Here is a scan (not a photo this time) of the final art ready to be framed and hung in a gallery.
Whew! All done!
THE SHOW
On April 22, the Rocketeer art show opened at Creature Features in Burbank, CA. There were MANY great pieces created in all mediums such as oil paint, sculpture, latex, metal work, vinyl, watercolor, marker, acrylic, ink, and the ever popular digital media.
Film score composer Christopher Young dropped by to check out the show!My old friend from our days in New Jersey, Walt Sturrock, who is also an amazing painter. We even worked together at Disney for six years.A wide shot of one of the gallery rooms at Creature Features with everyone enjoying the show.
FOR SALE
ORIGINAL 18X24″ WATERCOLOR & COLORED PENCIL ILLUSTRATION –$1,750.00
Yesterday I finished explaining the painting stage of this Rocketeer/Indiana Jones mash-up illustration. Today begins the explanation of incorporating colored pencil into the piece. This is when the details begin to come forth. If you are just joining our discussion, perhaps you should start with the first post for context. CLICK HERE to start at the beginning!
STEP 4
With the painting portion all done, and the focus having been on the central characters for a while, let’s look at our supporting cast – the Nazis. Now, I’m not in favor of glamorizing Nazis, but I sure don’t have a problem with showing them about to get their hindquarters kicked by a couple of legendary heroes. All that red paint has hidden our villains of the piece, so it is time to bring them back so our heroes can see who they are about to beat down.
I use Prismacolor colored pencils in my work. They sure are expensive. I remember when they were about 50¢ per pencil, while these days it can be $1.50-2.00 each! I buy mine in bulk which helps get the price down, and am happy to utilize rebates that Prismacolor often offers, but they are still very pricey even with discounts.
To get the Nazis going, I chose a violet pencil. Ultimately this color didn’t stand out enough on the red background, so I went over the lines later with a darker violet blue pencil. Using a purple color on the soldiers helps to tie the piece together with the central characters who, as you may recall from yesterday’s tutorial, were shaded with purple paint.
The original pencil lines under the red paint were just visible enough to be easily followed with the dark purple colored pencils used to outline the soldiers.
Once the soldiers were outlined, two pencils were used for the highlights. White? Nope, white wasn’t one of them, though your eye may think there is white in there. Working from back to front, I started with a nectar colored pencil, then lightly applied deco rose for some brighter spots. Both are shades of pink, and worked well against that red BG.
You can really appreciate the texture of the paper when in the colored pencil phase. It almost has a quality of oil pastels, but is less messy.
In keeping the soldiers primarily the red of the background, using these two highlight pencils makes it feel like you are sculpting the characters out of the scene. You are bringing them forth from the flatness of the paper by giving them a bit of dimensionality with well placed tones.
Here’s the piece with all the soldiers completed with their highlights.
And just like that you have a Nazi army poised to cause trouble. Our heroes aren’t quite ready to respond in kind to their imposing enemy. They are still locked in the realm of nebulous paint. They require some definition, too.
Originally I was going to outline Indy and the Rocketeer with a really dark purple pencil called black grape, but when I started using that, their outlines looked a little foggy. There wasn’t enough contrast between the outlines with the color of the BG. I hesitate to use black pencil for outlining in a painting, but it was the only color darker that would work with the color choices in the piece. The lines needed to really pop not only because of that intense red, but because I was thinking about Dave Stevens’ masterful inking in his comics and wished to channel a little of that sensibility.
The heroes now have their outlines, and are ready for their interior pencil work.
Come back tomorrow for the final step that finishes up our heroes, and to see a couple shots of opening night at the Rocketeer art show in the gallery at Creature Features!
So, here we are for the continued explanation of the step-by-step creation of my recent Rocketeer painting. If you need to start back at Step 1, CLICK HERE! Let’s get right to it, shall we?
Step 3
Now that the background has been completed, it is time to remove the liquid frisket from the central characters. To do this, you use a rubber cement remover/eraser. It is a rubbery bumpy square usually found in art supply stores. You rub this gently at first on the edge of the liquid frisket, and if needed, more aggressively as you can without damaging the painted areas. The idea is to peel up the edge of the frisket. Sometimes when you peel up the edge, you can just grab it with your fingers and pull it off. Other times, you need to keep applying the eraser.
Here it is with all the liquid frisket removed.
Below is a close-up of the figures. You can see that there are specks of red paint all over them. I think this was caused by two things: 1. I shook up the liquid frisket before applying, and it had lots of bubbles in it. When the bubbles popped, it may have left tiny holes where the paint got in. 2. When I was using the rubber cement eraser, it picked up some of the red paint from off the frisket, and then smudged it on the paper where the frisket had been removed.
Paint specks made it onto my art which is a drag. This did not happen on a previous painting when I used this technique.
Since the paint is water based, the specks on the characters can be minimized before painting any further. Just wet a brush, dab it onto the affected areas, let it soak in for a moment, then dab it up with a clean paper towel. Repeat. It won’t remove all signs of a color as bright as this red, but it will minimize it enough to where it won’t be noticeable when you continue the rest of your painting.
Back when I was painting the background, there was time to mix up other colors while waiting for each layer of paint to dry. I buy these little Solo condiment cups and lids for paint. You can write on them with a Sharpie, and the paint stays wet inside for days.
Paint cups being guarded by the Rocketeer himself. By the way, that Mickey Mouse hand is my salt shaker. Every time the hand spills some salt, Mickey has seven years of bad luck.
The next step is creating an underpainting layer of shadows on the characters. I often use purple. When working with watercolor, the final color on top will allow this shadow layer to peek through. Paint these shadows darker in spots where a dark color will go on top of them.
Sometimes a sepia can work, but purple is often my choice, especially with that red BG screaming at you.
Once your underpainting has dried. You can lay on your top colors. Because that underpainting was done with watercolor, putting wet paint on top of it can cause the underpainting to run if you are not careful. The best way to prevent that is to paint your top colors on very quickly. The dry paint underneath won’t have a chance to get saturated with the liquid which is why it would start to slide and mix in with your top paint.
Here’s a nice close-up of the central figures all painted. You can see how that underpainting nicely provides colorful shadows on the figures.
I had a friend that would do a shadow underpainting with DW ink, which is acrylic based. Once that dries, it can’t move around with water put on it. They may make a purple DW ink, but so far I just used watercolor paint for my underpainting.
This is how the whole piece looks now that the painted portion of the piece has been completed. There can be other touch ups and additions added later as needed.
So, that is the end of the painted portion of the illustration! Next, the colored pencils come out to do their damage!
