Category: Art: Watercolor

GraceLife Logo

While most of what I draw and paint skews mostly to the cartoony side of life, now and then projects arise that just deal with type. I actually was trained in school as a graphic designer where dealing with type is VERY common, but I never worked as one. My focus was always illustration and cartooning, so it is interesting when illustration projects come up that deal with typography.

A few weeks ago I was approached with a project to help out my Sunday school class. The class name is called GraceLife, and they already had a logo designed years ago that they used for everything. For this piece, they wanted the logo given a handmade treatment. It was to be used on the cover of a keepsake book for one of our class’ pastors who was leaving us to pastor a church in Ohio.

So, it was drawn on a beige piece of Canson paper, given an ink wash, some red watercolor paint, and a dash of white highlights. It was then finished up with colored pencils and a spritz of ink from a toothbrush.

That’s about all I have to say about that.

 

Christian Logo

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Typography Art: Watercolor Bible Art Illustrations

Danny Elfman

One week ago today I had the opportunity to attend a Q&A session at Warner Bros. Records with the one and only Danny Elfman. Noted film score historian Jeff Bond sat on a makeshift stage in the woodsy outdoor setting and conducted an interview with Danny for almost two hours including a generous amount of questions from the rapt audience. Danny’s latest film score, Dark Shadows, was released by Warner that day on CD and marks the 14th big screen collaboration Danny has had with film director Tim Burton that began twenty-seven years ago with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

As a genre, I am enamored with film music. It is music that tells a story – quite literally. As an illustrator and artist for animation, my drawings are also used to tell stories. There’s nothing more appropriate to draw to than a great film score. In fact, I created this little caricature illustration of Danny from the Q&A while listening to his hauntingly beautiful new score.

 

Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman at Warner Bros. Records on May 8, 2012

 

I first became aware of Danny when I was in high school. Tim Burton’s gothic Batman was unlike anything we had seen before of the Caped Crusader on screen, and that music with the swirling moody melodies and the creepy chorus was just exhilarating. Mr. Elfman has continued to carve out a most unique voice in the world of film music, a few of my favorites being Edward Scissorhands, the rapturous Black Beauty, Good Will Hunting, and Standard Operating Procedure. He is having a busy 2012 – still to come will be Men In Black III and his 15th Burton movie, the black and white stop-motion animated Frankenweenie.

Thank you, Danny, for all the auditory enjoyment you have summoned from the shadows thus far, and yet to come. Whether or not you agree when looking at this piece, my drawings truly ARE better for it.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Watercolor Caricature Film Music Illustrations

Maurice Sendak 1928-2012

The news of Maurice Sendak’s passing this morning over breakfast sent a pang through my drawing hand. Hundreds, maybe thousands of new children’s books come out every year, but only a few will stick in the heart of a child as they grow into an adult. Even more so, few  illustrators have such a unique vision that their work lives on for multiple generations. Maurice was one such artist.

While Sendak had worked for many years on many books, he is best known for Where the Wild Things Are that was first published in 1963. It had already been republished several times when little Chad discovered it about 16 years later while first learning to read. How could I not LOVE the tale of young Max, my peer, having adventures with those enchanting beasts (although, I was decidedly MUCH better behaved than Max <cough cough>). I likely read the story from the library because until a couple of years ago, I didn’t own my own copy. However, the fact that a brand new copy can still be easily acquired is testament of the appeal Mr. Sendak’s story has had for generations.

A couple of years ago, my friend Cory Godbey had an inspired idea. Cory, an amazing illustrator himself, invited me to do an illustration in tribute to Mr. Sendak’s most famous work. I was very happy to participate, as were the other 179 artists who also contributed. Cory put them all together on a website called TerribleYellowEyes.com where you can still go to enjoy them.

 

Where the Wild Things Are
Chad Frye’s art for the “Where the Wild Things Are” tribute website TerribleYellowEyes.com.

 

So, while there is a twinge of sadness in the news today, Mr. Sendak’s work will live on to entertain and inspire many more children over the years as it has done with their parents and grandparents before.

LET THE WILD RUMPUS CONTINUE!

 

I originally talked about this Where the Wild Things Are tribute piece back in 2009 and showed step-by-step its creation in eight parts. If you’d like to revisit those details, CLICK HERE.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Illustrations Monsters

…From the Flat File: 2009 – Donald Duck

I was going through some of my old art the other day, and came across this small Donald Duck watercolor/colored pencil piece I did just for fun a few years back. It was painted around the time I was finishing up my time working on two seasons of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I LOVED drawing those classic Disney characters for the time I was given, and still will often doodle Mickey and the gang on scratch paper while talking on the phone.

Did you know that long before I worked on Donald for animation, I wrote a six-page Donald Duck story for Disney comics, too? I talk about that a little bit on my website. You can check that out by CLICKING HERE!

At any rate, enjoy this Donald Duck piece from the bygone year of 2009.

 

Original Donald Duck art
Donald’s stripes and lack of buttons on his sailor suit are depicted as he appeared on “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”
Categories
Animals Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Comic Books Disney Flat File Archives Illustrations

2011 Monster Month: Day 18 – The Orange Puff

It’s bad enough when your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing, but can you imagine if all your body parts had minds of their own?

 

Orange Puff Monster
Now THAT’s a face only a mother could love. Although, I’m a little frightened to see what SHE looks like!

 

Only a few more days left in this year’s MONSTER MONTH! Come see what tomorrow may bring!

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Watercolor Character Designs Development Art Monsters

2011 Monster Month: Day 16 – Plan B

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to be going right? You wake up to a jack hammer outside your home, spill coffee on your freshly pressed cape during breakfast, head on out to work and you step in a deep puddle, and then horror of horrors, the little girl you are trying to scare actually fights back. That’s when you have to swallow your pride and implement “Plan B” by stealing her little pink tricycle and just peddling out of there as fast as you can.

Get some rest. Tomorrow is another day.

 

Plan B
When nothing goes right, you just gotta flee from danger even if it means the tricycle you stole sports handlebar streamers. (Click on image to see those streamers larger.)

 

I hear that tomorrow’s monster promises to be truly abominable. We’ll see.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Character Designs Development Art Illustrations Monsters

2011 Monster Month: Day 10 – The Ugly Bug

About a month or so ago I went to see the amazing exhibit of Tim Burton’s personal artwork at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and came home totally jazzed about drawing and painting weird creatures for MONSTER MONTH.

A common motif in Tim’s work seemed to be stripes and swirls, and for days after soaking up all that creativity, I was bursting to do a piece of my own. So, after a quick sketch in my sketchbook, this little ugly bug character came flowing out. I quickly redrew it quite large (24″x18″), inked it with my brush pen, and then watercolored that sucker with as much energy as I could put into it.

I really loved how it turned out – it feels really spontaneous for me, which is good. So often in my daily job I am being very analytical when drawing characters because they are for the mechanical CG animation world. I shoved all those rules aside and just had fun. I hope you enjoy it, too.

 

Tim Burton Creature
He may be an ugly bug, but don’t think of a tiny gnat – think Mothra. Then imagine how big that bug zapper would have to be. Oog. (Click on image to see it even larger.)

 

Since I have been helping to develop a Burton-themed short animated film this past year, it was fun getting my Tim Burton on again. If you’d like to see more of my art inspired by Tim Burton, CLICK HERE. And if you are in the Los Angeles area, be sure to check out the Burton show at LACMA. It will be there until October 31.

Categories
Art: Inking Art: Watercolor Character Designs Illustrations Monsters TIM the Movie

2011 Monster Month: Day 2 – Monster Tea Party

Back in 2004 I was contemplating getting into using the watercolor medium. For many years I created illustrations with colored pencil and gouache, an opaque water based paint. Watercolor paint started catching my eye to the point of inspiring me to give it a try. But what would be a worthy image on which to test this new medium? The first piece to drip out of my brush involved an alligator and a bunny rabbit, but then….. MONSTERS!

In the classic Frankenstein movie with Boris Karloff, there is a moment when this big lumbering beast comes across a little girl. As an audience, you know what this behemoth is capable of, and the little girl who is none the wiser just sees a potential playmate. What if some monsters got snagged into playtime with a fearless little girl who just would not let them go? Instead, she is the monster, and they are the victims. With that backstory in mind, I created this piece which turned out to be the launch of my interest in fun monster art:

 

Monster Tea Party
How DOES a monster politely excuse himself from a tea party anyway? (Click on image to see it larger.)

 

Some of you may have seen the above painting on my website, but what you have NOT seen before are some of the preliminary sketches from my sketchbook that were drawn in the quest for just the right combination of monsters to be tormented by this situation. An illustration doesn’t just fall into place with the first critters that come to mind. Below are a few beasties that didn’t make the cut:

 

Three Monsters
Manny, Mo and Jack here look fun and all, but just weren’t the right tone for the final painting.

 

Monster Character Designs
Kukla, Fran and Ollie here also were not quite what was needed for a tea party.

 

The six fellas above were just a few of the dozen and a half heads that came out of my pencil. Three faces were needed, and three faces were found, but not all in a row. Scattered amongst the many pages of exploratory monster drawings were the three you see below – the three that made it into the final painting:

 

Monster Tea Party
Capt. Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters are the three that made the final cut.

 

So, there you have the genesis of my interest in monster art! I also happen to love the Muppets, so that might help explain a bit of the ol’ Henson influence that may come through now and then, too. Come back again tomorrow for another strange creation that’s a vision, but only an illusion – a monster that has nothing to hide.

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Preliminary Sketches Art: Watercolor Character Designs Development Art Illustrations Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook