Category: Art: Watercolor

Silly Old Bear

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date August 9, 2011

About a week and a half ago I was finally able to see the very charming new movie Winnie the Pooh created by Disney’s Feature Animation Studio. For the past few decades, new animated Pooh adventures have been ably put together by Disney’s television division, but it did my heart good to see the 100 Acres Wood gang return to the Features division with characters rendered by some of the industry’s top traditional animators such as Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg, Randy Haycock, Dale Baer, Bruce Smith and Mark Henn.

I once was a part of Disney’s Television Animation group that worked on Pooh’s last outing, the My Friends Tigger & Pooh show that aired on The Disney Channel. Seeing the new film made me wistful for the characters. Pooh & company are such delightful characters to watch, and equally delightful to draw. The whole thing is a warm and fuzzy experience all the way around. Then again, maybe I’m conveniently forgetful of the challenges of working on a television show.

After finishing my work on two and a half seasons of My Friends Tigger & Pooh back in 2008, I just couldn’t stop Poohing. I spent some time doing some little watercolor pieces of the gang, the last one I posted here in April of 2009. So, in honor of the wonderful new film that families of all shapes and sizes will delight in seeing, I am posting this previously unseen watercolor & pencil piece of Winnie the Pooh with his friend Darby.

Darby with her friend Winnie the Pooh

If you or your children ever watched My Friends Tigger & Pooh, you would know that Darby was a little American girl created just for the show that would be there for all the adventures with Pooh and the gang. She was shorter and younger than Christopher Robin, and was likely conceived with the thought that she would be more relatable as an equal to the target audience of 3 to 5 year olds. I grew to really appreciate Darby, and enjoyed drawing her. She had a sweet innocence about her, and a voice to match provided by a very young Chloe Moretz in one of her early jobs.

Well, enjoy this painting of Darby with her silly old bear, and be sure to add the new Winnie the Pooh film (that includes Christopher Robin – not Darby) to your “to do” list.

Tuesdays with “TIM”

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date March 28, 2011

Yes, I know. It’s Monday. Our fundraising effort for TIM ends in the wee early hours (12:42am to be exact) of Tuesday morning for some of you, so I thought I’d post this week’s Tuesdays with TIM column today to give you one final look at some of my art created in the development of this short film before donation time runs out. For my Pacific coast friends, our fundraising on Kickstarter ends at 9:42pm TONIGHT!

Today I offer you an insider’s look at one of my illustrations showing Timothy Todd moping about in a cemetery dressed like his hero Tim Burton. The purpose for this development piece was to show the dichotomy of Timothy’s world. On the right, you can see the world he actually lives in. It’s a bright, cheery, and very straight-laced version of suburbia not unlike that portrayed in Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. The cemetery reflects the imagination of little Timothy Todd – an imagination that sees a dark, muted and skewed environment such as is common in a creepy Burton world.

Tim Burton kid — Timothy Todd ponders his youth well spent, while sitting atop the grave of Vincent.

In looking at the evolution of this illustration, you can see that I hadn’t quite figured out the two worlds. In the first drawing below, both the world of his imagination and that of his real life were depicted as eerily creepy. In looking at Tim Burton animation projects, it is hard to find a straight line anywhere in the creepy scenes. I had my “eureka” moment when watching The Nightmare Before Christmas – in the “real life” world where Christmas is celebrated, straight lines abound!

Tim Burton tribute — This was the first drawing that made Timothy Todd’s home look too creepy.

Having a different look for the “real life” world is necessary for our story not only to create the separation between Timothy’s life and his imagination, but it also helps you as the viewer to relate. Even though Timothy’s real world is cartoony, by having it be more straight and suburban, it reminds us of the suburbia we all see around us. So, in this next drawing, the house is made a bit more boring, and the picket fence was changed to define the yard. The car was just in the way.

Tim Burton parody — This second pass worked much better in showing the difference between the two worlds.

And then we get to the final watercolor & colored pencil illustration. Really, the only changes here are the addition of curly branches in the cemetery trees (which was always the plan), and a little dog in the yard. While it may be tough to tell in these scans, the tombstones all reflect past Tim Burton projects. Of course, little Timothy is sitting atop the tombstone for Vincent, the short animated film Burton made in the 1980s that we are parodying with TIM.

Tim Burton tribute parody — You can almost hear the voice of Christopher Lee, our wonderful narrator, speaking over this image.

This is your LAST day to lend us a hand by pledging some money to make TIM. To make this film become a reality, we need to hire professional puppet builders, miniature set builders, animators, and many other creative people. Stop-motion animated films require many different talents pooled together to make something special. You can click on any of the images above to go right to Kickstarter. Here is our promo video one last time:

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at these Tuesdays with TIM updates over the past two months. Even though our Kickstarter fundraising ends tonight, I’ll continue to have these updates periodically should we proceed with making TIM.

Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Preliminary Sketches Art: Watercolor Development Art Illustrations TIM the Movie Videos

Tuesdays with “TIM”

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date March 15, 2011

First, let me extend a hearty THANK YOU to those of you who may have given TIM a financial pledge in the past few days on Kickstarter! Over the weekend, we jumped up over $5000 in pledges!

Today I wanted to share some thoughts with you about the art that has been the face of my film from the beginning. Appropriately, it was also the first painting I did in the development of TIM. My producing partner Brian Joseph Ochab and I needed something that could very quickly say what our project was all about while invoking the spirit of the animated projects of Tim Burton.

Chad Frye Illustration Guy — Chad Frye at his drafting desk working on an original watercolor painting for “TIM”.

Anyone familiar with those Burton produced films can easily see in this piece the influence primarily from The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it may feel as though it is directly out of that movie, I was careful to put my own hand in it. Brian and I did sit and watch Nightmare together, and while sitting there in front of the television with a sketchbook in my lap, the following extremely rough drawing spilled forth:

Burton-esque Cemetary — 1. The first rough sketch. Notice the double moons? I was undecided on how large it should be and where it should go.

Drawings such as the one above are quick brain blorts of mine. It was probably whipped out in about a minute or two just to quickly get a visual idea on paper. That image mulled in my head for a few days to the point where it felt like there might be an idea there needing to be developed further. So, I grabbed my sketchbook again and did the following drawing:

TIM cemetary gate — 2. The second pass at this idea, still just a sketchbook drawing.

It still wasn’t quite right, but that was it! Later I sat down at my drafting table and worked on a large tight pencil drawing on tracing paper choosing a low vantage point looking up at the cemetery gate and moon, add in a couple of jack-o-lanterns, and finesse the whole scene. You can see that originally I intended to include even more jack-o-lanterns than what appeared in the final, but later while working on the painting, they just felt excessive.

TIM the movie pencil art — 3. The final actual size pencil drawing with all the details worked out.

From that final pencil drawing, I created the watercolor painting with a limited creepy color palette. That low vantage point was intentionally designed so that your eye is guided right up there to the title of the film, but also the use and placement of color and lighting was to achieve that same end result. Colored pencils were used to further tie things up and accent other details.

TIM development poster — 4. The final watercolored painting along with the tagline direct from our script.

When I go to a museum to look at paintings, I love getting my nose up as close as I can without setting off alarms so that I can really see the details of what the artist had done. With that idea in mind, here are a few close-ups of the final painting. Enjoy!

FRYE_cemetery_hill — The angel statue is a direct homage to the angel that “catches” Jack Skellington in Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas.”

FRYE_cemetery_gate — You can really see how the colored pencil was utilized in the piece from this close-up.

FRYE_pumkin — And a close-up view of a jack-o-lantern showing every gritty paint and pencil stroke.

TIM is still very much in need of every pledge small and large if we are to reach our goal by March 29. If we don’t reach that goal, then all those fine and generous pledges will not be able to be fulfilled. The fate of our film is in YOUR hands! Click on any of the images above to come support TIM!

Art: Colored Pencil Art: Drawings Art: Preliminary Sketches Art: Watercolor Illustrations Sketchbook TIM the Movie

Always Room for Cello

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date March 3, 2011

I recently made a card for someone I know who plays the cello professionally. Thought it would be fun to put little Mickey Mouse behind a giant cello. After it was done, I realized that it could be mistaken for a bass. So, it really is a cello. Just a small mouse.

Why, cello there Mickey!

Animals Art: Watercolor Disney

Tuesdays with “TIM”

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date March 1, 2011

Welcome to another fine addition to my Tuesdays with TIM posts showing you some of the artwork created in the development of this exciting short film project I’ve been working on with my producing partner Brian Joseph Ochab!

When trying to develop the visual style of TIM in early 2010, we didn’t wish to stray from the visuals of Tim Burton’s creepy animated films. We wanted to channel the look of Burton’s 1982 short Vincent while combining it with the visual sophistication of films like Corpse Bride and Henry Selick’s Coraline. Vincent was in black and white, and had a certain economy of scenery that was inexpensive to produce yet visually compelling. The latter films incorporated color and style to their imagery that just captures the imagination.

So, with visions of the macabre dancing in my head, I grabbed my sketchbook and started to draw various scenes based on lines in the script. We chose a couple of them to illustrate, and I got to work on this particular piece.

Yes, the art below is a genuine old school painting in real life. I created it primarily in watercolor, and incorporated the use of colored pencils just a tad. I really love the watercolor medium, and use it often for my development art on this film. I think the uneven nature of it helps give a certain tactile feeling to each scene, and helps give the viewer a certain uneasiness with the creepy subject matter.

If you would like to hear Christopher Lee’s narration that goes with this piece, we feature it in our promo film over on Kickstarter. If you watch it long enough, there’s even a quick shot of me working on this very painting. You can go there right now by clicking on www.TIMtheMovie.com.

If you go to Kickstarter, please consider pledging some money to us so that we can actually make this film. We are in our final month of fundraising. I know at the $100 level, one of the things you’ll receive is a special limited edition print of one of my paintings. We have a few to choose from, so the print might even be of this particular painting.

Come back again next Tuesday for more revelations about TIM the movie! And come join the TIM Facebook page by CLICKING HERE!

Animals Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Character Designs Development Art Illustrations Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook TIM the Movie

Tuesdays with “TIM”

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date February 8, 2011

Last Tuesday I unveiled to you the news about a short animated film I am art directing and co-producing (with my friend Brian Joseph Ochab) called TIM. If you missed that post, you can CLICK HERE to get caught up. The short summary is that it is a parody of Tim Burton’s early stop-motion animated short Vincent in which a little boy named Vincent Malloy tries to emulate his hero, master of the macabre Vincent Price. In TIM, the young Timothy Todd wishes to be just like Tim Burton.

Today’s Tuesdays with TIM features a piece of visual development art I created of the star of my film, Timothy Todd, dressed as his hero, Tim Burton. I believe this is the first version of him in color, and he continues to go through changes as we proceed with developing the film. I painted him with watercolors, and a touch of colored pencil. And no, the website address isn’t on the actual art. We just want folks to be aware of where they can go for more information about the film. (If you click right on the image, it will take you there.)

The other news since last week is that we now have a special fan page on Facebook for TIM, and it is growing strong! In just a week’s time, almost 1000 of you have “Liked” us! If you would like to get a steady stream of updates on TIM, come join the fan page! Click on www.facebook.com/Timthemovie and you’ll go right there!

And lastly, in order for us to see this film to completion, we need YOUR help! Come check us out on Kickstarter.com to see what kind of neat goodies we are offering you in thanks for your financial support. You can see our Kickstarter promo movie featuring our narrator Christopher Lee by CLICKING HERE!

Come back next Tuesday when I plan to show you more goodies!

Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Caricature Character Designs Development Art Illustrations TIM the Movie

Gnomeo & Juliet 5

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date January 21, 2011

Well, here is the last of my 2002 audition pieces to work on Disney’s Gnomeo & Juliet (opening on February 11). Not having seen it myself, I can’t vouch for its content. With all the years it has been in development, one would hope that it is every bit as fun as they are leading you to believe with the advertising. After all, it MUST be good because it had 9 writers – 10 if you count William Shakespeare. (cough cough)

I am glad that it is completely animated though. Early on there was talk of having the gnomes be realistic and set in a live-action world. If they had gone that route, kids would likely run crying in fear of any actual garden gnomes they would encounter in the future. I might even have reacted that way.

At any rate, here is my final submission for your perusal. It’s a watercolored piece inspired by the first drawing I posted on Monday. I expanded that idea of the “bent over” lawn ornaments to epic proportions by making a Braveheart gag out of it.

Nothing puts a cold fear into the hearts of the opposition like teddy bear underwear.

Thanks for checking out my Gnomeo & Juliet inspired art this week. While these proposed pieces didn’t land me a job on the film back then, they were fun to come up with. And I’ve managed to work on a few fun things since then in the world of animation.

Art: Watercolor Character Designs Development Art Disney Illustrations

The Sunshine Boys

Post author By Chad Frye
Post date January 7, 2011

Just before the holidays, actor Daniel Roebuck called me up to ask if I’d be able to help with the poster art for a local theater production he was producing, directing and acting in, Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys. I have a vague recollection of the George Burns/Walter Matthau film version from some Saturday afternoon television airing in my youth, and thought the assignment might be a fun one.

The story focuses on two elderly actors who had hit their prime as young men in the days of vaudeville. Daniel wanted the image to show the two lead actors as they are now in their twilight years, and also show them from their bygone days of the stage all while expressing that the play is a comedy.

Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys poster — A very stylized version of actors Daniel Roebuck and Jim Roope as young vaudevillians on the left with their elder counterparts looking down.

In researching old posters to elicit a nostalgic feel, I stumbled across a great French poster for The Marx Brothers movie A Night At the Opera. It provided a style and layout that would fit the needs of the play perfectly! I don’t often follow another artist’s vision so closely as I did this time, but I figured “why not?” After all, the French artist liberally “borrowed” his caricatures from the great American artist Al Hirschfeld.

A 1936 French poster for the Marx Bros. famous film “A Night At the Opera” that is clearly based on the caricatures of Al Hirschfeld.

I believe the art will also serve as the cover of the program. If you’d like to get your own copy, Dan Roebuck’s play opens tonight in Burbank, CA and will be playing for two weekends (January 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15) as a fundraiser. If you are interested in seeing the production, tickets are available by calling (818) 504-4400.

Art: Colored Pencil Art: Watercolor Caricature Illustrations