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 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.

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.

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.

Well, instead of a snarling, heaving, terrifying creature, this fella came out looking like he's about ready to hug someone!

So much for my well laid plans.

Now, keep in mind that I live in the Los Angeles area. I know some folks think it can be chilly here at times, but I walked into the place in short sleeves and was more than comfortable. Then again, 15 years out here and I’ve never needed more than a sweater in the dead of winter. Maybe I’m just unnaturally warm with all my natural insulation.

Well, I did this sketch later at home. He had made a visual impression on me and I just had to get it out…

Maybe he wasn't actually cold. Instead, maybe he was hiding leftovers under that thing.

And just to be sure you read that last sentence right –  doggie DOODLES fell out of my fingers. Would hate for you to think that “L” was an “I”.

At one point, I started getting involved in the group, even serving as its president for a spell. One duty that I took on was as co-editor of the monthly newsletter. The other editor was Disney Legend Floyd Norman (check out a new book about Floyd HERE). Floyd and I would take turns every other month as it was quite a job putting together what often was a 32 page beast. If you couldn’t get members to write articles, the editor wrote them. If the members couldn’t spell, the editor had to spell. If there were no pictures submitted, the editor had to find some. If no one came through in drawing the cover, yep, the editor did it.

This piece is one of those times I had to come up with a cover idea, likely at the last minute. It was a fun challenge when the need arose, because deadlines would be so tight that it sometimes ended up being like cartoonist improv – whatever came to mind at that moment is what blorted out of your brush.

Boy, in THIS economy, some of those publications are probably funnier than the comic book!

I think this image came to mind because I was always seeing grown men be so business minded to where there was no sight of the kid inside. While the titans of industry would be reading The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, they probably started off reading comic books. Even cartoonists sometimes get caught up in the work of being a cartoonist that they can forget what that feeling of pure joy and escapism a few minutes with a comic book would bring when we were kids. Comic books are likely what got us interested in being cartoonists in the first place!

I came from a world where both business AND comics were an influence, and both came from my own father. Dad was a mortgage banker, but he grew up on comic books. When I was too young to read, he would sit there and read me tales of adventure from his old childhood comic books. His favorite character was Disney’s Uncle Scrooge of course. Scrooge, in stories by the great Carl Barks, became my favorite, too. But Dad didn’t stop there. Every day we would spread out the comics from the newspaper and he would read those to me as well. Peanuts, Nancy, Dennis the Menace, The Family Circus, and Beetle Bailey were all favorites.

I’m positive that my love for cartooning came from those reading sessions with Dad, and he taught me a lot about business, too. I’m glad, because the two go together. A cartoonist often finds himself working as a freelancer.

So, as life moves you forward, never forget the joy of the comics that you enjoyed as a kid. They’ll keep you young.

And to those of you who are cartoonists in the Los Angeles area, CLICK HERE to see what CAPS is all about. April’s monthly meeting just happens to be tonight where they will have a terrific panel (including Sergio Aragonès) talking about Will Eisner – the godfather of the graphic novel.

Born of Jewish lineage (traceable to Israel’s second king, David, and earlier), Christ was celebrating Passover with His twelve apostles at the beginning of the events that this weekend celebrates. He had spent the past few years fulfilling Old Testament prophecy as the Messiah which many rejected in Israel. That night after the Passover supper, Christ was betrayed by one of His apostles, Judas Iscariot, into the hands of Roman soldiers and was ultimately slain on a wooden cross. As the Bible states in the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus was buried, and then raised Himself back to life three days later. The purpose of these actions was that, following the Jewish tradition of killing an animal as a sacrifice for sin, Christ’s death was an act of the ultimate sacrifice to take upon Himself the sins of mankind past, present and future – something that could only truly be taken on by the Creator himself. Death wouldn’t have been enough. His resurrection proved His authority as God. That, in a nutshell, is what Easter is all about to true Christians.

A few years back I drew over 500 coloring book style pictures for a Sunday school curriculum called Generations of Grace. In 2009 I shared with you here on the blog many drawings from the Resurrection series of events, with a much more detailed biblical account of the meaning of Easter. If you would like to see those, feel free to CLICK HERE.

Today’s drawing is a part of that series not shared before. These are some stand alone figures from Christ’s death that Sunday school teachers could use with the kids to color and cut out to create their own Mt. Calvary (Golgotha) scene. These figures are a companion drawing to the bigger coloring page that you can see HERE.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

So why is Good Friday good? Because it represents Christ giving up His life for me. Sunday represents His power over death which shows his authority to die for me in the first place! It is humbling thought.

I know that not everyone will enjoy today’s post, but I didn’t make up the events of which I speak. While I may not be the most eloquent at explaining them, they are the foundation of my faith and can all be found in the Bible both in Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment. They are events for which I am literally eternally grateful.

From time to time, folks write for permission to use my Bible coloring sheet pictures, but please note that their use is currently limited to the Generations of Grace Bible curriculum for which they were drawn. There are three years worth of children’s Sunday lessons broken up into various categories such as the Resurrection, so feel free to CLICK HERE to learn more about that.