Search Results for: Wrestling

Neil Gaiman and Art Spiegelman

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The Friends of the Orange County Library celebrating 100 years of the Orange County Library System sponsored Niel Gaiman in Conversation with Art Spiegalman at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center. I know Art Spiegalman best for the graphic novel Maus which has been on my book shelves for decades. Niel Gaiman is also a literary genius.

This informal conversation was inspiring and profound. Both authors are advocates for libraries and horrified at the authoritarian need of American legislators to demolish the institutions when they can. Spiegalman’s Maus was banned from school curriculum, but I was pleased to find out that the author profited from the scandal.

The evening was like sitting in at an informal gathering where the authors got to meet again and share stories. Both grew up in the crucible of NYC and worked as journalists and cartoonists. I likes how they both described boiling down the essence of a story so it might fit on the confines of a graphic novel page. Being overly verbose isn’t eh goal but to state the case simply and boldly.

When asked about what it takes to overcome writers block. They both said that what is most needed is to always put in the work, daily and without question. Art never felt Maus would be published. He collected the rejection letters. It was a monster that he had to keep wrestling. It was created despite his reservations.

I had to reschedule a virtual animation class to attend the evening and I am so glad I did. This was a truly inspiring conversation to sit in on.

COVID: Fortune Teller Head

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After three days of wrestling with a black sheep head turn, I finally decided to dial back the scene. The music builds slowly to a crescendo and the first scene with the sheep is the quiet before the chaos breaks loose. Rather then animating the head turn, I decided to paint a depth map and subtly turn the painting of the sheep’s head. Along with the parallax zoom in effect it is enough motion for the scene.

I isolated the black sheep from the herd and added him to the composite with a green screen. This was my first attempt to use a green screen with a depth effect. It played back fine at first but the next day it broke down in Premiere Pro. The scene scene still worked in after effects so I exported the scene as a movie which baked the effect into place.

Premiere Pro crashed today and the edit reverted to one of the earliest versions of the movie when nothing moved. It was a terrifying moment, but thankfully edits have been backed up onto oneDrive which is online. The last time a crash like this happened it was impossible to recover because all the back ups disappeared. Back ups don’t dispersal when they are online and separate from the computer the program is running on. This tenancy of Adobe Premiere Pro to arbitrarily trash past versions of an edit are a real draw back.

The fortune teller scene worked well enough but I decided the head could be more dimensional so I repeated the steps taken with the sheep head. I also decided to animate the hands downward a bit. The effect was achieved by placing the rotation point at the elbow and keying the arm rotation. It worked for one arm but when I went to the end of the scene the arm rotated way out of place. I fudged things by guessing where the arms should be at the beginning and end of the scene.

The fortune tellers depth map grid was stretched out over the face mask so that it turned along with her face. It looks strange here but it worked fine in practice.

Children’s Mental Health

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The CDC has recommended that schools cancel extracurricular activities football, wrestling, choir and band during the COVID surge.

The CDC released its updated guidance for COVID-19 prevention in schools on January 13, 2022, along with a map that shows 99% of US counties are at high-risk for transmission of the virus.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement, the agency “prioritized academics over athletics because of the increased risks involved in some extracurricular sports.  When followed, our school guidance has been incredibly effective.  In the fall, 99 percent of schools were able to remain open during the intense delta wave of COVID.”

The CDC gives football and wrestling as examples of high-risk sports and says that “high-risk extracurricular activities are those in which increased exhalation occurs, such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band, or exercise, especially when conducted indoors.”

Put simply however, schools, students and parents are ignoring the guidance. They argue that children’s mental health is more important than the children’s. actual health. “As we say in Tennessee, that dog won’t hunt,” said Dr. William Shaffer, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Lets face it, most people are over this pandemic and want life to return to normal, but the pandemic isn’t done with us.

Sweet Water Taste: Poster Evolution

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Sweet Water Taste by Gloria Bond Clunie is a very funny play about race and how the actions of our ancestors affect life today. The show runs through January 22, 2022 and I saw online that there is a two for one deal on tickets. Tickets run between $35 and $56.

All hell—and a little bit of heaven break loose when Elijah Beckford, a prominent Southern Black undertaker, approaches his white cousin and demands to be buried in “the family cemetery.” First seen at Orlando Shakes as a PlayFest reading, this irreverent comedy takes a hilarious look at the modern racial divide as two families find the meaning in their shared history.

My first pass at the poster focused on a large live oak tree in front of a plantation. Below the ground roots spread out mingling with ancient signatures. Two oval portraits of  a couple hinted at the past. A well and two very small modern day men hinted at the present day comedic drama that would unfold. This is a lot to unpack in a single image and I wanted as well to perhaps focus on the plantation living room where most of the scenes unfold.

My second pass moved in closer to the entrance of the plantation and I focused on the two men wrestling with an old tombstone with their family name of Beckford.   The one thing I liked the most about this sketch was the title treatment and I keep it moving forward. The action of fighting over a tombstome however felt forced and it was decided that the entrance looked too much like the entrance to the White House. I also wanted to get closer in to the men and their expressions. This sketch focused on their gestures but they just needed to look each other in the eyes. The drama didn’t require an over active pose.

The next sketch focused on a very forced hand shake in the plantation living room. I knew I had hit the mark when Jim Helsinger laughed out loud. I had put the headstone behind the men and it was decided to move it forward into the foreground. The felt short compared to the tall ceiling so I was asked to move them up a bit. In this sketch the painting was rather arbitrary to make the room feel opulent but it made sense to change that and incorporate one of the family portraits I had used in the very first sketch. At this point the changes would be minor as I teeked and refined the image.

In the next pass I considered bringing back the live oak tree since it made sense to have the headstone outside. The cracked headstone in this case seemed a bit too large, so I would have to find a way to make it less pronounced. The title treatment and author type sizes were now working right. I also adjusted the handshake to it read better from a distance. Since I enjoy family history I knew I had to slip more of the past into the final image.

Back in the living room, the men are taller and I added one of the family portraits. It was decided that the female portrait would be better and I decided to add a more interesting shape and texture to the headstone. The final image is the largest one at the top of this article.

I can say that by working digitally I am able to repurpose and reuse various element sand shuffle them easily each time changes are made. Working traditionally these would be six different paintings but it is easy to change things on the fly, focusing on one aspect of the poster at a time. It as fun to play and experiment with the limitless possibilities.

Effective as of November 23, 2021, Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test to attend performances or special events. Instead, guests 5 years of age and older must now only wear a face mask when inside the building.

NBA Booble

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The 2020 NBA Bubble is the isolation zone with strict rules created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic. 22 teams were invited to Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida to participate in eight games being held at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The bubble is a $170 million investment by the NBA to protect its season which was cut short by the pandemic. The bubble games will begin on July 30, 2020 inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Lou Williams a Clippers guard was granted an excused absence for a family funeral. While on leave, he went to Magic City an Atlanta strip club where he was photographed by rapper Jack Harlow. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story. Harlow tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.” In the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando campus.

Williams said he went to the strip club for dinner. He wrote in a tweet, “Ask any of my teammates what’s my favorite restaurant in Atlanta is. Ain’t nobody partying. Chill out lol. #Maskon #inandout.” Williams was tested for the COVID-19 each day that he was away from campus, a source told ESPN. Williams claimed he only went to the strip club for the wings. But you have to wonder if he was also drawn to the breasts and thighs. We all grieve in unique ways.

Players are subject to a minimum four-day quarantine after they leave campus on an excused absence. However, the re-quarantining time could be extended up to 10 days if recommended by the league’s infectious disease specialists. Of course Williams will need the full 10 days of quarantine and he will miss the first two games of the season because of his stripper joint stunt. He is paid about $58,000 a game so those were some pretty expensive wings. .

This incident makes it clear that the notion of playing ball in the midst of a raging pandemic isn’t the best idea and the best plans don’t work when players act stupid. At the beginning of the pandemic Rudy Gilbert made light of the virus when he touched every microphone at a press conference and he was infected by the virus. That stupidity canceled the game and shut down the league for four months.

The NBA bubble will likely burst before the season is through. I am amazed Williams will be allowed to play. The bottom line is that the games bring in a profit for the NBA. It reminds me of how professional wrestling was considered an essential business by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Despite several dozen positive COVID-19 tests in June 2020, for performers and staff, the wrestling league keeps churning out matches.

WWEssential

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While Legitimate sports franchises are closing stadiums for at least a year, a Florida Man who struggled to put on a single blue medical glove declares the WWE an essential business.

On April 1, 2020 Blue Glove (DeSantis) issued a Stay At Home Order due to the thread of Covid-19 and wrestling was not listed as an essential business.  On April 9, 2020 he issued an amended executive order that says “employees at a professional sports and media production
with a national audience are exempt from a stay-at-home order as long
as the location is closed to the general public.”  On that same day, April 9, The America First Action Committee chaired by the WWE owner Vince McMahon‘s
wife Linda, a former member of Donald Trump’s cabinet,  donated 18.5
million dollars in television ad spending in Orlando and Tampa for
Trumps political campaign. This glut of political ads will appear
between Labor Day and Election day. The McMahon’s are among the Trump’s
top political donors, so it was little wonder that wrestling was
suddenly considered an essential business by Florida Governor Blue
Glove.

At a press conference, Blue Glove tried to justify his decision, saying, “Obviously, WWE, there’s no crowd of anything, so it’s a very small amount of people,”  He went on, “I think people are chomping at the bit. I mean, if you think
about it, we’ve never had a period like this in modern American history
where you’ve had such little new content, particularly in the sporting
realm. I mean, people are watching, we’re watching, like, reruns from
the early 2000s, watching Tom Brady do the Super Bowl then, which is
neat because he’s gonna be in Tampa and I think they have a chance to
win a Super Bowl this year. But I think people, to be able to have some
light at the tunnel, see that things may get back on a better course. I
think from just a psychological perspective I think is a good thing.”

On Monday April 13, 2020 WWE began broadcasting live in the midst of the pandemic.

Two of WWE’s Orlando staff tested positive for Covid-19. In a statement, WWE said, “We believe this matter is
low risk to WWE talent and staff, as the individual and a roommate
became symptomatic in the days following exposure to two people working
in acute health care on the evening of March 26, after WWE’s TV
production on a closed set was already complete.”

Like the staff at the meat packing plants in the Midwest, it seems more important to keep the wrestling live rather than to consider staff health in the face of a pandemic. Taping sessions are at Full Sail University, which is where I used to teach animation. It would be a real travesty if the virus were allowed to spread among the student population.

The 74-year-old billionaire and WWE circus ring leader Vince McMahon seems only concerned with the bottom line when it comes to his organization which is reported to have 500 million in its reserve and stands to make a sizable profit this year. He needed to maintain live programing to get paid in lucrative contracts with USA and Fox networks.

What happens in the ring is scripted and false, but the threat of the virus is very real. McMahon’s concern over staff health has been dicey through the years with deaths of performers due to drugs, murder, suicide, and one in-ring disaster involving a wrestler falling 78 feet during his staged entrance to the ring.

On April 15, 2020 to further pad the bottom line, the organization is firing on air staff even though the taping continues. The reductions include:

  • Reducing executive and board member compensation,
  • Decreasing operating expenses,
  • Cutting talent expenses, third party staffing and consulting,
  • Deferring spending on the build-out of the Company’s new headquarters for at least six months.

“Given the uncertainty of the situation, the Company also identified headcount reductions and made the decision to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately,” according to a WWE statement.

Little known fact, I used to art direct a Wrestling Magazine when I was going to school in New York City.  That job helped put me through college. I used to love designing those loud boisterous spreads but seeing how this business is run today, I look back with dread at the idea that I helped promote this circus that does not value human life.

This is a clear and simple case of Quid Quo Pro. “You can have 18.5 million in ads, but I’d like you to do me a favor though.” It is business as usual in Central Florida. Add to this the caveat that Vince McMahon has been appointed to the council that will decide when it is safe to reopen the economy. He hardly seems an expert on what is safe.

Paint the Trail after Pulse

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At heart Jeff Sonsken is an instigator. He creates art to ruffle feathers and make people think. He always loved painting and artwork growing up. It was something he always did on his own ever since he was a kid. He would get inspired and draw using colored pencils, he got into airbrushing. In college he was taking photography classes but he was doing airbrushing in his spare time.

After college he moved from Iowa to Orlando settling in Longwood. Painting the trail began sort of accidentally. During the 2008 housing bubble he was a carpenter working in million dollar homes building custom bookcases, offices, bars. Before the bubble bust everyone was living high on the hog. After the crash he started fixing kitchens. He painted a big sign on fence pickets and he was going to hang it on the trail where his parents lived to advertise his services. He decided against hanging it because he wanted time with his family. He felt disappointed since the sign was already painted but he kept driving. When he got home he picked up some pickets and battened them together base coated them and painted Einstein on them just so he had something to hang up. After Einstein he painted Yoda, and he put them up.

He thought people would be irritated but they weren’t. He was clearing out a spot for several panels and some guy on his bike stopped and asked if he was the guy that put the paintings up. He said, “Yea” expecting a possible argument. But the guy said, “I love it.” Soon a mom and daughter walked up and a small crowd gathered. The biker wanted him to paint Jack Lemon, the little girl asked him to paint Alfred Hitchcock. So when he left he had 5 more names for panels to be painted. He had a mission. He wasn’t getting paid, but he had something to do. When he finished the Jack Lemon piece the guy on the bike who requested it was riding by on the trail and he just rode past. He shouted out to him, “It’s Jack Lemon!” The jerk didn’t even stop. Every time he went out he would get more requests. After 6 months he started getting requests on the Paint the Trail Facebook page.

People wanted him to donate art to help cancer research or autism, he never said no. He found himself helping people who needed help. He realized he could have a positive impact even if it was just a drip in the bucket. He has done he would draw up someone’s family member and let them fill in the paint much as he did for Pulse families. That helped a lot of people. He has gone through a bit of a metamorphosis himself. He is going to do what he is doing for as long as he can.

Though many of the trail paintings are pop cultural references there will once in a while be a memorial portrait in the mix. On the third fence he was painting, there was a woman who lost her 15 year old to leukemia and he painted the portrait. He went to meet the. Out on the trail one day, and they were already waiting. They were maybe 100 years down the trail and he walked down the trail towards them. There were two little girls and the dad, and the mom. Dad was holding flowers. So he flipped the painting around when he was about 60 feet from her and the mom just dropped. He has done many painting like that where that is what he was left with. He knows he is doing something good for them but it felt like he was inflicting pain on them. When he gets them to do the painting themselves, he is left with a more uplifting feeling about the experience. They might cry while doing the painting but when they get back to him they relate that it was an amazing experience.

 After Pulse he knew he needed to do something but he didn’t want to do something right away. Though it has been close to 2 years since the shooting it feet like yesterday while in other respects it felt like 10 years ago. The memories aren’t fresh but he remembered wrestling with it. He had a hard time with it. It happened like 18 miles from his home while he was sleeping. The rainbows don’t sink in anymore. Those were his neighbors. We all share the same community, they were brothers and sons. He spent a couple of weeks just pissed off. This happens all the time. You can’t even feel safe in your own town. It doesn’t matter where you go this could happen anywhere, a shopping mall a movie theater. We lost our mind as a civilization.

He did paint the skyline of Orlando in reference to Pulse. On Facebook he came across a video of people dancing. It didn’t make him feel happy. It tore him up. After that video he felt compelled to paint every face. He wanted people to see all their faces in one shot. As he completed each portrait he shared them on his Facebook page and families would share thoughts on his page. Once it was finished he took it to the Dr Phillips Center Memorial. Now any time there is another mass shooting people ask him to paint the number of people. No artist can keep up with those demands. He needs to think about his kids, and himself. At any moment you could be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Life was never like this before. It is crazy now. Middle school kids an high school kids are used to this new reality. Who knows what the answer is.

The trail is basically paint on wood so it can not last forever. He was doing some repairs and realized he can’t keep up with it. The more he creates the more maintenance there is. It is impossible to add up all the money he has invested. It is an expensive hobby. At some point people will have to swap out their fences when the wood rots. He creates a separate panel of fence and screws it right on to the back of an existing fence making it sturdier. When a hurricane blows through he has to think about taking sections down. Art might not last but it can help us anchor our thoughts and memories.

Grand Opening: Cholo Dogs Mexican Street Dogs

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Co-owner Chris Delahoz invited me to the Grand Opening of Cholo Dogs which is the newest resident in the Mills 50 District. They officially opened at Wally’s Mills Avenue Liquor on September 26 from 7:30pm – 11pm. A sizable crowd showed up to celebrate the fun food-filled fiesta. Cholo Dogs offers all beef, veggie, and vegan Mexican themed hotdogs.

Menu: 

• El Borracho: Nathan’s All Beef (or Veg), Elote (Mexican Corn), Cotija Cheese, Tajin, and Cilantro.
• La Pelirroja: Nathan’s All Beef (or Veg), Avocado Sauce, Crema, Tajin, Red Onions.

• El Chicano: Nathan’s All Beef (or Veg), Pickle Slice, Crema, Cotija Cheese, Tajin.

• Cholo Dog: Nathan’s All Beef (or Veg), BBQ Sauce, Ancho Chipotle Sauce, Jalapeños, Tajin.

As the crowd waited for their hot dogs, I sat “back stage” behind the cart to watch the hectic action. A bell would ring as soon as a dog was ready. Franco Furtero manned the grill with a small army of assistants at the opening. Orders were coming fast and furious. As an added bonus we heard there would be a Mariachi band to add to the festivities. My fear was that they might set up right in front of me and block my view, so I sketched quickly.

Pam tried the Borracho and I tried the La Pelirrojo. Mine came smothered in avocado and crema, which made it difficult to eat while sketching, but it was delicious. I managed to keep the sauces off the sketch for the most part. I actually liked Pam’s hot dog better, so I ordered a second with the elote and cotija cheese. I never would have thought to order corn on a hot dog but it tasted great. Pam then tried the El Chicano which had a pickle on top. I didn’t taste it, but she said that from now on any hot dog she is served must come with a pickle on top.

I didn’t realize until I was half way through the sketch that a photographer was set up beside me. He was offering Polaroid photos of families and kids for $25 or so. Several boys posed wearing Mexican wrestling masks. He tried to convince another family to pose but they balked at the price. The response was, “But that is more than a hot dog!” Dear god, I live in a town that values art less than the price of a hot dog. Well these were some mighty fine hot dogs, I have to admit. They bumped up the culinary art of street food a notch in Mills 50.

The Mariachi band was late and there was concern that they would never show, so Pam and I headed out after the sketch was done and we had downed the hot dogs. We saw a video later that night of the band performing. Oh well, another sketch another day. Besides Wally’s Mills Avenue Liquor, the Cholo Dog Cart has been spotted at at  Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company, The Veranda at Thornton Park. Check the Cholo Dog FB page to see where they might pop up next. A marriage made in heaven of American hot dogs and Mexican toppings. Grab a loaded dog!

Resume

Education

BFA, Illustration and Animation / School of Visual Arts, New York City

Siggraph Conference / Los Angeles, San Diego.  Annual international computer graphics conference; professional workshops and seminars.

Internship  /  Walt Disney Feature Animation  / Orlando, FL

Focus: Learning the 12 principles of animation, and film production.

Created in-betweens for The Lion King.

Illustrator, Digital Artist, Designer, Art Director, Instructor   

Illustration and art direction for print and film. Award-winning illustrator and animation artist with decades of experience and numerous credits. Animation instructor; urban sketching workshop instructor.

Strengths

Superior creative skills. Unique perspective. Strong work ethic. Collaborative attitude. Project leadership: consistently successful team management under tight deadlines and budgets. Excellent communication skills with peers, clients and community leaders. Committed to teaching and inspiring the next generation of illustrators and animation artists.

Experience

Illustrative Journalist

Analog Artist Digital World / Orlando, FL / 2009-current

  • Founded this daily online site about Central Florida’s arts scene. Writes daily blog content and creates sketches daily promoting the arts and local news.
  • Pulse Nightclub Coverage: Aftermath of the Tragedy / Orlando, FL / June 2016-current.
    • Curator & Artist, 49 Portraits Curated 18 local artists to paint portraits of all 49 victims in one session. Exhibited multiple locations.
    • Artist, interview portraits (survivors, 1st responders, families, friends), Orange County Regional History Center  /  2016-ongoing  /  Featured in “One Year Later” remembrance exhibition and in permanent One Orlando Collection.
    • Producer & Director, Finger on the Pulse / Aug. 2016 / Film incorporating sketches done at vigils and fundraisers plus the 49 Portraits; screened at 2016 Global Film Festival.
    • Artist, Pulse solo exhibition  /  City Arts Factory  /  Dec. 2016

Author

Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques  /  Barron’s Press, 2014

  • Wrote and illustrated an inspirational, easy-to-follow book for art students and working artists. Fully illustrated instructional text; translated into multiple languages; available worldwide.

Contributing Illustrator  

Drawing Perspective  /  Matthew Brehm; Page One Publishing, 2010

  • Contributed stages of a finished sketch to show process, as well as the book’s 30-page workbook of instructional text with illustration examples in various stages.

Illustrator, Freelance  /  Orlando, FL  / 2004-current.

  • Clients include Kessler Collection Hotels, Orlando Opera, Orlando Science Center, Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Weekly; individual clients; private events.
  • New York Daily News weekly column, “Undiscovered Manhattan.” New York City, 1984-1989:
  • Other publications: Business Week, Circa 86, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Finance, Fame, Home Office Computing, The American Journal of  Nursing, The Scientist. Publishers: Harper and Row, Holt Reinhardt and Winston, Paragon House, Scholastic Publications.

Mural Artist, Freelance

Mennello Museum of American Art / Orlando, FL / 2012

  • Commissioned to design, and paint the museum’s 35’x7′ mural. Invited 50 local residents to pose for the mural sketch.

Key Assistant Animator, Freelance / Orlando, FL / 2005-2007

Cecropia, React Entertainment: Created final animation drawings. Screen credit: The Act ( iPhone/iPad video game).

Project Firefly: Created final animation drawings. Film credits: Curious George; Princess and the Frog.

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Animation Artist / / Orlando, FL / 1994-2004

Films: The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Emperor’s New Groove,  John Henry, Lilo and Stitch, Brother Bear.

Department Head, Clean-up Department  /  2004  /  Pocahontas DVD (additional scenes)

  • Managed a team of 20 artists. Responsible for scheduling and delivering new scenes created for and added to the director’s cut. Worked closely with both the producer and director in Disney’s California animation studio.

Key Assistant Animator  / 2000-2004  /

Film credits: Brother Bear, Lilo and Stitch, The Emperor’s New Groove, Tarzan, John Henry.

  • Created key drawings for final approval by the Lead Key and Lead Animator.
  • Supervised the drawings of other artists to ensure consistent quality. Led and inspired team artists to meet tight weekly deadlines. Defined the look of “Cobra Bubbles” (Lilo and Stitch) throughout the film.
  • Sculpted character maquettes of “John Henry” and “Polly” as reference for animators.

Breakdown Artist  /  1996-1999  /  Film credit: Mulan.

  • Created drawings that keep the action flowing smoothly.
  • Successfully inspired the crew and accelerated production to meet consistently tight deadlines.
  • Designed and created a hands-free glass platen (the Thorspectron 2000) for the digital cameras, reducing shooting time. Produced at no materials cost; saved the department 33% in production time and costs. In use through 2004.

In-betweener  /  1994-1996  /  Film credit: Pocahontas.

  • Created drawings that smooth out the action at 24 fps.

Art Director  /  1984-1986 / Oui, Video Games magazine, Wrestling

  • Created and art-directed the design for Exercise for Men at start-up; design remained unchanged  for 14 years.

Instructor

10×10  /  Orlando, FL  /  2017  /  Developed and teaching the first-ever urban sketching course locally: 10 on-location workshops on core values for sketchers.

Elite Animation Academy  /  Orlando, FL  /  2015-ongoing (part-time).

  • Courses: Drawing Fundamentals, Life Drawing, Digital Painting, and Character Design in Photoshop for middle and high school students. Created syllabus, lesson plans and prep; provide reference material.
  • Teach these same courses online to students nationwide via Skype.

ODD (Orlando Drink & Draw) / 2015-ongoing.  Creator, organizer and moderator of  monthly artists’ gathering  to sketch at a different venue each month; advise  and coach as requested.

3rd International Urban Sketching Symposium  /  Santo Domingo  /  2015.  Developed and taught “Capturing the Event” workshops.

Full Sail University / Orlando, FL  /  2010-2015 (part-time). Course: Traditional Animation. Taught the 12 principles of hand-drawn animation. Lectured; graded students’ animation work. Taught and coached students navigating pencil-test software used to shoot scenes.

Disney Institute / Orlando, FL  /  2003 (periodic).  Guest lecturer. Taught Character Design to Disney Institute enrollees (corporate guests, visitors).

Awards and Distinctions

“Best of ” Multiple Award Winner, Orlando Weekly

Best Blog (2 years), Best Local Artist, Best Mural, Best Urban Sketcher

“Best of ” Award for Best Blogger,  Orlando Sentinel

Academy Award-nominations: Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King,Pocahontas, Brother Bear as a Film Animation Team member

Digital Proficiencies

Adobe Premier Pro (video editing), Photoshop and ProCreate (CGI drawing/painting, Adobe Suite of Digital Creation (including After Effects,  Premiere, Encore and Audition), Maya (modeling, rigging, light, texturing), SAI (CGI painting), Z Brush (modeling, texturing), Procreate (Digital Sketching).

Pianos to the Death Game Show at Fringe

Posted on by Thor

Pianos to the Death Game Show is the deadliest, rocking game show, where three musicians play their way to survival, and the best part – the judges are you, the live studio audience! Join our Host and his sexy assistants on stage, as you help choose the music, get in on the action, and even pick a demise or two! All in this blood pumping spectator game, where you decide who drops the beat, or just drops dead. Isn’t it time for you to be in control?

Producer, Sarah Hester Ross, from Orlando, FL was one of the contestants. She had fiery red hair, an amazing voice and some real talent behind the keyboard. When we entered the black box theater, two fit trim and silver clad performers worked the crowd up into a frenzy. Since we were a studio audience, we had to bring the energy up like in professional wrestling. There were two pianists competing and a drummer, who acted as judge. I didn’t fully understand the rules. Contestants kept changing seats, so I never did sketch the male drummer. 

The competition was  fierce and the energy high. Midway through the competition two people were pulled from the audience to dance suggestively. Bikini Katie was  one of the people pulled from the audience and she shocked us all with her stellar twerking abilities. Two guys were pulled from the audience to dance suggestively in front of a woman and their performances were lackluster in comparison. Regardless the results were hilarious and fun to watch.

The ending of the show in which performers were electrocuted for loosing was hard to swallow. Perhaps it is too soon after Pulse, but the thought of finding gratuitous violence funny or entertaining left me uncomfortable. Pam suggested that a pie in the face would be more satisfying. Despite this, the show was highly entertaining and there was some real powerhouse talent showcased. I give the show 4 out of 5 pianos.

Pianos to the Death Game Show is in the Green Venue at the Orlando Reertory Theater, 1001 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL. Tickets are $12 plus a $10 Fringe button needed to get into any Fringe show.

Remaining  show dates are:

5:00 PM