The first day of Elite Animation Academy summer camps began on Monday June 22, 2020. I had three students for a class that focuses on drawing people places and things. It is essentially an Urban Sketching Class with the glitch that I can not, in good conscience, take students out on locations like restaurants to sketch. I brought a six foot stick with me to class to keep a visual reminder of what six feet looks like so I could space out the students. I bring that stick everywhere I go now. It makes me feel a but like Moses parting the viral sea.
Two of my students were sisters. Everyone thankfully was wearing masks. I spoke about the pandemic to my students without focusing too much on the statistics and data of the past week.
Florida is quickly becoming the next epicenter for the spread of this virus. Florida was late to shut down and early to re-open. Governor Ron DeSantis ended all restrictions on youth activities across the state, including camps. “At the end of the day, we trust parents to be able to make decisions in conjunction with physicians.” he said. A 17 year old girl is the youngest to die from Covid-19 in Florida so far. Oh, wait, sorry, I got side tracked, I didn’t discuss any of that with my students. I kept that to myself.
I covered the basics of hand washing, social distancing and keeping the masks on. There was hand sanitizer on each table and disinfecting wipes. I advised students to wipe down every pencil or sharpener they used. My students were troopers keeping their masks on at all times. Talking through a mask was a challenge and I realized I couldn’t dash off quick sketch notes to hand off to each student. Each sketch would be contaminated in theory.
There were a few students taking a computer class and several taking a character design class and my three students. I managed to keep my students six feet apart by taking out all the chairs but four and pushing the two tables in the room to opposite walls. I then seated students at opposite ends of the tables. The tables are just short of six feet long. Most of the morning I was concerned with being sure my students were properly spaced and safe. They were troopers keeping their masks on for the whole class. I was wearing the cloth mask Pam created for me which has three layers of fabric. This was the first day I wore the mask all day and I got used to having it on. I find I breath best through my mouth and then exhale through my nose. It is surprising having to think about every breath.
Before lunch I decided to get the students out of the small classroom. It is safer to be outside rather than in enclosed spaces. We walked down to a small lake to draw. I gave then some basic composition tips with a horizon line and basic tips on how to draw trees and then let them go. I scheduled an hour for them to work but they really didn’t have the attention span yet to focus on the endless details that existed at the scene. One student delighted in drawing the ducks and a family that arrived to feed the ducks. She has the passion and it will be a joy to help her see better so she can get more on the page.
The next day the two sisters did not show up for class leaving me with one student. I may have discussed Covid-19 than was needed. So much of my attention was focused on student safety. The older sister would drop her pencil when done with a sketch as if dropping a mic. She had some talent. It is a shame she didn’t push herself. The phone for now is her world. The younger sister sneezed once. Three cheers for her mask, which did it’s job.
It is much easier to maintain six feet distance from one student rather than three.