Crealde Urban Sketching Class

Posted on by Thor

When I discuss sketching people on location during my Crealde Urban Sketching Class, I pose for the students and then ask each student in turn to pose for 5 minutes. 5 minutes is about the most time you might ever be able to sketch someone on location before they walk off or turn their back to you.

The key to sketching people on location is being able to guess how long they will be focused and sty still. Any time I enter a restaurant I look around to see how much food is still on the plates of the people around me. If their cups are full and they are deep in conversation then it is a prime time to try and catch a sketch.

All of my students in this class are amazing and they all sketch very differently from each other. It is possible to tell at a glance which student created which sketch. That is what makes Urban Sketching so interesting.

Everyone is now on board with trying to complete each sketch with watercolor and finalized ink line. Though I often sketch the line work first, it is sometimes nice to just throw down some large puddles of watercolor to define a person’s general share and then refine it later with line work. I did this sketch in the time it took for 4 students to pose. Rather than sketch the model each time, I sketched the model once, and then sketched the students at work around her. I break the cycle of only focusing on what is expected.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Portico Place

Posted on by Thor

The 13th Street Presbyterian Church (143 West 13th Street, NYC) is an 1846-1847 Greek Revival Church attributed to Samuel Thomson, in the NYC Greenwich Village Historic District. It was an offshoot of the old Third Free Presbyterian Church located at Houston and Thompson Streets. Seven years after it opened, it burned down in 1855. It was quickly rebuilt, but by April 1902 it burned down again, both times faithfully recreating the original 1840s design.

As immigration changed the neighborhood’s demographics, the church merged with other Presbyterian congregations to remain afloat. In 1910 the name was changed to the Greenwich Presbyterian Church after it merged with the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church. Later, it changed again to the Village Presbyterian Church. From 1954-1973 the church’s name was changed to the Village Community Church while shared the space with the Brotherhood Synagogue. But by 1975, the congregation gave up the ghost and disbanded, putting the building up for sale.

A developer purchased the church to turn it into apartments. But the building was located within the newly-designated Greenwich Village Historic District, and the changes necessary to make this elegantly designed ecclesiastical structure suitable for living – such as inserting windows and doors into the intact Greek Revival facade – seemed incompatible with landmark designation. Fervent opposition to the residential conversion plan followed. A plan was eventually devised that allowed the redevelopment of the church to pass landmarks muster and move ahead.

In 1982 the building was converted into condominium apartment units, becoming known as Portico Place. The portico and columns are made of painted wood. This was developed under the landmarks review process in New York. The 15 different apartment configurations range from a 1,200 square foot two-bedroom units to a 2,100 square foot three-bedroom unit. Many are two-story and most have ceilings that soar to 15 feet. To let in more natural light, skylights were added, positioned so as not to be visible from the street. The main colonnaded facade remained unchanged, and a new residential entrance was created on the side.

All windows and doors were inserted only on the sides of the church, where they were scarcely visible, leaving all exterior architectural detailing intact. The church’s wrought iron gate remained. Even its message board– where the schedule of services or Bible quotes would normally appear – is preserved in front on 13th Street, now simply saying “141-143-145” to indicate the addresses of the apartments within. The conversion is so discreet, many assume the building is still a functioning church, and have no idea of the contention which surrounded the change to the building‘s current use.

The Fantastiks: Final Poster design

Posted on by Thor

This is the final poster design I did for The Fantastiks. The show run ended February 26, 2022 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

The Fantastiks featured Broadway legend Davis Gaines as the narrator El Gallo, The show chronicled a timeless coming of age story about the peaks and valleys of young love through breathtaking poetry and subtle theatrical sophistication. In a world of magic and moonlight, a young couple find their way back together, despite everything trying to keep them apart.

The longest-running musical in world history has been refreshed for the new century and is the perfect celebration of theatre and the eternal power of love. Featuring an award winning score including breakout songs like “Try to Remember,” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” and many more.

This sheet lit by a glowing moon was achieved after much experimentation with previous sketches for the poster.

My first pass was more of a long shot since the notes asked for two houses separated by a clothes line. I realized that drawing both houses would create a rather horizontal image, so I filled the rest of the poster with the star filled sky. I liked the design but the couple was rather small.

The second design moved in closer to the couple. I felt I needed at least one roof line to support the clothes line. The sheets are rather opaque with the couples silhouettes a light blue. It works but the triangular shape of the roof rally didn’t add anything to the look of the poster. The young boy and girl were both simplified blobs without much detail as well. So I needed to refine their silhouettes some more. Having a huge moon filling the night sky also didn’t seem to be needed. I decided to start slipping it down behind the sheets. The best look was achieved when it was completely hidden behind the sheets along with the couple. I went back to the drawing board.

The next version moved in even closer. The sheets are still opaque and the boy and girl are each hidden behind their own sheet. This multiple sheet idea wasn’t needed. They could hide behind the same sheet. The final image came about as I played with the blending modes in my digital painting program. That is when the magical glow jumped out at me and I accentuated it further. Sometimes a look is achieved through trail and error. I get the obvious out of the way and then massage the magic with each new pass.

I am sorry I missed sketching this production on the stage. Right now I am designing another set of posters and I am lost in the process. reading new scripts and having a blast designing posters for another season.

Speedy Festival

Posted on by Thor

I am dreaming of life before the pandemic. In my New York City apartment I created a hot air balloon themed stained glass window for a transom over my bedroom door. For some reason I have always had a “thing” for hot air balloons. I have been up in a hot air balloon twice in my life. Once was  in Upstate New York before I started working for Walt Disney Feature Animation. The most vivid memory of that flight as quietly floating over a prison with all the inmates in the yard shouting for us to come on down so they could climb aboard for a jail break. I actually produced a whole series of sketches about that flight.

The next flight was many years later with Pam Schwartz. This balloon flew over an elephant retirement refuge, although I didn’t actually spot any elephants. The landing was at Wallaby Ranch which is an amazing spot to experience hang gliding, which Pam and I also experienced.

Between hang gliding and hot air ballooning, I preferred hang gliding since you really feel like a bird. You are rigged into the kite with a cocoon like sleeping bag. You steer by leaning from side to side. A highly trained pilot is strapped in with you. I remember that as I flew over the clouds, the shadow I cast created circular rainbows in the cloud. This would be the magic Icarus experienced before he flew too close to the sun.

Pandemic Pose

Posted on by Thor

One each series of classes at Crealde School of Art we focus on drawing people and I have the students each take a 5 minute pose. My goal in doing a five minute demo is to show them how to quickly block in a pose and add watercolor as well to tie it together. Sometimes I run out of time but I will keep throwing color washes on the page as the next pose starts.

Each pose is like a race, trying to get enough information on the page in the time allotted. Not every student can finish a pose in five minutes but at least they know it is possible. If there aren’t many students then we branch off and start sketching on property. They are encouraged to sketch fellow students and hopefully the proportions and lesson on gesture is enough to get them to give it a try.

Last weekend my students did an amazing job of sketching smaller pieces on property. Each student finished about half of a page worth of sketches and we will resume right where they left off. This teaches them that direct observation is always desired and you can return to a site as often as you like. Just look how often Monet painted a hay stack.

Once the world opens back up after the pandemic, my students will be ready to document life in their sketchbooks as a potential roaring 20s era begins. I am teaching them to be sloppy and spontaneous as they sketch everyday events.

Crealde Class

Posted on by Thor

On Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 12:30 I am teaching an Urban Sketching class at Crealde School of Art. Last week we focused on drawing people by sketching each other.

This demo sketch was done to show how to block in figures and make them feel well grounded to the chair they are sitting in. The basic premise is to draw the chair and then draw the person seated in the chair.

The sketches were just 5 minutes in duration and I was showing how watercolor can be used to also block in masses quickly,

I modeled to start taking several longer 10 minute poses to get the students started. Then each student posed for 5 minutes while we all sketched. It was raining, so we worked indoors.

I was quite proud that all my students kept their focus and got n impressive amount of work done in the time we had.

At this point I was suggesting that the students get one or two figures on the page but by the end of class we were again sketching the entire scene.

Risks Over Rules

Posted on by Thor

Omicron is on the decline, but deaths from Omicron have now surpassed the number of deaths from the “deadlier” Delta wave. Though Omicron was “milder” so many people were infected all at once, that a smaller percentage of deaths was still incredible high.

Complacency as the numbers drop has helped fuel COVID deaths.  Americans are done with the pandemic, but the pandemic is still not done with them. There are still about 150,000 new COVID cases being reported every day.Since testing is spotty at best now, that is  an under estimate.

America isn’t the only country to become complacent. Denmark had declared that it is done with all COVID restrictions. There are no longer any indoor mask mandates, vaccine passports at bars, restaurants, and stadiums or mandatory isolation for infected individuals. As of February 7, 2022, the infection rate in Denmark was higher than every other country’s in the world. Despite the high numbers there were falling ICU admissions and shorter hospital stays. This is because the country has a very high vaccination rate of 61% with two doses and a boost, and thus deaths have been largely decoupled from the high rates of infection.

In America only 27% of the population has two doses and a boost. The U.S. is averaging about 90,000 hospitalizations, 17,000 COVID patients in ICUs and 2,400 daily COVID deaths. Lets say a 737 aircraft were to drop from the sky. A full flight might have 130 passenger on board. That means we are experiencing the equivalent of 18 plane crashes every day. This is higher than the COVID peak in April 2020 of 2,200 deaths a day, and higher than the peak in September 2021 of 2,100 deaths a day. Americans have become complacent and accepting of incredibly high levels of needless death.

Now that the number of deaths from COVID drops, humanity is getting back in the business of killing one another, as today Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine. The death tango from disease and war continues.

After Pulse: Lindsay Kincaide

Posted on by Thor

Lindsay Kincaide is an Orlando Florida mental health clinician and an HIV, LGBT advocate. She volunteered at the Center on Tuesday nights and the volunteers  became known as Team Tuesday. After work they would go to Karaoke night at Pulse.

She loved Pulse. A friend dealt poker at Pulse. Barbara Poma had named the club after her brother who passed away from aids, and she was always open to local agencies coming into the club to do fundraisers.

She started with front desk work at the Center but wanted to get involved as an HIV tester. She did the work to become a certified HIV tester in the state of Florida. She as also a case manager for low income people living with HIV, Aids. She was promoted to become the Center’s HIV program director. She built the program up adding Hep-C and STI testing and she expanded mental health services.

She vividly recalls June 11, the day before the Pulse tragedy. She was running a support group for partners of individuals how have come out as trans-gender. She was running that support group on Saturday mornings. It was a beautiful day. She felt great and went shopping at Publix for the weekend. The plan was to have mimosas on Sunday. She and her partner went to bed early that night, about 10pm. She considered the idea of going out, maybe to Southern Nights, but she was tired.

She woke up the next morning to the text messages, “Are you OK?” “Did you go to Pulse?” A text message at 2Am read, “Are you at Pulse?” from a friend. She assumed her friend wanted her to meet at Pulse. Then she got a text from a best friend in Atlanta. Then she sought out the news at about 8AM on social media. What the hell is going on? She jumped out of bed and woke her partner up, “There has been a shooting at Pulse.” She realized she had to go to the Center. That was her first instinct. Her partner was nervous, “What if they decide to go to the center and begin shooting?” At that point Lindsay didn’t care. She needed to be there. They both went.

They got coffee and immediately drove to the Center and they were some of the first to arrive. No one was prepared for this. The Center started putting information online via Facebook. People started to arrive. Water, Klenex, toilet paper, paper towels, coffee and food poured into the Center. They moved the TV to the front room so that the news could come in.

About mid-morning about 12 councilors went into the back and stated to figure out how to mobilize. They needed to be in the community. A clipboard was passed around but that wasn’t going to work. Someone suggested Google Docs to get organized. A spreadsheet was created. Lindsay began to sign people up, getting their contact information. The Zebra Coalition right across the street donated their crisis hotline. People were sent to the hotel across the street from ORMC where the families were hoping to hear news about their loved ones. They also needed an off site location. The Center was getting insanely crowded. That off site location became Christ’s Church on Robinson.

The Google Doc which she ran had contact information and then tabs for the different sites and different shifts. For the first day, Sunday, She tried to schedule people. It was too much for her to handle alone. She was there until 11Pm on Sunday. She decided to just put the spreadsheet out into the world, and let people sign up virtually. She added new tabs as needed. The document was editable. It went out on all the Facebook pages that counselors are a part of. Her phone blew up with call from all over the country. She was texting, e-mailing and calling out information to everyone to sign in on the Google Doc. She was up until 2AM. Over 700 people signed up. There were about 1000 interactions between June 12 and July 4th.

By Monday they were going to the LGBT clubs, Parliament House, Southern Nights, Savoy, Stonewall, because that is where the community gathers when they need support. That is our safe space. Councilors were at the clubs until midnight. The mental health community wrapped their arm around the LGBT community and said, we are here. They provided support and connected people to counseling. Two Spirit began offering services for free and the Center got their counseling mobilized. Another Google Doc was created where she asked all who had signed up, what they were willing to offer the community. That document went to what became the United Orlando Assistance Center and to the Center as a counseling resource guide.

 

Anti-Science Aggression

Posted on by Thor

There is a horrifying level of anti-science aggression in the United States coming from far right groups including some elected members of the US Congress and conservative news outlets that target scientists fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conservative news outlets repeatedly and purposefully promote disinformation designed to portray key American scientists as enemies. As a consequence, many receive threats via email and on social media, while some are stalked at home, to create an unprecedented culture of antiscience intimidation.

Prior to 2021, there was a concerted program of antiscience disinformation that dismissed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic which was promoted by a White House committed to policies of “America First”. “America First” promotes negativism, anti-immigration, voter suppression, and loyalty tests to the former President that question the veracity of the 2020 Presidential election. These elements converge to form what could become modern day authoritarian regime. Historically, such regimes viewed scientists as enemies of the state.

In June 2021, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced house bill 2316. The “Fire Fauci Act” which called for halting payment of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s salary as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and auditing his digital correspondence and financial transactions. Mud slinging Rand Paul (R-KY)  has been making unsubstantiated claims that Fauci is responsible for 5 million deaths. Public threats against Anthony Fauci have resulted in his having to hire security to keep his family safe.

Scientists who are trying to keep Americans safe are being threatened all across the county. Public-health researcher Tara Kirk Sell experienced online and e-mail attacks after talking about COVID-19 in the media. Infectious-diseases physician Krutika Kuppalli had been in her new job for barely a week in September 2020, when someone phoned her at home and threatened to kill her. Of 321 scientists asked by Nature Magazine, 15% said they had received death threats and 22% had been threatened with physical or sexual violence as a result of talking publicly about the pandemic. Two-thirds said they had had a negative experience after appearing in the media. Scientists disclosed how they had been left distressed and scared and in some cases stopped sharing their views publicly after experiencing harassment and intimidation.

In June 2021, the Republicans organized a House Select Subcommittee on the origins of COVID-19 with the presumption that it was ignited by gain-of-function genetic engineering research from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Despite evidence pointing to spillover from a viral infection in bats to additional mammals and ultimately humans as has happened in previous coronavirus epidemics.

Vaccines and vaccine scientists are also targeted. Alongside the June 2021 Republican COVID-19 origins hearings, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) organized a round table in Milwaukee to highlight the rare adverse side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, as evening Fox News anchors promoted fake claims regarding deaths from COVID-19 vaccination. In July 2021, Rep. Greene declared on Twitter that a COVID-19 vaccine is “a political tool used to control people”, while Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) said that door-to-door COVID-19 vaccinations were just a step away from US Government confiscations of guns and bibles, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) referred to vaccinators as “needle Nazis”. Days later, the medical director for vaccines in the Tennessee Department of Health was abruptly terminated for her efforts to vaccinate minors (14 and up) without parental consent. At the same time states are making efforts to halt vaccine advocacy and outreach to teens and adolescents.

 

Watching Lilo and Stitch

Posted on by Thor

I used to teach at Full Sail University. I had to leave since they didn’t pay me enough to cover the cost of gas to get there.

Kathy Blackmore and Sam Ewing were in charge of the class that taught traditional animation with pencil and paper instead of computers. I helped student as they shot their scenes and answered their questions.

For the last class we always showed a movie. It was the final day students had to work on their animation assignments and you could tell who was serious about animation because they could focus in this last class to keep improving the scenes they ha created. True artists use every moment available to keep tweaking their scene since no scene and no sketch is ever perfect. I also would use the class to sketch, always hoping to catch a few students at work.

I now teach virtually for Elite Animation Academy and the great thing about that is that I get to animate right alongside of the student. Getting to animate so often let me break out of my usual illustration routine and bring a character to life. Students get to see ever step taken in creating a scene which is rare when dealing with a larger group.