A Christmas Carol: 3rd Pass

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The third pass at A Christmas Carol poster was filled with light. Light equals drama.

I had a rather detailed room as the setting. The intricate mirror behind Scrooge was fighting with the credit type, so I had to blur it out in spots. Ultimately it was decided that it might be better to just get rid of the room details.

All the fruit also needed more painted detail. Things were still a bit sketchy.

Both actors portrayed in this poster reprized their roles for this year’s production. It is very rare that I get to include the actual actors since the posters are painted far in advance of the auditions for each show.

Since I rethink the design for A Christmas Carol poster so often, I am becoming very familiar with the Charles Dickens show. The possibilities are endless, from the depth of despair to the sheer joy of celebrating the holiday.

Since all the posters are painted at the same time, things often rough while changes are made and if time allows, each poster is refined where people will notice the most. It is a fun juggling act. Sometimes I hit the mark right away and other times I search blindly for what is needed. That is the fun of being an illustrator, it is seldom a linear path.

A Christmas Carol: Poster 2nd Pass

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The second pass at A Christmas Carol poster involved zooming in a bit for a medium close up shot. Two children were removed and I gave Tiny Tim his crutch back. With the crutch raised over his head however it seemed to dominate the scene.

I liked the glowing lights in the background and would have liked adding snow to the street. In general it was working but something was missing. Perhaps it was too dark.

I decided to press on and work on a completely new scene to give options. I could have pushed this forward and resolved anything that was making me uncomfortable. The next rendition however had pure brightness and a sense of glowing celebration. That ultimately is what was needed.

 

 

A Christmas Carol: First Rough Sketch

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This rough sketch was an attempt to create a poster similar to the one I had done the first year but with the actual cast from a Shakespeare Theater production.

It was decided that we really didn’t need to see all the cast from a distance.  Seeing the feet on the ground wasn’t needed. I had neglected to draw Tiny Tim’s crutch which would make him difficult to identify. I had to decided weather to hide it in the lower hand or thrust it up in the air with the raised hand. It was also decided that the two extra siblings were not needed for the poster.

The time I did not put into painting the figures, I had put into refining the title for the poster. The new title treatment was accepted as is. My placement of the Charles Dickens and adopted by credits was a bit sloppy but I would give that placement much more though as I refined the poster image.

This rough sketch was enough to send me in a new direction which I would push much further along. I knew the the illuminated

A Christmas Carol is running at the Shakes through December 22, 2024. General Admission tickets are $25. The show is in the Margeson Theater at the Orlando Shakes, 812 E Rollins St Orlando, FL 32803.

A Christmas Carol: First Ad Seen

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It is always fun to see the first ads that appear for shows that are coming up. When I design the poster I supply all the different elements as separate layers so that different sizes can be accommodated. I design the poster vertical but then do a second version that is horizontal. This square ad lives somewhere between those options. Brianna Bell the web and graphic designer does such a good job making design adjustments for all uses. She even produced cool video animations that help bring the poster and the show to life.

I have designed A Christmas Carol poster each year I have been painting these images. One year the poster from the previous year was reused but I also did several variations that were not used. This poster used elements from previous unused posters to come up wit a new images for the show. A Christmas Carol has plenty of darker imagery which attracts my aesthetic, but it is the images that express some joy of the season which make the grade and get used.

The annual tradition continues at Orlando Shakes with the return of one of Central Florida’s favorite holiday classics! The miserly and miserable Ebenezer Scrooge greets each Christmas with a “bah humbug,” until he is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Come see this classic, heartwarming story at Orlando Shakes – a magical and musical spectacle for the whole family!

A Christmas Carol runs through December 22, 2024. Tickets are between $25 and $47. there are special deals for Military and students.

Heidi Schreck

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There was one other version of the poster for What the Constitution Means to Me. I kind of forgot about it since it was instantly changed. For this poster I painted the author of the play Heidi Schreck in the lead role. I like her glowing smile.

Since Heidi Schreck was recognizable it was decided that I should change her face to a younger woman. I did the change in a matter of hours. I redrew the face but kept all the paint that was used for Heidi and just morphed it to match the new sketch. I was proud of myself, it was a quick and effortless change. That adjusted painting became the final poster image.

Since the iterations of the posters happened so fast, you can always see the artists hand in the process. I don’t push for a highly polished image. I just push for a bold image with intricate detail where it is most needed. These posters are fun to do. At times I feel the poster images I create are better than anything plastered up around Broadway in Times Square. I used to sketch those layered pealing posters in Times Square and now I am designing and painting posters that bring back those memories of the hustle and bustle.

Raw Milk

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Health experts have been warning against consuming raw milk during the H5N1 outbreak now happening among American Dairy herds.

Pasturization should kill the virus found in the milk but there are no set standards on the process. Pasteurization is a process in which the milk is heated to kill bacteria and any other pathogens. The usual temperature is 100 Celsius (212 Fahrenheit).

Personally I have switched to using almond milk which tastes great. Pasteurization works when it is done right but with wide ranging standards, the industry can not be relied upon to get it right.

In November of 2024 regulators recalled two batches of raw milk which had come from a Fresno dairy farm after H5N1 was detected in the milk. The farm was placed under quarantine raw milk, cream, kefir, butter and cheese products produced on or after Nov. 27 were suspended. Despite experts warning about the Bird Flu virus being found in raw milk, sales are up. The incoming head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy said that raw milk “advances human health”, contradicting the FDA and food scientists.

On December 16, 2024 there was another recall near Modesto California due to H5N1 in a milk tank. The contamination was confirmed at a farm on Maze Boulevard. The pubic was again warned of potential exposure as the avian influenza spreads in dairy products.

Scientists are not sure yet what the risks are for humans consuming raw milk with the H5N1 virus in it. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of Emergency in response to the H5N1 Bird Flu outbreak on December 18, 2024. “This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to the outbreak.” Newsom said in a statement.

Video Edit

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My friend, Stella P. Arbelaéz Tascón had notes for James Parris, a former animation artist, now a director, His production company, Paper Tiger Films, produced a SECAC Film which was a short documentary about the SECAC Art Conference which is a national non-profit organization devoted to education and research in the visual arts. James wrote and edited the film. When I joined Disney Feature Animation on the production of Pocahontas, James was my lead for the clean up on the character of Powhatan. He checked all of my drawings and offered plenty of advice as he refined my crude beginners mistakes.

Together James and Stella worked on extending some shots and refining others. Stella turned the laptop screen towards me and James saw me for the first time in 30 years. Since I had completed a short animated film we discussed film festivals. James doesn’t believe film festivals benefit viewership. He prefers to release his short films on You Tube where he can keep track of viewership. Film Festivals are definitely a money pit. I had released film about COVID that had a very short window where people could accept my dystopian visions.

Crealde Parking

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It has been a while since I taught a Crealde Urban Sketching class.

Our class was usually held outside and we would sketch the Crealde campus. Each class was built around a single premise and we built our sketches up from line to line and wash then fully developed sketches.

I never forced my style of sketching on my students, preferring instead to encourage what is unique in each of their sketches. When we shared our sketches at the end of each class the variety was always something to celebrate. I would always do one sketch myself but I would walk it around and share it with each student at each phase to show progress. I would then also do thumbnail sketched with suggestions to share what I would focus on with each of their unique views.

I will be moving further north in January, so I am not sure if it will be worth it to drive back to Winter Park on Sunday’s to conduct classes.

Dr. Phillips House

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A student and I went to sketch the Dr. Phillips House (135 N Lucerne Cir E, Orlando, FL 32801).

I had an argument with my former wife at this venue. I decided to sketch the backyard social gathering and when we were to go inside my wife told me she didn’t want me there. She disposed when I sketched events she considered important to her. I left as everyone moved inside to eat dinner so I never looked around inside.

My student and I sketched the front facade. The home with it’s Queen Ann Style architecture, was built in 1893, by Colonel Peleg Peckham. He presented it as a wedding present for his daughter. This house was purchased by Dr. Philip Phillips in 1912, a prominent figure in the citrus agricultural industry in Central Florida, where he resided until his death in 1959. In 1979 the house was added to the U.S. Register of Historic Places.

As we sketched a truck pulled up and supplied for a wedding reception were being loaded in through the front door. In the past the house was painted a cheerful yellow color, but it has since been painted a militaristic looking light blue.

Flying Delta

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I flew to and from the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival to help promote my short animated film, COVID Dystopia. I wore a KN-95 mask while I traveled and anytime I was indoors.

I believe I was infected on Delta flight 1652 between Detroit and Orlando Florida.I think my facial hair caused a leak in the mask seal.

On that long flight where every passenger but myself went unmasked, several people were coughing up their lungs the entire two hour flight. Airlines are supposed to have HEPA filters for the air piped into the cabin, so I had my air vent blowing directly at me. My eyes went unprotected. In the future I plan to get some goggles.

Several days after this flight, on Thanksgiving, I started to get a sore throat. I tested myself and was relieved to test negative with the at home test by Binax Now. Thinking I just had a slight cold, I spent the weekend helping a friend with an art project. I realize now I should have stayed home. Though most of the work was done outside, my friend caught the cold and got incredibly tired.

Seeing my friend crash, I decided to test myself again for COVID when I got back to my studio. This test was done with the OHC free test supplied by the US government. This time I tested positive for COVID-19. The first Binax Now test had offered a false negative result.

I had managed to avoid the virus for 5 years but promoting COVID Dystopia turned out to be the most dangerous thing I have done since the start of the pandemic. The film tries to warn people that the pandemic is not over, and that the virus is circulating freely among us all year long. The tag line for the film is, “We might be done with COVID but COVID is not done with us.” It is ironic that I was infected while shouting into the void that message that no one at any film festival wants to hear.

After testing positive for COVID, I went into 5 days of isolation. Ironically it was a Delta executive who cut down the CDC’s recommendation of 10 days of isolation to just 5 days of isolation. The Delta executive could not keep pilots and stewardesses in the air since they kept getting sick. He felt it was better that they return to flight even if they were infected with COVID-19. The planes, had to run on time, to help spread the virus all across America and the world. Executives and politicians across America quickly adopted the 5 day rule though it is not based on science, just wishful thinking.

After 5 days of isolation, I tested again and tested positive for COVID-19 again. I will therefor be going into isolation for 5 more days. Since I had not shopped for food since well before Thanksgiving, I learned to use Instacart to restock the my food supplies. I wasn’t about to shop while infected.

If I didn’t know better I might think COVID was just like a bad cold. But I know COVID is a vascular disease more like HIV than a cold. The initial infection no longer caused the horrifying lung infections from the early days of the pandemic. COVID is a vascular disease that breaks down immunity and causes damage to the heart and brain and  just about every organ in the body. All of this goes unseen so people can ignore it and pretend that life has returned to pre-2019 normal until it is too late. I have to wonder how many of my brain cells have now fused and died, thanks to COVID.

If I am correct about getting infected on Delta flight 1652, then I have had COVID-19 for 16 days so far. I will be testing again on Friday the 13th of December 2024. If COVID kills me, I want the following carved on my headstone, Thomas John Thorspecken, Born May 22, 1961, Dumont N.J., Died ______ Orlando Florida, “We might be done with COVID, but COVID isn’t done with us.”