Dominic Carola – Analog Artist Digital World

About every month Premise Entertainment hosts a drawing night at Creative Cay, (5959 Anno Avenue Pine Castle Fl). The cost for a two hour sketch session is $10. The poses were fairly short which offered me a chance to do a whole series of sketches instead of the one sketch I usually do each night at events. The model was Megan Crawford who is a talented local dancer, aerialist, acrobat, body paint model and artist model. I see her at events all over town and have drawn her multiple times.

She was running a bit late because of traffic. When she got to the studio, she was rushing to get on her ballet outfit. On the side lines she started the delicate process of lacing on her ballet slippers. This is the kind of moment I always hope to sketch when drawing on location. Dominic Carola the President and Creative Director of Premise runs the sketch sessions and I shouted out to him, “Do you think we could sketch while she laces up?” He agreed and we were all off an running. I stood so as not to relax and settle into old habits while drawing.

It was a fun night of sketching. My goal was to loosen up working digitally. Instead of creating multiple layers, I simply painted right on top of line work on the sketch. When sketching on location there really isn’t time to switch back and forth between layers. At some point I usually end up painting or sketching on the wrong layer. This meant that some line work was destroyed. Destruction as it turns out is very much a part of creation.

Dom plays music during the sketch session which adds to the story of the scene. The song I most remember from this session was “Don’t You Want Me” by the Human League which was about a female performer who was lifted from obscurity by some guy who is shocked that she is moving on to a better life without him.

Artist Kyle Gentry brought in a “Making Of Klaus” book and Dom was flipping through while sitting on the model stand during a break. Apparently there are very few of these books and they are sold out. Klaus was produced for Netflix and there was speculation that might be the only reason that this film did not win an Academy Award. The film uses traditional hand drawn animation combined with some simple but very effective ways to paint the characters so that they look volumetric and solid. The backgrounds resemble the work of Disney artist Eyvind Earle. I recently heart that a film is in the works inspired by the drawing style of Ronald Searle, who is my favorite cartoonist and illustrator. My hope is that this is a sign that traditional hand drawn animation may be experiencing a resurgence.

Elite Animation Academy (The Shoppes at Windermere 8933 Conroy-Windermere Road

Orlando, Fl above Costello’s Pizza ) is
an art and animation program designed for animation students. The
Academy is instructed by former Walt Disney Studios Florida Animator
Paulo Alvarado, a graduate of the prestigious Ringling College of Art
and Design located in Sarasota, FL. At Elite Animation Academy we are “Developing Young Minds through the Art of Animation.“

Elite promises to
provide young students the education and the tools necessary to create a portfolio
to enhance animation skills and take it to the next level, should the student want to pursue a career in animation, graphic or game design. Classes are after school, with convenient afternoon hours for parents
and students. We focus on basic to intermediate levels with an emphasis
on history, theory, and sketch along with Animation exercises each week
after the topic.

The Elite Animation Academy classroom used to be The Art Room, which has moved to a new location. Elite Academy was founded in July of 2012 with the first classes taking place in the Ascension Church (4950 South Apopka Vineland Rd., Orlando FL). The interest and demand grew so fast that they realized they had to find a permanent home.

I found out about the opening day of the Academy when I bumped into Paulo and his wife while shopping at Publix Supermarket. Dominic Carola and his wife Love were at the opening along with many other former Disney Animation Artists. It was like a small reunion. A line of computers were under constant use by the kids who were there. They were using a basic drawing program and playing video games. One game was controlled with hand gestures. The computer’s camera must have sensed the hand movements. It was odd seeing kids swatting the air with their hands. Several former Disney Artists couldn’t resist doing a digital drawing of their own. One wife seemed quite enamored watching her husband sketch on the computer.

One artist told me about an animated short he is working on called “Crackerland” it is meant as a spoof of the old Florida down home attractions before the big theme parks took root. There was punch and cookies in the hall. Dominic’s children were middle school aged which immediately made me feel old. The last time I saw them they were babies.