Dracula, A Comedy of Errors: Set Build

Posted on by Thor

There was just a week until Dracula, A Comedy of Errors opened at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (812 E Rollins St Lowndes Shakespeare Center Orlando, FL) I got a call from Jim Helsinger letting me know that the stagehands were shorthanded. My virtual teaching courses at Elite Animation Academy had dried up, so I jumped at the chance to fill in as a stagehand. My roommate was also available for work, so I passed along the information. I did this sketch over multiple 15 minute breaks on the job.

The first day I met Alex K the TD for the production. He gave me a little blue spiral bound notebook, which I kept in my pocket to check off notes I had addressed. I added bendy board up above the central arched doorways to keep backstage light from seeping through. Even with the bendy board in place there were gaps which were addressed by another stage hand later on. My experience with power tools was limited in that I have done some work around the house, but I have never had to build a house from scratch.

There were two coffin shaped doors at either side of the stage. The doors lead to a wall. They could open but only partially. I was given the task of adding small door jams at the base to keep them from fully opening. Lighting strips were later added around the inner edge of the doors that allowed them to glow blood red. So far I was doing fine since I was just driving in some screws.

Alex assigned Carpenter, Miguel, and I with putting up the dimensional edging and shelves for a fake bookcase. We worked from the top arches downward to get the slats in place. We kept running into issues with the edging not lining up right. We later realized that it was better to build from the bottom upwards, which solved many of the leveling issues.

I then spent the rest of the day putting purple baseboards along the bottom of all the stage walls. This was made more complicated by the coffin doors which also had the molding at the base. It took some trail and error to get the angles on the baseboards to match the angles of the coffin. If I cut the baseboards to close to the door then opening the door could be problematic. The stage was a constant traffic jam of ladders as stagehands and the lighting crew did their work in a rush for the opening only a few days away.

Late in the day, I was told that the wood grain on the baseboards had to run horizontally. This was a note I had not been given. Most of the boards had to be removed since they had vertical grain. Luckily, I had made another mistake in using staples that were a bit too short to secure the boards to the walls. Since the staples extended into the wall only a quarter inch, the boards came off easily and I cut new boards quickly using the old boards as samples. All the new boards had horizontal wood grain. With the second install of the baseboards, I added much longer staples.

My next job was to add wood panel edging to a section of a wall. All the corners were cut at 45-degree angles to make the panel frames. This had me working the table saw and circular saws to get all the bits and pieces cut. I started gluing the corners but then learned that it would be easier to just staple the pieces to the wall. The circular saw tended to chip the wood, but the table saw gave much cleaner cuts. I didn’t use the table saw for angles cuts since I could not find a guide that allowed me to feed the boards at the needed 45 degree angle. I used a metal triangle running in the slot on top of the table saw when I needed angles cuts.  I learned that the job is made or broken from the moment the first piece of wood is stapled to the wall. I had drawn a chalk pattern using a T-square to get the horizontal and vertical lines in place. Getting at the rectangular box corners to line up needed adjustments. I found myself running back and forth to the scene shop multiple times to re-cut pieces to get them to look square. It was part measurements and part eyeballing how it looked. I was pleased when it was finally done. I felt it was my first day on the job masterpiece.

The next day there was a note that the panels I had obsessed over were not level. Another stagehand dismantled much of my work and put it back together. One thing that many people say to me when they see me sketching is, “I can’t draw a straight line.” It turns out I could not see a straight line if it kicked me in the head. The level is my new best friend. The main thing is that I am learning from every mistake, or so I hope.

Fountain Demonstration

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One of my online Elite Animation Academy students loves to draw horses. For one class we looked at statues of horses to see how sculptors interpreted the musculature. We had already done anatomical sketches that showed insertion points of muscles and I wanted to show how different artists interpreted the musculature.

I stressed the importance of drawing on the inside of the horse even more that drawing the outside edges. This sculptor used many flowing S Curves which I threw down with quick abandon. My student took longer to put down the line wk, so I played with color and value as well.

I have fun doing these quick studies because they are not part of any important final work. I can just play and hopefully inspire the student to do the same.

What I often see from students are what I call Cookie cutter drawings, which stiffly interpret the outer edge of a subject with a single hard edged line.

I exaggerate the flowing lines in my drawings to try and inspire the students to add more flow to their work as well. This isn’t something that is learned in one lesson, I stress the point over and over until it starts to take root.

Renter

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I did a sketch as a demo for a student at Elite Animation Academy. The lesson on that day was One and two point perspective. The objective was for the student to simply sketch the room they happened to be in.

On this day I worked from my bedroom since I want to be sure my roommate has plenty of privacy and doesn’t need to overhear my students.

This was before I for a noise cancelling headset which allows me to listen to my students crystal clear without anyone else hearing.

This sketch was completed after I had finished building a bed frame which allows me to store art storage crates three high. Most all of the stored art now fits under the bed. The princess and the pea bed has risen even higher. Now the top of the mattress almost reaches the bottom of family history photos and one framed sketch that was once part of a solo exhibit. I actually altered the earlier sketch when I started painting to select the new room layout.

I just ordered a large metal storage rack which will be used to store frames and unframed art. I saw a YouTube video that showed how to create a spider web which supports the paintings and kept them from leaning over too far. When I get that set up a whole lot of framed art will come out of m closet and the corner of this room. The metal storage unit is on casters so it can be rolled around. It should be easy to move once I find a studio that I want to call home. For now, I rent month by month.

Rubberband Headset

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I was having trouble connecting to one of my students via Zoom. The student texted me to let me know he was having trouble getting on as well. I tied connecting with a personal meeting ID but that failed as well.

Back at Elite Animation Academy, Todd West thought it might be an issue with a new server that was set up. Ultimately through trial and error we found that the problem was with Zoom itself. Over 44,000 costumers were blocked out.

My student and I usually sketch together on Zoom and he has the option to see my sketch in progress. We decided to simply stay connected by phone and then share our sketches when they were complete via email.

This work around was fine but I couldn’t sketch and hold my iPhone at the same time. I decided to tie together a bunch of rubber bands and rubber band the iPhone to my ear. At first the rubber band set up was too tight and it felt like my skull might pop. Then I tied in a few more rubber bands to make it more comfortable.

This was a low tech solution to a high tech problem. The class went off without a hitch. By the time my next student got online, the Zoom connectivity issue had been resolved.

Flower Animation

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Every afternoon except Sundays I am online teaching students for Elite Animation Academy. Today was the last class for a student and this is the character she wanted to animate. I thought I should share an example of the types of scenes we work on. this must be a character from a video game my student plays. The assignment integrates squash and stretch, fast and slow movements incorporating slow in and slow out, arcs, a change of expression and a blink and creating a cycle. The flower pedals incorporate drag and some follow through. As simple as the assignment looks it incorporated quite a few of the 12 major animation principles.  I like to follow the student’s interests which means I get introduced to a whole lot of characters and culture I wouldn’t otherwise get exposed too.

Since this was a final project, I wanted the student to push the scene to a more final look by using color and a background. The reference the student showed me had the simple grey background so I went with that. I enjoy teaching animation online. I go over the same 12 principles each time but each student inspires me to push each assignment in a new direction to match their interests.

This is a bit of a departure from my sharing my illustrative journalism work, but every afternoon when most events are beginning, I am in my studio online teaching a student. This student wanted to include an audio clip with her animation in Procreate, but the program doesn’t have an audio feature. I use a program called Callipeg and it does allow for audio clips, so with more ambitious students I sometimes have a short dialogue clip to work on. By short, I mean one word, like “no!” which could be finished in one two hour class.

Crealde Table Cloth Sketching

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6 months into the pandemic I was teaching an Urban Sketching course at Crealde School of Art on Sundays. Tables in the room were arranged in tight rows, but I would spread then out into an open circular layout just before class to allow for some social distancing. Masks were required at this point.

My mantra from the very first class is to “fill the page.”  I also want to encourage the students to draw from the hips, trough the shoulders and then to the hand rather than dainty lines put down with wrist or finger movement. To encourage this, I covered each table with white paper tablecloths which become the sketch that needed to be completed. The sketch above was also done on one of these large sheets of paper. You can see the ripped edges on the left and right. I painted the scene much later digitally.

The Crealde Urban Sketching course will start up again in the Spring. I am teaching 6 days a week for Elite Animation Academy and they have a course called “Sketching People Places and Things” which very much like the Urban Sketching course. There are virtual classes for adults now and I have students from as far away ad Borneo!

Three Point Launch Demo

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This was a demo for one of my Elite Animation Academy online students.We had already covered one pint and two point perspective and this was a lesson in three point perspective.

I always try and convince my students to think a step beyond the basic lesson plan to create something unexpected. In this case the student had chosen to draw a tall skyscraper and I offered the possibility that it could be something other than a building.

Some students are bored by the mechanical nature of graphing out perspective, but I love teaching it and I use the premise in every sketch I do. Some students think it involves too much science and not enough fancy, so I throw some fancy into the mix as I teach it.

Right now I am waiting on about 20 different film festivals to accept or reject COVID Dystopia. I tend to post scenes from the film on this site when the film is about to be shown at a festival and when I suspect judges might check out the site for more information about the film. Since

I am in a holding pattern, I figured I would post more variety. I have started sketching rehearsals and shows again but I tech until 8pm many nights and have to schedule around my teaching schedule. I might get out to about 3 theater sketch opportunists a week. I have been sketching theaters where my film has been shown but that number is rather small.

This week I am pressing hard to refine next season’s Shakespeare posters but after that I am a tumbleweed looking for my next series of sketches to become obsessed about.

A trip to NYC several months ago got me excited about continuing my series of sketches of the 50 oldest churches in the city. I am looking at rents in Brooklyn and there are a few where the rent is less than I am paying here in Orlando. At this point, it doesn’t matter where I live and set up my studio. I really need to think about buying a place however since rent is just wasted money.

Egg

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I had an Elite Animation Academy student who wanted to learn how to draw realistic portraits. I picked a reference from the internet and we both sketched the face. I pointed out my basic premise of breaking the face into halves to get the general proportions right. My student got the general outlines in place and then didn’t know what to do next. This is true of many beginning art students, they get a few lines in place and freeze up. I suggested adding value.

For some reason this idea of value as opposed to line is often a bridge too far for students. I scribbled in some darks with the side of my digital pencil, but then advised my student to just paint an egg. We painted the egg one color and then added a highlight and shadows. I then copied the egg and simply slid in under the drawing I had already created. All that was needed then were a few brush strokes to define darks on lips and the nose.

I don’t know if the lesson hit the mark, but it was fun to find new ways to simplify the creative process.

Beluga Loose

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To encourage my Elite Animation Academy student to loosen up I abandoned the painting I was working on and instead did a quick 10 minute study where my primary goal was to make a mess and try and have fun. Color masses were thrown down with abandon and line was only thrown down at the bitter end.

Since I had no intention of pushing the painting to a final, I could just relax and encourage the student while I played. After seeing this mess, my student began a piece by just playing with brushes. A wave pattern brush was discovered and I was asked if using it was cheating. Nothing is cheating if it works, was my reply.

I stopped painting and watched my student work. I was pleased to see a wide variety of brushes being experimented with. Things progresses quickly until it came time to draw the people in the scene. Things ground to a halt. I did a quick demo to show gesture, the curve of a person’s back, rhythm and flow. It is a bit like explaining how to play jazz on a trumpet to someone who has never toughed the instrument.

Regardless we pushed forward with the goal of getting the sketch completed well enough so that we could put it aside and start another. Progress come from completing thousands of sketches rather than obsessing about any one piece. Accepting that there might be flaws and imperfections allows for far more acceptance, so long as it is not the worst thing ever created.  A sketch by definition is never complete.

Beluga Still Life

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I have a virtual student at Elite Animation Academy preparing a portfolio with specific requirements. One requirement is a still life. I asked my student to arrange a few objects, some large some small to paint. The beluga whale plush, acquired at a recent trip to an aquarium, became the subject along with several wooden tree sculptures.

I painted along with the student. I was attracted to the way the light illuminated the wall. My student an I both used lots of line work to construct the whale basic shape. However after several hours my student got frustrated, not knowing how to progress. The line work seemed to hinder progress as if painting the piece into a corner.

I stopped work on this to offer advice on how to loosen up the process. My student needed to transition for stiff to spontaneous. I suggested forgetting about the outside lines and just start playing with the digital brushes. That opened up the process making it play rather than a serious high stakes struggle.

Relaxing and having fun are the ultimate end goal. We started town that new track.