Elite Animation Sketch class.

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This week I have been teaching a summer sketch class at Elite Animation, (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32835). I have 16 students and the goal of the class is to encourage the students to carry a sketchbook everywhere they go.  The first class we went over basic shapes and perspective and then for the afternoon we took a field trip across the street to Panera Bread. With 16 students we pretty much filled up the restaurant. It was encouraging to see many of the students using one point perspective for the first time while drawing on location. I remember when I first started drawing on location in NYC. I would circle the block multiple times until I worked up the nerve to start a sketch. Getting these kids started early means they are less likely to be concerned with sketching in public as they grow older.

For the second class, we went to a local retention pond to draw the ducks and bucolic scene. A family of ducks were very cooperative, with the mama duck and her chicks perfectly happy to pose for the intrepid young artists. It was hot however, even in the shade, so attentions wandered. One student started herding the ducks rather than sketching. It was a typical case of leading them to water but it was up to them to drink. Several students took in the entire scene and were right on task. We left a bit early to get back to the air conditioned classroom.

For the afternoon, I taught them the basic proportions of a face and then we set out to do 16 sketches in which students faced-off and did a sketch of each other. I tend to throw out the tasks rather fast and one student unfortunately got intimidated. I thought the student was acting when their head went down on the desk in agony. I later learned that another student had told him that his drawings weren’t any good. I’m of the opinion that any drawing if closely observed and sincerely done has value. The interns reassured the student for a bit and then I offered a personal lesson which gave him the confidence to return to the group and start working. It was reassuring to see the student that had been crushed only an hour before laughing as the next sketch was completed. Honestly art is a game, it is challenging, but can always be fun if approached with the right attitude.

Elite Animation Academy’s slogan is, “Developing young minds through the art of animation.” I’m proud to be part of a team that helps keep art alive in the hearts of students here in Central Florida.

Life Insurance

Posted on by Thor

I teach drawing fundamentals at Elite Animation Academy, (8933 Conroy Windermere Road Orlando Fl). Sometimes I teach story boarding, digital painting in Photoshop, and traditional hand drawn animation. This Academy has been growing with a new space opened in Tampa. With this new growth, the founders decided to offer a free life insurance police for employees.

After a full day of teaching, the insurance agent sat down with each employee to explain their coverage. As I waited for my turn, I sketched the conference in progress with Jason and his R2D2 lunch bucket. I had just recently separated from my wife, so it made no sense to list her as my beneficiary. The reality of this seismic change became became weighty as the life insurance policy was explained. There is only one way out of this life. My hands have a price.

Elite Perspective Class

Posted on by Thor

At Elite Animation Academy, 8933 Conroy Windermere Road, I teach a drawing fundamentals class for middle school and high school kids who are getting portfolios together for college. In the last class I was pleased that an adult was brace enough to sit in with the kids to refine his drawing skills. this class was about 1 Point, 2 Point and 3 Point Perspective. There were plenty of drawings done with rulers to define a floor plane, but I also encouraged the kids to also look for perspective angles with a looser eye.

In the early classes they often sketched from maquettes of movie animated characters. In this class they then had to lay out a floor plane grid and try to sketch multiple characters on that grid. It is the essence of what I do sketching on location every day. People become pieces on a chess board and I place them where I need them in the composition. I can’t resist the temptation to sketch when the students are really engaged in their work. My sketch employee the same principles as the lesson plan on a larger scale than the assignment. Students gestures fascinate me.

Liahona LDS Books: A Deseret Book Location.

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Liahona LDS Books: A Deseret Book Location, (8905 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32835), is a Mormon bookstore supplying religious reading material, music, movies, art, jewelry and gifts.  I didn’t know the meaning of Deseret, so I asked Linda Sarascino what it meant and online. “The State of Deseret was a provisional state of the United States,
proposed in 1849 by settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never
recognized by the United States government. The name derives from the word for “honeybee” in the Book of Mormon.” 

I decided to bring my Elite Animation Academy, Urban Sketching Students to the bookstore to sketch. A statue of a prophet held out his to let costumers see the items on the counter. American Flag triangular flags were draped along the counter. My students sat in the stores reading room chairs. I need to encourage them to get closer the action. 

A very well dressed family entered the store and wandered the racks. There were children’s books and toys in the bad of the store. I never knew there were so many religious children’s books on the market. American flag and cloud paintings hung on the wall next to the entry door. Prints were arranged in the wicker basket. The sales lady was from New York City as was the family. They were in town for the Morman Convention. I was fascinated by this clean fashionable sub culture. My mom used to dress me up in a new suit every Easter with an embroidered label on the breast pocket. For whatever reason their clean cut out fits brought me back. 

Outside the sun set behind the duck pond.  My students got some decent sketches, and this was the first class, where I encouraged them to add watercolor to their sketches. Perhaps there was some divine intervention.  

Black Rock opens on Conroy Windermere Road.

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I teach an Urban Sketching Course at Elite Animation Academy (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32835). The main premise l to encourage students to keep a sketch pad with them at all times, so they can document the everyday moments of the lives. How often have you gone to a restaurant and found the wait time intolerable? If you sketched then it would see like the service is always too good since you don’t quite have enough time to finish the sketch you started. To a sketch artist sitting still, I work seems to us by. The challenge is to catch enough of those moments to bring the sketch alive. In this sketch, those two servers in aprons never actually stood and spoke to each other. Each was speaking to some one else who walked away before they could be captured. As the artist, I get to decide who interacts to each other in my world.

Service was actually very good at Black Rock (8965 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32819). The restaurant gets it’s name from the sizzling steak it serves on literal hot rocks. I think the rock keep the steaks hot longer. I didn’t order a steak. I was here with my three Urban Sketches to sample an appetizer and to sketch. This was the final class so we pulled out all the stops using co to as well as line. Watercolor doesn’t hold up very well on | thin animation paper use in class, so I encouraged the student to try colored pencils to add color. I played along with them doing this sketch to show how I might approach the scene. The scene incorporate foreground, middle ground and background.

We had guacamole which was also served in a black rock dish. I can say that the appetizer was quite good, and I hope to return someday to try a full meal. The food certainly smelled delicious as servers walked past with the sizzling meals.

My Urban Sketching Class goes to the Hair Salon.

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I teach an Urban Sketching Course at Elite Animation Academy (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL). This semester, I have just 3 students which is an advantage, since it allows me to get the students into venues which might not work with a large class. The first half of the class was spent in the Elite Academy classroom, where I had the students do four drawings from different angles of one of the Disney Feature Animation desks. After those drawings were done, I posed four times and they had five minutes to work my pose into each sketch. This mimics my work routine, since I often arrive at a venue early to sketch the setting and then I sketch people as they arrive to the event.

For the second half of the class we went downstairs to Cavallo Hair Designers (894) Conroy Windermere Road Orlando FL.) I asked employees and costumers if it was alright to sketch, and every one was on board. My students sat in the waiting area chairs far from the action and I had to coax and encourage them to get closer. Helen, who must be in her 90s, was getting her hair curled. Her hair designer, James, was chatting away the whole time as he made her beautiful. It is a shame we arrived late in the process, because he said we should have done before and after sketches. His sister runs an arts organization in Brooklyn called Fiercely Curious.

When Helen’s hair was done, the designer used a hand held mirror to show her the results. “Oh, is that me?” she said. Her daughter and brother in law came into the shop with a wheel chair. It took quite a while to get her from one seat to the next. She was a very satisfied customer. I sensed that my students were a little frustrated that everyone kept moving. I tried to let them know that they should focus on some aspect of the scene that is stable once that frustration sets in. Sketch results varied, but it was a good lesson that we need to feel beautiful at any age. A second customer was having foil put in her hair. That would have been another great sketch opportunity, but we were out of time and needed to get back to the classroom.

Urban Sketching at Elite Animation.

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For the Urban Sketching Course I teach at Elite Animation Academy, I take the kids down to a local pond. We sketch the ducks who have just had chicks. If you stay very still, the mom a duck brings her chicks right up to you, assuming I suppose that we will feed them. It is a great opportunity to get quick sketches of them.  They never stay still of course, so getting a sketch is a challenge.

the students are also instructed to sketch the architecture of the shopping mall that i n eat to the lake. Finding the vanishing point is a challenge to many beginning Sketchers, but I point out the visual cues to each student one on one. Some kids just put the sketchbook aside and enjoy the sun. [ can lead them to water but I can’t make teem drink. A little day dreaming is also part of the artistic process. When we get back to the classroom, we tape our favorite sketch on the board and have a mini art show.

Urban Sketching workshops at Elite Animation,

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I am now teaching Urban Sketching Course at Elite Animation Academy  (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL) to middle school and high school students.This is a wonderful opportunity for me to share my love of simple direct observation and the pleasure that can be found from always carrying a sketch pad. The small class size, allows me to always offer notes for every student’s sketch. The first hour of each class, we work in the classroom on warm up exercises and the day’s lesson. Then we break out of the classroom and sketch on location somewhere in the neighborhood. On this occasion, we sketched in a Subway’s Sandwich shop. The lesson on this sketch outing was one point perspective and the students looked down the length of the shop.  It is always rewarding to watch students get lost in the process. The re is always some socializing as well, and I has he to find the right balance between work and play. If only a few students develop the habit of documenting their lives in sketches, then I have certain done my job.

Spring Urban Sketching Course at Elite Animation Academy.

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This spring, I will be teaching an Urban Sketching Course at Elite Animation Academy (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL 32835). The 11 week Course is on Thursdays, from March 31 until June 9. Students should be 10 years and up. Adults are welcome. The time of the course is from 4:30 to 6:30 PM. The cost is $250 per month plus one time $50 enrollment fee and $25 per session supply fee.

Enroll online.:  Terms of enrollment: This is an 11 week course. Your credit card will be charged a monthly fee of $250 Per month, per course. All credit cards are securely kept on file for future credit card billings. Student attendance is mandatory, only sign up if you are willing to give us the time to make you a better artist. No refunds or credit will be given once booking is confirmed.

The students will learn the basic principles used in creating an urban sketch. Principles include, shape, form, line, value, color, space, composition, emphasis, rhythm, and exaggeration, balance, proportion, harmony, variety, and texture. All classes will consist of a brief lecture in class followed by sketches done outside the classroom. We will stay close together as a class while students are encouraged to sketch what interests them the most. If it is hot, we will seek out an air conditioned venue, if it is nice out, we will sketch outside. Students are also encouraged to write about their experiences and to always carry a sketchbook a a visual journal. Discover Orlando, one sketch at a time.

Legend bloodies up the Regal Winter Park movie screens.

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I went to a free screening of Legend at the Regal Winter Park 20, 510 N Orlando Ave, Winter Park, FL. Gladys West from Elite Animation Academy somehow always gets me hooked up with these advanced screenings. I got there several  hours early so I could complete a sketch before standing in line. Terry didn’t want to see a gangster movie. She was going to see a co-worker’s baby. The ticket taker didn’t want to let me in the theater, since the line for the movie would form outside. I had to talk to the manager to let him know that I needed to finish a sketch for my report. Inside I sat at one of fire empty tables to sketch the concessions stand. 

Star Wars, The Legend Returns banners announced that movie’s opening in December. Recent Star Wars films have been rich in digital effects and short on story. With Harrison Ford back in the franchise, I’m hoping some of the original magic might return. A dark robotic villain is barely visible behind his high saber. I hope the film lives up to the hype.

A huge candy machine kept coming alive, belting out its sickly sweet song. It’s hard to ignore concessions when they keep shouting for your attention. Terry showed up since she was denied access to the baby. The mom had simply forgot. She still didn’t want to see the movie, so I was confused as to why she came. She spent some time on her phone as I finished up the sketch. Then she announced that she was leaving. She realized that she was in a fowl mood after not getting to see the baby, and she didn’t want project it on me. Maybe ten minutes after she left, the sketch was done. I went outside to see how long the line was for Legend. There was no line. With time to kill, I decided to get Mexican food at Lime next door. As I ordered my surfer tacos, Terry said hello. She had also stopped for a taco salad, so we got to have dinner together. we talked about trolls, Nazis and gun control. My tacos were fantastic. I will definitely be returning to Lime.

After dinner,  I went back to the movie theater and went straight inside. The theater was 3/4 full. Perhaps because of Thanksgiving most people were home. The security lady told us all to turn off our phones. The lady two seats from me kept texting, clueless. The security lady shouted that is is very easy to spot an illumined phone in a dark theater. She marched over to the texter and stood in from of her saying that if she needed to text she could text in the lobby. When the texter stopped the audience clapped and hooted its approval. 

So, the movie, Legend had the Suave, charming and volatile, Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy) and his
unstable twin brother Ronnie (also played by Tom Hardy) leaving their mark on the London
underworld in the 1960s. Using violence to get what they want, the
siblings orchestrate robberies and murders while running nightclubs and
protection rackets. With police
Detective Leonard “Nipper” Read hot on their heels, the brothers
continue their rapid rise to power and achieve tabloid notoriety. The film was better than I expected. It was narrated by Reggie Kray’s girlfriend an then wife, played by Emily Browning. Just like in the Godfather, Reggie dreams of going straight as a club owner, but he can’t give up his East End London criminal past, he is just too good at it. The violence is graphic and insane, so don’t bring your kids. It is a story of brotherly love and the pain that comes from loving a gangster. I gave the film 7 out of 10 hammers.