My Urban Sketching Class goes to the Hair Salon.

Posted on by Thor

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.

Posted on by Thor

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,

Posted on by Thor

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.

Posted on by Thor

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.

Posted on by Thor

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.

The Mellow Mushroom always delights.

Posted on by Thor

If I find myself on the East side of Orlando, with time to kill before sketching an event, I will often go to the Mellow Mushroom, 2015 Aloma Ave, Winter Park, FL. Kathy Blackmore, used to take the 2DAnimatio Full Sail crew to Mellow Mushroom to show her thanks and ask about suggestions for the coming year. We would usually order the Pesto Pizza Pie which had an exotic name like “Cosmic Karma.” Anytime I return, I or do the same pie. As of this December it will be a year since I left Full Sail. My new teaching gig at Elite Animation Academy is more challenging, but I’ m learning as I teach the kids. I’m teaching a course in using Photoshop to design characters and because of that, I’m using a tablet to sketch more often. The first time I used the Cintiq Companion 2, the battery died before the sketch was done. Since then I have discovered some battery saving techniques, and the battery has held on for each sketch session since. My butt usually reminds me when I’ve been sitting and sketching for too long. The battery now outlasts my butt.

Bridge of Spies hits theaters October 16th.

Posted on by Thor

I went to a free preview screening of Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks and directed by Stephen Spielberg on October 13th. I arrived several hours early an hours early and decided to sketch this larger than life chess set. A young couple set up the board and began to play. Across the street at the Regal Winter Park Cinemas, two large lines had already formed to get in the theater. I overheard that one was for Goosebumps the movie, and the of he was for Bridge of spies. As I was finishing my sketch, the spies line moved forward into the theater. There was more than an hour before the movie was to be screened, but I went inside to assess the situation.

Two co-workers from Elite Animation Academy were in the lobby. They were waiting for friends and family. Guards were collecting and bagging cell phones so the no one would record video of the movie prior to it’s release on October 16th. I waited with them since Terry planned to arrive minutes before the screening. All the heightened security seemed appropriate for a movie about Soviet and us relations as the  Berlin wall was raised. Everyone was patted down and scanned by y metal detector as we went through Check Point Charlie to go into the screening room. I had purchased a large popcorn and realized the had I hidden my phone in the popcorn I could have smuggled it into the theater.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers’ only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks), recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man’s freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court. Although Rudolf was clearly a spy, I rather liked him since he was also a rather go representational artist. He seemed unfazed during the court hearing in which he was found guilty. His lawyer kept asking, “Aren’t You worried? to which Abel replied “Would it help if I were?  This became a running joke between them.

At times the film  reminded me of “To Kill a Mockingbird” in which Atticus Finch had to defend a black man in a racist Southern town. Like Donovan, he and his family were threatened for taking the case. Spielberg’s influence can be seen in the interrogation scenes in which the windows are brightly illumined behind the actors. Negotiations in Eastern Germany involved as much strategy as a game of chess. The film is smartly written and brilliantly directed.

The Visit offers redemption laced with fear.

Posted on by Thor

Gladys West from Elite Animation Academy gave me tickets to see a free test screening of M. Night Shamalan‘s “The Visit” at Cinemark Movie Theater in Artegon Marketplace 5150 International Drive Orlando FL. The free ticket warned that attendees should arrive early since the screening was on a first come basis. I decided to arrive early and sketch the line as it formed. 20 people were already in line. I asked the couple who were last in line, if I could squeeze in behind them after I finished my sketch.

People at the front of the line talked about the latest roll playing game. It made me wonder if there was a Comic Con in town. One guy in line sort of looked like Jesus, and his friends joked that he should audition for the roll of Jesus at Holy Land. Since he is an atheist, he wasn’t the right man for the job.  A security officer from Burbank California looked over my shoulder to check out the sketch. Her job was to make sure everyone turned off their cell phones before the movie started.

With the sketch done, I got back in line. The guys behind me were talking about an incident of road rage on an I-4 off ramp. The guy said that if his family wasn’t in the car then he would have killed the other driver. Jesus! I assume that every other driver on the road is as impatient as this guy. Even so you can’t escape everyone’s rage. The line started to move and Terry, my wife hadn’t arrived yet. I had to hope that she would be able to force her way in without a ticket. I put my art supplies in the seat next to me to hold her seat, but as the theater grew more crowded, I got uncomfortable turning people away. Luckily the theater didn’t fill up completely.

“The Visit” wasn’t what I expected. Everyone in the theater was braced for a scare. The film was set up like a documentary shot by a young brother and sister. Their mom had left her parents home twenty years earlier and never spoke to her parents again. Her parents looked her up on the Internet and they wanted to meet their grand children. The two children were sent off on their own by train to visit their grand parents whom they had never met in an isolated farm house upstate. The grand parents turn out to be more than a little strange, if not insane. What gives the film heart is that the young daughter is shooting a documentary in the hopes of finding an elixir for her mother’s guilt. Rather than horror, most scenes were laced with laugh out loud humor. As scenes grew darker and more sinister, laughter offered relief. Like in the “Sixth Sense” there was one unexpected twist that truly had the audience on the edge of their seats. The grandpa turned out to be scarier than Freddy Kruger and the grandma was as creepy as a Japanese ghost. Sun downers was the clinical explanation but she went way beyond that diagnosis. Terry grabbed my sleeve every time the tension built.

The Visit turned out to be a film with true heart. I give the film eight Yatzys. You really need to see the film to believe it. The fact that many people in the test audience had waited hours to get in the theater, meant that we had a very lively audience. The film is scheduled to open nation wide on September 11th.

My Urban Sketching students tackle new architecture.

Posted on by Thor

With my Urban Sketching class at Elite Animation Academy, (8933 Conroy Windermere Rd, Orlando, FL) I seek out unique sketching opportunities in the Conroy Windermere neighborhood. The Tavistock Financial Center (4705 S Apopka Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL) on the corner of Apopka Vineland and Conroy road was erected a few years ago. It houses a brokerage firm and several other businesses I’m sure. It was built in an Italian, Mediterranean style with the two functionless bell towers. On the weekend, which is when we had the class, there is no traffic at this front door round about. One of my students peeked in the front doors, but the building was locked.

My two students sat on the sidewalk and curb and they worked hard to get the immense building on the page. It was a good exercise in two point perspective. These students had already proven themselves as competent sketchers, so I let them block in their sketches uninterrupted.  I sketched along with them and I showed them my process each time I completed a phase. They saw the rough pencil pass, the pen and ink work and then the watercolor. As we worked, dark thunder clouds rolled in from the North West. The sky darkened to a threatening steel grey. Thankfully we all finished our sketches and got back to the classroom before the deluge.

The Travistock Financial Center combines the best of classic columns
and arches of the Mediterranean architectural style with modern
international design detail. Hand selected slate floors, exotic
hardwood panels and marble are used throughout the atrium lobby and
common areas. Dramatic artwork and plasma monitors adorn the wood
veneer paneled walls. Glass and metal will are combined
to create inviting and productive well lit interior spaces. Built over
secured parking and surrounded by lush, beautifully landscaped grounds,
the office building is both dramatic and functional. A full time
concierge provides an unparalleled level of service for tenants. The
concierge will be focused on making your life easier so that you can
focus on your business.The Financial Center also has
state-of-the-art security features that provide true peace of mind
for all tenant and guests.Ample on site parking is available. It looks like there are still office spaces for lease.

The Orlando Sketch Tour explores color.

Posted on by Thor

At the First Orlando Sketch Tour we were chased inside Panera Bread thanks to impending rain. Kelly Medford and myself made the best of it and the restaurant became our classroom. Here we introduced everyone to the watercolor pallets we had supplied each artist with. We asked everyone to make a color wheel and then to make a light watery wash of each color along side a dark, syrupy wash of the same color. When working on location, I seldom have the time to mix colors, so I mix color washes on the sketch to find the colors and values needed. A sketch always starts out light and then I keep adding pigments to build up the darks. Trying to cover the whole surface except for a few white spots is the first objective.

On this day, students from Elite Animation Academy came out to join the Sketch Tour artists.  My wife Terry also came out to show her support. She is in the center of the sketch in the pink cowboy boots reading a magazine. Her signature sketch is a smiley face and she can finish that in five seconds. Shelby brought her daughter on the tour and together they discovered color and how to compose a sketch. That seems like the perfect way for a family to spend time together. My Elite Urban Sketching students were well into their studies so I let them sketch in peace offering just a few suggestions if they needed help. Between the eight or so Sketch Tour artists and the four Elite Animation students, we pretty much filled up the front room at Panera Bread. A little rain never stops an Urban Sketcher.