From November 8th to November 10th, 130 artists set up tents in Downtown Disney for the 38th Annual Festival of the Masters. The parking lots in front of Downtown Disney were ripped up and fenced off due to construction. The back lot parking lot I usually park in was completely full. I had to loop around and was directed to a staff parking lot beside the cast services building. I had to drive up and down all the isles before I found what must have been the last spot in the lot.
The parking situation didn’t stop people from attending the Art Festival. The crowds were dense. I walked through the festival surveying all the art. Behind the Circ du Soleil Circus Tent, the view opened up with a grassy knoll overlooking the lake. I relaxed on the grass and started to sketch. An artist sat in front of his tent joking with patrons and showing them prints. When another artist entered his tent, he shouted out to everyone that she was the winner of $1000. He later looked over my shoulder saying, “You’re among friends here.”
One lady had a tent full of dog paintings. Every canvas had a banner across it that said, “No photos.” I understand where she is coming from since I share my work everyday yet want people to know that the image has a copyright, which means, “don’t steal the image”. I place a 10% ghosted copyright banner across every sketch now. It is barely noticeable. Whenever someone reproduces my work without asking, that copyright banner grows bolder. Policing image theft is difficult in the digital age. The Internet is the wild west of copyright theft. People want music, video and art for free. I love when people use my work, so long as they pay for the rights.I love it even more when people link back to this site to share my work or a particular sketch.
Much later I felt two other people standing behind me. My first thought was that they must be Disney Security intent on stopping me from sketching. It turns out they were former students of mine. This married couple had taken the 2D Animation class together and they were both stellar students. Having graduated, the couple is enjoying the tourist attractions in Orlando. Russ is planning to do an internship at Full Sail. As the sun set, the shadows grew longer. Getting off Disney property was as much of a challenge as getting on.