Procrasticare Pink Paint Scene

Posted on by Thor

I drove from my Air B&B to the Stella Arbelaéz studio where James Parris would be spending the day gathering shots for his Procrasticare short. After having her phone stolen by a Procraticare worker. Stella returned to her artist’s studio and paced the room annoyed. When her nerves were settled, she began to make marks on her canvas for the first time in a long time. Her annoyed expression turned to pleasure as the marks began to come together.

Before shooting began the set needed to be completed. Jennifer Gwynne Oliver brought along a friend who was an expert on movie history. He and James got along great. Jennifer worked for Disney Feature Animation Florida and without being asked, she realized that the set needed to look more lived in. She gathered some art books and a Tiffany lamp along with a bowl from another room, and arranged them on top of the flat files behind Stella. I was pleased that one of the books she picked out was my book, Urban Sketching the Complete Guide to Techniques. Probably no one seeing the short film will see my book, since it is likely out of focus but at least I know it was there.

Between shots, I walked behind Stella adding smoke to the set for a romantic glow of atmospheric perspective. The painting on the canvas was largely completed beforehand. I oversaw making sure the canvas had plenty of gesso, and Stella painted the abstract Pink and Blue pattern that James had made for the shot. I think the pink and blue art was an homage to another animated short film James had done called Pink and Blue .

At one point Stella threw an entire bucket of pink paint at the canvas. Though there were clear plastic drop clothes, she was so enthusiastic that paint went all over the room and beyond the drop cloth. Some paint even got on my sketch. After the paint spatter scene was over, I got on my hands and knees and wipes up stray puddles of paint off of Stella’s grey concrete floor. I do think there are hints of pink of the floor to this day.

Movie lights were scattered all around the set and James moved them as needed for each shot. James kept his hand-held and stabilized camera moving and the studio was a super active space. Stella has assembled a giant 14-foot-tall puppet in this studio space and she created Eco printed table runners for the Orlando Museum of Art in this space. She wasn’t acting when she was working in the studio as an artist.

The Procrasticare short is still in the editing bay. Special effects are still being done for the content that is seen on Stella’s phone screen. I’ll be excited to see the final edit and to see if the audience laughs where expected. Audiences are all unique. Some might laugh out loud while another audience is stone faced and neutral.

Procrasticare Master Living

Posted on by Thor

I drove from my Air B&B to the Stella Arbelaéz studio where James Parris would be spending the day gathering shots for his Procrasticare short. The first location of the day was in Stella’s Master Living room. I helped move the couch to the opposite wall in front of a window and then a set decorator came in and hung curtains and string lights. James had shipped purple and pink outfits for Stella to wear in each shot. The wardrobe was neatly arranged on a movable garment rack in the artist studio. Large lights were everywhere.

James shot the film using a stabilizer for the camera. I don’t think a singe shot required a tripod. My job, other than moving the couch, was to mist the room with smoke before each shot. This would add atmospheric perspective and soften the look. Now that I know this is done, I have started noticing it in films I watch.

This shot required Stella to relax on her couch and scroll on her phone. The couch is actually a recliner so she wouldn’t usually lay prove like an odalisque as she was being asked to do. She would  usually kick her legs up I front of her. She looked relaxed and Boo-Boo quickly got in character and lay attached to her hip. The room is blue and James picked a similar blue color as a throw over the leather recliner couch. I bet the warm glow of the Tiffany lamp looked good on screen.

Stella’s cow scull and a wooden hand holding a grass paper lantern stayed where she usually had them, but I don’t think they were in the shots. The wooden secretary in the corner of the room holds so many memories. Stella’s entire back story is housed in that gorgeous antique cabinetry.

Incense was burning on a small side table. That table was moved multiple times as a foreground element in shots. The audience might not notice that the table was moved. All that mattered was what appeared in the camera viewfinder. James was figuring out the final look as he worked. He knew exactly what each shot should look like since he had story-boarded every scene. But in camera he made sure the lighting matched his vision.

This scene only required a few shots of Stella sitting up, scrolling on her phone along with over the shoulder shots to see that she was looking at. I knew from having sketched on other film shoots that the amount of work that went into each shot meant that I would have more than an hour to sketch. Hugo Giraud who also worked at Disney Feature Animation, was also on set helping out. With so many worker bees, I could relax and sketch until the next shot needed to be set up.

Though shot over 9 moths ago,  Procrasticare is still in the editing bay. James had farmed out many effects shots that will appear on the phone Stella was holding. Once all that special effect work is complete, they will be added to the final edit of the film. All the acting in the film is silent. No one speaks. Coming from an animation background James knew that a story is best told through action rather than words. Stella would have done well as a silent era actress. Every emotion could be read on her face and gestures.

Disney Feature Animation Reunion

Posted on by Thor

The Disney Feature Animation Alum held a reunion In Orlando Florida on March 8, 2026. I drove Stella Arbelaéz and James Paris to the hotel in my Prius. It has been 22 years since the Florida Studio closed its doors, ending a long tradition of hand drawn animation. When we entered the hotel, the open lobby area was packed full of familiar faces. Large tables were set up with bites and there was a table for drinks. We had some free drink tickets and I decided to have a Coke so that I was flitting about like a Humming Bird.

Every time I turned around, I saw someone I had not seen in decades. There was a large screen set up which showed photos of life in the animation studio from years ago. I know now that what I really wanted to see was all the art that had been created by these amazing artists since the Disney Feature Animation Studio closed. I didn’t need to look back. I wanted to look forward.

I knew what James Paris had worked on since we had talked extensively at Stella’s studio, but for most folks I met at the reunion, I could only get an abbreviated elevator pitch of what they were working on. Being a visual artist, I wanted to see it all. I had been in talks with the Museum director at the Orange County History Center about having tables set up at the museum so that former Disney artists could showcase and sell their recent art work the day before or after the reunion. That idea fell through when the director got another job in NYC. I had just returned from 3 months in Europe where I had sketched the 70 or so cities that my father’s 75th Infantry Division had helped liberate in WWII so I found myself repeating that story often.

Kevin Deters had flown in from California. He had stayed with Disney and went on to direct Prep and Landing which was an animated short about elves helping Santa land his sleigh. Aaron Blaise has gone on to produce direct and animate his own short film called Snow Bear and he founded Creature Teacher which has taken off as an online an in-person way to encourage the next generation of animation artists. Xiangyuan (Jay) Jie had helped set the style of the gorgeous painterly backgrounds for Brother Bear. I admired his work on that film so much, and I got to paint beside him in the after-hours painting sessions with models. Jie speaks best through paint since he still isn’t fluent in speaking English. He spoke with me and his wife helped translate. He had images on his iPhone he wanted to show me. He had an amazing sketch of me from one of those after-hours paint sessions. I looked so focused in his sketch. He said there were images I should see on the big screen as well but there were so many pictures that I could not wait for the reel to make its way around again. I was quickly drawn into another conversation.

Laurie Ashborne had a cameraman set up in the corner of the venue. She was asking each artist a few questions about their memories of the studio. This is what I decided to sketch quickly. While working on this sketch I was approached and I was amazed that someone was very familiar with my work. There was some honest reverence in the way my work was acknowledged. I don’t experience that very often. It was heartwarming. With the sketch finished I went and stood in line to offer Laurie my quick answers to her questions. It was a fun interview. I hope a sound bite makes it into her documentary about the Florida Feature Animation Studio.

The whole evening was such a whirlwind. It was like trying to digest hundreds of stories of artistic growth in just a few hours. Bill Silvers has made a career of doing large Disney character themed paintings that are sold at Disney Village. Ginger Wolf gave me her card. She has also become a painter. Former animator, Trey Finney lost his wife Christine Lawrence Finney who was my supervisor at Disney. They had both become painters after leaving Disney. She had a warm heart and was delightful to work for. Christine gave me the opportunity to supervise the final clean up on the director’s cut of Pocahontas. Scenes were added which had been left out of the original film. The largest scene was a love song (If I Never Knew You) sung by John Smith when he was being held captive and Pocahontas gently placed her head on his chest while he sang. The camera rotated  around the couple as he sang, making it a mechanically challenging scene to work on. I worked out long timing charts to keep the even timing of the rotation consistent. I was proud of the result. It was so rare to have complete control of both lead characters in a scene.

I was amazed by so many of the artists I got to meet again. The Disney Feature Animation Studio had truly been like catching lightning in a bottle. All that talent spread out across the country after the studio was shuddered in 2004, but I decided to stay and make my mark right here in Orlando.

Stella, James and I met near the hotel reception and made out way out to the parking lot. Good-byes lasted for at least an hour. It was a shame to leave, but we had an exciting ride back sharing stories of who we had caught up with.  The following morning, the main shooting would begin on James Paris’s short film. We all needed our rest. The caffeine had worn off, and I collapsed in my Air B&B and instantly fell asleep. As always I was an outsider looking in, even in my dreams.