Capturing Priceless Moments in Time - The 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for me, like many, is a tradition that ushers in not only Thanksgiving day, but the Christmas season. I’ve been watching the iconic parade for as long as I remember. It’s both nostalgic and new, every year.
The parade means “family.” And in recent years with the holidays looking a lot different (due to Covid and personal circumstances) having the normalcy and dependability of the Macy’s parade has been all the more important and special.
I was even fortunate enough one year (in the 90’s) to join some friends to participate as balloon handlers in the parade. We were in charge of Harold the Firefighter. It’s much more difficult than it looks, especially on a windy day when walking through the cross streets. That year we got to be behind the scenes with the likes of Debbie Gibson, John Tesh, and Al Roker as they got into their positions. I was so thankful to have had that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of being in the parade!
So this year, I decided to employ my illustration skills (and live event sketching) to sketch my way through the 2022 parade. All while sitting on my couch (Thanks NBC & Peacock!)
It was a fast and furious 3-hour (ish) sprint of sketching select participants. The programming is kept tight, so I didn’t have much time to spend on each sketch (maybe 10-15 minutes tops, and the app I was using on my iPad crashed a few times, leaving me to start over on about 5 of them!)
As I worked my way through, sketching helped me to freeze each moment in my mind. Capturing a drawing is a lot different than snapping a photo. Drawing forces you to not just look, but to really see. And when you see, the memories and images are stored deeper.
So please enjoy the following sketches that I created in real-time as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade aired on Peacock and NBC. Special thanks to all who were involved in a variety of ways (including Ram Trucks & Remo)! You made my 2022 Thanksgiving like a much-needed, warm hug from an old friend.
Hoda Kotb & Savannah Guthrie hosting this year’s parade.
Hoda Kotb & Jeff Gennette (Chief Executive Officer, Macy’s) cutting the ribbon at this year’s parade.
The Lion King is always a crowd-pleaser!
No NYC Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade is complete without the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes! I’ve seen them many times over the years and appreciate their hard work, dedication, and creativity!
My personal favorite, Grogu, from Star Wars / Disney Plus show, the Mandalorian.
There were so many talented marching bands in the parade. Captured here is University of Central Missouri marching band.
Ho, ho, ho.. Green Giant! A brand I have grown up with.
It’s always great to see the Sesame Street crew!
What’s not to like about BLUEY!
Mickey, Minnie, Goofy - all about the Disney Wish - a dream come true!
Only you can prevent forest fires! Smokey the Bear.
Geoffrey, I’m still a Toys“R”Us kid!
Ronald McDonald! I’m lovin’ it!
Jimmy Fallon & the Roots rocking the float!
There’s nothing Despicable about Minion Kevin!
Snoopy first debuted in 1968!
Besides Santa himself, nothing ushers in Christmas like Mariah Carey singing “All I want for Christmas is You!”
And to close out the parade every year - the big man himself - Santa Claus! ( I know him!)
Shout out to Carpenter Collective on their stellar design & branding job for this year.
Enjoy this wrap-up video too. See you next year Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
Interested in hiring me to live sketch your event or conference? Check out more work here.
When I was a kid, Halloween stressed me out!
I spent this past Saturday at the Dog Walk of The Dead event (think Halloween family event complete with dogs and people in costume). There was the Weiner dog who was a hot dog, a corgi who was a Game of Thrones dragon, skeleton dogs...
Who wouldn't want to dress their dog up as a Bantha complete with Tuscan Raider? (If you're not a Star Wars nerd, this might be over your head...)
I’ve spent time the past few years at the Dog Walk of The Dead event (think Halloween family event complete with dogs and people in costume). One year, there was the Weiner dog who was a hot dog, a corgi who was a Game of Thrones dragon, skeleton dogs... you get the idea.
When I was a kid, choosing the right Halloween costume for myself was stressful (yes, there was an embarrassing homemade clown, and a box covered with tin foil, otherwise known as a robot- and hidden photo evidence).
These days, you gotta have the right costume for your pet too!! (and Instagram worthy I might add.)
If you dress your pets up for Halloween (or more likely, they let you…) check out these creative costumes!
What costume would you choose for your pet?
Leave me a comment. Bonus points for photos! (even embarrassing ones)
Looking for some pet art or a custom pet portrait?
Check out my shop!
Tribute to Carrie Fisher
When I was a boy, Luke, Leia & Han were IT. I had every action figure. Every story & adventure contained these 3. Thank you Carrie Fisher for bringing the princess to life. Thank you for helping fill my childhoodwith imagination and stories of adventure. #carriefisher #princessleia #leia #starwars #starwarsfan #rip #art #drawing
Stories Behind the Art: Episode 1
Today I used Periscope (a live stream broadcasting app) to do something a little new. I'm starting to share some of the stories behind my art.
Today I used Periscope (a live stream broadcasting app) to do something a little new. I'm starting to share some of the stories behind my art. Here's the video for your enjoyment. Are you on Periscope? Follow me!
Let There Be Light
When I was a kid one of my prized possessions was a Disney light desk from the 1970's. Although it came with pose sheets of different Disney characters I loved to trace over Sunday Comic Strips (remember those?), my marvel Comic Books (yes ruining any value because of indents from tracing) and anything else I could get my hands on (advertisements, junk mail, etc). Mostly I traced Hagar the Horrible, Bloom County (Opus was my favorite), and anything Star Wars related. The act of tracing taught me how to draw lines and form. It was glorious. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to that light desk. I suppose it was a victim of growing up.
Enter my second light table. Nothing flashy. As a matter of fact, you had to try to lay things over the hot spot the bulb inside produced. It served me well, but I didn't use it nearly as much as the original of my youth. Truth be told, I have two of these still. I let me kids use them.
And now? I recently upgraded to a fabulous Autograph 12 x 17 LED Light Pad - bright consistent light (The first time I turned it on I felt like I was staring at the sun). I've combined that with my new art table to give me the dream work station. The light pad sits under the glass table top held in place. Always ready at the flick of a switch.
What do I do with it?
Here's an example: I take some digital line drawings I have created on the iPad and print them out. I then take the print out and place it on the Light-pad and trace over on top of whatever painted background I have previously created. Pretty simple, yet very effective.
So now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Now where have I heard that before?
Creating Summer Troopers
Let's face it, here in the Northeast, we're all beyond sick of snow this winter. So besides complaining on Facebook, I found a little inspiration to follow hoping it leads to sunny days soon. I was perusing my Facebook stream and came across the following photo from the Star Wars page I follow (don't judge). As soon as I saw it, my mind saw the image I needed to create.
The following was my process on creating "Summer Troopers" as a digital art file on my iPad.
First I downloaded the Trooper photo from Facebook to my photo camera roll on my iPad.
Then using an app called "Sketchclub" I created a new document and placed the photo on the first layer. After rotating and scaling, I changed the opacity to somewhere around 50%.
The I went hunting for the additional images I needed to use as source for the umbrella and man's legs/swim trunks. Once I found those I imported them on separate layers, scaled them, cropped out all the excess of the image and change the opacity to 50% as well.
Starting with the Trooper layer, I selected a new layer where my black line art would live. Once I hid the umbrella & swim trunks layers - I was ready to trace over the troopers with a black fountain pen setting.
I did the same process for each the umbrella layer & the swim trunks layer until my black line drawing was complete. Then I selected another layer where i added flat colors for the ground and the sky. I placed this layer underneath the line art. I then created another layer on top of the flat color to add a few shadow spots and set the layer to "Darken" mode and decreased the opacity to taste. The only portions left to color were the umbrella and swim trunks, so I created another layer directly under the line art and applied the color with a brush tool.
Once my art was complete I saved a JPEG back to my camera roll. Then I opened that Jpeg in an app called Snapseed (a great little photography app!). In Snapseed I adjusted some contrast, saturation (in the "Tune Image" area), added a frame from one of the presets (Frames) that gave it a nice messy edge, and lastly some texture (The Grunge feature - messed around until I got the style & strength I wanted), added some "scratches" for final touches. The reason I added a frame and then the grunge waas so that the grunge effect would show on the frame as well as the image area. Finally, I exported again to my camera roll and Viola - the final digital image of "Summer Troopers"
I hope you enjoyed that quick description of my process. Just remember - have fun, play and remember there's a bunch of tools and methods to help you experiment! Happy creating!
Scribbling Star Wars
I've been experimenting with a scribble style lately, with Star Wars as my subject matter. This experiment is forcing (sorry for the pun) to keep things fast & loose. It seems the more "successful" ones are where I push myself to just keep moving. Scribble more. Stop & adjust less. My line is a continuous line drawing (you don't pick the pen up from the page at all) using various black inks. Most of the color is watercolor paint, watercolor crayons or pencils. Some spots are non-diluted by water. Every so often I hit a spot with a dark blue china marker. And then I add some white gouache and black watercolor paint. This helps to keep things from breaking down completely, keeping to some highlight & shadow values. It helps give the subjects some form.
To be honest, the first one (Yoda) was the hardest. I wasn't feeling loose. I kept worrying about if things looked "right". It's hard to keep yourself moving. That perfectionist voice doesn't like that. So this is another way to beat him. Keep it fast & loose.
Today I did my Skywalker scribble. I chose this scene, rather than a straight up portrait, because this is my favorite scene from Star Wars: A New Hope. Luke's world has been rocked. His aunt & uncle are dead. He's at a crossroads. He must decide to stay behind and try to pick up the pieces or move ahead into an unknown (and potentially) dangerous adventure. This scene always speaks to me of hope, longing and a sense of destiny. Powerful themes in my own life.