Girls On The GO!

Walt Stanchfield was the greatest and most important teacher/mentor I ever had. He was a great inspiration to me an the lucky people who knew him. He was an animator at Disney, back in the days of Sleeping Beauty, and later started teaching a very special monthly life drawing class..or should I say just LIFE class. This class was the highlight of my month while I worked at Disney. After a 3 day session, he would create handouts where he would talk all about drawing, animation, and life..to this day, these handouts are passed around schools, and you can even download some of them HERE. Walt would choose some drawings to use for his critiques, and would not list the students names. Then he would choose drawings that were working, and he would talk about the artist behind them. I was lucky enough to have many drawings of mine featured in these handouts, and it was always a great honor for me!

Today, I went to a quicksketch class for the first time in a loooong time. I still hear his voice in my head every time I draw, and I especially heard it today. Walt used to insist on using a big fat marker, so that we couldn’t erase, and we wouldn’t get “tight”, he insisted on drawing quick so that we didn’t get noodley, or think too much. “Forget all those scapulas!” It was all about using your intuition, getting excited about what you see, and responding to that on paper. Sometimes, a model would pose and he would blurt out “OH GOSH!!! WOW!!! THIS MOMMENT HAS NEVER HAPPENED ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, EVER!! HURRY UP AND GET IT DOWN!!” (If you were excited about your drawing, your audience would be too, he taught us.) By the way..this energetic man was in his 70’s, and had more life in him than most 20 year olds I know. I miss him so much..he lost his battle to cancer in 2000..but he played tennis, and taught our class right until the end.

My drawings don’t do his lesson’s justice, but I’ve posted a sampling of the type of work we created then, from today’s class here at Nick. Each sketch was done in about 30 seconds.

Here is a quote from Walt:

“Taking notes like sketching, sharpens the mind, hones it in into a more sensitive and receptive instrument, more ready when needed than one that is allowed to “flow with the tide”. It can be the difference between being a a reactor or an actor. The reactor drifts along awaiting opportunities from others before making a move. The actor checks his notes and comes up with a positive move of his own. Most, if not all, artists, composers, authors, scientists, etc. have been and are avid note takers and sketchers.”

Walt Stanchfield