The Big Green Draw 2020: A Climate of Change

When former Disney animator Aaron Blaise was tasked with designing and animating characters including Beast from Beauty and the Beast (1991), Rajah from Aladdin (1992), and Nala from The Lion King (1994), he knew he needed more than photographs of lions and tigers to perfect their animation. Legendary Disney animators and artists including Marc Davis, Mary Blair, Retta Scott, and Mel Shaw would visit local zoos to best capture the anatomy, movement, and distinct personality of an animal’s animation. Join Blaise as he walks through his process of drawing animals from life, including tips, industry insights, and best practices for wildlife drawing, and leave with your own set of beautiful animal illustrations.

45 minutes

Blaise has over 30 years of professional art experience. He was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1989 and spent more than 21 years helping create films including The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), Mulan (1998), and more. During his time at Disney, Blaise designed and animated numerous animal and human characters. In 2003, he co-directed the Academy Award®-nominated film Brother Bear.

Blaise left Disney in 2010 to pursue other artistic endeavors and in 2013 created CreatureArtTeacher.com, whose mission and drive is to provide quality art education at affordable prices on a global scale.

Did you know lions and other big cats can be artists too? Join us as we travel virtually to Panthera Africa Big Cat Sanctuary—a South African organization that rescues big cats from exploitation in captivity—where lions, caracals, leopards, and tigers will create paintings, and hear from one of Panthera’s staff on how you can help protect big cats around the world and avoid participating in harmful captivity practices.

15 minutes

Panthera Africa is an environmentally-friendly sanctuary for captive bred big cats, where they will be protected and prosper for the rest of their lives. Their animals have been rescued from a variety of abusive or neglectful captive situations, such as breeding farms, canned hunting facilities, circuses, bad zoos, private homes, and the bone trade. One of Panthera Africa’s main purposes is to be an educational platform creating awareness about conditions big cats face in captivity and how animal welfare and enrichment play a vital role in giving them the best captive life possible. Panthera Africa is one of the few true sanctuaries in South Africa, where no hands-on interaction, breeding, or trading takes place.

Roots and Shoots is an organization founded by primatologist and chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane Goodall, created to empower young people to make positive change in their environment. Join Roots and Shoots’ National Youth Leadership Council Representative Vaidehi Phirke as she leads a workshop about crafting a Tree of Hope that illustrates the root structure that supports you and the shoots, or limbs, that represent the hopes and dreams you are branching out toward in your life.

45 minutes

Vaidehi Phirke is a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Computer Science Honors and Business Honors. Passionate about promoting environmental awareness, broadening the reach of STEM, and finding the good (and the fun!) in everything, Phirke is always looking to learn more, give back, and help others. As a National Youth Leader on the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots and Shoots National Youth Leadership Council, she shares her environmental advocacy efforts and works towards encouraging conservation among everyone, especially children.

Join Author-Illustrator Gianna Marino for a virtual reading of her new children’s book, We Will Live in This Forest Again, inspired by her own experience evacuating during the 2017 Sonoma wildfire. Hear Marino speak to the ecology of forest fires and the steps animals are forced to take when displaced by natural disasters. Following the reading, grab a pencil and paper to draw along with Marino the characters within the book.

1 hour

Gianna Marino has written and illustrated numerous articles for travel and leisure magazines. Her children's books include Zoopa: An Animal Alphabet, One Too Many, Meet Me at the Moon, Too Tall Houses, Following Papa's Song, and If I Had a Horse. She also created the illustrations for Chelsea Clinton's 2019 book Don't Let Them Disappear. Though she still wanders the world, Marino now lives in Northern California and works full-time writing and illustrating.

Using collaging techniques, participants will design Halloween-themed paper marionettes by collecting found images from old magazines, calendars, and greeting cards within their home.

45 minutes

Haya Tawatao holds a BA in Communications with a minor in Visual Arts/Media from UC San Diego. She worked for several years in television and animation production in Los Angeles and New York (MTV Animation). While her children attended SFUSD’s Jefferson Elementary, she worked as the art coordinator, providing art enrichment programs to classrooms and leading community-based art installation projects. Most recently, Tawatao served as a teaching artist for Green Art Workshop where she facilitated a wide variety of workshops throughout the Bay Area with an emphasis on upcycled art. She also enjoys crafting Halloween decorations and costumes.

When Walt Disney imagined what his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) would incorporate, he was already thinking about using PeopleMover and Monorail technology to reduce the environmental impact of transportation. In this workshop, create your own EPCOT map with a focus on sustainability.

If you are interested in the activity portion of this workshop, the instruction for that will begin at 7 minutes and 52 seconds.

30 minutes