Camp TLC at Nickelodeon, 03/23/16

We had a spectacular day at Nickelodeon Studios with 24 kids from Camp TLC!  Carson Smith, our point man at Nickelodeon, and Eric Brown, in charge of Public Affairs, gave the kids an inside look into how animators do their jobs, then Nick artists gave them a private drawing lesson, with a special surprise guest!

Eric taught how artists prepare and pitch ideas to Nickelodeon Creatives. We were in the big bull pen pitch room with TONS of  original artwork on the walls from all the Nick show creators. The kids were asking questions about their favorite shows when a surprise guest showed up – CAM NEWTON of the Carolina Panthers and last February’s Superbowl!  Cam took time to talk with all the kids, inspiring them to follow their dreams. He signed stuff and took lots of photos. It was awesome!!

Then my good friends, Darin McGowan and Miguel Puga, (both fantastic Storyboard Artists on “The Loud House”), showed the kids a short documentary on how “SpongeBob SquarePants” gets made. The kids learned first-hand how it feels to work in animation as they read lines from “The Loud House” scripts and learned about the animation process step-by-step all the way up to final color.  The kids loved learning how to draw Nickelodeon characters.  Much to my surprise, many many kids requested that I draw Chuckie from the “Rugrats!” I was truly impressed, as “Rugrats” finished up before most of the kids were born! -West Coast Director, Joseph Scott

Thank you to Camp TLC Director, Caroline Baumis, to Cam Newton, and everyone at Nickelodeon for helping the kids explore the world of animation!  Pictures coming soon.

Gilda’s Club, 03/09/16

We had a great group of 7 kids at Gilda’s Club on Wednesday night!  They were ready with some creative robots that I can’t wait to have living in the neighborhood. We made sure to give all the robots good life stories that anyone would be proud of.

These robots included a gardening robot, one that had paint brushes for arms as well as one that made chocolate.

Special thanks to our volunteers who came out: Lisa LaBracio, Stefano Imbert, Oded Naaman, and Ed Steckley.  ~Franz Palomares, IWF Director

St. Mary’s Hospital 02/27/16

A HUGE crowd turned out at St. Mary’s Hospital today!  Over 40 kids eagerly drew Pokemon, muppets and superheroes with us, we drew caricatures of them, the time flew by and all the sudden it was time to pack it up for the day. The kids all cried,”noooo!” and we didn’t want to go but all were happy in the end.

As a parting gift from us and with the help of Blick Arts, each kid received their own colored-pencil set and eraser so that they could continue to create on their own. We only hope we inspired them as much as they inspired us.

Special thanks to our volunteers that came out from all corners of the metropolitan area: Ray Alma, Todd Broder (new member!), Barbara Garrison, Dayna Gonzalez, Marty Macaluso, Joyce Pedretti, Tim Savage, Nathan Schreiber, Adrian Sinnott, and Joe Vissichelli.