One small sketch vs a thousand words

As I sketched today I was reminded of a picture I saw in a magazine decades ago of a Disney Imagineer named John Stone. The picture showed John doing a quick sketch of an idea he wanted implemented into Splash Mountain - an attraction at Disneyland. He was one of the main art directors for that project. His sketch was to show the crew who were doing the work just how John wanted things to look when they were done. I was privileged to spend some time with John a few years later and he showed me that same sketch from his sketchbook.

Today a number of questions came up regarding how the bridge, cave, rockwork and landscaping would all fit together at hole one of Skallywag Bay. There are a number of formal drawings and plans that accurately show how the pieces fit but sometimes they don't properly or clearly explain just how it will work. One of those quick sketches like I saw John do many years ago was much better suited to the task. So I grabbed my sketchbook and set to work...

I suspect that I'll be doing many, many more of these kinds of quick drawings over the course of the next months. A quick sketch is indeed worth a thousand words.

Building mountains out of molehills

I'm not sure if they have moles in Trinidad but if they are on site we will shortly be building mountains where the mole hills used to be. In addtion to designing all of the fanciful features it is my task to design the topography of the final landscape, how it will be lit and how it will drain. We will start with a site that is almost level and bare, save for three large trees but by the time we are done there will be numerous buildings, mountains, valleys, bridges, ponds and a forest of trees, not to mention the rides and features. Walkway slopes have to adhere to safe and modern standards. Everything has to drain when the heavy rains come. Every feature also has to be at a height that allows it to be shown to best advantage. Light standards need to be located now so the site is appropriately lit and all of the underground wiring can be located. It's a fun challenge!

To assist the owners, architects, planners, builders and landscapers I have been working on a series of drawings to show where the retaining walls need to be built and how high. Many thousands of cubic yards of fill will need to be trucked in and carefully tamped into place. The object of this excercise is to get it all in the right place the first time.

It is great fun to transform a flat site into a whole different world.

Turning turtle

Today the first Gruffle house got it's coat of concrete. The goal was to complete the task in one day and seeing how the piece was large the whole crew jumped in. Because the house was an upside down hull of a ship we dubbed it the TURTLE.

As the crew sculpted in the detail the ship went from a big lump to pure magic in the space of one work shift.

This is going to look so cool when we crane it into the landscape in Skallywag Bay. It's going to sit on a small hill nestled between some palm trees. I can hardly wait!