The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts grants guests a unique and immersive opportunity to explore the world of art while in the most magical place on earth. From Festival markets highlighting artists who infuse their personal styles into a wide variety of media, to photo ops featuring beloved works by the masters, to fun ways to showcase your artistic side, there is so much to do and see at this celebration of the arts. In addition to tasting culinary masterpieces, catching your favorite Broadway artists live on stage, and participating in a collaborative paint-by-number mural, the festival offers free workshops (such as ‘Animation Academy’) and those at an additional cost (such as ‘Ink & Paint Animation’ and ‘Disney 3D Paper Crafting’).
This past weekend, we were fortunate enough to partake in one of the festival’s most rare and extraordinary opportunities - the ‘Paint with a Disney Artist’ workshop. This plein air painting experience, led by Todd Bright, runs from 8 am to 12:30 pm on select dates. Here is a look into this amazing experience!
Arrival and Breakfast
Our artistic journey started with a 7:30 am arrival at EPCOT’s main gate. We were met by Agnes, our Event Guide,
around 7:45 am, who checked us in via a clipboard and her
nifty themed sign. Agnes escorted the group through an
empty EPCOT to the landing near the bridge connecting England and France in the World Showcase.
We arrived to a light continental breakfast of seasonal fruit,
hard boiled eggs, croissants, danish and muffins -
all of which were delicious! Coffee, tea and orange juice were also provided. Small tables were set up for our use.
As we were savoring these delicious treats, our instructor Todd Bright went from table to table introducing himself, talking with guests about their visit and familiarity with art. He also had some examples of his plein air paintings from around World Showcase on display.
Around 8:00 am, Todd gave us a brief overview of his work with Disney on films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear. It was then that we also learned of his creations for the festival’s scavenger hunt titled ‘Figment’s Brush with the Masters,’ in addition to his collection of pins of the characters that he personally worked on, many of which he dons on his apron.
Before we set out to our stations, Todd shared a touch of wisdom which he gained from a colleague when it comes to one’s view of their own work - to paraphrase, sometimes it takes one thousand bad drawings to get that one great work. This was a concept that I could personally identify with, especially as an art educator. Quite frequently we are our own worst critics and, as students, even more so as our taste level and growing skill set are working to unite. In essence, we were all advised to keep an open mind and trust the process.
Employing this notion, our class of 17 painters ventured to the location in which we would be spending the rest of our class. There we discovered an array of resources - an easel with a small canvas board, a palette already loaded with paints (titanium white, French ultramarine, sap green, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow light, and cadmium red), four natural hair paint brushes of varying sizes, palette knife, a can of turpentine, an apron and lots of paper towels.
Let’s Get Started
For the workshop, we faced one of Todd’s favorite World Showcase locations, the France Pavilion, which served as the perfect inspirational locale. The weather was beautiful, the sky was clear and the music planning in the background helped set the mood for the morning.
To begin, Todd gathered the group together and showed us how to loosely sketch out the scene, using a paintbrush as not only a sketching tool but a perspective and measuring implement. He discussed his approach and demonstrated his process on a canvas of his own, later sending us on our way to start our masterpieces. As we were working, Todd would stop by, giving pointers and encouraging support. It was great to get insights from him and to see the subject matter from his artistic perspective.
After all the participants laid down their sketches, Todd once again gathered the class to discuss the next step in the process called underpainting, an initial or thin layer, serving as a monochromatic base for subsequent layers of paint. Todd stressed the necessity of thinning out the paint during this step, squinting or removing one’s glasses to observe the key values, and establishing the basis of those present, undoubtedly the most integral part of a successful painting.
Before going back to our stations, we were reminded that water and stools were available due to the duration of the class and if we needed anything, that our event guides would be there to assist. As the class continued, students were free to take breaks and observe their peers. The class members had varying degrees of expertise, but that did not matter. We all supported each other and enjoyed the camaraderie and stress-free approach to this experience.
Later on, Todd brought the class together to discuss the opaque layering of coloration, bringing the scene to life. He explained color mixing in addition to atmospheric perspective, discussing how the appearance of color and value changes as the subject recedes into space.
Time flies when you’re having fun!
Before we knew it, the time was 12 noon and the class was winding down. Todd gave us some final instructions to add the last details to our painting, such as the trees and sharp highlights through the use of a palette knife.
As we were painting, we noticed several guests to the park not participating in the class stopped to admire the class’ work and asked how to participate in a future class.
They must have seen how much fun we were having! Check us out in progress (ABOVE) and the steps of painting in the slideshow (BELOW).
Once we were finished, the event guides provided us with a box for our artwork and a festival bag that helped ensure the artwork would have enough space to dry.
Overall this was a wonderful experience and quite frankly, an artist’s dream come true (especially for this aspiring Disney artist). This workshop was very reminiscent of a collegiate painting class and underscored the very foundations of art and art-making. This is definitely a must-do for someone who enjoys working with oils, wants to learn under the guidance of an incredibly talented Disney artist, or just wants to try expressing themselves through the wonderful medium of painting.
A tremendous THANK YOU goes out to the wonderful Todd Bright and the team who organized this fantastic opportunity. The next oil painting class is offered on Saturday, February 15th. Two other opportunities to ‘Paint with a Disney Artist’ are also available on February 8th and 22nd from 11 am to 3:30 pm with Kevin-John. His workshops will focus on watercolor painting within the Living Seas at EPCOT. The cost of each of these experiences is $249.00 per participant and separate EPCOT admission is required, but not included.
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