Gen Invited me to a meet up of the Sketch Toonz LA Group! They meet once a month or so and talk about animation stuff. The group is a bunch of young aspiring animators who either work, or want to work in the animation industry, So basically a bunch of indoor cats getting some much needed escape from screens.

This is Gen! Gen is the group leader, and also the most outdoorsy, so far as I know. They can skate real good on the quad type roller skates and has recently convinced me to buy a pair (still waiting on a pair of size 12’s to come in stock)

Hey they are conversing with the Artists? Animators? Toonerz? What do you call a bunch of artists on discord in a large mob in the middle of a city park? I genuinely don’t know!
Here are other Sketchers (not the shoe) caught in the wild. The banana dress girl is Bob!

The backdrop of the Sketch Toonz hang out are these lovely tanks that seem to have something to do with Burbank Water and Power. I haven’t figured out what their exact purpose is, but once I do, Ill let you know. And also seen is an occasional Airbus A320 ✈
A Corgi visited us and every one was busy sketching away.
Nikki and her Friend posed for a few photos too!

I think this picture ended up being my favorite. The shadows came out just soft enough to be flattering. And Nikki loves to pose.
The next event with the Sketch Toonz group was at Griffith park. This event was more informal but had some of the same people So I went ahead and included it in this post.

I’ve been experimenting a bit with outdoor flash photography. So I set up my camera on a little tri-pod and blinded Gen and Joey with an authentic Canon Speed-lite.
We had some amazing Kabobs roasted up by Joey, and Charlie attempted to fly a kite!

Griffith park was very festive this day, Tons of bounce castles, piñata’s and loud speakers. But here were a few unclaimed tables. Probably vacant because they were in direct sunlight.
All of the images above were shot on film with the AE-1, but I also brought my Sony because I was doing some filming that day with Max as well for BAM! So here are a few digital shots.

Gen And Charlie enjoying cookies
Marshmallows were roasted and a few of us got misshapen cartoon popsicles for 3$ what a steal! I got myself a classic sonic pop with gumball eyes. I don’t know how long this particular treat was sitting in the freezer, but by the time I bit down on it, the gumballs were pretty crunchy and turned to dust in my mouth!