Ye Olde Photo Dump

So this is just one huge photo-post that has nothing to do with my project. If anything, it's proof for how long WDW has been a part of my life!

Caribbean Beach room '91. No Nemo here, yet. Notice the 20th Anniversary bags on the table.

Castle, '91

Chef Mickey's in its original location at Disney Village (now The Marketplace). Fun Fact: I severely burned my hand on a light right outside this restaurant. This is clearly me getting revenge.

Chef Mickey's, post hand-burning. '91

Illustration Recap

Video Recap: Floats

I thought it'd be nice to take a look back at the floats, in a nice, easy-to-view video format!

Personally, I love seeing the before and after with the pencils and the final colors for the floats. Weird to say, I know, because I'm responsible for the transformation. But I dunno...I always love seeing that sort of thing! It just goes to show how much life can be breathed into something just by adding a dash of color! ~The Wonderful World of Colooooor~!

~

Floats: Magical Memories/'Here & Now'

And last but most certainly not least is the "Magical Memories/ Here & Now" float!

Florida Project → Magic Kingdom → Epcot → MGM Studios → Animal Kingdom →Magical Memories

Okay, this one might be a lil' hard to explain, as it actually does something!

See, the float would be coming out with the cover facing forward. On each side, there are two cameras. Now, those just ain't for show- they actually take your picture! As the float crawls by the guests, a Mickey Mouse sound-bite ("Everybody all neat and pretty? Great! 1, 2, 3, SMILE!") plays, the camera flashes, and the guests that happened to be in that spot while the camera flashed show up...on the back of the float! Once the float passes by the guests, they can look to see if they showed up in the book! The pages of the photo album are actually one big LCD screen, where the photos would appear. For the illustration, I have mostly my own photos from my WDW internship, but that was just to fill up space.

Ideally, there'd be some tech' going into the photo-taking, where it would focus on at least two faces in each shot, so nobody would have to search frantically for themselves in a giant group shot. Think like Facebook-tagging tech, haha.

This idea would be playing along with the "Let the Memories Begin!" campaign, and be sorta like a day-time Magic, Memories, and You! show (which was truly a magical memory to actually show up in in Disneyland's, btw!). The other name for the float "Here & Now" takes its name from one of the lyrics of the theme song, and also fulfills the 'timeline' theme of the parade. 

Another detail to note is the filmstrip base. Hard to illustrate, but each strip is a mirror! So that's another way guests can find themselves on the float. Or at the very least, their feet!

Well folks, the only illustrations left to do for this project are the back-details of some of the floats (MGM and Epcot, mainly). After those are done, I begin on the physical aspects, such as the small scale-model of one of the floats and a constructed costume.

I have some of my dearest friends helping me out with the Creative Costuming part, which I am THRILLED about!

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Float Count : 6/6

Floats: Animal Kingdom!

Not as insane to draw as the MGM one, but still a lot of work!

Florida Project → Magic Kingdom → Epcot → MGM Studios → Animal Kingdom

 Well, this is the last of the main floats, and I didn't wanna make it lackluster in comparison to the others. It still feels like it's missing something...

Right from the start, I wanted the carnotaurus skeleton and Everest to be on the float. The skeleton isn't exactly a landmark, but I dunno...something about dinosaur skeletons in general are always a striking image to me.

Originally, I wanted various animal prints to go around the base of the float, similar to some signage you see when entering the park. But after looking at the over-head signs that are at the ticket booths, I decided to go with those carvings. Yeah, those were fuuuunnn to draw....

Rafiki's there to represent his Planet Watch/Conservation Station. I thought about putting Simba at the top, but him and Pride Rock are always paired; Rafiki fit better with the tree. You can probably spot Flik easily at the base of the tree. I had to include him for myself because he's one of my favorite characters. Hooray, creative outcasts! *brofist*

For the back of the float, I really wasn't sure what to put there for the longest time. I thought about placing some key scenes from Kilimanjaro Safari there (like the 'upside-down' tree, the lions' rocks, the tusk-worn mud walls), but the Safari was already represented by the truck. Putting animals back there didn't make much sense, either, since they were already being represented by the base of the float.
Then I thought about Camp Minnie + Mickey, but that really isn't a great location or notable for anything other than the Festival of the Lion King, and being what *could* have been Beastly Kingdom. Hmm...Beastly Kingdom.... IDEA! *ping*
See, back when Animal Kingdom opened, I was SO excited for the park. There were tons of promotions going on for it, including the McDonald's Happy Meal toy-line. I got a few of them, but my favorite was definitely the dragon. You can see the dragon's silhouette on the park's logo and his head on one of the ticket booths before you enter the park. But a lot of people don't know that the dragon was supposed to represent a mythical creatures section of the park. Long-story short, the idea was abandoned and turned into a campground. The dragon is still hidden away in the park, unbeknownst to most guests. So I wanted to represent him somehow! I still wish Disney would pick up the blueprints again with this part of the park, but something tells me that's a big fat NO. Especially if they're working on this Avatar land (ugh).
I also like that now I have three genres of creatures represented on the float that don't exactly mesh with the ones on the base: the ones that existed (dinosaurs), the ones that may exist (the Yeti), and the ones that possibly could have existed (dragons, mythical creatures).



One float left! Then it's on to the back-details of the floats.
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Float Count: 5/6

Floats: MGM Studios!

I knew this one was gonna take awhile to draw/color. Annnnnd I was right.

Florida Project → Magic Kingdom → Epcot → MGM Studios

The first concept:

The back.

Looks more like Planet Hollywood, huh?

Well, I think I'm in the minority of people that actually likes this park! I'm a sucker for classic Hollywood. I mainly blame Who Framed Roger Rabbit for that love.

This one was very difficult to draft, as there really aren't easily identifiable 'areas' to MGM. Pixar Place and Animation Courtyard, sure. But the rest are just 'streets'.
I wanted to play around with the idea of Hollywood illusions, like the fake backdrops you can find in the park. So I made the main shops you see when you enter the park as cutouts. They're not in order- sorry, purists!

Again, I really didn't want to showcase every ride; more landmarks than anything else. Tower of Terror, while a ride, is a very notable 'landmark' for the park. You don't see that stupid hat from the top of Everest too well, now do ya?!

And yes, I called that hat 'stupid'. I dunno, maybe because I grew up with the water tower and the Chinese Theater being the 'icons' of the park for me, but I just don't like that hat. I do not like it with a bat, I do not like it with a cat. But!....I had to represent it somehow. Hence Sorcerer Mickey. He appears a few times in MGM, like at the top of the Animation building, and that epic finale of Fantasmic! (a show I regret seeing only once during my 4-month stay [I know, throw the tomatoes, I deserve it]).

Backlot Tour's shuttles were the obvious choice for the transportation. They play into the back of the float, with Catastrophe Canyon. Get it? Backlot Tour on the back of the float? Hahaha...ha...
We also have what I consider the official icon of the park, the water-tower! Had to put that thing somewhere!

I'd also like to make note of the base/signage. I tried it with the teal color scheme the turnstiles have, but it was just too much blue with the fake sky backdrop. So I reverted it to black and white, to echo those classic movie marquees, where they'd put the letters on by hand.

_____
Float Count: 4/6

MGM Creative Costuming:
-Animation Courtyard
-Pixar Place

Floats: Epcot!

Now that the costumes are done, time to resume working on the floats.

Florida Project → Magic Kingdom → Epcot

The rough:

The back.

Epcot is my favorite park, hands down. Everybody says, "I didn't appreciate Epcot until I was older." Well, yeah, that does ring true for me too, but I can't lie an say that I didn't enjoy the park when I was little! Wonders of Life was my favorite pavilion, mainly for the awesome 'power' milkshakes.
And these babies.

They see me rollin'...I'm really happy I worked in MK because I could always hop on the monorail after work and head to Epcot! Grab some Yakitori House, a yummy fried ice-cream (oh god i can still taste them), and, if this was the evening, I'd be walking around a totally-cleared World Showcase while everybody else was watching the fireworks. Interesting experience, actually!


...Oh right, the float....ahem. Well, I knew right away that the character that would be sitting atop our beloved Spaceship Earth was going to be DreamFinder and Figment. While I think I was too young to have met Dreamfinder, I certainly remember Figment. Had a stuffed animal of him, if I'm not mistaken! When Disney veterans are asked, "Who is the most notable character for Epcot?", I'm certain all of them would say this duo.

Keeping with the transportation theme going along the bottoms of the floats, the monorail was the obvious choice. I chose to go with the Teal one, in remembrance of the tragedy that occurred in July '09, a month exactly after I returned home. My friends and I had the privilege to sit in the front-car a few months prior- now nobody but the pilot can do that, ever since the accident.

I may go back and add Nemo or some fish in general to the Living Seas' splash. Needs something there....

The back of the float features the Fountain of Nations, which is something I always stop to watch. Especially when it plays the theme from Rescuers Down Under! It's also such a gorgeous sight to see at night. I didn't see any point in representing World Showcase on the back, since it already goes around the entire float.

___________
Floats: 3/6

Creative Costuming: Discovery Island! +Finale

Ladies and gentlemen, it's here. The last costume set of this project.


FINALLY! *throws confetti!*
I've been working on these since...what, May? I can't remember. But whatever, this phase of the project is DONE! And now I can focus fully on the floats, which is actually a bit easier, believe it or not! I don't have to worry about anatomy with those, haha.

So here's the last of the Animal Kingdom sets, and the last set in the Creative Costuming series, Discovery Island/Oasis.

Not sure if I should consider this the Oasis or the Discovery Island... Clearly, the inspiration here is the centerpiece, the Tree of Life. It's always an amazing experience to head out of the Oasis and see the Tree, even when I know it's there.
The Oasis is noted for the various birds that populate it, like the macaws. I wanted to incorporate them somehow, so that's where those ropes and feathers come from.

Well, I hope you folks enjoyed watching this part of my project! Stay tuned for the floats!

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Costume Count: 28/28

Creative Costuming: Africa!

ALMOST DONE. ALMOST DONE. ALMOST DONE.

Here we have Africa!

Okay, this set was a little easier to design than Asia, but to color? A whole-day nightmare. I'm still not happy with it, and I doubt I ever will be. Don't be surprised if these colors change a bit.  
Also, please, nobody read too much into their skintone.

Like the Asia set, I wanted to use face-makeup to represent an animal. At first I wanted to do zebra stripes, but cheetah spots are closer to markings that are traditionally African.

ONE SET LEFT, FOLKS!!!!
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Costume Count: 26/28

Creative Costuming: Asia!

Alrighty, back on the trail with the Animal Kingdom costumes, now that MGM is done and outta the way.

Here we have Asia!

This one [along with Africa, which will be the next set] was a bit tricky to figure out. I mean, how do you come up with a design to represent a smaller version of a whole continent?!


I remembered the flags with the various animals on them being a consistent decoration in Anandapur (on the Trek, near Everest, etc.). So I definitely wanted to include those. The Yeti being a prominent icon of this area was another thing to consider. Thus, I used one of the masks you see while waiting in line to face off with the beasty. The tigers on the Trek were another 'icon' so I had them represented in the make-up of the performers.

The inspiration for the clothing was taken from statues and drum decorations found around Anandapur. The color scheme was a pain to figure out because I didn't want them to be too dull or too vibrant. For now, I'm okay with these colors. But who knows, I may go back and change them if I come up with something better!

_____________
Costume Count: 24/28

Creative Costuming: Pixar Place!

I really hate to admit creative defeat. But I'm afraid I've hit a rather large wall, and I cannot get around it.

That wall's name is MGM Studios/Disney's Hollywood Studios.

See, this park, with it's classic Hollywood charm, doesn't really have much to offer in terms of costume inspiration. They have the Citizens of Hollywood already populating the streets, and I really can't bring myself to design new characters like that. The only areas of the park that I was able to come up with sets for were Pixar Place [scroll down if you don't wanna read my creative woes] and the Animation Courtyard.

I thought about doing a set based on Tower of Terror (grayscale costumes), but again, what's so exciting about that? Nothing much. It also clashes with my goal to not design costumes based on any one particular ride. The downside to MGM is that they don't have really distinctive "lands", like MK or Epcot have.

Disney cuts corners with their parades all the time, and I'm afraid that's what I'm gonna have to do with mine. So the only costume set you'll see for MGM are Pixar Place and Animation Courtyard. The remaining two sets that would dance around the float would just be the Citizens of Hollywood pasted in there. Apologies to anybody who wanted to see what I could come up with for this park. But my creativity does have its limits...

With that said, here's the Pixar Place set!

While Pixar Place is mainly designed to shrink you down to toy-level, in promotion of the only attraction in the area, I didn't want to outright make these Toy Story-costumes. I used the bouncy ball from the Luxo, Jr. short as the main inspiration. Aside from Luxo, Jr., it's a well-known "logo" of Pixar. I did think of basing these costumes off Luxo, but they wouldn't be comfortable for the performers! There's a hint of Luxo on the guy's hat, tho.

Pixar films are known for being light-hearted (for the most part) so sticking with the primary color scheme that the bouncy ball has worked out!

So...yeah, that does it for MGM's costumes. Back to work on Animal Kingdom~!

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 Costume Count :  22/ 30  28

Creative Costuming: Animation Courtyard!

Again, I'm jumpin' around...To start off the MGM Studios set, we have my favorite area of the park- and home to the studio that made my favorite Disney film "Lilo & Stitch"-, The Animation Courtyard! I veered away from doing anything for this area at first, but after a chat with a good Disney pal o' mine, I decided to come back to the idea.

Animation, as you all may or may not know, is my passion, and is one of my favorite parts of Disney. It's a gorgeous and limitless medium and without it, I don't think Walt Disney Studios would be the same.

I prefer 2D/tradtional animation over 3D/CGI, so I wanted to pay tribute to that part of Disney history.

Really wish I could've worked at the Animation Courtyard as part of my internship, since it *is* my major. Oh well! I visited it enough to stalk characters, haha

The girl's skirt is composed of animation paper with Mickey sketches on it. The film strips have pencil-test animation of Mickey doing a running cycle and of various expressions. [I take no credit for drawing those! They're authentic pieces I pasted in].
The brushes and pencils on the costumes are taken from The Magic of Disney Animation sign, same with the film strip detailing. I went with the same color scheme, too. It screams, MICKEY MOUSE, so it all works together with the sketches.

Here's a bit of a close-up:

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Costume Count :  20/32
COMPLETED COSTUME:

What WDW means to me...

I should've posted something yesterday, but I was so tired/busy/lazy....But I would like to take the time now to put in my personal thoughts on WDW in honor of the 40th.

Disney, Disney, Disney.....where do I even begin?


My first trip to WDW was in 1991 [I was three], so my first time there was when the 20th anniversary was going on. I really can't recall much of the trip because I was still too young to retain memories. But clearly, the vacation with my parents was memorable and meaningful enough that we had to come back next year. And then again. And again. And again. My sister Brooke was pretty much born into WDW, as my mom was pregnant with her and she was a baby on her first visit, if memory serves.


I can't place years to these, but here are some scattered memories from my trips when I was younger:
-burning my hand on a footlight in the Marketplace
-scaling the pile of Mickey and Minnie plushes in the Christmas Shoppe
-standing on a lightpost in Liberty Square, screaming, "MICKEY! MICKEY!" when he made the corner into the area during Spectromagic [we have video evidence of this]
-openly criticizing Fantasmic's dragon as nothing more than, and I quote, "A dragon's head on a stick with streamers" [video evidence of this as well]
-almost getting bit by a softshell turtle on one of the shores of Caribbean Beach Hotel
-the park about to close, mom and I trying to find dad  and Brooke(this was before cellphones), only to find that they were getting an ear-hat embroidered
-the Goosebumps Show at MGM Studios and getting freaked out by the giant hamster
-hammock fights with my sister on the shores of the Caribbean Beach

Man, there are too many memories attached to this place that I can't even remember all of them!

And rightfully so. I mean, how can you NOT have countless memories of WDW?!?!

We always stayed at the Caribbean Beach Hotel. We're not sure why, especially since there's so many other lovely hotels on the property. But I think we fell in love with it and didn't want to try anywhere else! To this day, it remains to be my favorite hotel. Oh sure, I've ventured into just about all of the other hotels, just to get a looksie. But it's the nostalgia that keeps me attached to CB. The rooms have a distinct smell to them. Heck, even the air feels different there. And for some reason, I actually welcomed rain while we stayed there. Not sure why.

I didn't think my love for this place could get any bigger, but that was before I participated in the Disney College Program from February to June '09. Prior to that, I had what my friends and I dubbed "Disney Con" in August '08 which was a BLAST! I had never been to the parks with friends before and it was a wonderfully fun experience! I love my folks, but it's nice to run around like, well, kids. Without adult supervision, haha.

But yes, the DCP was truly a life-changing experience for me.
I was lucky enough to be spared a position at floater carts at Downtown West Side [the least magical place on property, if you ask me...] and was instead asked if I wanted to be a 'Fairy Godmother In Training [FGIT]' at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the Magic Kingdom.

You cannot get any more magical than that.

'course I said yes! And to this day, I am still grateful to that Cast Member that pulled me aside to ask if I wished to switch  roles. Because if that didn't happen, I probably never would've met the people I did and make lasting friendships with almost every one of them!
I also never would've been able to make lasting memories for so many guests if I remained at DTD. I mean....it didn't hit me until I got a little card from this 'princess' I worked on, saying, "Thank you for spreading Pixie Dust on our vacation! - love, the [insert family name here]" Like...wow. I was a part of family's Disney memories. Me. Some chick from Tinylittletowne, New Jersey. I even made it into somebody's Youtube video of their daughter's transformation.
It still blows my mind whenever I think about it. It feels surreal when I think back to what one of my managers said one day, before opening the castle-doors: "You guys are working in the most photographed building on the planet."


The whole duration of my internship, even when I wasn't on-stage, I made wonderful memories for myself. I had all the time I wanted to explore the parks. No family, no friends to say, "Let's go here!/I wanna go back to the room/I don't wanna eat there/I don't want photos with Mickey/etc." I think that was one of the highlights of this experience for me. I admittedly got used to everything so quickly. I'd put my iPod on while walking around World Showcase and make a beeline to the Funnel Cake stand for some fried-ice cream. And if I felt like it, hop in on a party of 9 and have some tasty Teppan Edo for dinner (got to the point where the cooks recognized me...). I developed a lot of routines like that that I probably never could've done if I had somebody else with me.

After my internship, I probably talked people's ears off for MONTHS about everything I did. Surprised nobody slapped a piece of duct-tape over my mouth after awhile. But that wouldn't have stopped me, oh no. I would've still told my stories, but in muffled form.

[Wow, have I really written all this stuff so far? Sorry, readers! Guess it's still true that I talk too much about this place, haha]

But anyway, in an effort to wrap this up...

The Walt Disney World Resort has touched a good majority of my life. I have people in my world that I never would've met if we didn't have WDW as a connecting bond. And the thing I've noticed about all these WDW-crazy people? They all have beautiful hearts and minds. They're genuine.

There's a reason why tears well up in my eyes whenever Wishes! or "The Magic, Memories, and You!" or some version of "When you wish upon a star" pop up on my ipod while I'm driving.  There are millions of memories attached to such beautifully simple notes and lyrics. People's smiling faces. Adventures that I would do again in a heartbeat. Pixie dust fights. The fireworks that look like shooting stars. It's such a rush of emotions and nostalgia that overcome me.

I'm forever grateful to Walt Disney and his Imagineers for their hard work and determination to make such a happy, wonderful, magical, amazing, [insert every other worthy adjective here] place. I wouldn't be the person I am today without it.

Creative Costuming: Dinoland, USA!

I'm gonna jump around a bit. The floats are more complex to work on, so I'm saving those for last. I just really wanna get the costumes done and outta the way! There's not a whole lot of them left [which I will explain in a future post...], but let's kick off the Animal Kingdom set with Dinoland, USA!

Now...I really don't like the majority of Dinoland. Which pains me because I LOVE dinosaurs! I still remember being disappointed by this area back when it first opened up. Even during the 4 months I spent in WDW, whenever I went to AK, I always avoided this area. Really, I think I only ventured in on one of my last days just to ride Dinosaur/Countdown to Extinction for the first time. That particular area of the land, I like. It shows dinosaurs for how they really were. Not some happy-go-lucky carnival critters...

For these costumes, I wanted to pay respect to the beauty of dinosaurs, or rather, their remains. So I donned this pair in some paleontologist duds, with some fossils thrown in. I used the color scheme of the main signage that you pass under when you enter this area.

There's some interactive bits to their costumes. The brushes on their hands would emit dirt clouds when they clap, and the magnifying glasses on their heads can be moved around by them. Maybe to inspect some guests watching the parade?
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Costume Count: 18 /32

Floats: The Florida Project!

Oh, is it really a few days away from Oct 1? Well, I guess I need to get back on track with this thing!

I figure it's only appropriate that I post the first float of the parade for the occasion.

Unfortunately, this one is the least flashy of the floats. On purpose, mind you. I thought that keeping it simple would make the rest of the floats stand out more.

So here's The Florida Project float!

The rough. .

I know scale is hard to depict right now, considering there's only one other float designed at the moment. But this one would be the smallest in the parade.


The base of the float is supposed to look like a tv screen from the 1960s.

Floats: Magic Kingdom!

While I take a break from the Creative Costuming aspect of this project, I'll share my first completed float design. But before I make the dramatic reveal of the MK float(scroll down if you're impatient), I wanna post the original "pitch", if you will, for the floats and the overall parade concept.

 PROJECT OUTLINE:

Location, Location, Location….

Being the first park, the parade would take the usual parade-route in Magic Kingdom. This would take the famous timeslot of the "3 o'clock parade".

What’s in a theme?

There would be four main-parade floats, each representing one of the 4 parks of the WDW Resort:
-Magic Kingdom
-Epcot
-MGM/Disney's Hollywood Studios
-Animal Kingdom

Two additional floats would open and close the parade.

Opener: Would showcase the original concepts of the Florida Project. A classic projector-screen showing footage of the original pitch by Walt Disney would be the main focus of the float.

Closer: Would celebrate memories being made now. A large photo album would be the focus of the float.  

Signs would be placed at the front of each float, stating when each park opened. The addition of the dated-banners is intended to give a sense of nostalgia to the veteran resort guests and trigger memories. "Oh geeze, Animal Kingdom was opened in 1998?! That was forever ago!"

Each float would have a center-piece, representing the park's main icon.
-Magic Kingdom: Cinderella Castle
-Epcot: Spaceship Earth
-MGM Studios: Chinese Theater (the Sorcerer's Hat will be represented by Sorcerer Mickey as a riding-character on the float)
-Animal Kingdom: Tree of Life

Surrounding the center-piece would be small models of the most popular rides/attractions of each park. ***May be changed to represent the different areas of each park as opposed to select rides. I figure guests may get upset if their favorite ride is not showcased.

-Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, PotC, Small World, Space Mountain, MK Railroad

         OR: Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Adventureland
-Epcot: Test Track, World Showcase, Soarin', Universe of Energy, Journey Through Imagination

        OR: Future World, Imagination Pavilion, The Seas, The Land, World Showcase
-MGM: Tower of Terror, Great Movie Ride, Toy Story Mania

OR: Hollywood Blvd. , Pixar Place, Echo Lake, Animation Courtyard, Sunset Blvd., Streets of America
-Animal Kingdom: Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids

       OR: The Oasis, Discovery Island, Africa, Asia, Dino Land USA

“Everybody neat and pretty?”

Performers dancing around each float will be dressed in attire that represents their respective park, focusing on iconic imagery from their park.

-Magic Kingdom: 4 sets of dancers (male and female) that represent

• Fantasyland (carousel dresses for the girls, princely attire for the guys)
• Frontierland(cowboys and parlour girls),
• Adventureland (tribal and pirate wear)
• Tomorrowland (cosmic).

-Epcot: 4 sets of dancers (male and female) that represent

• Future World,
• The Seas & The Land (seas= female, land = male)
• World Showcase (quilted clothing representing the countries)
• Imagination Pavilion (vibrant colors and patterns/shapes to clothing)

-MGM Studios: 4 sets of dancers that represent

• Classic Hollywood, Twilight Zone (b&w clothing and makeup)
• Pixar Place

-Animal Kingdom: 4 sets of dancers that represent the Asia, Africa, Oasis, and Dino Land, USA portions of the park. Incorporated into each float will be select Disney characters that fit with the feel of each park or are best associated with it. -Magic Kingdom: Tinker Bell -Epcot: Dream Finder & Figment -MGM: Sorcerer Mickey Mouse -Animal Kingdom: Rafiki

So that was the original pitch. Some things have been changed, such as what's being represented on each float. I realized that it'd be easier to represent certain rides and signage as opposed to specific areas of the park.

OKAY! So if you've read this far, or skipped to the bottom you lazy...*ahem*, here is your reward: The Magic Kingdom float! Well....the front of it at least!

The rough concepts.

I'm quite pleased with how it came out! I tried a new method with coloring by adding color to the lines via a mask. I think it gives the picture a teeny bit more dimension.

Incase you can't read the notes on the rough, the train goes around the base of the float. The same concept will remain with the rest of the floats with each park's respective mode of transportation. Gives it a fun feature and breathes a bit more life into the float overall!

I will be doing a separate drawing of the back of the float. Not gonna have much to it, I'll tell ya that much right now. And while this is the first float I have completed, it is NOT the first float of the parade. The Florida Project float would show first.


PHEW! Enough reading for you folks? Here, have a cookie for your efforts.
~

Before my time...

No designs in this post, but I feel like I had to post something about the latest from the Disney Parks Blog.

Now, I'm really only knowledgeable of things from WDW from a certain point onward. Mainly when I was, ya know, alive, and able to experience things first hand or at least look back in photo albums and have evidence. I'm aware there were many parades before I was born, or going on while I was too young to remember them. But I don't know everything.

So I hope nobody goes and says I'm copying the concept behind the WDW Tencennial Celebration. Which I just found out about today. Yep.

Though, I gotta say, I'm glad my designs are really nothing like the ones from that parade!

-Tomorrowland looks like a synchronized swimteam. The lack of colors in these costumes disappoints me to no end.
-Frontierland, I find it funny that my scrapped idea for the girls was parlour girls, and yet that's exactly what they went with here!
-Fantasyland is just Cindy in a carriage. Yawn.
-Adventureland is the only one that really seems appropriate all around, but I can't help but think of Bahia when I look at the dresses. That or bananas.

Yeah yeah, I know...Disney didn't have the budget it has today to go all out with floats and costumes *coughpixarparadecough* so I'm not being too kind in that respect. I'm just glad that they've improved over the years, else the guests would be bored to tears. People expect the best from their parades!

~

Creative Costuming: Future World/Innoventions!

Ah, the last Epcot set!!!!



Roughs....yes they're done on a paper towel.


This set was a bit tricky...I had a couple ideas for the girl, basing her design around the Electric Umbrella (the centerpiece to Future World, I mean). One involved her holding an umbrella, another had a complex sleeve system that was heavily inspired by Erte's artwork. But that was too annoying to draw and if it were translated to a real costume, it probably wouldn't flow all that nicely. So I went with this peacock-inspired concept, with some Erte hints still in the headpiece.

As usual, the guy's design is snores-ville in comparison to the girl's. Le sigh. I gave him a visor so he could have *something* on his head instead of some dorky hat.

The colors were tricky to place. I went back and forth numerous times with the colors on both costumes so they would compliment each other.

Well, that does it for Epcot's costumes. I will probably take a loooong break from starting the designs for MGM (will discuss this one in a later post...) and Animal Kingdom costumes and instead will resume work on the float designs. I need to draw some architecture...sick of drawing people in boring poses, haha.

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Costume Count: 16/32

Creative Costuming: World Showcase!

Quickly winding down on the Epcot sets; one more to go! Told you folks I'd get this set knocked out this month!



Concept sketch


Ah, World Showcase...I absolutely love walking around it, especially when I have nowhere I need to rush to.

The idea behind these costumes was steampunk, inspired by the globe float during IllumiNations. Pleather would be the main fabric for the vests.
I know the color scheme is a little on the dull side, but I consider WS to be the most mature part of the park. So a more "business" scheme felt right, as opposed to bright colors.

(Psst, count the buttons on the vests!)

Really don't have much to say about these, to be honest!

Expect the last set in a couple days~

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Costume Count: 14/32

Creative Costuming: Imagination!

Put on those sunglasses, kiddies. Because these costumes are BRIGHT. On purpose, of course!



The bland, uninteresting concept sketches...


The idea behind these costumes was the thought of Imagination Institute scientists receiving "one little spark" and letting their creativity and imagination shine out! It's hard to illustrate it, but on the guy's pants and the girl's skirt, a 'brainstorm' is occurring. The clouds would be 3dimensional (think like cotton balls) and colored lights would be underneath them, doing some LED stuff. Reflective fabric would be used for the lightning bolts, and the yellow under the labcoats and collars is supposed to be fringed fabric (think static-electricity effect). The lightbulb ornaments on their heads would have that weird static-electricity ball in them (like the orb Mickey uses in Spectromagic).

The color palette was easy to figure out (took everything from the sign out front the pavilion). I assumed that most people associate the color purple with Imagination! because of Figment and Dreamfinder [okay, his suit is blue, but there's some purple to it!]. Least that's what I went with immediately!

I didn't place it into the designs, but I'd want to have the Imagination Institute logo on the backs of the jackets.
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Costume Count: 12/32

Creative Costuming: The Land/ The Seas

Kicking off the Epcot series...


[texture sources 1 , 2 ]

The roughs.


Now for this set, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone by having a duo representing both the Land and Seas, as opposed to worrying about two separate sets for the pavilions.

The Seas's costume is probably my favorite costume that I've designed so far! Elegant, yet fun, and still manages to capture the look of the pavilion.
This is the only pavilion I have vivid memories of, pre-Nemofication. The Hydrolators you took to go down to "sea-level", the Seacabs that went thru the aquarium (which was horrifying for a child who already had a bit of a water phobia...)....

Expect the rest of the Epcot sets to be posted before the end of August, as the ladies are pretty much all sketched out, and it's just the gents that need to be designed. Considering I can't design men's costuming so well, those should be easy, haha.

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Costume Count: 10/32

Creative Costuming: Frontierland!

I've been trying to push this set off for awhile, because I wasn't looking forward to it. At all.

Unlike the other lands, this one doesn't have much iconography to it. Splash Mountain is probably the most notable attraction in this area, but I didn't want to theme any costumes around one particular ride. The Fantasyland set is the only exception to this because I don't consider the carousel a big-ticket ride.

So when I usually think of this land, I immediately think of cowboys and parlour girls.

The parlour girl concept I dropped because I felt it wouldn't mesh as nicely with the cowboy. Fabric clashing, mainly, as most parlour girl outfits are satin-y and of course cowboys are donned in cottons.

I drew some inspiration from the Hoop Dee Doo costumes, admittedly, along with the Frontierland traveling hoedown.
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This wraps it up for the Magic Kingdom sets!

Next up are the Epcot sets, which are my favorites!

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Costume Count: 8/32

Creative Costuming: Adventureland!

Almost done with the MK sets!


**I may go back and fix up the guy's proportions. I'm aware they're a bit off.

Concept sketch


Admittedly, I never really spend much time in this Land. I only go on Jungle Cruise and PotC, but other than that, I usually pass this area very quickly, if at all.

These costumes were designed with the bridge and Adventureland sign in mind. I wanted to incorporate the two masks that are on the sign into the designs, but I didn't wanna just slap the masks on the two. So I used facepaint instead, so it's a little subtle. The masks are visible on the backs of the costumes. Mainly it would conceal the zipper on the girl's top.

These were tricky to do, though. I will be designing Animal Kingdom costumes down the line, so I didn't want these costumes to resemble something I design for that park. I also didn't wanna be lame and just do a plain ol' pirate and a tribal girl, like the concept sketch shows.

So obviously, the last pair for the MK set is Frontierland. Don't expect a whole lot from that one, folks....

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Costume Count : 6/32

Creative Costuming: Tomorrowland!

Sorry for the lack of posts! Been busy, busy, busy....

Continuing with the MK sets, we got these two shiny things!



Much like the Fantasyland set, these costumes haven't changed much.


Tomorrowland is my favorite land in MK. The sights and sounds of the whole area are absolutely wonderful!

The hardest part of these costumes wasn't necessarily the designing process - it was picking the darn color schemes! Tomorrowland undergoes a complete transformation as the day goes on, starting out with cool metals and some primary colors here and there, and ending in a whole spectrum of colored lights. While I love how the area looks at night best, using those colors for a daytime parade seemed pointless (and nerve-wracking!) So I went the easier route.

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Costume Count: 4/32