Another hit show! IWF Director, Elana Amity, debuted a drawing lesson in facial proportions and expressions, and new volunteer, Phil Scheuer, showed the kids how to draw “Despicable Me” character, Minion and we even got help from adorable puppet co-host named, Sandy. The kids drew along with us from their rooms and called in to chat and pitch ideas. A great time was had by all.
The kids at St. Mary’s are so full of energy, joy and love, it’s a great inspiration to watch them draw and come up with innovative ideas and characters. This weekend we drew everything from fire-breathing rainbow dragons to little men in mini cars to lovely cat maidens.
Thank you so much, kids and St. Mary’s staff, for having us and to our dear volunteers: Sergei Aniskov , Howard Beckerman, Barbara Garrison, Oded Naaman, Timothy Savage, Nathan Schreiber, Adrian Sinnott, and Elizabeth Winter. A special thanks to IWF Director, Ray Alma, for organizing and leading the event!
Our trusty Los Angeles team swung back into action with the kids at the Ronald McDonald House last night! Thank you volunteers: Jeremy Arambulo, Michael Kenny, Christian Lignan, Monica Tomova, and Director of our L.A. Events, Joseph Scott. More pictures coming soon.
How better to celebrate the coming of summer than drawing with sand?! The kids came up with their favorite beach scenes: a beach wedding, a crab and seagull picnic, mermaids and sand castles. Then we drew those scenes together, traced the lines with glue and poured black and white sand over the pictures. It worked great! Thank you so much, kids, for your bright energy and wonderful ideas, and thank you to our volunteers: Pedro Delgado, Drew Dernavich, Barbara Garrison, Oded Naaman, Elizabeth Winter, and Director of our events at Gilda’s Club, Franz Palomares.
We had the greatest time with the young creative geniuses at NAC! We helped the kids make socks and baubles and fabrics into puppets of all kinds. Thank you, dear kids, and thank you to our volunteers: Elana Amity, Joan Chiverton, Sangjun Chon, Barbara Garrison, Angela Navarra, Peter de Séve and Elizabeth Winter!
Elana Amity, Jane Archer and Jeanine Henderson led the kids in a “Dressed for Adventure” show on KidZone TV! They gave a lesson on how to match characters’ outfits to their settings and personalities. Jeanine drew a boy, playing outside and dressed him in a baseball uniform with a catchers mitt and baseball cap; Jane drew a fancy bird wearing a hat with flowers, pearls and purse; and they were both accompanied by surprise guest, Jack the puppeteer!
Today the kids thought up characters, settings, and actions then drew them on moveable panels to create changeable stories.
Afterward they presented their brilliant ideas to the whole group. These included a sword burning dragon who conquers a knight, a saber toothed tiger who gets in a fight, a panda bear and king robot who cause lots of trouble and one Luke the Puke who’s a queasy superhero fellow.
Thank you, Jane Archer and Oded Naaman, for your great demo and leadership! And many thanks to our additional volunteers: Ray Alma, Rami Efal, Barbara Garrison, Jeanine Henderson, Maria Scrivan, Nathan Schreiber, Ed Steckley, and Elizabeth Winter. And most of all to the kids at Bellevue who amaze us every time with their boundless energy and imagination. Love you guys.
Happy springtime, everyone! Last night Rami Efal and our IWF Mount Sinai Director, Elana Amity, gave drawing lessons on warm weather scenes on KidZone TV at Mount Sinai Hospital. Rami drew a day at the beach with cartoon characters made of sand and a little Rami flying a kite above, while Elana drew a boy and his dog running in the park. It was so much fun that the show ran long once again. Thanks, Rami and Elana and thanks, kids, for watching!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This morning we drew leprechauns, pots o’ gold and many a hopeful rainbow with the great kids at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. One little girl wowed us with her precocious knowledge of perspective, a boy came up with a 6-panel scene that he painted as one large piece, and a little girl with a lot of light about her painted a giant leprechaun’s hat that surely holds many secrets inside. Thank you volunteers: Elana Amity, Joan Chiverton and Elizabeth Winter! Check out the link below for pics.
We had a very joyeux Mardi Gras with the Bellevue kids last night! The kids sketched out their ideas on paper then set to their masks with brilliant ideas like golden fairies, lion kings and Luigis, decorated with glitter, feathers and puffballs. When we ran out of masks, we just kept going, cutting and decorating more masks made out of our sketch paper. Thank you very much to our dear volunteers: Elana Amity, Sangjun Chon, Rami Efal, Barbara Garrison, Henry Hilaire, Nathan Schreiber, and Elizabeth Winter.
We drew “Shouts and Whispers” on KidZone TV today! This is an activity where we draw two characters expressing different emotions in a particular setting. The characters can be animals, people or entirely invented but they all must utilize facial expressions, body gestures, and more to evoke their particular emotion. The kids are equipped with art sets in their rooms so they can draw along with us and use their phones to call in with questions and comments. We love collaborating with you, kids! Thank you to our Director, Elana Amity, for leading the night, and to Joan Chiverton and Jeanine Henderson for volunteering.
We celebrated another wonderful year of our donors’ and volunteers’ hard work and generosity with a proper house party in Manhattan! Thank you, everyone, for helping us continue to bring free arts activities to children facing illness. We love you all and can’t wait to draw together again for our brave kids in 2014. (And go team #1, Pictionary victors!!!) 🙂
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we went to a place that has some of the biggest sweethearts on Earth: St. Mary’s Hospital! We’ve come to know and love these kids so much over the years and had a wonderful time making Valentine’s Day cards together. We covered doilies and cards with flowers, love-sick frogs, astronauts missing their spouses from space and race cars that will speed us all back to our loved ones. Thank you, beautiful, brave kids and thank you beloved volunteers: Ray Alma, Jane Archer, Pedro Delgado, Drew Dernavich, Henry Hilaire (welcome back!!), Tim Savage, Nathan Schreiber, Adrian Sinnott and Elizabeth Winter. Pics will be posted soon, now pending St. Mary’s approval.
We taught the kids about character design today: showing how just tipping the eyebrows down into a V creates a grumpy face, how long sleek bodies leaning forward look fast, how glasses can make you look bookish and tongues out make you look goofy! Thank you so much to our artists: Jane Archer, Hillary Barton (first timer!!), Justin Bilicki, Pedro Delgado, Peter de Séve, Rami Efal, Oded Naaman, Angela Navarra (first timer!!), Nathan Schreiber and Elizabeth Winter. Pics coming soon, now pending approval of NAC.
It’s amazing what you can make with a little ingenuity and some household stuff! We used socks, buttons, paper, feathers, pipe cleaners and more to make our creative creatures come alive. Thanks so much to Ray Alma, Elana Amity, Sangjun Chon, Rami Efal, Dayna Gonzales and Ed Steckley for volunteering and to Franz Palomares for directing the event and most of all to the wonderful Gilda’s Club kids and staff for sharing your time with us.
As a holiday treat, we brought the kids from New Alternatives for Children on a tour of world class animation house, Titmouse, Inc! Titmouse creates shows such as Turbo, The Venture Brothers, China, Il and much more. The kids got to see every step of the animation process as they met writers like Chris McCulloch, Directors like Mike Carlo, Editors like Elizabeth Winter and Color Supervisors like Liz Artinian. We showed them the tools we use, talked about how we all got started and what it takes to pursue a career in animation. The kids then got a private screening of a not-yet-announced new show that’s coming soon, shhhh!
You can click on the photos for more descriptions. Thanks, everyone, and happy holidays!
We love the kids at Bellevue Hospital and were so glad we got to draw holiday cards with them tonight. One little boy requested we make drawings for Santa and his elves with “something really nice and kind” written to them inside. Another boy made a portrait of our own Drew Dernavich’s father that he could give as a present. And another made a super fast Superman, flying off to make his own rounds through the skies. Thank you, Ray Alma, Jane Archer, Sangjun Chon, Drew Dernavich, Oded Naaman, Joyce Pedretti and Elizabeth Winter for coming together for our last event of 2013. And thanks to the kids and Bellevue staff for always welcoming us back with such great energy and love. We can’t wait for more great times together in 2014!
Thank you, Ronald McDonald House kids, for making turkey puppets and cards of gratitude with us this week! The kids came up with the greatest characters: preppy nerdy turkey, cheerleader turkey, double sided Sponge Bob/Scary turkey and lots more. Two girls made cards for each other, saying they were grateful to have one another as friends, and everyone just had a lovely time, remembering all that we have to be thankful for. We are also thankful for our dear volunteers: Elana Amity, Sangjun Chon (who took all these great pictures), Barbara Garrison, and Elizabeth Winter! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
The NY Foundling introduced us to some seriously talented kids this weekend! We all got together at the Society of Illustrators, where Louie Miranda from Materials for the Arts taught us how to make our own handmade instruments. Then we got to dance around the whole building, playing the instruments we made until we wound upstairs to a beautiful lunch. What a perfect day and what a talented crew. Thank you, kids, for your brilliant enthusiasm and ideas. Thank you, NY Foundling, Society of Illustrators, Louie Miranda and Materials for the Arts for your boundless generosity. And thank you, dear Ink Well volunteers for always being up for every adventure: Ray Alma, Elana Amity, Joan Chiverton, Barbara Garrison, Yunmee Kyong, Abby Merrill, Oded Naaman, Joyce Pedretti, Tim Savage, Nathan Schreiber, Dan Shefelman, Adrian Sinnott, and Elizabeth Winter.
We had a frighteningly great time with the Gilda’s Club kids at their annual Halloween party. We drew caricatures, made bat/Dracula/witch puppets and drew spoooky scenes together. Thank you to Ray Alma for leading the event and to volunteers, Jane Archer, Joan Chiverton, Sangjun Chon, Patrick Merrell, Oded Naaman, and Maria Scrivan!
We had such a beautiful night with the kids at Bellevue last night. “Ice Age” character designer, Peter de Séve and IWF Bellevue Director, Jane Archer, put on a fantastic storyboard demo, based on ideas from the kids. Then we were treated to a night full of amazing characters and adventures all invented by these bright young things. Possibly the best part of the night: one boy had so many wonderful stories to tell he didn’t stop drawing or storytelling for a second. But at the end of the evening, as we were all cleaning up, he ducked out of the room for a few minutes, then came back in and handed us this beautiful card. On the back, each of the kids had signed their own names. We have no idea how he managed to do this so quickly with none of us seeing a thing but we love it enormously. Click on the photo above and check out all the pics’ descriptions for more details.
Thank you to our beloved volunteers: Jane Archer, Sangjun Chon, Drew Dernavich, Peter de Séve, Barbara Garrison, Abby Merrill and Elizabeth Winter.
We loved helping the Gilda’s Club kids put on their first gallery exhibit! We all made up new characters together (like High-5 above, who stops criminals in their tracks by offering them the irresistible high-5 hand), then we showed the kids numerous ways to hang their work. They picked the one they liked and up to the walls the art went! Thank you very much to our IWF Director of Gilda’s Club events, Franz Palomares, for setting everything up and for our lovely volunteers: Rami Efal, Joyce Pedretti, Maria Scrivan and Elizabeth Winter.
more pics coming soon (awaiting approval)
We had a beautiful Saturday with the St. Mary’s kids! The kids got their faces painted with dolphins, butterflies, and rainbows and we all drew loads of SpongeBobs, superheroes and puppies driving cars. Many of the children served by this hospital have serious physical limitations and difficult stories of trauma, which we encourage you to read about here, but that doesn’t stop them one bit from being incredibly creative, vivacious and wonderful to be around. Thank you for sharing your day, kids, and thank you to our volunteers: Ray Alma, Oded Naaman, Adrian Sinnott, Ed Steckley, Elizabeth Winter and a huge welcome back to Rami Efal!
We were thrilled to welcome the Ronald McDonald House and Gilda’s Club kids to a roaring good time, making puppets at the Society of Illustrators! Sal Denaro of The Muppets and Sesame Workshop fame and Joy Suarez from Materials for the Arts led our group in a fantastic puppet making workshop. Deepest heartfelt thanks to our Ink Well volunteers who created puppets side by side with the kids: Ray Alma, Elana Amity, Jane Archer, Joan Chiverton, Drew Dernavich, Barbara Garrison, Oded Naaman, Franz Palomares, Tim Savage, Maria Scrivan, Ed Steckley, and Elizabeth Winter. We are grateful to the Society of Illustrators for hosting this event and most of all to the wonderful families and children from Gilda’s Club and Ronald McDonald House!
Thank you, children of Bellevue, for sharing with us what Earth Day means to you! Today we drew animals, people, and even a few superheros into natural scenes that, with our protection, will remain places to explore and learn from for many generations to come. Thanks also to IWF Bellevue Director, Jane Archer, for putting the night together and to our amazing artists: Ray Alma, Elana Amity, Paolo Rivera, Ed Steckley, Elizabeth Winter and Karrie Witkin.
We adore the NAC kids and envy their incredible skills! Every time we visit with them they bring innovative ideas and techniques to the table. This time we made cut-out mobiles of the kids’ favorite characters, then suspended them from string and letting them soar through the air. The kids invented new ways to get the mobiles to hang right, drew a cubist Sponge Bob, a perfect Angelika, and colored Cookie Monsters, Bat Mans and tons of other flying characters in a way that showed they were mid-action by smearing colors, using action lines and bent perspective lines. You guys are amazing! Thank you to Ray Alma, Jeanine Henderson, Franz Palomares, Ed Steckley, and Elizabeth Winter for volunteering and to Ethan and the NAC staff.
We were thrilled to grace the screens of Kids Zone TV again! This time we taught the kids about depth perception and perspective by drawing our characters with foreshortening; foreground, middle and background; and we also showed how to draw characters based on simple shapes. With Mount Sinai’s Kids Zone closed circuit TV we’re able to reach many children who are unable to leave their rooms. They are given their own art kits and can call in to the show to ask questions and help us do our stuff! Thanks to volunteers, Ray Alma, Barbara Garrison and Maria Scrivan, and thank you to Elana Amity for organizing this event.
We had a blast making Mardi Gras masks with the Ronald McDonald House kids! We got supplies straight from New Orleans, some of the best artists in New York, and put on a fabulous masquerade party, complete with cake and crowns and beads and more. Thank you to our volunteers, Ray Alma, Elana Amity, Jane Archer, Drew Dernavich, Joyce Pedretti, Katherine Roy, Ed Steckley and Elizabeth Winter. Thanks also to Anthony King for helping us continue the celebrations at Finnegan’s Wake!
Thank you, St. Mary’s kids, for the sweetest, jolliest party! We all drew together like a little elves’ workshop, making holiday cards, cartoons and caricatures. Drew Dernavich made a surprise reindeer in a snowbank card, one little boy was delighted by the drifts of Spongebob Santas Ed Steckley made for him, another girl showed us her awesome skills by drawing the tallest most colorful Christmas trees we’ve ever seen, and all the children we’ve come to know and love over the years shared their beautiful smiles and laughter and truly warmed our hearts. We couldn’t imagine a better way to start the holidays.
Thank you to our volunteers: Ray Alma (Event Director), Drew Dernavich, Marty Macaluso, Patrick Merrell, Oded Naaman, Tim Savage, Erin Shigaki, Adrian Sinnott, Ed Steckley and Elizabeth Winter.
Our wonderful Chicago team of Charles Boyce, Pat Byrnes, Timothy Jackson and led by Ann Farrell, made our first ever visit to Gilda’s Club Chicago! They got to draw with the children and families there, creating tailor made holiday cards. Nothing warms the spirit more than feeling and expressing gratitude so thank you, kids for making that possible today.
Gilda’s Club is a place where children and their families can go to find support as they deal with cancer.
Today we got to meet and draw with the strong, upbeat folks who are being sheltered at Brooklyn Technical Highschool in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. We drew portraits of the adults, cartoons with the kids, played lots of games and just generally spent some good community time together. We’re back on the mend!
We had a blast drawing vampires, pumpkins and bats with the kids and also painting their faces at Gilda’s Club New York! The kids drew like they were possessed and we felt like zombies trying to keep up but everyone had a fantastic time. Thanks very much to the wonderful families and staff at Gilda’s Club and to our dedicated Ink Well volunteers: Jane Archer, Joan Chiverton, Drew Dernavich (first timer!), Barbara Garrison, Dayna Gonzalez, Abby Merrill, Patrick Merrell, Oded Naaman, Maria Scrivan, Elizabeth Winter and Karrie Witkin.
What a great night, drawing with the Ronald McDonald House kids in Central Park! We drew our beautiful surroundings into cartoon characters and decorated silk fans. The kids made lady bug fans that opened into centipedes, miniature puppies that grew into dachshunds, as well as drawing cartoon puppies, trees and butterflies. Thank you to our volunteers: Ray Alma, Jane Archer, Abby Merrill, Samantha Olschan, Joyce Pedretti, Maria Scrivan (new member!), Erin Shigaki, Adrian Sinnott and Elizabeth Winter for such a creative fun farewell to summer!
Our Chicago Ink Wellers drew with the kids at Chicago’s brand new Ronald McDonald House! This new, larger facility will help keep even more families together while children receive treatment for serious illness. Thank you, Charles Boyce, Pat Byrnes, Brian Diskin, Ann Farrell, and John Hambrock (first timer!) for volunteering and to Brian Kelly for leading the event and rallying such a wonderful team of artists.
We had a great night teaching drawing based on simple shapes on Mount Sinai’s KidsZone TV show. We also got to draw with some children who came down to the rec room where Elana Amity even got her portrait done by one of the kids! It was this boy’s first time drawing from a model and his drawing came out beautifully. We hope he sticks with it ’cause he’s a natural. Thank you to volunteers, Ray Alma, Elana Amity (Event Director), Joan Chiverton and Barbara Garrison.
Jane Archer led the group tonight in making 3D self portraits, an activity she developed during her time working with children at a school in an impoverished region of Brazil. Everyone had a fantastic time inventing new ways to make 2D art into 3D objects like bending their characters into bracelets and hats! Thank you to volunteers, Ray Alma, Elana Amity, Dan Pinto, Paolo Rivera and Ed Steckley! You can read more about Jane’s time in Brazil on her blog: http://psbella.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/tia-jane-in-brazil/
The kids did an amazing job of creating their own flip flop books tonight! They drew creatures onto three different pages, then made those pages into a book and cut the pages into three sections so that when they turned one flap the creature became an entirely new beast! Some of their creations were: dogs with serpent tails, hydra dragons, Teddy bear cats and even a part ox/part insurance salesman! Thank you to Elana Amity, John Jay Cabuay, Joan Chiverton, Joe Jurewicz, Oded Naaman and Elizabeth Winter for volunteering.
Thank you, NAC kids, for the most wonderful night! You are an inspiration. We drew many characters from the kids’ favorite summer reads and had lots of smiles and laughs all the while.
Thank you also to first time Ink Wellers, Steve Brodner, Peter de Sève, and Paul Harmon, joined by long time volunteers, Jeanine Henderson, Joyce Pedretti and Elizabeth Winter.
We had a fantabulous time, drawing the kids and families at Gilda’s Club’s 17th party last night. Thank you to Ray Alma, Bil Donovan and Ed Steckley for capturing the faces of so many happy revelers!
Ink Well Kids Foundation 
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