CAPE CENTRAL STUDENT STPES INTO THE WORLD OF ANIMATION

Above: Pages of a flip book illustrated by Taylor Crowe show he understands motion.

Left: Taylor Crowe created his self portrait in cartoon form.

Mickey Mouse first danced across the screen in 1928. This animated character was the brainchild of Walt Disney. Disney had a vision and pursued his dream.

Today, aspiring young animators follow his lead to create characters that "move" across the screen.

Modern technology has been instrumental in creating these moving wonders. The computers and such are great admits Taylor Crowe, who attended the California State Summer School for the Arts his summer.

"We didn't use the computers much," he said. "We learned to do it the old fashioned way."

Crowe, the son of David Crowe and Sally Blankenship and a senior at Central High School, has been interested in art for a number of years. One of his favorite characters is Garfield.

When he had the chance to meet Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, any doubts he might have had about drawing and animation being his life's work were erased.

"It was pretty cool meeting him," said Crowe. The encounter with Davis heightened Crowe's interest even further.

When David Crowe heard about the California summer art program program, he decided to see if his son might be interested in attending.

It didn't take much persuading.

The summer art program is a rigorous, month-long training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation and film for talented artists of high school age.

The school provides a supportive environment in which students hone acquired skills and explore new techniques and ideas.

The school accepts a very limited number of non-California residents.

"If I had known how slim the chances seemed I would have been really worried about him getting in," Crowe's father said.

Examples of previous work were part of the application process.

Crowe created a flip book to show that he understood motion. He also submitted one of his cartoons from the series he created for Southeast Missouri Hospital's Pediatric SPOT coloring book.

The final submission was a self portrait in cartoon form.

"Taylor was supposed to draw something that told what was unique about himself," said his father.

July 10 found the Crowes on the campus of the California Institute of the Arts at Valencia, a residential community 25 miles north of Hollywood, in the Santa Clarita Valley.

While attending the school, all students reside in Chouinard Hall, the student dormitory.

"Taylor's roommate was totally California, pink hair and all." said his father.

The faculty at the summer art school are accomplished, practicing professional artists, musicians, writers, dancers, actors and filmmakers. Many are also college and university instructors.

Daily classes ran from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Evenings were reserved for self-paced studio work.

Field trips were also taken to the zoo, Disney Animation Studios and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

"I kept a journal of everything while I was there," Taylor said. One of the first things we learned was how to make someone walk.

Each student was required to complete an individual project from start to finish including shooting the final drawings so they could be shown on film.

Cynthia Bextine, secretary for the summer program, said she likes the animation students.

"Animators are less vocal, more introspective," she said. "They are a pleasantly different group.

Crowe's instructors were well pleased with his performance.

Christine Panushka, professor at the University of Southern California and on of Crowe's summer instructors said he might definitely find his niche in the world of animation.

"He has real ability to focus, eagerness to learn and understand certain concepts, is persistent and hard working and that's important," she said.

Crowe felt his final project could have been a little better.

"I hurried a little so I could help some of the students who were falling behind," he said.

Judy Barks-Westrich, Crowe's art teacher at Central High School, was impressed with the work he did while in California.

"Taylor lives for the art," she said. "He has a very good eye, especially for the expressive form of cartoon-type characters."

Crowe was a student in Barks-Westrich art class when he was in the 10th grade.

"He has an inborn talent when it comes to art," she said. "It's been exciting to seem him mature in such a positive way."