I am
definitely glad that I waited a couple days before I wrote this because even
though I was exhausted after sketching all day (it’s tiring even though you’re
in a seated position for twelve hours, trust me) I was wired because of the
confidence in humanity that was instilled in me. Trying to get a coherent thought out in the
form of a blog post would have been difficult in that condition. You may not have guessed it, but I’m kind of
a cynical S.O.B. when it comes to humanity (and if you didn’t know that then
you need to go back and read more of this site). However sitting at Destiny USA all day long,
seeing the good and the bad that crossed my path, I was able to witness
firsthand that the positive can, and usually does outweigh the negative. I want to share a few of my observations and
Nik will be doing so as well in a separate piece.
First
things first, my phone was dead the entire day or else I would have been on
social media trying to promote the event like crazy. It’s convenient that that was the day that my
battery decided to crap out, but in a way it was a blessing. I was able to concentrate more on sketching
and interacting with the people that came over instead of having my nose buried
in a phone. Besides, people like Trevor
Hobbs and Bee Vang took care of that with their Facebook and Youtube
posts. They were the unofficial social
media directors and that effort was greatly appreciated.
It’s
true that the main goal of this event was to raise money for Autism Speaks
(which we did, to the tune of $666.00 - How freaking metal is that!?), but another big part of it, and
this became more apparent as the day went along, was raising awareness. On many an occasion, an individual would
approach me and thank me for bringing Autism out into the open, for raising
awareness for something that was a lifestyle to them. If it wasn’t the person themselves it was
their parent or a teacher that came up and expressed the same gratitude. This was far more rewarding than the actual
monetary donations (though those were greatly appreciated, don’t get me
wrong). One of the first individuals to
approach the table in the morning was an Autistic gentleman that just wanted to
offer his thanks and drop $5 in the pot.
In exchange, he scooped up a sketch of Venom and walked off happy. This was pretty consistent throughout the day
and there were plenty of other people that were able to find something that
they wanted on the table o’ sketches, and if they weren’t their requests were
completed (I drew a pretty kick-ass Cookie Monster for a little girl which may
have been one of my favorite pieces of the day). There were even a couple instances where I
was asked to draw people. People that
were standing there in front of me. Talk
about pressure! I think they came out
okay though and it was a treat to draw the little kids for their parents.
The
high point of the day had to be the gentleman that came up to the table and
said that he thought he was Autistic. He
explained some of the trials that he deals with on a daily basis, and it
sounded like a valid concern. My
brother, Nik and I tried to point him in the right direction by giving him some
of the informational material that Autism Speaks provided and also stressed the
importance of talking to his own doctor about his concerns. The guy didn’t walk away with a sketch, but
he hopefully walked away with a greater understanding of his options and a path
to follow to hopefully get where he needs to go. As great as it was to see kids walk off with
a drawing of their favorite character, or the girl going to see Iron Man with
her mother come over (and leave with) an Iron Man sketch (among others, her and
her mother got about four sketches in total), the fact that we may have been
able to actually help someone ranks up there with the highlights of the day. Good luck to you sir, whoever you are. I hope you get what you need.
A few
quick notes before I get into the thank you’s:
1.
I knew I had a sale on my hands when a woman
with a KISS t-shirt and tattoo came over with her husband. They promptly dropped a twenty dollar bill on
the table and walked off with all four of the KISS sketches that I did.
2.
Frank Cammuso stopped by the table. I think he was just walking around with his
son and happened upon it, but he stopped by nonetheless. If you are not from Syracuse, or you are and
live under a rock, Frank is THE cartoonist in Syracuse. He is the cartoonist for the local newspaper,
providing illustrations and political cartoons for the Post Standard and has
been doing so for as long as I can remember.
He is also the author of a number of kid-friendly graphic novels.
This is his website, I urge you to check it
out. It
didn’t hit me until I got home that he had stopped by the table. He mentioned his name, and it sounded
familiar, but I couldn’t place it at the time.
But it was definitely a cool experience to have Frank happen upon the table
at that point. Hi Frank, sorry we didn’t
get to chat. Hit me up if you want a
sketch of The Masked Shrimp.
3.
Frank wasn’t the only higher-profile individual
to stop by as News Channel 9 (most of you around Syracuse know it as the one not featuring Michael Benny) stopped out and did a quick interview
that they ran on that evening’s news as well as their website. You can watch the video and read the article
here.
4.
The generosity of some people was just
ridiculous. It was obviously
appreciated, but one example was a group of about four gentlemen. One of the guys came over, and threw five dollars
in the pot and grabbed a sketch, then it looked like he went over and either
showed the sketch to his friends or just asked them to come over and follow
suit, which they all did. Then, to top
it all off, the first guy came back over and dropped even more money in the
pot. I don’t know if they had a personal
connection to Autism or if they were just feeling generous, but their
contributions were much appreciated.
5.
I learned that, when in doubt, ask your family
for sketch ideas. Nik, Brandon and Raven
all threw out ideas when I was starting to hit a wall that sold (except for
Albert Einstein riding one of the Aliens from Alien but I’m convinced that just didn’t get out there with enough
time left to do it justice).
6.
Never underestimate the power of brand
recognition. As soon as people saw the
Autism Speaks blue puzzle piece they came right over and at least looked a
little closer at what was going on. This
was similar to the sketches themselves as people would start to walk by the table
and then as their eyes caught a drawing of a character they knew they would
walk slower and linger. You could see
the wheels turning as to whether they wanted to stop and ask what was going on
or not. Sometimes this worked, sometimes
it didn’t. It was effective
nonetheless.
Now on to the thank you’s:
1.
First things first, I want to thank Destiny USA
(Kim Hall in particular who stuck with me through some ups and downs
insurance-wise) for providing a great venue to host the event at. I want to also thank Avalon Document
Services, my home away from home, for providing all of the printed materials
for the Sketch-A-Thon and Maeve Mackenzie over at Autism Speaks for giving me
the go-ahead to do something a little non-traditional in terms of fundraising.
2.
A huge thank you needs to go out to my
siblings. Nik, Brandon and Raven. When I came up with this idea a couple months
back, I had the expectation that I would be flying solo for much of the day as
asking anyone to spend twelve hours doing anything is just crazy-talk. Those
three came through in a huge way, not only being there as support, but also by
pitching in, with Brandon and Raven helping on art and Nik using his natural
speaking ability to talk to those that came by as I was usually drawing at the
time (naturally). The combination of the
four of us not only made everything run smoother, but it was honestly the
quickest twelve hours I have ever experienced in my life, and at least part of
that is due to the people I got to spend it with.
3.
A big thanks goes out to Trevor Hobbs and Bee
Vang who not only came out and donated, but stuck around and helped (they were
the unofficial social media directors).
Trevor also used his Twitter handle @dailydiscgolf to help promote the
event. Follow him, especially if you
like disc golf.
4.
Scott Herman and the entire
Open Figure Drawing crew (including the model!) for coming down and creating an attraction which in
the early going I am sure helped to bring people over. Your support and willingness to sacrifice
some of your time on a beautiful Saturday afternoon is greatly
appreciated.
5.
Everyone that knows me or my brothers that came
out to Destiny USA and donated. I can’t
thank you enough for doing so.
6.
To Danielle Anthony and Jana Gozzi for donating
their time and artwork to help support the cause. You two may not have been there physically
but you were there in spirit.
7.
Lindsay Esposito, Logan’s mother for not only
watching the boys so that I could do this (though I heard that Hayden was quite
miffed that I wasn’t there for bed-time) but also for providing the jewelry
that sold incredibly well, and for posting about the Sketch-A-Thon as much as
you did (I’m pretty sure it was Lindsay that got Channel 9 out there).
8.
To my parents for being supportive of this
endeavor and for raising my brothers and I with the moral fortitude to want to
give instead of take.
The Sketch-A-Thon may be finished,
but this is not the end of the line. In
two weeks (May 19) I will be at the
Autism Walk at Longbranch Park in
Liverpool, selling sketches and basically doing the same thing all over again
(just a condensed version as this event is only three hours long from 9-12) so
if you missed me at the original Sketch-A-Thon, come on down to Sketch-A-Thon
Jr. and I’ll draw you something fun!
