Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sketches at the Royal Pacific and City Walk at Universal

The Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando is part of the larger Universal complex, along a long thin lake (probably man made). The resort is at one end, and has a South Pacific theme (staff greet you with "Aloha"). This old plane floats in the lagoon at the resort, where the dock comes down to let patrons board the free water taxi to Universal Studios' theme park, which is in the middle of the long winding lake. I sketched it quickly after we boarded the water taxi, and before we departed - probably three or four minutes.

Here is a quick sketch of our captain, piloting the water taxi (more like a water bus) to Universal. It's probably under five minutes for the trip. The dock at City Walk has gates for the Royal Pacific's taxi, the Hard Rock Hotel's taxi (the next hotel down the lake the other way from the Royal Pacific) and the boat from the Portofino Bay Resort, the first hotel built in the complex, and at the extreme other end of the lake. I did two sketches during my several brief and pleasant stops at the Portofino (but that's another post). I loved that hotel's atmosphere and the way it blended with the pleasant Florida weather.

This drawing was done in City Walk, near Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant. Good food, good beer, margaritas (of course), and an extension of the restaurant (drawn here) is called the Lone Palm Airport. The plane seems to have landed at the palm thatched hut, and it's tail hangs out over the lake, about ten feet up. I loved the shape of the plane, which is fat and friendly, and the way it's completely surrounded by palm trees. The triple bladed propellers were perfect, a pleasure to draw. The boy playing in the foreground did dash through, but he was carrying a ball, not an airplane. I got carried away. This is a pencil sketch, 8.5 x 10. The others were done with ballpoint in my smallest moleskine.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Were you there for business or with your family?

Great sketches and write-up. Sounds like a fun experience - especially the warm weather!

That last sketch is beyond good. Wow. So detailed.

Steve Emery said...

Pagan, I was there for business, but I had to get there ahead of schedule due to flights. So I had some time to wander - more time than usual for a business trip. Thanks for the feedback.

susan said...

You're definitely doing good captures with your quick sketches. Naturally I'll agree with Gina that the third is very remarkable. I could imagine a pretty neat painting emerging from the forms of this one.