Holy Smokes, Batman: It’s Almost Dark Knight Sketch Night At Cinema Arts Centre
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Smithtown-based POP! Draw hosted its first sketch night event at the Cinema Arts Centre with Star Wars as the theme. Photo by John Sheehan
By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
The Sky Room at the Cinema Arts Centre will transform into the Batcave on Nov. 10, as Batman fans and comic fans alike will experience the second annual POP! Draw event that this year is themed around the Caped Crusader.
Anu Annam, co-director and co-founder of Smithtown-based POP! Draw, said a lot of people are “hyped” to attend.
“It’s exciting and it’s fun,” Annam, of Commack, said. “Hopefully, it will get people to loosen up and we’ll see some great drawings.”
The Nov. 10 Dark Knight Sketch Night event calls for all artists and newbies to experience live drawing, guest artists, vendors, cosplay models, contests, and raffle prizes.
From 6-7 p.m., event-goers get free admission and experience kid-friendly photo opportunities with Batman, his allies and the Rogues Gallery. From 7-10 p.m., people can draw professional cosplay models as they pose.
Models include Dark Knight comic characters, such as Batman, Harley Quinn, Long Island Red Hood, Batgirl, Catwoman, Nightwing, Penguin and others.
Special guest artists will be David O. Miller, with featured artists Jessica Valentin aka Ratgrrl, Jay Stuart, and Keith Ciaromello.
Funds raised during the event will be donated to Smithtown-based art school Jeffrey K. Fisher Drawing Studio, to help the school offer affordable live drawing and painting classes for the community’s future graphic novel illustrators, animators and special effects artists.
Annam and her partners Dean Goelz, Keith Kroger, and Peter Grass, developed the POP! Draw idea while taking classes at Fisher Drawing Studio.
“We all go to the studio to keep our skills sharp and basically the idea was born there,” Annam said. “We were always drawing models and talking about our fun interests in pop culture and we just thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be a great idea to draw those models?’”
The group held its first POP! Draw event at the CAC last year, with Star Wars as its theme. Nearly 75 people attended last year, Annam said, where they raised $2,400 through admission tickets and raffles. The funds were donated to Jeffrey K. Fisher Drawing Studio as well.
Since then, Annam said the event blossomed quickly, hosting POP! Draw events at the Brickhouse Brewery in Patchogue and at major pop culture conventions, such as I-Con, LI Geek, and LI Who 5.
“Making something like this happen for people brings me a lot of joy,” Annam said. “It’s been a very positive experience for us.”
The event will be held at 423 Park Ave. in Huntington on Friday, Nov. 10. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door. Event-goers are advised to bring supplies or $5 to purchase basic sketch materials. For more info, visit Tinyurl.com/dksntix.
