Above, we are waiting for the start of Steve Bennett's cel painting class. The paints for the class had not yet arrived, so Steve entertained us for the next hour with stories of his childhood and how he first learned animation from a grand master in much the same way as Karate Kid, with weeks spent at manual tasks before he was allowed to actually start drawing.

Steve told us that his favorite art subjects were tanks and girls, tanks and girls, tanks and girls. He went on to tell how the master artist made him draw his least favorite character, Mendou Shutaro from Urusei Yatsura, over and over and over again until he learned discipline.

He encouraged us, ourselves, to engage in Patience and Discipline to master this art.

Above, with the paints finally delivered, we start painting our cels. That's me to the far right, then Rob, my son Josh, and his girlfriend Erin.

As we were painting, Pudding in her human waitress form from Tokyo Mew Mew, showed up with treats for the class.

Above, Josh and Rob confer over the subtle shading of skin tones as little snow fairy, Sugar looks on. Move your mouse over the image to see an alternate angle.

And there is little snow fairy, Sugar herself, complete with her little bunny flute bag.