Kyle 1/29/10

So tonight was kind of a bust. I wasn't going to be able to post anything because I was supposed to be in First Dress for Oedipus Rex here at the CBT, but we're in the middle of "BLIZZARD 2010!!!!" here in Knoxville so, just when everyone had gotten into costume, they had to call the rehearsal...oh well....I got to come home to sketch.

So, uh, spoiler alert, Anne Page gets married at the end of Merry Wives....sorry to give it away, but its a Shakespearean Comedy! There's always a happy ending wedding at the end! I didn't write it so don't blame me!

When we see her first in Act V, scene 5, she is in a "Fairy" costume. It needs to cover whatever her wedding dress is and not be white or green. I found a pattern for a huge swing coat to go over a circle skirt crinoline, paired it with a scarf around the head and a devil mask, so I guess the coat is red...no...pink, because - get this - Anne's wedding dress is PINK! (Blush and Bashful, anyone)

The dress, itself is pink taffeta with a huge crinoline all covered with several layers of tulle! The bodice is the pink taffeta covered by a really thick, rich lace (I'm actually drooling right now!). The veil is based on Jackie Kennedy's veil...lace edged attached to a little taffeta covered bonnet (maybe kinda Mary Tudor style, you know, to keep it real). Little satin pumps, and little gloves with while pearl triple strand bracelets...

Now I'm exhausted...but the snow outside is really pretty...just like my dress.

Kyle 1/28/10

More from the last scene of Merry Wives...

Master Page has told Slender that Anne will be dressed in white in the forest and that he can abscond with her, while Mistress Page tells Dr. Caius that she will be dressed in green...little do they all know that Anne had told Fenton of the plan and the Host of the Garter Inn helps them to escape and Marry.

The boy in white would be Nym, one of Falstaff's bowling buddies, dressed as a Ghost, while the boy in green is Pistol in a green cape and "Martian" mask. I suppose if this was produced at a theatre where they wanted to use more children they could be played by some teens...though is it more creepy that the men should run off with young boys...

Hilarity really ensues when Slender and Caius show up and steal away with the men who are dressed as Anne...Caius even actually goes though with the marriage ceremony!

Eric Sketches #14-17: Jan 28

Here are some more roughs for Go, Dog! Go! I'll write more about them later, especially since I have to show them to the director tomorrow.

Kyle 1/27/10

In the last scene of Merry Wives, Mistresses Page and Ford meet Falstaff in the woods an lead him on a little bit. After they hear a noise they flee, joining in with the "fairies" to taunt Falstaff.

I've always loved how put together women were when they left the house in the mid-20th century - coat, hat, gloves, pocketbook. It was all very put together and quite glamorous (no one has glamor anymore do they - well not normal people). I would love to see the ladies enter in some lovely swing coats (they are so easy to find in vintage shops and most costume stocks) with hats and gloves - the full get up. Under the coats they would have their fairy costumes.

I was trying to think of what the adults would wear for their costumes...you have to have the boy in a white costume (Ghost?) and a boy in a green costume (Alien?) mistaken as Anne, Sir Hugh (I'm thinking vampire costume?), Anne (in something pretty with a mask and dark shawl or hooded cape?) and then the wives and their husbands. What I'm thinking for all of them is black body (dresses for the ladies and the dark suits of the men) with dark chiffon veils and flash lights underneath...could be fun...More tomorrow

Eric is totally right...this is getting faster.

Eric Sketch #13: Jan 27

Do you like my hat?

I do not like your hat.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

This is an initial sketch for the character Hattie. She's based on a french poodle, and will be a lovely shade of blush and bashful (...her colors are pink and pink!). Since pretty much all of her action in the show is to march onstage and ask if MC Dog likes her hat (four times no less), I wanted to give her a sense of trying to be more than something she is. So, I want her to have this sense of "playing dress up" with her Mom's clothes. I think that lends motivation for all of the hats, which grow ever more fabulous throughout the course of the show.

Let me tell you: tonight's sketch was lightyears easier than Mondays. Shew!

Kyle 1/26/10

One of the funniest scenes in Merry Wives is Act V, scene 5, in which many of the characters dress in fanciful costumes and taunt Falstaff. They burn him with candles and pinch him, all led by Mistress Quickly and Sir Hugh Evans.

For my 1950's production, I've set the scene at Halloween with the characters in Halloween costumes. Mistress Quickly is a witch in a battered witch's hat and dyed black chenille bathrobe, with fake nose and chin. I think that part of the humor comes from the fact that they aren't really well disguised (Quickly keeps her glasses and neck scarf) and Falstaff is just a stupid old drunk who is easily fooled in the dark.

There are supposed to be "many children" who enter with Sir Hugh, but there are only two named children in the play - Robin, Falstaff's page (or sometimes his son) and William Page, the Page's son. A lot of little boy's costumes in the mid-20th century had to do with the space race - Space Men and Robots abound in all of the pictures I could find. Another choice would be Cowboys and Indians, I suppose, though I find Space Men and Robots more frightening (a clown would be the scariest!)! William would be the Space Man, as his family could afford a fancy, store-bought costume, while Robin would be the Robot - made from cardboard boxes and painted silver with buttons and levers.

There are many more characters in the scene. I think I'll do some more of them tomorrow...it is fun to design a costume for a character who is wearing a costume!

Kyle 1/25/10

I did two sketches today because I just couldn't decide about this character. The costumes I've sketched a very similar, but I'm up in the air about the body type...

Mistress Quickly is one of the funniest characters in Merry Wives. She is Dr. Caius' maid and generally makes a lot of trouble for him...it's great fun really. She is also friendly with Anne Page and is a proponent of Fenton. She also plays a huge part in the finale faerie scene.

As you can see, the costumes are pretty much the same. If she is thinner and younger she'd have a slimmer A-line skirted dress sort of maid's uniform. As a larger, older woman she'd have a blouse and fuller skirt. The older version is a little more disheveled, more pattern on pattern. She's a very comic character and an the older character sketch plays the comedy where as the younger sketch ties her more to Anne as a friend.

Thoughts?

Eric Sketch #12: Jan 25

Okay, so if this blog has taught me one thing in three weeks, it is this: drawing every day makes it SO MUCH EASIER! Having taken last week off because of a full work and travel load, I just returned to sketching this evening. It was NOT FUN! Everything seemed harder, my pencil was my worst enemy and it was just plain frustrating. This is hopefully going to keep me motivated to make sure I make time for my blog everyday.

This sketch begins to pare down Go, Dog, Go into a workable design. I really don't like what I've done here, but I can see how I'm progressing into an idea. What irks me is that Tuesdays are my 13 hour work days, which leaves me little time to dedicate to sketching. I think I'm just going to integrate sketching time into lunch time.

Here's to tomorrow being a more enjoyable drawing experience!

Kyle 1/22/10

Another of Anne Page's suitors in Merry Wives is Doctor Caius. He is French and other characters constantly make fun of his accent. He is much older than Anne so it is a little creepy that her mother wants her to marry him.
Who doesn't love a good double breasted suit...especially in gray pinstripe...

Jen Caprio 1/22

Jen Caprio is tired. You know she is tired when she speaks in the third person. She is so tired, that she can barely even type this. She is so tired she forgot to scan the freaking tutus before she painted them.

So: here are the tutus painted-because that's what I did today. I drew a second tutu and then painted it. I think they came out rather pretty, actually, and I'm happy with them. I'm really looking forward to what Randy and his friend come up with-I think they're going to be beautiful. And now I want to do ballet! Screw character! Make pretty tutus!!!!

Just kidding. I'll probably do a bunch of drawings this weekend because next week is a travel week, and I'm only home in February for 4 days total. Maybe it's 5...I can't be totally sure. xxx me.

Kyle 1/21/10

One of my favorite movies is Pleasantville. Especially the parts in the bowling alley where all the men hole up when things start to turn to color. Its such a great image, all those guys bonding in the bowling alley, all getting strikes and having a good time.

Pistol and Nym are two of Falstaff's cronies in Merry Wives of Windsor (there is a third, Bardoph, and he would be part of the team too). They're really just a couple of guys, just bowlin'...drinkin' beers. I think that Falstaff could also have a Bowling Shirt too for his scenes at the Garter...hangin' with the boys.

Some of the play takes place at the Garter Inn - maybe this is a bowling alley instead of a bar? The Host could be the owner or something...hummm...interesting.

Jen Caprio 1/21

My friend Randy asked if I would draw a tutu for him to build for class. I've never done any dance-work so I thought it would be a great challenge.

What I'm finding hard about the tutu is how to make it delicate in the drawing. I think I've failed at some of it here and am going to re-do some of it for him tomorrow. I feel as if I'm spending more time on it than I should but it's a fun procrastination.

I also find the angle of the tutu challenging (I think I screwed up the front) and so I'm going to work on that too!!!

Jen Caprio 1/20

Sorry so late. This is one of the Villians from Superman-the PRANKSTER! I've been having fun with these. What has been challenging is working through the comic-book aspect of the 1930s-40s villians and reconciling that with what we think of as villains today (MUCH more villianous...much less comic.) I'm particularly fond of an evil Mickey Mouse.

Not much else to say. Lots of body padding will be needed. I am tired today and yesterday was drawing til about 9 and frankly just FORGOT to upload!

Kyle 1/20/10 (the Late, Late edition...)

I got home way late tonight from helping Keith set up his house for Saturday's party...a lot later...

Slender is one of Anne Page's other suitors. He is put forward by one of her parents and Sir Hugh (and maybe someone else...its way late and my script is so far away). He is really shy and can hardly speak a word to her.

I'm going for the total opposite of Fenton with him. He's young like Fenton, but a complete nerd...future IBM Executive...maybe that's what Anne's Mother (or Father? like I said, script so far away...cannot...reach) sees in him, future stability or something...

Kyle 1/19/10

Happy Birthday, Dolly Parton!

Out of all three suitors to Anne Page in Merry Wives, Fenton is the one that Anne loves. He's kind of a weird character in that, as an audience member, you love him too, but you also hate him. We find out that Fenton loves Anne too, but he started loving her because of her family's money, and then grew to love her as a woman as he got to know her. Boys are stupid.

To make it short, he's a hard guy to figure out. We know that Master and Mistress Page don't dislike him as a person, but think that, while he is well born, he is too poor to marry their daughter. In fact, Master Page believes, truthfully at first, that he only wants to get his hands on the Page's money.

Here's where it gets difficult. Is Fenton a "Rebel without a cause" or is he a nice, clean cut guy, all star quarterback kind of guy? My first impulse was bordering on "greaser" guy, but I don't want people to be thinking "Tell me about it, stud" the whole time. And then I went the other way. Its tough. I'm starting to think that he's a little mixture of both worlds. Beginning the play in the letter sweater, jeans and tee-shirt, and then later remove the sweater and add a James Deans-esque jacket, and then, for the end where he escapes with Anne to get married, he wears a smart suit of some sort. Could work.

I tried to loosen up a bit with these drawings and do them a little more quickly. Not really sure if I doing them faster helped or even makes a difference. My past sketches didn't take me all that long to get down on paper, and then its just a few minutes on details and shading...egh...whatever.

Jen Caprio 1/19

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...it's Superman: Magpie

I've decided to start labeling these things...

2010 is such an exciting year for me. I get to do my first La Boheme, I get to do a completely new Salome with one of my dearest friends directing, and I get to design a re-written production of the 1966 "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's SUPERMAN!" with a new book by the Brilliant Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Not to mention the dozens of other projects that I'm actually excited about.

I am silmultaneously thrilled and PETRIFIED as to what this means for me. 1. Thrilled. Who wouldn't LOVE to design these heroes and villains, these characters we've all grown up with in so many versions. What's exciting to me about this production is that we're taking villains from all decades of Superman comics, but adapting them to fit into the 1939 period we've selected. We're using the original Fleischer cartoons as inspiration, and looking at Superman through a slight lens of reality as well (a la Smallville, etc...). What this means for me, especially for the villians, is how to adapt their silhouettes for a 1930's-early 40s line and style. How to keep the spirit of, for example, Magpie from the 80's, and put her into the world we've chosen.
2. Petrified. People know and love these stories, and there are so many fanboys out there, I'm just petrified.

So the drawing above is my first attack at a Villain-Magpie. It's not right yet, but it's on the way. I'm trying to adapt her 80's look to a kind-of 30's swimsuit as the basis. But then, we also have to incorporate the bird part...and that's she's evil. I most certainly have to work on my "evil" and also the iconography of these characters.

To boot, they are all doubled roles, so we need to think of creative ways to "disguise" them a bit...so I've enlarged her traditional sunglasses even further, which is also a "period" thing to do...the cat's eye is not too far off.

Tomorrow, I must fully attack this show, but finally, FINALLY, I've gotten a sketch on paper which means it's begun...and the hardest thing for me is beginning, especially when I have about 50 sketches to do, not including the chorus. Gak...vomit...scary...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Here is the 1980s Magpie:

Kyle 1/18/10

Anne Page is the daughter in Merry Wives of Windsor who is being courted by three different men. One is old and favored by her mother, one is a total nerd, and favored by her father, and one is her dream man who is in love with. This is one of the sub-plots in the play that flushes out the story.
It has been said that Merry Wives was written quickly by Shakespeare by royal command of Elizabeth I who wanted to see a play with "Falstaff in love". This account is, however, suspect as it was recorded over 100 years after the play was first performed in 1602. The Anne Page sub-plot makes me believe that the the account may have some credence as it does not directly involve the central character of Falstaff but, while amusing and charming, seems at times to simply flush out the length of the play.
As I've though more about this project, I've remembered what someone told me once about setting Shakespeare in more modern periods. When you do it, you need more clothes. Merry Wives is set over a three day period. Modern people don't wear the same thing for three days in a row, unless it is a uniform. I think that this problem could be handled easily with Merry Wives. Suits on men are easy to double on a day change basis as are trousers. The women in the play are middle class and could do with simple skirts, blouses and sweaters to vary their looks along with the previous sketches that I've already done...this is all hypothetical, of course.
Good to have Jen back. I love what she's doing with Boheme and it is so fun to see the differences in our styles!

Eric Sketch #11: Jan 18

Today we have our second design meeting for Go, Dog! Go! The director asked us to bring in three approaches to the story, so we could have a more informed decision. Working with the remarkable talented Jerome Wills (in tandem), we presented an art-deco 1930's, a Chagall-i

nspired circus, and a neo-futuristic junkyard full of Harajuku. From this sketch, you can see which on won out in the end.

I'm really excited! So now my job over the next week will be to get each of the characters into a specific Harajuku-inspired look and relate them to the dog breeds I've been sketching around for the past week.

From the research image here, you can see how we're going to treat the color palate. I also think this is going to inspire how I'm going to end up working with the faces and animalia. Maybe.

I'm SO EXCITED for Jen to be back!!! Your work is gorgeous, as always!!

Caprio 1/18-2

Also, I did not do any drawings today. I spent the day on the computer cleaning up drawings to send them to the director. A Sketch A Day FAIL! For me.

These are Musetta-she's getting there...

It's amazing how hard it is to do a sketch a day-and I wonder if it's fair that I have all these sketches to do, and what I'll do when I don't have to draw--maybe tonight I can squeak one out when I get home to Brooklyn...we...shall...see.....

Caprio 1/18

She needs to look sad, but like she was wealthy, if but for just a little while--the detail on the bottom is so very blobby, but it got the effect across to the shop while I did it on the drapers' table (not kidding.)

I think I'm finally getting to the heart of these characters through the drawing-Mimi is looking like MIMI and not just some random 1830s chic...and Musetta is looking over the top. I'd put all these on one update, but it seems my internets won't let me.

Hey y'all. I know, I know, I've been remiss. That's because I went away, I swear! And I didn't even THINK of using Eric's iphone technique. I will use it in the future. I'm going to post the rest of them tonight as well. I've been busy trying to get these sketches out to the director, hence they are on their way to being "done" if you will. These are two I did early last week-The "Schaunard" sketch was a study of an Ingres drawing. The Parpignol one-well, that's just for silliness. I'm finding the more I draw, the easier it gets on one level. On another, well, I find myself wanting to be more and more anal-retentive. I wish I had some more time for whimsey. I wish I had more time...xoxo...more coming-it will only let me do a couple files per post.
xo

Kyle 1/15/10

One of the sub-plots of The Merry Wives of Windsor has to do with the marriage of Anne Page, daughter of Mistress and Master Page. She has three suitors, one of which is put forward buy Sir Hugh Evans, a Welsh Parson, to her Father. He's a funny guy and, although he is a religious man, he is the idea man for several of the sub-plot intrigues. Its a pretty simple costume, Anglican cassock and cincture, with the Anglican collar and Parson hat. I wanted him to have a little more of a sense of humor, so I gave him a cable knit, shawl collared cardigan. I love a good cardigan, don't you? I'm wearing one right now...under my Snuggie, of course.

Eric Sketch #10: Jan 15

In continuing the dog research, tonight I drew a Bichon Frise. This is not the most common dog to think of, but I did it in honor of my dear friend, Amy Maupin's lovely dog, Buster.

What I thought was so adorable was the afro I found in many of the research images. Based on that, I did a funky approach with enormous, wide and furry appendages, complete with a pick in his hair.

If you're just joining the blog and have no idea why I'm drawing dogs, please see the entry for January 13.

And I really need to hook up my scanner. These IPhone pictures take too long to retouch, and they're really not great.

Kyle 1/14/10

Mistress Page is part of the scheming duo in Merry Wives of Windsor. She has a great familial sub-plot dealing with the marriage of her daughter...its classic comedy folks (they're be more concerning that soon). I adore this little dress. The collar is kind of Elizabethan, like a standing ruff or wisk.
I think that these sketches might deserve a little color at some point!

Eric Sketch #9: Jan 14

Maybe I'm having too much fun with this "dog to human" experiment. But I am enjoying myself. Tonight I drew a great dane.

Looking at the dog, I thought they had this very curvo-linear muscular shape. So I related that to a physically fit body in athletic gear. I tried to accentuate the hind joint in the calves and dynamic curve of the dog's upper torso.

And the collar reminded me of Scooby Doo.

Kyle 1/13/10

Falstaff, in my opinion is one of the funniest characters in all of Shakespeare's writing. He's funny in Henry IV (parts One and Two) and he's really funny in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Most of the funny parts come not from what he does but what is done to him by Mistresses Ford and Page and Mistress Quickley. He gets put into a hamper with dirty clothes, he has to dress up as an old fat woman, and then, at the end of the play, he is told to dress as "Hern the Hunter" and meet Mistress Ford in the woods. But they fool him again hilariously.
"Hern the Hunter" was a hunter in service of Richard II, but was mortally wounded protecting the King from a white hare during a hunt. A local Wizard brought him back to health using his magical powers, which entailed tying the dead animal's antlers on Herne's head. In return, however, Herne had to give up his hunting skills. Later in the tale he is hung from a tree in Windsor Park...the very place where this scene is set.
In this final scene, Falstaff is usually shown with a full rack of antlers on his head. In my 1950s version, however, I thought that antlers wouldn't work. "What looks like antlers and was big in the 1950s," I though. And then it came to me...TV Antennas!!! The Antennas would be much bigger than I drew them (I ran out of paper!!) and stuck into a fedora that would double the one he would wear in the earlier scenes. I like the fact that the rest of him isn't really disguised (he would wear a polka dot hankie over his face as he enters - Jesse James style).
The final scene also has people dressed as Faeries of the Woods, but you'll have to stay tuned to see those!

Eric Sketch #8: Jan 13

My next design is an adaptation of PD Eastman's Go, Dog! Go! One of the things we have to deal with is the concept of anthropomorphism. It's really hard to think of how doggy we need to make these human actors, or how human we need to make these doggy characters. When you look at Eastman's book, he's drawn these really fantastic bipedal dogs who are involved in strictly human activities. They're not scratching, licking or even bum-sniffing.

So as a research activity, I decided to do drawings translating specific breeds of dog into a human proportion. Here is a basset hound, below is a poodle. I thought that by exploring the dogs in this manner, I can better understand the essential elements that make a dog a dog. These are in no way real approaches to the final costume, because we already know that full masking is both impractical and undesirable.

Eric Sketch #7: Jan 12

Okay, again I didn't do this on time. But, I'm just representin'. See today's (Jan 13) sketch for the explanation. This one is a poodle!

Kyle 1/12/10

Keeping on the Merry Wives train...
Mistress Ford is one of the Lucy and Ethel duo. Cute little dress with cummerbund belt and an adorable dolman sleeved beaded cardigan sweater. Love it. I think that a lot of the look has to do with the hair style, very Lucy. Not red though...probably blonde or light brown.

Eric Sketch #6: Jan 11

Sketchydesigners GOES POLITICAL!!

This drawing is simply inspired by my wonderful husband, Layne. Tonight he learned that Sarah Palin will become a Fox News Correspondent, and nothing could have ruined his Monday more effectively. Not that he ever watches Fox News, but it's not hard to imagine that the other news stations will be commenting on her commenting. So in honor of Layne, I present Sarah Palin, the Fox Devil.

One of the things I want to work on through this blog is my ability to draw a face that looks like a specific face. I can draw a generic face (usually only in full-front), but I can't normally make a face look like someone. I spent so much time on Sarah's face that it lost its proportion to the figure (and I ran out of room on the page), since I realized the face in full before I even started sketching her body. One of the best drawing tips I ever received was to draw the entire body simultaneously. In other words, bring out the full detail universally, before affixing a single point. Clearly I should have followed that advice.

And just for the record, the drawing fulfilled its purpose: Layne laughed.

Eric Sketch #5: Jan 8

Okay, okay... so I in no way did this sketch last Friday, but I wanted to represent for last week. We had tickets to see Jennifer Coolidge on the 8th, and I worked the entire weekend, so I lost the sketch time. I know, I know: the point is to do one a weekday. But, does it count to do five sketches a week? Huh? Can I make that work?

I did this sketch of a sleepy guy, because I am very, very tired. Really, there is not much more motivation than that. I also love the idea of nightshirts and nightcaps. I think they look incredibly comfortable, even though I know of very few people who actually wear them. It's funny how this reads as 'sleepy' and 'bedtime' when it has no real correlation to modern sleepwear for men. Perhaps it's the same effect as when people draw a box with a triangle on top and call it a house. No one's house actually looks like that, but we accept its illustration. However, as abstracted as that house might be from actuality, the sleepwear here at least does have its roots in western fashion history.

Chew on that! I bid you all a good night.

Kyle 1/11/10

So back to my 1950s Merry Wives of Windsor...at one point in the play Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page have to disguise Falstaff to hide him from Mr. Ford. Mrs. Ford happens to have a gown upstairs that belongs to her fat Aunt of Brentford. They also make him wear a hat and muffler. In my version the gown is a black, full-skirted, shirtwaist dress with a white lace collar and bow belt. The hat is a black pillbox (its a little early for the pillbox hat, but maybe the fat Aunt is fashion forward!) with black hat veiling and the muffler is a floral silk scarf with fringe. I think that I might keep going with this project...

Kyle 1/8/10

I made it! Didn't think I was going to...it was date night (first night out in a while!). Well, I kinda made it. I finished today's sketch 5 minutes after midnight. I guess all I can do is try.
Over the past year I have become obsessed with reading historical biographies of British Queens (random, I know), especially ones written by Alison Weir. She writes about these women so well and gives such life to a subject that could turn out really dry and boring. But I digress...I just finished a book about Queen Isabella of England. She was an amazing woman who deposed her husband Edward II and served as Regent for her young son. This book was not as full of clothing detail as her books on the Tudor monarchs, but she does mention that Isabella was the woman who introduced the sideless surcoat to England from her native France. I've always fond this garment to be beautifully simple, feminine (especially in a period where everyone, female and male wore long T-tunics that looked like dresses) and quite glamorous the way the drape of the skirt falls loosely from the hip and trails on the ground.

Kyle 1/7/10

This afternoon I went to the University Bookstore in the library to subsidize my lunch (I really needed some Doritos, ok!) and I saw an older lady in the Starbucks. She was one of those women with a faded kind of beauty. I'd put her at about 65 or so. She was standing in front of the counter just staring up at the menu and looked so sad and lost. It was just starting to snow out and, while the rest of her clothes looked expensive and well kept, she was wearing these old snow boots. Just goes to show you, keep your eyes open where ever you go...you may see someone or some thing that may just stick with you forever. I can still see her standing there at the counter just waiting to order her coffee while the snow falls outside.

Jen Caprio 1/7

Today, I realized, that it's hard to do a sketch a day when you have to work on other things in the day that aren't the drawings you should be doing. Like fabric shopping. Or trim shopping. Or, well, just about anything really. So I didn't get back to my studio until about 4:30 to do a drawing. Hrm...so I worked on one I started yesterday.

I started to think on how I draw, and why sometimes it takes me a long time to sketch...and I think I realized that I layer things in, like with watercolor...which is a little weird because I struggle so much with watercolor painting but I find that I get into a zen place with a drawing.

I also began to think, what makes "THIS" Mimi and not just anyone...How is THIS La Boheme and not just some period gown and a shawl...I'm not sure yet...which makes me realize I've got a lot of work to do...

I also like the file name: "mimiiii" for mimi act iii. It made me laugh.

Tomorrow--onto Superman as well, however...up up and away!!!

Eric Sketch #4: Jan 7

Today was a pretty darn snowy for Central Kentucky, as you can see from my house. All the schools were closed, but we still worked! I ducked out early to do some sewing at home, but decided to get my sketch out of the way for the day.

I took the snow as inspiration and made a

rather uncomfortable looking guy decked out in snow gear. Something is bothering me about his right arm: I think I didn't do a good job on the upper joint. UPDATE: I fixed his arm. It looks better.

I'm already noticing that it's getting a shade faster knocking out the sketch. I think I was a bit tighter today than usual, but I'm just enjoying the process so much.

Kyle 1/6/10

If there are two things I love they are 1950's clothing and Shakespeare. The great thing is, as a costume designer, sometimes I can make these things I love merge! One of my favorite of Shakespeare's plays is The Merry Wives of Windsor and I have always felt that it could be set in the 1950s. Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, after all, are Lucy and Ethel and sometimes they got to wear pretty dresses! This may turn into a full paper project...who knows.

I have it labeled "Mistress Page" but I think that this is more her daughter, Anne...with different hair and a different shoe...and a different collar.

Eric Sketch #3: Jan 6

I kept with Wiley and the Hairy Man for tonight's sketch. Here is my version of Wiley's mother, Mammy. She is the best conjure woman in the whole of the southwest county. Because of her learnin' Wiley to conjurize, the young boy is able to escape the Hairy Man for awhile.

Unlike my dear friend Kyle, I have had a HORRIBLE time drawing women. It's not nearly as bad as it was, but it was a running gag throughout grad school that I had no idea what a woman must look like. Some friends even offered to buy me a subscription to Playboy. Luckily, they didn't (although they did buy me a female artist's model for my 26th birthday).

Jen Caprio 1/6

Yet another Boheme Sketch. I didn't get as much done today as I wanted to and most of them remain only partially drawn-this is the closest to complete and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I'm hating the hem...not sure about the lines reading remotely 1830s even though the pieces and parts are stolen from fashion plates, the 1830s, I'm learning, are remarkably similar in sleeve cut to the 1895 Leg-O-Mutton.

Eric-Thanks for your lovely comments about the last post-economy in general is something I struggle with-in line, in drawing, in life, in speaking...so I appreciate that you see that in my work! haha!