Kyle 2/4/10

I promised you all a man, so I hereby give you a man...In a suit. It seems like I'm always drawing men in suits! In Grad School I designed How To Succeed in Business without really Trying (lots of men in suits, though I didn't draw them) and, for my Master's Report, Guys and Dolls (LOTS of suits - which I did draw).

However boring it may seem, I actually like drawing men in suits. I love trying to get the curve of the collar around the neck just right, the drape of the coat, that caving and creasing of the sleeve - its all very technical and structured. I've done a good bit of tailoring - especially since I've been at the CBT. Actually it all began when I tailored coats for Eric's thesis, and they've been making be tailor ever since...I think I've made a coat for almost every coat since then!! I think that actually knowing garment construction helps me draw - I can see the pattern pieces in my mind and then just wrap them around a form...if you can think of a dress (or suit) in pieces as you draw and how they all relate to each other, then you don't get too overwhelmed with the garment itself...maybe that makes sense. (Its kind of cool that I can draw something and then draw the pattern sometimes!)

Any whoo, Master Page is the nicer of the two husbands in Merry Wives, meaning he trusts his wife (though not his daughter). I think of him as a jolly businessman who has his slippers and pipe waiting when he gets home from a long day at the office - one of those gray flannel suit men so iconic from the 1950s.

I think that this sketch is pretty successful...but I've been staring at it for a while....The hat might be a little off, but hats are way harder then they look...

PS - I won't be posting tomorrow as I'll be at the opening of Oedipus the King here at CBT (made TWO coats for that show! Melton Wool Trench Coats!)...maybe I'll make one up this weekend...we'll see!