Rachel 9/12/10

Another prelim for Shipwrecked, this one is for Bruno the Dog. One of the challenges of this play for the actors is, they play a huge range of characters so the more theatrical the character, the more dependent its realization is upon the performance. Though we could build an incredible dog suit or mask or whatever, that's not in the nature of the play, and it's not something that there's time to don or doff even in a quick change.

So, in this rough sketch you can see that Bruno is largely going to exist in the actor's performance, with his physicality only suggested by a bag-hat reminiscent of little pup ears and possible a tail rig (though that's on the table for being cut, since this performer has to drop in and out of Bruno and do other characters interspersed.

Rachel 9/9/10

This is the second preliminary rough for the character of Rougemont in Shipwrecked! At the end of the play, he strips down to his bathing suit and rides a giant turtle. This costume has to be able to underdress his prior costume, and is meant to be pretty much an exact copy of this period photograph of a bathing costume.

Rachel 9/4/10

This is the first in a group of prelims i'll share here, for an upcoming production at my theatre, Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment. I drew them a while back, but didn't want to share them in this blog until i had some feedback from my director and had shared them with my Costume Director and shop manager. But, now everyone's seen them, and they aren't the actual final renderings either, so i feel okay about sharing them in here.

This is the character Louis de Rougemont, the narrator and star of the play. The play is him telling the story of his life, acting it out with the help of some Players. It's an incredible tall-tale about how he left home as a boy, survived a shipwreck on a deserted island, was discovered by some tribespeople, fell in love and married a woman from the tribe, etc etc etc. The story spans the time from 1860-1900, and the Player company all start the show as modern-day at the top, assuming period characters onstage. Rougemont though is clearly a dude from 1898, as you see here.

The play is based on a real guy (this photo here is the actual de Rougemont), who told his amazing story in a serial publication to the delight of Victorian England, and subsequently was disgraced as the Royal Academy denounced him as a liar and fraud, much like the many literary frauds who have come to light in the past few years (James Frey, JT Leroy, Nasdijj, Margaret B. Jones, etc).

This sketch pretty much is piece for piece the real de Rougemont, down to the three piece suit and fancy moustache. I did a series of background prints in Photoshop for these sketches (which are, again, prelims, not the actual renderings at all) using map elements, since one thing this blog has done for me is revealed how much i love creating sketches on an interesting background field.

I did the sketch first in a very light 2H pencil, then went back into it with a range of colored ballpoint pens, being inspired by the engraved political cartoons and book illustrations of the period. I may continue with this method for the "real deals," or i might get some actual nib-point pens and colored inks for the real ones. Haven't decided yet.

Regardless, here's Louis, and the ball that is Shipwrecked is in play!