Guys and Dolls and Pumpkis

Monday, October 26, 2009

A long period of silence necessitates a large update :)  Sorry that it's been a while, but I've been busy!  The biggest project over the past two weeks has been our two drops for Guys and Dolls.  They're being painted for a high school production, but will be kept and put into Cobalt's rental stock after we get them back.  It's amazing how much prep work goes into making these drops.  It's probably about 75% prep work and 25% actual painting.

Both drops started out on craft paper.  Large sections of the paper were taped together to make the appropriate size, then the image was transferred from the Scenic Designer's rendering onto the full-size paper (using grids to aide in drawing it out).  This allows for easier corrections and tweaking before the drawing is finalized and ready to be transferred to the drop.  Then the entire drawing is perforated on the paper and placed on the drop, then a charcoal pounce is used to transfer the image.

All colors are mixed exactly as needed before any painting begins, then all colors are tested on a small test flat to ensure accuracy and allow for any tweaking before any paint is put on the full size drop.

THEN we start painting the drop :)

The first one is the "sewer drop" for the gambling scene (if you've seen the show before).  Sam and I were in charge of the test flat, which I drew out.  (shown above)

We didn't bother drawing the entire thing out for the sake of time, but you get the idea.  Here's the full-size piece (the center arch is made of another piece which will be inserted behind the arch, to allow for actor entrances).

The second drop is the city-scape.  I was in charge of drawing the stage-right buildings (the dark ones) and the "Cafeteria" building.  I painted various different things including all of the brown woodwork, much of the stage-right buildings, and the "Ryan's" signs.

The first picture is the designer's rendering with our drop behind it.

And hard to believe, but Halloween is almost here! So we had a little party on Friday and carved pumpkins.  True to form, I carved a 'special' jack-o-lantern.  He has a bicycle helmet and I named him Ruprecht the Idiot Pumpkin Boy.  His favorite foods are chocolate milk and tater tots...

Haha!  And he's looking sillier as the pumpkin begins to shrivel up.

Other than that, we've been working on our newest drawing assignments (no trees!).  We have to re-draw the specified cartoons on a larger scale only measuring by eye...no rulers, no grids, etc.  So far they're actually pretty fun!  Here's a few of mine:

And that's it!  Other than that, there's not much news. Still no job.  I applied to two more places on Thursday, but no word yet.  Car is still on the fritz, but I'm taking it into the shop on Wednesday and we'll see what they say.

Oh!  I did get to go into the city this weekend.  Tony, Sam and I went to see a ballet (Tony has a connection with the production manager), and then toured around the city for a while.  Luckily Tony really knows his way around, otherwise I would have been lost pretty quick :)  I didn't take my camera because it's too huge, and they wouldn't like me taking it into a show.  But Tony is going to let me have his pictures, so I'll post pics of that next time.

It being my first trip to NYC, I was pretty much in awe.  I loved it and can't wait to go back.  Not sure that I could actually live there, but wouldn't mind it being my "playground" so to speak.  Amy and I are boing going to be stuck here for Thanksgiving, so I'm hoping that we can plan another trip then.

That's all for now!