35 minutes ago
Monday, July 21, 2014
The New Salem Theatre Brochure
The latest brochure for the 12th Season of the Salem Theatre (formerly known as the STC). The hot-off-the-presses brochure includes the new logo and branding and some very fun show identity illustrations by artist Heather Reid. This is my third brochure for the Salem-based company, and my first for the new Artistic Director Matthew Gray, and new Managing Director Kate Ventimiglia.
Friday, July 18, 2014
The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) Theatre Backdrop
I have been working on a canvas backdrop for the Hub Theatre production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) . The director of the theatre, Lauren Elias, contacted me through Marc Ewart, a stage manager, prop-builder, and all-around crafty person I have worked with on several other productions. They needed a lightweight canvas backdrop that could be used as a curtain for the actors to slip behind for the many quick changes required for this show.
Lauren had some different ideas about what she wanted for an image. One idea was to have an image of the original Globe Theatre, and be labeled as such, The other idea was to have large comedy and tragedy masks. She wanted it to have an "old-timey" feel, look interesting, but not so interesting as to draw focus from the actors.
I did some research and collected as many images of the Globe as I could. The two I was most attracted to were both taken from an old period engraving showing the Thames River, and the adjacent section of London including the Globe. One was a detail.
The other was a more modern interpretation of the same structures.
I liked the line work of the engraving however, it would need to be simplified in order to be painted, and read clearly. Both images were just too busy. I tried a simple layout.
I had done some research on comedy and tragedy masks, but frankly did not like the idea of the masks alone. I then had the idea of combining the masks and the globe into one composition.
Lauren liked the basic idea, but it was still way too busy, and needed "The Globe" type as well.
I introduced a decorative frame, both to contain the image, make it look more theatrical, and to simplify by eliminating a lot of unnecessary detail.
The backdrop was originally set up to be 12 feet wide by 9 feet high. It soon became apparent that this would be impractical for the performance space, so it was reduced to 9 feet by 7 feet. The resizing squashed the images of the comedy/tragedy masks. I also wanted to simulate the coloring I was going to go for on the final painted version. So I came up with this, final version of the sketch.
Lauren approved this version. Now it was time to start painting. Marc purchased a10 foot by 20 foot canvas dropcloth. It was the only way we could get a piece of canvas large enough without having to stitch it together ourselves. We found a wall at my office large enough to pin the canvas to. We then primed it with gesso. The cloth was very absorbent so it took nearly a gallon for one coat. After the first coat was dry, we mixed up a combination of yellow-ochre and gesso to give the background the yellow tone of aged parchment.
Next, we used a Panasonic Digital Projector to project the sketch onto the canvas.
Using a brush and raw umber acrylic paint, Marc and I outlined the image.
Here is the first day's progress. You can see that we have outlined all of the major areas, and roughed in some areas with various shades of brown.
The second day was spent coloring the various areas. Although I originally wanted to keep the banner strictly monochromatic, I soon realized that some color would help the banner read more clearly in a theater. I tried to keep all of the colors subtle earth-tones. The hardest part was keeping the colors consistent and wet enough to cover a large area before drying out.
Here is the banner in progress.
Here is the final banner.
And here is the final banner on stage on opening night.
Managing Director and co-founder Lauren Elias said " ...the banner is beyond my wildest dreams! "
Thank you Lauren!
The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged) is playing at the Club Café , 209 Columbus Ave, Boston from July 18th through August 2nd. Their website is here: www.hubtheatreboston.org/
Lauren had some different ideas about what she wanted for an image. One idea was to have an image of the original Globe Theatre, and be labeled as such, The other idea was to have large comedy and tragedy masks. She wanted it to have an "old-timey" feel, look interesting, but not so interesting as to draw focus from the actors.
I did some research and collected as many images of the Globe as I could. The two I was most attracted to were both taken from an old period engraving showing the Thames River, and the adjacent section of London including the Globe. One was a detail.
The other was a more modern interpretation of the same structures.
I liked the line work of the engraving however, it would need to be simplified in order to be painted, and read clearly. Both images were just too busy. I tried a simple layout.
I had done some research on comedy and tragedy masks, but frankly did not like the idea of the masks alone. I then had the idea of combining the masks and the globe into one composition.
Lauren liked the basic idea, but it was still way too busy, and needed "The Globe" type as well.
I introduced a decorative frame, both to contain the image, make it look more theatrical, and to simplify by eliminating a lot of unnecessary detail.
The backdrop was originally set up to be 12 feet wide by 9 feet high. It soon became apparent that this would be impractical for the performance space, so it was reduced to 9 feet by 7 feet. The resizing squashed the images of the comedy/tragedy masks. I also wanted to simulate the coloring I was going to go for on the final painted version. So I came up with this, final version of the sketch.
Lauren approved this version. Now it was time to start painting. Marc purchased a10 foot by 20 foot canvas dropcloth. It was the only way we could get a piece of canvas large enough without having to stitch it together ourselves. We found a wall at my office large enough to pin the canvas to. We then primed it with gesso. The cloth was very absorbent so it took nearly a gallon for one coat. After the first coat was dry, we mixed up a combination of yellow-ochre and gesso to give the background the yellow tone of aged parchment.
Next, we used a Panasonic Digital Projector to project the sketch onto the canvas.
Using a brush and raw umber acrylic paint, Marc and I outlined the image.
Here is the first day's progress. You can see that we have outlined all of the major areas, and roughed in some areas with various shades of brown.
The second day was spent coloring the various areas. Although I originally wanted to keep the banner strictly monochromatic, I soon realized that some color would help the banner read more clearly in a theater. I tried to keep all of the colors subtle earth-tones. The hardest part was keeping the colors consistent and wet enough to cover a large area before drying out.
Here is the banner in progress.
Here is the final banner.
And here is the final banner on stage on opening night.
Managing Director and co-founder Lauren Elias said " ...the banner is beyond my wildest dreams! "
Thank you Lauren!
The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged) is playing at the Club Café , 209 Columbus Ave, Boston from July 18th through August 2nd. Their website is here: www.hubtheatreboston.org/
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
An Unkindness of Ravens
The Scarlet Letter Press in Salem, MA is sponsoring an art show inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. Called "Spirits of the Dead" the show is seeking Poe-inspired artwork, hand-made jewelry& crafts for an October 2014 Gallery Show. They are participating in a national month of recognition to support the
City of Boston's installation of a life-sized Poe bronze, sculpted by
Stefanie Rocknak. The sculpture is being installed around October 7th,
the anniversary of Poe's death. Previews of the clay sculpt, can be seen
at www.bostonpoe.org .
I want to enter the show, and have been kicking around an idea that I originally executed when I was attending MassArt, way back in the stone age. If I remember correctly, our illustration teacher, Tom O'Hara, gave us groupings of animals to illustrate, such as a gaggle of geese, a clique of owls, etc. Some of the names for groupings of animals were quite surprising, such as a "murder" of crows. The animals were assigned at random by drawing a slip of paper with the name of the animal on it, literally out of a hat.
My animal ended up being the raven, which are referred to in a group as an "unkindness". It was up to the individual student to decide how to visually represent the grouping. Most of these took the form of a visual pun. The more imaginative, the better.
At the time I had been reading a collection of Poe's short stories for one of my English classes, and of course "The Raven" sprang immediately to mind. I have always been a fan of Poe, partly because of his writing, but also because he seemed like such a glorious nut-job.
Now images of Poe with a raven are hardly original, so for my interpretation, I needed to up the anté. I wanted Poe, sitting at his writing desk, being menaced and annoyed by not just a single raven, but by a ridiculous number of ravens. I don't remember how many I had in the original, but I had them sitting on his desk, the back of his chair, pulling his hair, pecking at his pen, dipping their beak in his inkwell and flying around the room. Poe had a look of exasperation and distress on his face. The effect was more comical than horrific. I remember that people seemed to like it.
In the 30 years since I graduated, after several moves and a divorce, I lost almost all of my college work, including the original piece.
Recently I decided to try and "re-imagine" the original. The original piece was vertical in orientation, and Poe was dead center, surrounded by ravens as if in the center of a storm. It was also done in black and white. The new version was going to be a bit less symmetrical, a bit more historically accurate. The original had a very fanciful interpretation of Poe's chair, which looked more like a medieval throne, and his desk was very plain, and pretty much empty except for some books and papers. For the new version, I wanted something closer to what Poe may have actually used. I also wanted to include a bust of the Pallas Athena. I gathered my reference materials, photographs of Poe, period furniture, books, Athena, and lots and lots of raven pictures.
Here is what I came up with in the new sketch.
I scanned the sketch, cleaned it up, and then started a value study using Photoshop. I placed the linework on a separate layer, and then using that as a guide for selecting areas, began coloring in and shading the black and white drawing. I wanted to be able to play around with the lighting at the sketch stage in a way that would allow me to change things easily. I have three sources of light in the image, two candles and a fireplace. The lighting was going to be tricky to make look convincing.
The left foreground also seemed a bit empty, so I added another, larger raven into the foreground. This is where I am at now with the value sketch. The big question now is, what size to I make the finished piece, and do I keep it in black and white, or do I add color? if I add color, do I make it a spot color such as red? Should I add the title "An Unkindness of Ravens" to the picture? Stay tuned.
Here is day one results of the actual painting. It is on an 8" x 10" stretched canvas.
Here is the latest version of the painting after laying in the color over the monochromatic underpainting.
Here is the final piece I delivered to the Scarlet Letter Press this week. I refined the painting and highlights, and added a coat of gloss medium over the eyes of the birds and Poe, as well as the inkwell, the buttons on his waistcoat and the ring on his left hand. I then gave the entire piece a coat of spray varnish. It is mounted into a black wooden box frame. You can see it on display at the Scarlet Letter Press in Salem through the month of October.
I want to enter the show, and have been kicking around an idea that I originally executed when I was attending MassArt, way back in the stone age. If I remember correctly, our illustration teacher, Tom O'Hara, gave us groupings of animals to illustrate, such as a gaggle of geese, a clique of owls, etc. Some of the names for groupings of animals were quite surprising, such as a "murder" of crows. The animals were assigned at random by drawing a slip of paper with the name of the animal on it, literally out of a hat.
My animal ended up being the raven, which are referred to in a group as an "unkindness". It was up to the individual student to decide how to visually represent the grouping. Most of these took the form of a visual pun. The more imaginative, the better.
At the time I had been reading a collection of Poe's short stories for one of my English classes, and of course "The Raven" sprang immediately to mind. I have always been a fan of Poe, partly because of his writing, but also because he seemed like such a glorious nut-job.
Now images of Poe with a raven are hardly original, so for my interpretation, I needed to up the anté. I wanted Poe, sitting at his writing desk, being menaced and annoyed by not just a single raven, but by a ridiculous number of ravens. I don't remember how many I had in the original, but I had them sitting on his desk, the back of his chair, pulling his hair, pecking at his pen, dipping their beak in his inkwell and flying around the room. Poe had a look of exasperation and distress on his face. The effect was more comical than horrific. I remember that people seemed to like it.
In the 30 years since I graduated, after several moves and a divorce, I lost almost all of my college work, including the original piece.
Recently I decided to try and "re-imagine" the original. The original piece was vertical in orientation, and Poe was dead center, surrounded by ravens as if in the center of a storm. It was also done in black and white. The new version was going to be a bit less symmetrical, a bit more historically accurate. The original had a very fanciful interpretation of Poe's chair, which looked more like a medieval throne, and his desk was very plain, and pretty much empty except for some books and papers. For the new version, I wanted something closer to what Poe may have actually used. I also wanted to include a bust of the Pallas Athena. I gathered my reference materials, photographs of Poe, period furniture, books, Athena, and lots and lots of raven pictures.
Here is what I came up with in the new sketch.
I scanned the sketch, cleaned it up, and then started a value study using Photoshop. I placed the linework on a separate layer, and then using that as a guide for selecting areas, began coloring in and shading the black and white drawing. I wanted to be able to play around with the lighting at the sketch stage in a way that would allow me to change things easily. I have three sources of light in the image, two candles and a fireplace. The lighting was going to be tricky to make look convincing.
The left foreground also seemed a bit empty, so I added another, larger raven into the foreground. This is where I am at now with the value sketch. The big question now is, what size to I make the finished piece, and do I keep it in black and white, or do I add color? if I add color, do I make it a spot color such as red? Should I add the title "An Unkindness of Ravens" to the picture? Stay tuned.
Here is day one results of the actual painting. It is on an 8" x 10" stretched canvas.
Here is the latest version of the painting after laying in the color over the monochromatic underpainting.
Here is the final piece I delivered to the Scarlet Letter Press this week. I refined the painting and highlights, and added a coat of gloss medium over the eyes of the birds and Poe, as well as the inkwell, the buttons on his waistcoat and the ring on his left hand. I then gave the entire piece a coat of spray varnish. It is mounted into a black wooden box frame. You can see it on display at the Scarlet Letter Press in Salem through the month of October.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Merrimack Valley Community Music School Logo
A few weeks ago, my business partner Rae at New Arts Collaborative and I were contacted by The
Merrimack Valley Community Music School, a community-based,
non-profit music school that is dedicated to helping people connect
through music education and performance. They were very interested in having a logo developed for the school to use on their print materials and website. We scheduled a conference call with Valerie Walton, the Executive Director to get an idea of what the school was looking for and to try to brainstorm some ideas. Valerie had sent us some links to examples of websites/logos that she liked including the Northeast Organic Farming Association (www.nofamass.org/), The Essex County Community Foundation (http://eccf.org/), and the Arlington Center for the Arts (www.acarts.org/).
Their own website was very plain and offered few clues:
During the conference it became apparent that the school needed to achieve three goals: 1) Show visually and quickly that it was a music school, 2) Distinguish itself from other music schools in the area, 3) Contain a tagline and/or visual that would convey or encapsulate their mission statement.
Some of the other goals we discussed. Easy to read, easy to use, usable in black and white or color, designed so that it can be shrunk or enlarged easily without losing quality.
The key words that I heard during our discussion was community, an important part of their identity, and growth, both in the sense of growing the school, and in the sense of personal growth. On their website they say:
"Music at its best brings
people together and creates positive energy within a community as a
common language that bonds us beyond cultural, social and economic
differences. Music education is a powerful way to learn about oneself
and to explore the possibilities that lie within each of us, to reach
for our highest good and potential".
One of the essential ideas was that this school was for the entire community, and could help you grow at any stage of your life, from young child to adult. This was also the key to what distinguished this school from other schools, that were geared more for training school-aged children.
I started thinking about growth metaphors. And we decided that “Growing through music” might be a good tagline. This phrase would percolate in my brain for a while.
The first thing I did after the conference call, was start researching music forms and notations. G-clefs, musical notes, stops, time notations. I started playing around with the forms. This was the first round. A I usually do, I started designing in black and white, playing with the forms in Adobe Illustrator.
We then received feedback from Valerie, as well as the School's Director, Charles Leinbach. He thought that the emphasis should be on the words "Merrimack Valley Community" rather than on "Music School". He also didn't think that the music notations were working. However in one of her e-mails Valerie suggested trying; "Bass (or F clef) and Treble
(or G clef) Bass is lower and treble is higher as they sit on the GRAND
STAFF A music chord (or arpeggio or phrase) often is thought of as going
from low to high. I wonder about a plant or vine somehow growing up
the grand staff. Possibly too complicated."
The idea of a growing plant seemed to fit, especially as one of their preferred colors was green. Then I came across this image of a note:
It struck me how leaf-like the flag on the top of the note appeared. That got me to thinking about the base of the note being like a seed-pod. I had a bit of a eureka moment. The image literally came to me in my sleep. Upon waking, I did a quick sketch in my notepad.
Developing that idea, this is what I came up with this for the second round:
I wanted to make sure that the client was clear on the intended metaphor and added the notations explaining the components as extra insurance. We sent these off, and the feedback was positive.
They really liked the central idea. Now it was refining the text, positioning and color.
They really liked the central idea. Now it was refining the text, positioning and color.
The biggest problem was integrating the text. One of the reasons I wanted to emphasize "Music School" instead of "Merrimack Valley Community" was because of the length of that text. "Music School" is nice and short. So I had to play around with it a bit to get it to work. The client also wanted to lose the "berries", and preferred the stalk of the musical note/plant, to break both the "ground" it was placed into as well as the frame it was contained in. Here is round 3.
I have developed both a vertical as well as a horizontally-oriented version of the logo. I have also selected a complementary orange color to go with the green. The colors were Pantone 1375 (orange), Pantone 349 (dark green) and Pantone 376 (light green).
As usual I developed the logo to be modular, comprised of a logo-mark, and a word-mark, which can be used together or separately in different configurations. This allows the most flexibility in application.
As usual I developed the logo to be modular, comprised of a logo-mark, and a word-mark, which can be used together or separately in different configurations. This allows the most flexibility in application.
Here is the guide I developed showing the final logo.
The client was very happy with the result.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
New Salem Theatre Logo
One of my regular clients for the past 5 years has been the Salem Theatre Company http://www.salemtheatre.com/. I was first brought into the company by Executive Director Gary LaParl, whom I had met when I was a member of the Salem Arts Association and Matteo Pangallo, the original founder of the company, and a co-worker at the Peabody Essex Museum. They brought me in to design a print brochure (the first) for the milestone sixth season and develop a branding system for their promotional materials.
The Salem Theatre Company (STC) was founded in 2002 by Artistic Director, Matteo Pangallo. To implement his vision of a semi-professional local theater for Salem and the North Shore, he established a Board of Directors (BOD) and a Board of Advisors (BOA), and led the first several seasons. During his tenure, and under the original BOD, STC was incorporated as 501(c)(3 ) Salem Arts Center, Inc.
Matteo had designed the original STC logo, unfortunately it was created in Microsoft Word, and had very limited applicability. It looked like this:
The print materials for the first few seasons were sometimes striking, but were also uneven in execution. There was no STC "look". One of my jobs was to refine the existing logo, create a standard framework for the posters, business cards, postcards, ads, signage and other materials for the theatre, all on a very tight, non-profit budget.
I streamlined the STC logo, and recreated it as a vector-based graphic, selected a color palette, and set up a template for show posters, event posters, and the season brochure. I also developed identities for the shows in the Season 6 and the Season 7 brochures. Here is the revised logo:
When John Fogle became artistic director of the STC in 2009, he took over developing the show identities. (He had an extensive background in photography and design). I continued to produce the show posters and special event posters. That continued until this year, when John stepped down as artistic director. A new artistic director, Matthew Gray, was appointed in the spring of 2014. He brought a tremendous amount of energy and new ideas to the Salem Theatre and immediately went in a new direction, including completely revamping the existing logo.
Apparently on Matthew's first visit to Salem with his wife Kelly, they had visited one of the old cemeteries that crowd the center of Salem. The trees there are particularly old and impressive. This struck Matthew as a powerful symbol, not only of Salem, but also what he wanted the theatre to be and stand for. An active and inter-active part of the community.
Matthew and Gary LaParl, had developed a prototype of what they wanted:
Although I liked the look of it. I saw some immediate problems. The tree component had been grabbed from a website and was not available for licensing. Also, there was no tie-in with the existing logo's colors or typefaces. Complicating the identity was the fact that they had decided to drop "company" from the logo.The Salem Theatre Company (STC) would be henceforth known as simply as the Salem Theatre.Matthew
Once again, there was a good-looking logo that was basically unusable. My job became creating a version of this logo idea that was workable, legal, and bridged the jump from the old logo to the new.
First I had to find the right tree. I actually maintain a file of tree photos called "Sexy Trees". I like trees and find them to be visually fascinating. Using one of my tree photos as reference, I redrew the existing tree by hand. It needed to be similar to the one in the prototype, without being a copy.
I came up with this:
Although still somewhat stylized, it was less symmetrical and therefore a bit more realistic. Matthew and Gary had already selected Trebuchet as one of the typefaces for the new logo. In order to make some connection with the old system, I used Myriad Pro Regular for the "Salem" face. I also used the original "STC yellow" (Pantone122) as the background color. I developed both a vertically-oriented and horizontally-oriented version of the logo.
After review, Gary and Matthew both wanted a version of the logo where the tree branches broke the border of the frame. So I made a version with the tree inside the box was one object, and the branches outside the box were another. That way if the logo appears on a black background, the extending branches would stand out.
The new logo was approved and is currently being rolled out on various materials including a 12th Season brochure, but more about that later.
The Salem Theatre Company (STC) was founded in 2002 by Artistic Director, Matteo Pangallo. To implement his vision of a semi-professional local theater for Salem and the North Shore, he established a Board of Directors (BOD) and a Board of Advisors (BOA), and led the first several seasons. During his tenure, and under the original BOD, STC was incorporated as 501(c)(3 ) Salem Arts Center, Inc.
Matteo had designed the original STC logo, unfortunately it was created in Microsoft Word, and had very limited applicability. It looked like this:
The print materials for the first few seasons were sometimes striking, but were also uneven in execution. There was no STC "look". One of my jobs was to refine the existing logo, create a standard framework for the posters, business cards, postcards, ads, signage and other materials for the theatre, all on a very tight, non-profit budget.
I streamlined the STC logo, and recreated it as a vector-based graphic, selected a color palette, and set up a template for show posters, event posters, and the season brochure. I also developed identities for the shows in the Season 6 and the Season 7 brochures. Here is the revised logo:
When John Fogle became artistic director of the STC in 2009, he took over developing the show identities. (He had an extensive background in photography and design). I continued to produce the show posters and special event posters. That continued until this year, when John stepped down as artistic director. A new artistic director, Matthew Gray, was appointed in the spring of 2014. He brought a tremendous amount of energy and new ideas to the Salem Theatre and immediately went in a new direction, including completely revamping the existing logo.
Apparently on Matthew's first visit to Salem with his wife Kelly, they had visited one of the old cemeteries that crowd the center of Salem. The trees there are particularly old and impressive. This struck Matthew as a powerful symbol, not only of Salem, but also what he wanted the theatre to be and stand for. An active and inter-active part of the community.
Matthew and Gary LaParl, had developed a prototype of what they wanted:
Although I liked the look of it. I saw some immediate problems. The tree component had been grabbed from a website and was not available for licensing. Also, there was no tie-in with the existing logo's colors or typefaces. Complicating the identity was the fact that they had decided to drop "company" from the logo.The Salem Theatre Company (STC) would be henceforth known as simply as the Salem Theatre.Matthew
Once again, there was a good-looking logo that was basically unusable. My job became creating a version of this logo idea that was workable, legal, and bridged the jump from the old logo to the new.
First I had to find the right tree. I actually maintain a file of tree photos called "Sexy Trees". I like trees and find them to be visually fascinating. Using one of my tree photos as reference, I redrew the existing tree by hand. It needed to be similar to the one in the prototype, without being a copy.
I came up with this:
Although still somewhat stylized, it was less symmetrical and therefore a bit more realistic. Matthew and Gary had already selected Trebuchet as one of the typefaces for the new logo. In order to make some connection with the old system, I used Myriad Pro Regular for the "Salem" face. I also used the original "STC yellow" (Pantone122) as the background color. I developed both a vertically-oriented and horizontally-oriented version of the logo.
After review, Gary and Matthew both wanted a version of the logo where the tree branches broke the border of the frame. So I made a version with the tree inside the box was one object, and the branches outside the box were another. That way if the logo appears on a black background, the extending branches would stand out.
The new logo was approved and is currently being rolled out on various materials including a 12th Season brochure, but more about that later.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Gallows Hill Theater Brochure
I was hired to do a Halloween-themed tri-fold brochure for the Gallows Hill Theater here in Salem, MA. The proprietor, Erik Rodenhiser, wanted a brochure that could be sent in a print as well as an online downloadable version, with a look that would be consistent with his existing branding and be appealing to school groups. It needed to be lively and convey the interactive and state-of-art special effects level of the show. It certainly stands out among racks full of tourist material!
Monday, May 26, 2014
The Scarlet Letter
I originally posted this artwork on Facebook back on May 24th, but I wanted to expand on the entry a bit.
I am a big Nathaniel Hawthorne fan. I am a fan for a lot of reasons; he was from Salem, where I currently live. There are reminders and echoes of him everywhere throughout the town.
He was a keen observer of people and everyday life. If you ever get the chance you should read his "Passages from the American Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne", in which he describes people, places, and events in and around Salem from 1835-1850 . The notebooks also include ideas for dozens of unwritten stories and themes that are incredibly tantalizing. He was a bright, imaginative, and sensitive young man. He could also be moody and did not suffer fools gladly, irritating many a stuffed shirt in his day.
He wrote stories about Puritan America that could almost be considered the spiritual forebear of the morality plays that Rod Serling would dream up one hundred years later for the "Twilight Zone".
Out of all this, my favorite Hawthorne book has always been "The Scarlet Letter". It touches me on a lot of different levels. I have an affinity for Salem history, especially that of the Puritans.
This post is about the recreation of a poster that I originally designed for a production of the "Scarlet Letter" as a freelance project back in 1980. The local production was performed at the Old Town Hall here in Salem. (It was not a great production). The original piece was most notable for having been done entirely in cut gray Pantone paper. (I must have been insane to try that) I believe I was paid a whopping $75. The printed version of the poster was sold in Salem shops for several years but the original was subsequently lost. I always liked and remembered the image.
I did the piece one year after my absolute favorite film adaptation of the book was produced by WGBH, and my design was heavily influenced by it .
You may vaguely remember this version. Shot in 1979, it starred Meg Foster as Hester Prynne and John Heard as Reverend Dimmesdale. Although the production values were television-level as opposed to movie-level (it was shot on video) the costumes, sets and acting were superb. It was shot locally, mostly on exterior sets built inside Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. It is still available on DVD. Even with TV production values, it is still a million times better than the execrable 1995 movie version with Demi Moore (ugh). The less said about that, the better.
The WGBH version made quite an impression on me as a 19-year-old college student. The thing I liked best about it, besides it's authentic feel and faithfullness to the original text, was the sublime casting of the two leads; John Heard as Rev. Dimmesdale and Meg Foster as Hester Prynne.
John Heard is a somewhat obscure actor who had a moment in the eighties, starring in such films as "Chilly Scenes of Winter", "Cat People" and "After Hours". You may remember him best as the dad int he "Home Alone" movies, or as Tom Hanks' yuppy rival in "Big", but has since faded into background character roles.
Meg Foster besides her spooky-intense light-green eyes, was probably best known for her television roles, although she also did her share of movies in the 80's such as "They Live", "The Emerald Forest" and "Masters of the Universe".
The thing that I loved about them, besides their onscreen chemistry, was the way their intensity. There isn't a lot of outward action in the Scarlet Letter . Most of the drama centers around what is happening inside of these people. All their feelings are repressed, and therefore intensified. These two actors did a fantastic job of capturing the intense, repressed, sexual tension between the two of them. Their affair is the epitome of the "slow burn". All of this tension builds and builds, culminating in a scene where after living in the same community, but being kept apart for years, they happen to meet in the forest. All the sexual energy starts to bubble to the surface, but instead of the usual bodice-ripping cheap-out you would find in any grade "Z" gothic romance, (or in the Demi Moore version) Hester expresses her sensuality, by simply removing her coif and letting down her hair, which given the circumstances is incredibly erotic. Then, upping the ante even further, she slowly unbuttons the scarlet "A" fastened to her breast. I may be weird, but to me this was more intense than any other "sexy" scene I have seen in a film before or since. If you want to see this same sort of thing done incredibly badly, watch the Demi Moore version, which has as much subtlety as a ham thrown through a window.
It was this powerful scene that inspired the original poster.
Here is a screen-shot of the scene in the forest.
It's the two of them momentarily alone, finally away from the restrictions imposed on them by their community. Hester's daughter Pearl plays in the woods nearby.
Dimmesdale is completely worn down by his guilt. Hester is bruised, but still strong, and tries to rally him to action. It is amazing that she still has such intense feeling for him after all that she has been through.
In trying to recreate the original poster, I first did a small thumbnail sketch, trying to capture the feeling of that scene.
Next, collecting as much visual reference as I could from the WGBH production, I did this revised sketch.
I was trying to make them resemble John Heard and Meg Foster as much as possible.
I then added in shading using Photoshop, doing a kind of value study in preparation for executing a painting.
Finally I experimented with the addition of type. The original poster had a large red sun in the background, visible through the tree branches. I may still add that in to the final piece.
Here is the re-constituted poster with type.
I am a big Nathaniel Hawthorne fan. I am a fan for a lot of reasons; he was from Salem, where I currently live. There are reminders and echoes of him everywhere throughout the town.
He was a keen observer of people and everyday life. If you ever get the chance you should read his "Passages from the American Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne", in which he describes people, places, and events in and around Salem from 1835-1850 . The notebooks also include ideas for dozens of unwritten stories and themes that are incredibly tantalizing. He was a bright, imaginative, and sensitive young man. He could also be moody and did not suffer fools gladly, irritating many a stuffed shirt in his day.
He wrote stories about Puritan America that could almost be considered the spiritual forebear of the morality plays that Rod Serling would dream up one hundred years later for the "Twilight Zone".
Out of all this, my favorite Hawthorne book has always been "The Scarlet Letter". It touches me on a lot of different levels. I have an affinity for Salem history, especially that of the Puritans.
This post is about the recreation of a poster that I originally designed for a production of the "Scarlet Letter" as a freelance project back in 1980. The local production was performed at the Old Town Hall here in Salem. (It was not a great production). The original piece was most notable for having been done entirely in cut gray Pantone paper. (I must have been insane to try that) I believe I was paid a whopping $75. The printed version of the poster was sold in Salem shops for several years but the original was subsequently lost. I always liked and remembered the image.
I did the piece one year after my absolute favorite film adaptation of the book was produced by WGBH, and my design was heavily influenced by it .
You may vaguely remember this version. Shot in 1979, it starred Meg Foster as Hester Prynne and John Heard as Reverend Dimmesdale. Although the production values were television-level as opposed to movie-level (it was shot on video) the costumes, sets and acting were superb. It was shot locally, mostly on exterior sets built inside Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. It is still available on DVD. Even with TV production values, it is still a million times better than the execrable 1995 movie version with Demi Moore (ugh). The less said about that, the better.
The WGBH version made quite an impression on me as a 19-year-old college student. The thing I liked best about it, besides it's authentic feel and faithfullness to the original text, was the sublime casting of the two leads; John Heard as Rev. Dimmesdale and Meg Foster as Hester Prynne.
John Heard is a somewhat obscure actor who had a moment in the eighties, starring in such films as "Chilly Scenes of Winter", "Cat People" and "After Hours". You may remember him best as the dad int he "Home Alone" movies, or as Tom Hanks' yuppy rival in "Big", but has since faded into background character roles.
Meg Foster besides her spooky-intense light-green eyes, was probably best known for her television roles, although she also did her share of movies in the 80's such as "They Live", "The Emerald Forest" and "Masters of the Universe".
The thing that I loved about them, besides their onscreen chemistry, was the way their intensity. There isn't a lot of outward action in the Scarlet Letter . Most of the drama centers around what is happening inside of these people. All their feelings are repressed, and therefore intensified. These two actors did a fantastic job of capturing the intense, repressed, sexual tension between the two of them. Their affair is the epitome of the "slow burn". All of this tension builds and builds, culminating in a scene where after living in the same community, but being kept apart for years, they happen to meet in the forest. All the sexual energy starts to bubble to the surface, but instead of the usual bodice-ripping cheap-out you would find in any grade "Z" gothic romance, (or in the Demi Moore version) Hester expresses her sensuality, by simply removing her coif and letting down her hair, which given the circumstances is incredibly erotic. Then, upping the ante even further, she slowly unbuttons the scarlet "A" fastened to her breast. I may be weird, but to me this was more intense than any other "sexy" scene I have seen in a film before or since. If you want to see this same sort of thing done incredibly badly, watch the Demi Moore version, which has as much subtlety as a ham thrown through a window.
It was this powerful scene that inspired the original poster.
Here is a screen-shot of the scene in the forest.
It's the two of them momentarily alone, finally away from the restrictions imposed on them by their community. Hester's daughter Pearl plays in the woods nearby.
Dimmesdale is completely worn down by his guilt. Hester is bruised, but still strong, and tries to rally him to action. It is amazing that she still has such intense feeling for him after all that she has been through.
In trying to recreate the original poster, I first did a small thumbnail sketch, trying to capture the feeling of that scene.
Next, collecting as much visual reference as I could from the WGBH production, I did this revised sketch.
I was trying to make them resemble John Heard and Meg Foster as much as possible.
I then added in shading using Photoshop, doing a kind of value study in preparation for executing a painting.
Finally I experimented with the addition of type. The original poster had a large red sun in the background, visible through the tree branches. I may still add that in to the final piece.
Here is the re-constituted poster with type.
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