Pencils have soul, but computers have copy and paste

A designer's primary job is to communicate the intended design to the director, actors, and production team.  The key word is communicate.  Meaning not only do the ideas need to be clear in the mind of the designer, but clear in some more tangible way.  As design is a visual form, this communication needs to be visual as well.  So, in your minds eye picture a 4x8 flat with yellow paint...and know that no one else has the same picture in their mind.  We use drawings, draftings, renderings, and models to communicate what is going on with the design.  However, how those things are made and look are unique to the designer's own style.

I prefer to do things with pencil.  William Moser, one of my design professors, instilled in me the notion that pencils have soul.  This is a pretty abstract concept.  Pencils create minor imperfections in the drawings which can be used to  the designer's advantage.  Smudging can create depth and texture, cross hatching can differentiate surface details.  Also, you can really begin to see what the designer is thinking about in a hand drawn sketch.  You can see moments when they make a decision, as well as when they change their minds.  I personally think better with a pencil in my hand than with a mouse in my hand.  The draw back to pencil work is time, specifically in drafting.  It takes time to copy an image from one plate to another plate.  Lettering and notes take more time, as the writing needs to be legible, clear notes that still have a unique style (my hand lettering is still not quite what I'd like it to be).  So, some software guy some many years ago thought...let's make a computer program to do this: the birth of CAD (computer aided design).  Which doesn't have the same character but is clear and fast (God bless copy and paste...).   I will probably do all the design aspects by hand and the technical aspects by computer for this show.  Sometimes, I find myself limited on time to do all the work by hand.  But like I said earlier, it's about communication.  You must do what is necessary to communicate the ideas.

Now what does all this mean, I'm in drafting/drawing mode for High Fidelity.  I have already gone through six or seven different ground plans (hand drawn and sketched), continuously refining my ideas.  My first few were far to literal for my liking and sense of style.  But, I find it interesting how my ideas kept evolving to abstraction and you can see a real progression and thought process when you look at the whole family of sketches.  This thought process is what I really love about design work! I also think graphite pencil is the right media (as opposed to ink, paint, marker, or color pencil) for High Fidelity as my design will be fairly gray scale monochromatic with a few pops of color.  My design is more about texture, which is what pencils do really, really well.  I can't wait to do some renderings (but I have to finish another project- lighting design for Vinegar Tom @ SLU) before I can get back to the doing a set of graphite renderings...

Well, back to the drawing board (to finish a light plot)!

where do you come up with this s***?

The scenic designer is, typically, the first member of the design team to be chosen and it's the first part of the overall design process to be established. There is a lot riding on the tone set by the scenic design. What style will the show be, how will the play move from scene to scene. Believe it or not, the scene designer is responsible for setting up all the blocking and staging for key moments in a play. Now, I'm not giving myself a huge ego, because, any good design will happen collaboratively with the director and other artists.

I have been chatting with Scott Miller about the overall design ideas for High Fidelity. One of the key elements that has inspired me from our conversation is the notion of "collection". Rob is a collector, but not only does he collect things, he collects "dead" things. He clings to a musical format (vinyl) which is no longer has mass appeal. He clings to the memories of his top 5 break ups. These are the things that, in a sense, haunt him. So, my general idea is that the play takes place within his record collection. This is a rock style show that happens within his music collection. I'm very inspired by these music formats and they will feature very prominently within the design of the show. The challenge now, is to find enough CDs, records, and cassette tapes to play with. Hello, craigslist, here I come!

I have already amassed like 300-400 records...but knowing me, I want more...I have a whole box of cassette tapes (of which, I will only be using the tape, and not the case). CDs shouldn't be a huge problem. I'm really excited how these different elements will be used to create the scenery itself! The installation will be time consuming, but significantly easier construction-wise. I also apologize in advance for strike....I am finishing some sketches, which I will be posting too.

There is still one design challenge that I'm working on right now. And that's movement. There are two scenes that need to feel like there are in a different place from where the rest of the play happens: the apartment and the funeral. When approaching a musical, it's important to understand one thing: what does the production need (not want) in order to function. For this play, these two locations need to feel somewhat different and unique. They don't need to be dramatic scene changes, but they do need to change...but how....that's the outlying question. I'll let you know what I come up with. I just need to remember to keep it simple.

Well, I think I need to get back to the drawing board to figure this s*** out.