Becoming Othello: First Pass

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The first pass at creating a poster for Becoming Othello for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater involved a simple split screen portrait. On the left the actress smiles in a warm inviting portrait and on the right she is depicted in a severe cold portrait as the murderous Othello. Debra Ann Byrd is a female actress who embraces playing the male lead in Shakespeare’s Othello. This play is about that journey. Debra wrote and performed this solo show.

Othello is a noble Moorish general whose life is destroyed by his ensign, Lago, who manipulates him into believing his wife, Desdemona, is unfaithful. Consumed by jealous rage, Othello murders Desdemona, only to learn of Iago’s deception. Consumed with grief Othello then commits suicide.

With such a dark story line, my portrait poster lacked any discernible action. I liked the classy serif typeface I had picked for the title but that might miss the mark as well for such a bold dark story line. This poser image left me feeling uneasy. I think it has to do with her smile on one side and serious neutral expression on the other. Perhaps a neutral expression across the board would have worked better but now is not the time for second guessing since this concept was not approved. The challenge was in making the two sides of the portrait the same yet dissimilar. It was a fine line to walk.

Since a verb would be needed, my mind turned to the moment of murderous rage in the play. That moment would end two lives in a pointless tragedy. If that moment could be captured then that would catch a viewer’s attention.

The Hantavirus Disembarks

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Yesterday was the first time I heard of the Hantavirus. Passengers on a cruise ship off the western coast of Africa are becoming infected. This triggers flashbacks to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Dutch couple and a German have died due to the infection. The Dutch couple may have contracted the virus while bird watching at a landfill. The wife of the Dutch man who died flew with his body back home and she died upon arrival at the Johannesburg airport. That means everyone on the plane and anyone she came in contact with may have been infected. A stewardess was reported to be sick but then it was conformed that she did not have the Hantavirus infection. That is very good news.

The virus is known to spread through rat feces, urine and saliva. You do not need to touch the rat to become infected. The virus can get airborne when rummaging through trash. It was reported that it might be airborne and spread from human to human. One “expert” said the virus is droplet based. But a virus does not fall to the ground like rain drops. An airborne virus lingers in the air for hours like smoke or dust particles. Other experts are issuing reassurances that prolonged contact is required for infection. They are making it sound like you must be trapped on a cruise ship with an infected person to become infected yourself.

The cruise ship had 147 passengers. Eight so far are known to have been infected. There are 3 confirmed deaths. The first confirmed infection occurred on April 6, 2026. The passenger died on April 11, 2026. Forty passengers have disembarked the ship to return to their home countries all around the world. Three returned to America. The Centers of Disease Control in America has been gutted and the Secretary of health is an anti-VAXer.

The COVID-19 virus had a mortality rate of 3.4% at the height of the pandemic. It is estimated that over 7 million people have died so far due to COVID-19. The exact number may be far higher.

The Hantavirus has a mortality rate of 40%. The math doesn’t look good. If the virus is not contained through contact tracing, it is therefor possible that an outbreak of the Hantavirus could result in over 82 million deaths. It is being reported however that the virus does not spread easily but only with close contact. I have not been in close contact with anyone for years, so I am perfectly safe from any mouth breathing zombie.

The WHO considers the overall public health risk to be low. I hope they are right.

Venus in Fur: Second Pass

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For my second pass at the Venus in Fur poster, I decided to focus on the tight shiny leather glove as the dominatrix raised a finger to her lips to insist on silence. I imagined her saying Shhhh. I was thinking of a woman who might say, “Hey, I’m up here.” Meaning the guy is not looking where he should. Anyway, she is scolding the director.

I also did not know who would be cast as Vanda. I just needed to see her lips, so I avoided painting her nose on upwards. I case Vanda with flowing blonde hair and bright red lipstick. Most people would be looking at the outline of her tight black lace bra and her cleavage. That hidden valley punctuated by a small black bow was the star of the poster.

When John Singer Sargent painted a bare shoulder in his 1884 portrait, of Madame X, there was a major uproar in the Paris Salon. It was considered indecent, immoral, and a “slap in the face” to Parisian social standards. I had done a life sized copy of that Madam X painting for a New York City theater stage production so that painting was certainly on my mind.

In this poster I had one shoulder covered in rich black fur and the other was bare with the necessary strap to hold the black lace bra in place. Were that strap to slip, and it is dangerously close to doing so, then gravity would cause a wardrobe malfunction. I made sure to keep the bra strap in place so as not to upset Orlando High Society.

Anyway this concept hit the mark for a play about domination and masochism. I had darkened the flesh of the face so it receded into the darkness a bit, but the chest was painted a bright pasty white. I know that a viewer’s gaze will go to the brightest highlights and in this case that has to be the breasts.

In the approval meeting there was some discussion and concern because no one knew who might be cast as Vanda. At the Shakes any actress could get the part in the auditions. She could be any nationality or skin color. They were not looking specifically for a fair skinned blonde. She might be brunette. I had to show the actress and certainly I had to show plenty of flesh. It seemed like an impossible catch 22 conundrum. I needed to give it thought back at the studio and find some solution. I wasn’t sure a solution existed and I felt that this version of the poster was hitting the mark. I might have to paint the tools of the trade, like whips and other leather goods but I liked this in-your-face sexuality. Just don’t look her in the eyes. The flesh in this painting still needed some loving touches but I left it as it is to embrace change.

Venus in Fur: First Pass

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With the first pass at a poster for Venus in Fur by David Ives, for the Orlando Shakes, I was intrigued by the intricate detail of fish net stockings. Much of the image features hills and valleys of flesh covered in fishnet. I decided that was too abstract an idea to dominate so much of the poster, so I added the legs and whip to make it clear fishnet stockings are found on shapely legs. Then I added the reclined female odalisque whose outline is defined by the flow of the whip. Then of course plenty of black fur was needed. It was a strange combination of thoughts, but it has the visual feeling that I wanted.

Venus in Fur is a bold and unexpected play about an audition for a part in a play. The director, had been through a solid day of auditions for the female lead in his show, but hadn’t found just the right woman for the part.

A disheveled woman came in late out of the rain and apologized for being late. She had to convince the director that he needed to stick around for this last audition since he was ready to go home. She quickly got ready. Since the male actor who had been reading the parts, had already left, the director had to step in and read opposite her.

Over the course of the audition the actress began to dominate every scene and then dominate the director. Sexual tension rose, and the director began to cower and become subservient to her sadomasochistic demands. I began to wonder if this was all written in the script or had the two of them gone off on a tangent. This is definitely a show that I hope to see in person someday. I regret not getting in to sketch a live performance at the Shakes.

This pass at the poster was me experimenting to catch the flavor of the show, but I knew that another version that I was working on at the same time was more direct and powerful. The title treatment felt perfect, so at least that element would make it to the final cut. The other tiny element that I felt would be needed for the poster was the elegant hand covered in black shiny leather. The gloved hand is such a tiny piece of this puzzle, but I felt it told more about the story than the fishnets that first caught my attention.

So I kind of knew that this version of the poster would not fly. It was time to go back to the drawing board and try and nail down something sexy but more solid. Since I could not be sure who the actress would be, I was looking for ways to hide her identity. This pass at the poster felt a bit scattered. The best ideas come with plenty change and evolution.

Henry VI Part I: Joan of Arc Final Poster

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There really were no major changes to this concept for the Henry VI Part I: Joan of Arc poster. I had to just go in and keep refining the look that I had established while keeping some painterly spontaneity. Joan is based on a golden statue in France sculpted by Emmanuel Frémiet. The battle carnage in heavy armor suits was typical of the day.

Getting on a horse in such heavy armor would be a heroic task on its own. Huge respect for the horse who would have to carry so heavy a load into battle. In the poster you can only see the saddle and a bit of the horse’s neck armor.

The basic premise of the poster is that Joan and the roses would be bathed in a golden light while the battle behind her would be subdued in grey darkness. Pikes and swords jut up everywhere. The pikes were responsible for defending against enemy horsemen. The Pikes jutting up into the sky often cross thus creating inverted Vs which mirror the Henry VI title.

Medieval horse armor was known as barding. It evolved into steel plates which could protect against targeting by infantry arrows and slashes. The armor would cover the head, neck, chest, and flanks. All that armor would add 90 pounds along with the weight of the rider and her armor. This would be a heroically strong beast. Joan had to lift the armor on her arm and the standard one-handed sword which typically weighed about 2.5 pounds.

Painting the roses involved the most delicate work on the poster. Painting all that armor involved focusing on the mid tones of the metal and then a bright highlight to give that metallic flair. When I did the poster I did not know who would play Joan. That auditions had not happened yet. Lorena Cohea played the part as the feisty and fiery Joan of Arc. I looked at photos of her after the run of the show and she isn’t that far off from the Joan of Arc that I painted, if you bathe her in a golden light.

I gave the little red puddle where William Shakespeare’s name appears a glinting highlight which implies it is a puddle of blood. Joan stands out against the deep purple and blood red storm clouds which overshadow the battle below.

The show ran from January 10 to 21 in 2024. I regret that I didn’t sketch the show itself since I was in my studio working on other illustration assignments. I know what would have transpired since I read Shakespeare’s script. I also know this was a bare bard production which meant that the actors did not rely on a director for the staging they blocked in the scenes as need on the fly. They also went into costuming and selected their own costume for the show. This is very much like the way productions made their way to the stage in Shakespeare’s day. The set might have been minimal but Shakespeare s words carry heavy weight of relating the intricacies of the politics of being a king in medieval France and England.

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs Final Poster

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For the final version of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs poster I had to rework the wolf to give him way more expression. With the sinister grin he clearly looks guilty. Jim Helsinger advised me to look at  the Grinch’s grin and that was a gem of an idea. dialed it back a bit. I kept the brush work very rough since I was painting fur. It was a fun change to make. He now felt like the villain he should be.

The pigs got rounder heads and were more anthropomorphized. Two of the pigs are in the jury box while the third pig is in the witness stand. That third pig is a police pig. I’m not so sure he is one of the pigs that got his house blown down. Anyway he looks confident and smug, like he has absolutely convincing evidence that will convict the wolf. Of the jury pigs, one looks annoyed and the other surprised and worried. The simple act of giving each pig a different hat helped me decide who they were and what their personality might be.

The rest of the background remained unchanged, with the infinitely tall brick wall and color panels. A panel that was black I changed to a dark green because it worked better with the Wolf’s green pin striped suit. I gave the wolf stronger shoulders and added the same green color as a bar across the bottom of the poster for all the credits. In general the poster used the complimentary colors or red and green to help make the image pop.

With the jury box and witness stand a little bit off kilter I set a subtle sense of unease. I can’t help but look at the wolfs teeth biting his lip as he grins. I resisted adding the fangs. That would have added too much menace. I learned that lesson working on the Dracula poster. It is impossible to show a vampire’s fang toothed grin without it looking menacing.

Another reference I was looking at while I worked on this poster was the Dick Tracy movie. All the costuming in that movie was vivid and over the top. This was a very fun poster to work on and it came together quickly with the notes provided. It is always fun to see how the poster pivots towards the final look. It is much the way AI images evolve with verbal prompts, only this is Artist Intelligence.

James Chonody Studio: Fallen Angels Project

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James Chonody was painting at Avalon Park Florida one day, and a woman stopped and introduced herself. She liked the paintings James had on display. They started talking, she said her son had suggested she stop and talk, yet her son was nowhere to be seen. Her son had been killed three months prior by a DUI driver. Mom wasn’t in the car, but the father and sister took months to recover from the crash. Her son was in the front seat passenger and he was killed.

She asked James how he started painting and he was afraid to tell her that he was a recovering alcoholic. When James started painting seven years ago, the drinking stopped. He didn’t know how she would react. She might lash out. He ended up telling her anyway. She gave him a big hug and said she was so proud of what he was accomplishing.

He asked if she would like him to paint a portrait of her son, and she agreed. The next morning, he had the painting finished in about two hours at 9am. He sent a picture of the painting and wrote “Good Morning Mother.” She called back crying and joyful. They have been good friends ever since. She introduced him to another mother who lost her son who was a high school football player killed by a DUI driver. The DUI driver was a cop’s daughter, and this was her second offense. James did a portrait for that family and was paid. He then did a portrait of a pregnant daughter who had been killed.

After that, James felt terrible charging money for these portraits, He felt like an ambulance chaser, although that was not his intent. The work came to him. He decided to start doing the portraits for free. It was good practice for his portrait work. He posted on Facebook that he would be doing these portraits for free. That is how the project started. The families in support groups started to spread the word.

A woman in Minnesota was in a Fentanyl support group and she spread the word.  She warned him that he might be flooded with requests. He said, “bring it on.” Seven people put in requests for portraits. Each portrait would take about two hours to complete, and he did this for about two years.

With each of these tragic deaths there was also suffering in the lawsuits that each family had to endure. Hearing about these lawsuits started to get to James. He did a few more portraits for families he was close with but needed to abandon the project.

James had to get brain surgery and these families reached out with their support and prayers. Several families visited him in the hospital. The portrait project had allowed James to find a support group that he didn’t know he would need. The whole project was a bit of an accident in the way it started, but he is glad he did it. He had painted 120 portraits for his Fallen Angel’s Project.

Since James knew that I wanted to sketch him working in his studio, he put out one more call on Facebook letting people know he would do a painting for free. A father in Arizona asked for a portrait of his son who had been killed in a horrible car accident. The boy had a fun surprised open-mouthed expression in the photo reference that was picked.

James works on a canvas covered in black gesso and blocks in the painting with thin layers of white paint. If he touches the canvas lightly with his brush he will paint the mid tones. Then when he loads the brush with thick white paint, he can get the highlights. His reference was on a digital picture frame above the easel. It took him about an hour to finish the first pass of the painting.

James has his studio set up in the garage and with the garage door open light floods into the space. On the back of the garage door was a large canvas painted with a blue sky with white clouds. A mystical sun and moon canvases adorned the ceiling. The walls were painted a light neutral grey. Black metal grid stands often used in street fair displays stood along every wall. His paintings were hung everywhere on these grid stands. The newest paintings hung on stands that faced the street. James tends to sell the work as fast as he creates it which I vastly admire.

3 Little Pigs First Pass

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The first pass at The 3 Little Pigs poster for the Orlando Shakes kept with my usual approach of depicting the characters with realism. I only put one pig in the courtroom at the time. So what happened to the two other pigs? Chances are that they had already been devoured. The one pig remaining would be the one with the brick house.I like little baby pig ears, they are large and look like they belong on bats.

The wolf looked like your average wolf in a green pinstriped suit. Notes I received helped immensely to push the poster in a fun direction. I was advised to look at The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and look a the Grinch’s sneer. He had an amazing sneer that would curl infinitely. Chuck Jones is the director of that film and he has an amazing knack to draw characters with appeal and tons of emotion. In the shorts he directed he would personally draw many of the key poses of the characters to get the animators started. He knew exactly what he wanted.

I would of course need two more pigs and they should also not be as realistic. They needed to be angry or scared depending on their character. In the Disney animated short each of the pigs had a definite personality. That film came before Snow white and the 7 Dwarfs and I believe the level of thought that went into giving each pig a personality late translated into the clear personalities given to each dwarf.

The type face I had picked for the title was also rather plain and not very playful. That would also require some major rethinking. There was a whole lot of type that needed to go on this poster with all the credits and the tag line, so the vertical image would be more like a square image after the type was in place. I figured I should embrace that and add bars of color to isolate the text from the courtroom scene.

I incorporated a red jury box and red witness stand. They have subtly different wood treatments. I don’t know if any one seeing the poster would notice that. I would keep many elements like the pointing fingers, the green suit and jury box but everything else needed a facelift to make it more playful. The wolf had literally no expression other than hunger I suppose. He needed a dose of anthropomorphism.

I still didn’t want a flat 2d animation look. I needed a mix of playful expressiveness and realism. This pass had far to much of the latter. Back to the drawing board, or in this case, iPad.

Boulevard of Bold Dreams Final Poster

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The first pass at the poser for Boulevard of Bold Dreams had issues where the portrait of Actress Hattie McDaniel didn’t quite look like the actress. I have a tendency to paint bold and spontaneously but this assignment required a more photographic look. I tightened up to get the details right in the face and then let my self loosen up a bit with the background and light effects.

I did one version of the title treatment where the Oscar was in the space inside the O in Bold. I abandoned that concept preferring to keep with the light flare effects throughout.

The challenges faced with this poster have been faced for centuries as artists try to get the details of a face correct and also add some warmth and life to the painting. I decided to spare you the early versions of the painting since the details that are are off are so subtle that It might seem Like I was sharing the same image over and over.I had recently done a painting with gem like highlights on the skin and I went for that effect in this poster.

In the end the painting worked out with delicate yellows and violets throughout. I spent much of my time wrestling with the skin tones making sure the darks were dark enough and the lights light enough. The color of the skin doesn’t matter as much as the value of the skin,

Once again I didn’t have enough time to get to the show to sketch an actual production. I had read the script and therefor know it would have been a great show to sketch.

The Comedy of Errors Final Poster

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The final version of the Comedy of Errors poster for the Orlando Shakes mostly addressed subtle changes to the upper half of the poster. A catch phrase was added which I incorporated in a flowing scroll below the new title treatment.

The woman with the gossamer wings was moved down into the parade crowd. She replaced one of the twin brothers and I added a few more costumed revelers in the parade. In the night sky I added warm glowing embers that could be interpreted as stars of the flaming embers of an exploded firework falling to the ground.  Many of my poster images incorporate some glowing elements. Once some magical light effect is in the scene I start to feel satisfied.

Most of the parade remained unchanged, I just kept working on subtle details while keeping some spontaneity. There was some talk of adding the waterfront at the end of the street, but that would have pulled visual interest away from the parade. I kept the grey city buildings at the end of the street to cut off any further depth to the scene.

The new type treatment was very similar to the type I was seeing on many Mardi Gras posters and flyers. I like how William Shakespear’s name fit below errors with the E and S book ending his name. This was a fun poster to pull together. I didn’t have a chance to sketch the production of the show. I would have liked to see this marriage of Shakespeare’s play and Mardi Gras. It must have been a fun show that would have been magnificent to sketch.

This production was in 2023. It feels like I worked on the poster yesterday. I have been updating the portfolio on this website, so I am going through all the past work I have done to populate different categories on the website. I have been adding artwork to the Theater Posters category and discovered I never wrote about these posters at the time. When I find that I didn’t discuss the process at the time, I am going in and doing it today so I can add the art to the portfolio.