Welcome to Matteson!: Final Poster

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For the final version of the Welcome to Matteson! poster, I changed some costumes and changed a hairstyle. It was decided that a plaid shirt would hint at a a lower middle-class status. More importantly I added a suburban home covered in snow in the background. Matteson is a suburb about an hour dive south of Chicago. So this was a better hint at what that quiet neighborhood might look like. The circular arch I had placed in the previous version of the poster was moved up and became a glass dome of a snow globe which was cracking. The cracks indicate that there is some drama or underlying tension in the scene.

Welcome to Matteson! is a dark comedy play by Inda Craig-Galván that explores classism, race, and reverse gentrification when a wealthy Black couple in suburban Illinois hosts a dinner for new neighbors forcibly relocated from Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing project. The tension-filled, witty play explores racial, socio-economic conflicts.

I sketched the production at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater and had a great time. The couple moving into the neighborhood was witty and playful which had me rooting for them right from the start. The husband of the household had roots to the city streets of Chicago so the two men got along great. The hostess however felt that her property value had dropped once people from the projects were moved into her neighborhood. She played the part of the hostess but was really resentful of her guests. The drama unfolded playfully and then it seemed that the couples were trapped together in this awkward social situation when the hostess could no longer hide her bias.

Welcome to Matteson! ran at the Orlando Shakes through March 29, 2025.

A Christmas Carol: First Pass

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The first pass at A Christmas Carol poster for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater had Scrooge lifting Tiny Tim. I have been painting Christmas Carol posters for about 4 or 5 years, so I have quite a bit of reference piled up on my hard drive. On this pass, I decided that having Tiny Tim lifting his crutch was not needed. I originally had the title smaller so the crutch could be seen, then I enlarged the title knowing I would be changing the pose.

Bob Cratchit’s wife was cast so I needed to go in and repaint her. Tiny Tim was also would need to be repainted. I used a past actor for Bob Cratchit and there was doubt that he would reprise the role so he too would need to be changed.

Being a bald artist, I then felt uncomfortable that Scrooge was out in the snow with no hat. I needed to put a top hat on his head. I know that with no hat, the heat from a body will escape quickly upwards like a chimney if you are bald.  That is part of the reason I am still in Florida.

Many of the elements are similar to past Christmas Carol posters. The snow had just started falling and the gas lamps are blazing. Warm light emanated from inside a window hinting at a warm fireplace. This composition relies on a strong diagonal line from Tiny Tim down to this mom. The painting is super sloppy since I know that changes are needing to be made.

Christmas Carol ran from November 26 through December 24, 2025, at the Orlando Shakes, Margeson Theater.

A Christmas Carol: Final Poster

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For the final A Christmas Carol poster for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater had to revise Mrs. Cratchit and I think she turned out well. Tiny Tim was updated and I paid particular attention to how the leg braces were assembled. I pumped up the light shining from behind Tiny Tim to get him to pop out from the background better. Ebenezer Scrooge just needed a top hat. Cratchit was revised several times. He isn’t holding Tiny Tim as solidly so I think his intention is a little lost but overall the poster is working solidly.

If I were to assemble all the Christmas Carol posters together, both approved and not, it would make a fun collection. Many feature this dark snow filled gas lit street scene. For some reason A Christmas Carol for me is dark and brooding with bright sparks of light and hope.

I have been doing write ups for all these posters because I realized that I didn’t have time to do write ups at the time the shows were being performed. I am thinking there should be a category on this site for process images that show the evolution of any given concept. Illustration is seldom a one and done approval process. Changes are very much a part of the creative process. I am always searching for a way to express the idea behind a show as boldly as possible. Each poster has it’s own challenges. I started doing these posers after doing a painting every day during the height of the pandemic. I gather my thoughts and assemble the ideas in very much the same way I did then. Working digitally is a blessing. Changes can easily be made, especially if I plan ahead. If a character must be removed or replaced. I can often just turn off a layer in the painting program to make that happen at the flick of a switch. Another advantage is that the previous version remains in memory if I should want to refer back to it.

A Christmas Carol ran at the Orlando Shakes from November 26-December 24, 2025.

Welcome to Matteson: First Pass

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Welcome to Matteson by Inda Craig-Gavlán, featured two couples having dinner. One couple needed to look high healed and the other needed to look lower middle class. This was a challenge which would rely on clothing to set them apart. In this first pass at painting the poster I relied on warm colors for the wealthy couple and yellows for the less wealthy couple. Having everyone toasting seemed to be the most natural gesture to get them all to interact.

Matteston is a suburb of Chicago Illinois. The less wealthy couple had just moved to Matteson from the Cabrini-Green public housing projects in Chicago. Cabrini-Green had a reputation for being overrun with gangs and crime. Cabrini Green was being torn down and residents were relocated. This couple was relocated to Matteson. They were excited to move to this quiet suburb, but they missed the sense of community they had found in Cabrini.

The buildings I put in the sketch were from a typical Chicago neighborhood. I had just screened my film COVID Dystopia in Chicago and fell in love with the old brownstone neighborhoods. The trouble was that Cabrini-Green looks nothing like this. The housing complex is more like the rows of housing developments that went up in the big cities after World War II. They are not very picturesque. The idea of replacing the brownstones with a suburban home made the most sense, yet most suburban homes are rather bland. Maybe I could just paint a dining room, but again I wanted something that was not so ordinary.

Snow fills the night sky. I then put in a circular yellow arch behind the buildings. This was meant to reference a snow globe and it helped silhouette the upper spires against the night sky. It was just a way to add a spark of more color. The buildings would have to go and that circular arch would morph into a much larger feature in the next pass at the poster.

Welcome to Matteson ran at the Orlando Shakes through March 29, 2025.

Henry VI Part 2: She Wolf of France Final

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The final version of the poster for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater production of Henry VI Part 2: She Wolf of France just involved me repainting the face since I now knew that Roberta Emerson would be playing the part of Queen Margaret. Emerson was credited with an “ice cold” performance and was honored by the Orlando Sentinel for her role for her ruthless demeanor and moments of vulnerability.  It was a rare role where the female lead could demand and gain absolute power.

Queen Margaret was a foreign bride, newly married to Henry VI. Unlike her husband, who was a weak ruler, Margaret was proactive and ruthless, commanding armies and seeking to secure the crown for her son. She was powerful in her own right, defying gender norms to engage directly in political intrigue and warfare. She became a Machiavellian political force, serving as a catalyst for chaos.

She despised her  weak husband and dominated court politics, engineered the downfall of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, and began to dominate the House of Lancaster, setting the stage for the Wars of the Roses.

This was a rare case where I found out during the painting of the poster who the actress would be for the play many months in the future. There was fabulous reference because she had performed in many other Shakespeare productions.

Henry VI Part 2: She Wolf of France, Second Pass

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In the second pass at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster for Henry VI Part 2: She Wolf of France, I removed the mail hood that made her had look cylindrical. If I wanted to make it clear this warrior was a woman, I needed to let her hair flow. The armor was changed to me nor angular and chiseled in look. Putting a sharp edge across the chest made it clear that a woman’s anatomy would fit and it also added a hint of pride.

I wanted to go in and start cleaning up and adding detail to the face and hair, but I had all the other poster changes to make as well. Sometimes I have a second sense about leaving well enough alone. In this approval meeting I learned that the lead actress who would be playing the part of Queen Margaret would be Roberta Emerson, who looked nothing like the woman I was depicting. Luckily she had performed in other Shakespeare productions and I was given some reference photos which were rather good. There was even one where she was shouting in the way I was depicting in this version of the poster.

Everything else was working. I had changed all aspects of the armor making it much shinier. I was glad I didn’t get caught up in the details of the face and hair. All that Information was on one layer in my digital painting program and I could just turn it off without affecting any other aspect of the painting. If I was working traditionally, I would have to start the whole painting over again.

In these versions of the poster I am showing I just flip on new layers and flip off old layers that needed changing. If a choice is made to go back to an older version, I always have that choice. I often borrow elements from rejected layers and incorporate them into the upper layer that is working better. This allows me to keep the painting constantly evolving and the best always rises to the surface.

I just needed to go back to the drawing board and put in Robeta Emerson as the Queen Margaret. I had abandoned the crown but started to feet that it was needed again.

Orlando Shakes performed “Bare Bard: Henry VI Part 2 – She Wolf of France” from January 8-19, 2025, at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando. This “Bare Bard” production featured the, original-practices used in Shakespeare’s day with limited rehearsals and no director. Each actor would walk through the costume shop in turn and pick out their costume for the show.

 

Henry VI Part 2: She Wolf of France

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The first pass at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster for Henry VI Part 2: She Wolf of France by William Shakespeare focused on a female soldier and a white wolf howling in the woods. This was once again a play about the War of the Roses, so I included a white and red rose. I love painting roses, they are elegant and beautiful. Having worked on Mulan I have followed a story of a woman stepping onto the battlefield in a patriarchal society. She would have to be more of a warrior than any of the men.

I didn’t have to think about the Henry VI title treatment since I could lift it from the previous poster for consistency. It works. The expression was working but the pose itself felt static. I wanted something more chiseled and heroic. The crown fitting over the chain mail hood is something I found while researching. I imagine they must have designed a specific crown for that purpose. Visually when drawn it isn’t quite believable. I think it will need to fit more snug to the skull to work. To show the warrior was female I needed some long hair visible. I had it blow out form under the chain mail hood and into her face. This wasn’t an appealing or attractive choice but it hinted at the disheveled chaos of battle.

I started looking at heroic statues of warriors to figure out what else was needed to make the figure bolder. Straight lines would read better than the soft curves I was using in this rough sketch. I went back to the drawing board and I am pretty sure I submitted two passes of the idea at the first approval meeting. It is always good to have multiple versions of an idea or better yet multiple concepts to explore. I was following one path, but I was sure it needed improvement. That is what is so good about showing work in progress, people always have suggestions that send me down a new path and that is always exciting.

Henry VI Part 2: The She Wolf of France by William Shakespeare ran from January 8-19, 2025.

Becoming Othello: Final Poster

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The final version of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater poster for Becoming Othello focused on the actress, Debra Ann Byrd playing the male lead in the Shakespeare play. The poster became all about the bright white tunic against the dark background. I added gothic architecture in the background. Since the play is about the “Black Girl’s Journey”, I felt the need to show the actress as a woman, so an inset was added.

I went with a bolder title treatment which plays off the white tunic. What I like best about the image is how the shadows of the sword and dagger flow over the fabric and stone.

I am finding that the printing done for the posters tends to make the image darker than what I painted. When I paint the images I am looking at a screen which glows. Any printed image will not have that backlight. In the future I need to consider this and paint the image brighter overall. The sword has light blood red against the dark background and then it turns dark against the light tunic. The dagger does the same.

I usually make a creative choice that the character is either light against the dark background or dark against a light background. I made a different creative choice that the tunic would pop as the bright white and everything else would recede int0 the dark.

Becoming Othello ran at the Orlando Shakes from March 13 – 30, 2024.

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.

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.