And now for something completely different...
Here are the original design renderings for each costume. Typically, a costume designer will do at least some type of sketch so that the cutter/drapers, stitchers, and all the rest of the staff that construct garments in a costume shop will have an idea of what the finished garments should look like. Often, there are fabric swatches included; these don't have a swatch set with them here, but small samples of each fabric are included in the portfolio along with the drawings and photographs.
All renderings are mixed media--marker, colored pencil, and scrapbooking paper--on bristol board. I don't consider myself an artist. When I took my costume design class, I used watercolors for my renderings. It wasn't quite an unmitigated disaster and the drawings came out fine, but it was not pretty getting there. Therefore, I trotted myself over to the scrapbooking department at the closest Hobby Lobby and bought fancy papers to mimic my fabric finds. Cutting paper to shape was enough like cutting fabric that I didn't have quite the brain block that I did over painting--and you can't spill paper. The result was much cleaner and much less painful than my previous attempts at rendering designs!
Please note that the costumes are made up of many layers of paper; the dimension doesn't really show up well in a photograph, but the effect is quite pleasing and subtle in real life.
This is my favorite one; don't ask me why. Perhaps because it had the least fussy pieces to cut out.
This was the first one I did. Each tier and pleat in the skirt is a separate piece of paper. So are the sleeve flounces.
Point of interest--the myriad buttons are silver gel pen. And obviously, the queue on the gentleman turned out to be wishful thinking; John does not and probably never will have that much hair.
