Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: The Corny Collins desk

I pretty much had very little labor invested in this piece until the very very end. Just the same? It was a bit of a pill to deal with for the two lovely art students who took it on. The desk was built by the set builders and then it was painted by some parents who basically have spent the entire last month painting everything and then the individual letters were designed and then hand-cut from foam core board by two very dependable art students in order to echo the original design of the Corny Collins desk.

The major issue with this piece is the fact that this piece was discussed as one that wouldn't be used and would be dismantled and rebuilt because it was questionnably too large to use in the show. This means that the girls ended up making the lettering and then it was shared with us that that work might have really been done for nothing.  o_O

In the end, it was decided that there wasn't enough time to scrap the desk and we were actually able to go forth as planned. But amidst all of this? One of the L's got damaged/lost so the lettering couldn't be affixed until that issue was corrected and then when all was said and done and we thought we were ready to put the letters on? It was discovered that we still needed the words 'the' and 'show' to bookend the lettering. *ARGH!!!! IT WAS LIKE A NEVERENDING BATTLE!!!!!*

When I realized the aforementioned I took it to Google Image searches and realized that we could get away with two small signs in black/white and not have to bother with cutting out little letters like the big letters. I got two scrap pieces of foam core board and tried FOUR TIMES to make little signs that said 'the' and 'show' with a sharpie marker but for whatever reason I made them too small or too big or too messy/far from the style of the big letters. Then I just sat there being mad for a little while and thought, "Why in the world don't I just make them in Microsoft word and then paste them to foam core board and call them done?" So I did just that! And within 10 minutes the whole thing was DONE and it actually even looked kind of awesome despite all of the strife involved with the process of it. One of the big lifesavers was the fact that I could just staple the letters as you see them arranged and so there was barely any fuss getting them all on there finally.

Tomorrow I will show you the final touches of the set that only happened because I basically spent a whole work day painting with hand-selected VERY dependable students while several of my colleagues covered my classes (very last minute!) and the whole process ultimately landed me home for a very legitimate sick-day last Friday.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: Two items I loathed doing

I don't know why I detested doing the bed side of the front door flat and the scoreboard for one of the final scenes of the show but I just did. They were two of the last things I did and even though they were both really simple they just seemed to go on and on and ON. I mean, there was very little to do for both things but every time I did some of that and it seemed like it should be done there was just a little more that was left to be done that ended up making both of them take the longest.

For the bed side flat it was the stinkin' real pillow that only need to be stapled to the flat. For whatever reason nobody had to spare pillowcase that could be donated to cover the Wal-mart pillow that was only $2.50 to buy and so the bed flat was pretty much one of the last things to finally get finished. The way the bed flat works is the show opens up with the audience seeing Tracy laying in bed - that's why it's an aerial view and she's actually standing up straight against the flat - and then she jumps out of bed to sing "Good Morning, Baltimore" with the whole cast as she gets wheeled around briefly while she sits on the front stoop.

To start off with, the shows directors/producers showed me some pictures of what they wanted but then said, "We don't really like this so this is what we want but we also don't like this." OK then...

Basically what it came down to is that they didn't like the cartoon-ish appearance of the original picture they showed me (fair enough). Just the same, they had no other options to show me that they liked better and then when I tried to hunt down a 60s style bed in aerial perspective that a teenage girl living in working class Baltimore might sleep in? Well... that picture for reference was darn near impossible to find. *pretty defeated*

The other thing of this flat? Well... it was so flat when we painted the bed as you see it. I mean, I get it. It looks flat because it IS flat and it's so briefly seen to open the show to begin with so who cares, right? Well... I care about stinkin' nit-picky things like that and so that's why I ended up going to the length of doing things like getting a foam bed roll, trimming it to the appropriate linear perspective and then acquiring and covering it with a period-appropriate floral bed linens a teenager might use so it would look a lot more realistic as a bed that could/would be slept in. If I would have had my druthers I would have also gotten some slippers and stapled those down to the flat as well to make it seem that much more realistic. I couldn't do that though because the space on the flat didn't permit such a thing AND I had to deal with the stinkin' scoreboard for the dance competition at the end of the show.

It's pretty much finished except for the pillow but I kind of hate it because it just looks so plain. I gave up on it (obviously).

Oh the scoreboard... the dreaded scoreboard...

The thing of it is, it really shouldn't have been something that took forever to finish. Someone should have been able to just put the lettering and arrows on it and then call it done. It was built, primed with white, and then it just sat waiting (and taunting me) and it was almost the last thing that was finished. And then when it finally was finished? "People" kind of fussed and said, "Isn't it too white? It's kind of plain, isn't it? It needs more color, don'tcha think?"

OH MY LAND!!!!

Seriously? Once I got it to the way it was pictured below? I seriously just as well would have been happy to carry it straight to the dumpster. It was so easy but annoying to use my time for to do and people still had issues with it! WHATEVER. Whatever.

I am pretty sure that some of the folks who fussed about it after I finished it did something more to it to make it more colorful but I kind of told them all they could do whatever they wanted to and that even included painting over it all just as long as I wouldn't be required to "fix" whatever mistake was made by someone else.

So, as far as I know, this is exactly what it looks like for the opening of the show. And if you detect my tone is becoming surly about all of this musical business you are spot on with that assessment! I will eventually reveal to you how/why that has managed to happen.

Tomorrow I will show you the most surprising item of the set dressing that I hated and then ended up sort of loving once it finally got done.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: The classic Baltimore front stoop

If you've never seen/heard of/are familiar with the show Hairspray you might not know that the setting is in Baltimore, Maryland. Ever been there before? It's actually quite a charming place enough place and I don't say that because I lived there for about a decade before I found my way to this phase of my career and life.

Anyway, some things about Baltimore and the 60s (when the show took place) are that in that time frame, living in the city you were likely to live in a row house that was probably in a very bright color combination and your steps had to be "bright white" because it was considered to be somewhat of a status symbol so much that every Sunday (I learned this from a Baltimore native) people would be out scrubbing their steps to ensure they would be as bright and white as possible. /end painfully brief and poorly presented local history lesson

One of the major props that was used in the show was something of a mobile setting piece (I don't know what to call it) where Tracy Turnblad was supposed to perch herself for maybe even a minute and a half - seriously! That's all the time you see it for as labor intensive as it was! #facepalm - and it was supposed to look like the classic Baltimore row home front stoop.

The set builders used a very narrow flat on casters (there would be something on the reverse side that I will show you tomorrow) and then built a small staircase to imitate front door stairs. My job was to make the empty flat look as much like a front door as possible. What would have been easiest and most realistic would have been for us to just acquire a front door and just affix it to the flat (it didn't have to open) but for the minute and a half that it be seen? Well... probably a lot of money would have been spent for not much time for it to be seen. But then, when you equate time to money? Well, I spent HOURS on detailing this flat from the brick effect painting to the faux metal outer door to the awning frame that was built by the set builders to the canvas that I stapled to the frame and then stretched with gesso and then painted and trimmed to imitate a real awning? Well... *phew* I don't know. I almost would have just bought a daggone real door to save myself a little time. *shrug*

Just finished the faux brick work and old metal door that I still feel like I could have done a better job on but whatever. See the awning frame? Still needs to be canvas covered.

The awning frame is finally covered with canvas I had laying about the art room. Gessoed it with one coat so it stretched a little more nicely and then painted it orange and blue (to keep with the classic bright color palette of the Baltimore row houses) and then I trimmed the edge of the awning to make it seem like it was always supposed to be like that.

And finally it's done! And the finishing touch was faux flowers in some plastic terracotta looking pots that I gorilla glued down to the corners of the steps. Doesn't that make it look more welcoming? I would definitely want to come home to this front door for sure! And the steps got two good coats of fresh white paint to make them look crisp and clean despite the fact that the instagram effect does not show that so well.

There is another side of this flat that looks like an aerial view of Tracy's bed - this opens the show - but it's not as exciting or was as labor intensive as the front door side you see above. I will show you the bed side tomorrow.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: Propping up the show

One major-ish task on my list of tasks to take care of was to make labels for the "fog in a can" props that would stand-in nicely for real spraying hairspray cans. For whatever reason I seriously put off this item for as long as possible despite the fact that it was probably the simplest and (in turn) most gratifying thing of all of the things I was supposed to do.

The finished cans of "Ultra Clutch" labeled and ready for the show!

As you can see, the finished labels look pretty much like the giant can I previously shared. For whatever reason I got it in my head that labeling these cans would be a real pain in the rear so I think that's why I put off doing them for so long. Then it occurred to me - much like most other things I was trying to do and failing miserably at - that I was really overthinking things and pretty much working harder and not smarter. And with that I sat down, gave myself a pep talk and realized that I should just use digital illustrations I already had from the poster design I created and then bend and twist that into what you see above! The power of digital illustration is amazing isn't it? I was able to cut my workflow in half if not even less than that and voila! I had hairspray can labels cohesive to the design work already established for the show and then all I had to do was size them accordingly, peel off the original labeling and then paste them on to look like they had always been like to begin with.

And because I like to share and am all about helping others to NOT reinvent the wheel, if you are in need of Ultra Clutch hairspray can prop labels, here is what I printed off and used in the aforementioned photo. If it works for your needs? Please feel free to use it. Just click on it to enlarge it and then right-click it to save it for you to print off as you like.

This is a jpg version but I have a psd version and if you want it please just ask and I will email it to you!

BTW - if these Hairspray updates/this series is boring you, I'm sorry. *shrug* This is basically what has been ruling my life these days but with the show opening up this past Friday and closing next Saturday, I promise there won't be very much more of this for very much longer. Thanks for your patience and humoring me if this alone is changing your mind about frequenting/reading this blog that otherwise about art education.

Whoops! There went my head...

Did you catch that blog posting yesterday about quick sculpting? The one that had the pictures and then basically no explanation about them? Well... I had queued it up to post  but *heh* didn't finish it entirely and it just posted just like that. #facepalm

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I updated the post with a little bit more information to explain things and you are welcome to revisit it! Also, just wanted to state the obvious which is that with this being the last few days before Hairspray opens, I am pretty much LOSING. MY. MIND!!!!

Seriously. I mean... I don't even want to go into the half of it all - I will recap perhaps next week once the show opens this Saturday - but just trust me and know that I barely know what day OR what time it is lately because I am eating, sleeping, and BREATHING the set design and production or Hairspray. It's always a little crazy just before a stage production opens but this one? Well... it's particularly challenging. *sigh*

Anyway, I am going to go ahead and just give myself a bit of an intermission here on the blog for the remainder of the week so I can focus and devote as much of my spare time to finishing up the major odds and ends of the show so in the meanwhile? Hang tight! I'll see you next week!