“In making full-length drawing of a female figure in costume from nature, arrange the drapery to give a final impression of the contour of the figure. Do not have the figure entirely hidden away by heavy folds of cloth. A poor draftsman usually shows a female figure as a mass of drapery, with head and feet obtruding from it. The thing is to make the gown appear as if it were really enveloping the human figure; to suggest the figure underneath by carefully drawing its every curve and line an arranging all the folds of the drapery to bring out this point.”
Excerpt from Frank Atkinson’s “Scene Painting and Bulletin Art” (1916, page 68.
Attached is a perfect example of the figure drawing by a “poor draftsman.” This small drop is for the Vision Scene (17th degree) currently in storage at the Winona Masonic theatre. Although the figure painters at Volland Studios (St. Louis) were far superior to those at other studios, this example is particularly bad for a Sosman & Landis scenic artist. Over the years, I have recorded some of the worst figure-drawing examples in these small scenes. They typically fall behind the temple ruins in the Volcano drop and are fairly obscured by the surround and the dramatic lighting. This is the scene where the thunder rumbles, the lightening flashes, and the volcano explodes – sending rivulets of lava down the mountain. Pretty fun!
It does makes me wonder if these small drops were intended as a training ground. However, maybe they just indicate busy times and unskilled labor.
