There is an historical approach to painting drapery for any stage composition. A simple technique that allows an artist to create artfully draped fabric. Just like broken lines that suggest a hung tapestry, there is a standard and simple approach. For the next few installments I am going to examine a variety of scenic art techniques for painting drapery.
The first thing to understand about the historical approach is that you never blend any of the colors together. The reason is that the composition needs to be viewed from a distance and blending actually destroys the painted illusion of dimension. The rationale is similar to that for lining; the eye fills in the gaps and it appears to be more natural. The colors must remain divided for better visibility. This way, the draped fabric and artfully arranged folds read best from the audience.
Frequently, the fabric is painted using only three colors: dark, mid-tone, and light.
The darkest color represents the crease in the fabric, or the folds. The mid-tone represents the actual color of the drapery. Finally, the highlight is placed within the mid-tone area and is never placed directly next to the darkest color, or shadow area. There is always at least a thin sliver between the highlight and shadow.
The treasure chamber setting used for the Scottish Rite’s fifteenth degree is a good example to examine this technique as the setting often depicts a variety of fabrics. Plush materials are incorporated into the leg drop, cut drop, and backdrop compositions for the scene, adding splashes of color to predominantly dark underground chambers. Colorful fabrics, rich with trim and tassels frame treasure chests, armor, statues, and other precious artifacts. The contents visually glitter, popping out from the shadows. The treasure scene at the Fort Scott Scottish Rite had a lovely variety of fabrics incorporated throughout the setting.
If you look at the painted details, three colors are the standard approach for the foreground painting of draperies. For the mid-stage and backstage compositions, only two colors are used to suggest the fabric folds.
This approach is similar to the painting of patterns, fringe, and other decorative details on the draped material; they often use two only colors. The lighter color is solely placed to reinforce the existing highlights on the folds. The darker color is placed in the recesses.
For example, if you examine the white fringe of the yellow canopy, there is simply a dark color for the base. This defines the overall shape of the trim. The highlight color gives the fabric and trim dimension. Again the composition was intended for viewing from a distance, so the division of color and contrast is crucial.
My training under the tutelage of Lance Brockman included the historical technique to paint patterned draperies. This was a standard project in his scene painting class, but it was not simply a skill that went into my tool kit as a scenic artist. The lessons learned form this project also became a significant resource as a designer. Specifically, it was necessary training in how objects need to be created in order to be viewed from a distance.
The magic of historical scenery is that the painting is breathtaking from a distance, but falls apart upon close inspection. As you walk closer to the composition, you see the stark division of colors and economical application of paint. It is the polar opposite of creating a mural for a residential wall, one that will be viewed up close.
To be continued…
