Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/780030
40 The Costume Designer Winter 2017 workroom a breeze. I'm always in good hands with Lois at my side!" While many know DeArmond best from the beautiful sketches they've seen over the years, she has also been an assistant Costume Designer since 1987, and takes great pride in that work as well. "I love being out and about, being the liaison with the vendors, working with other creative people and making sure they have all their stuff. Just mak- ing sure things go smoothly in the department and helping the designer realize their vision, that's what gives me the greatest pleasure. Where I feel most alive in the world is in a fabric store. I love fabric, and I always have. The knowledge [of] what would be good to make what is in my bones; it's just something that comes to me and that excites me." Two other projects that stand out to her as particularly proud moments are the Western Wild Bill, working with Costume Designer Dan Moore, and the Revolutionary War drama The Patriot, with Deborah Scott designing. While brought on as an illustrator for both, the workload made her acuity for fabric and construction useful in a more expanded role. On The Patriot, "I was hired first as an illustrator, but there was a lot of other stuff to do, and [Scott] let me help with that, liaising with the tailors, fabric, and buttons, that sort of thing … This is really hard work, but when you feel like you're actually accomplishing something, and people are trusting you to do what you know how to do, it's so rewarding." Regarding what lies ahead for costume illustration, the trend she, and many others, have seen in US-based produc- tion is large budgets primarily being allocated to genre films. Because illustration artists have always been seen as a luxury, their jobs have followed suit. She notes, "The nature of slick, shiny, futuristic superhero movies lends itself to the computer-illustration look, and that's totally understandable. For that kind of thing, those illustrations look better and convey better than what I do … It's just a different thing, and everything has validity. There's some beautiful work being done." DeArmond consciously made the decision to not pursue computer illustration. While certainly not a Luddite, what she sees as the sensuous quality of hand drawing and paint- ing appeal to her too much to let go, and she found that it was the best path for her to convey humanity and character to her projects. Ultimately, pencil, gouache, and watercolor remain the right choice for her, and she hopes that a place for diversity in styles will always exist. Alfred Molina as Angel in Maverick, CD April Ferry.