Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1400113
A The Mysterious Map of the Lágrimas de Cristal and the Start of a Great Partnership Now back to the map! This was now out of the Production Designer's hands and had been moved to the property department. I worked quite a long time on the initial concepts for the map. Trying to draw what the script called for and what the Amazon actually looks like proved to be quite challenging. Props and I both drew many versions and it became increasingly obvious that this was going to be very time-consuming—we needed a second graphics person to help out with the workload. Props then hired Hilary Ament, who was recommended by the set decorating department. As much as it pained me to give the map to someone else, I decided that it would be better to have Hilary work on that one big project instead of explaining the "hundreds" of other items on my punch list. To see what she was "made of," I used some burlap food bags for set dec as a small test project to see if she was up for the task. She was, and then some. Still, at the time, she was relatively unknown to me and in the beginning, I went with her to all the meetings with the director and discussed with her what I thought the map needed afterward. Soon, she would be taking those meetings on her own. I was now confi dent in her ability to get things done, she was given many other projects—Frank's journal, designing a large graphic prop at the end of the movie, putting together many other maps and some automobile advertising. A Diff erent Kind of Journey It was then that I started on the unexpected journey of becoming a mentor. Hilary was such a great help to me that I decided that maybe it was time for me to 'give back' to the fi lm industry and help her move forward in her career. She graciously accepted and patiently listened to me go on and on about juggling jobs and where to fi nd resources. Some of the things we talked about were using Dover books for free period artwork, where to fi nd some of the more obscure period-type foundries, and how to design her own fonts. Naturally, we talked a lot about clearances, when to fi ght back and when to just agree with them and move on. I also showed her my workfl ow index card system which I fi nd easier and more fl exible than keeping track of jobs on notepads. We talked about A. PRELIMINARY MAP OF THE LÁGRIMAS DE CRISTAL. GRAPHIC DESIGN BY KAREN TENEYCK. B. A SMALL SELECTION FROM FRANK'S TRAVEL JOURNAL. GRAPHIC DESIGN BY HILARY AMENT. C. AUTOMOBILE ADVERTISEMENT. GRAPHIC LAYOUT BY HILARY AMENT. D. FINAL MAP OF THE LÁGRIMAS DE CRISTAL. GRAPHIC DESIGN BY HILARY AMENT. E. MAP ELEMENTS BEING USED ON SET. GRAPHIC DESIGN BY HILARY AMENT. B C