Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/911416
26 The Costume Designer Fall 2017 2B or Not 2B, That Is the Question I can't stop designing costumes. I can't stop drawing costumes on paper, board and walls. I love looking at three-ply blank drawing paper and tracing pads, all bought with a coupon. I love the smell of freshly sharpened 2B pencils. I love the smell of paint. I love the smell of the intoxicatingly aromatic marking pen brushes. I love my jars of brushes, old and new. I love my jars of 2B pencils. I love my boxes of dried paint tubes which are so difficult to toss. I don't love when I look at a floor strewn with costume sketches that I have rejected. I do love reexamining the costume sketches and thinking, "Maybe they are not so bad after all." I love the smell of freshly ironed costume sketches that were far too quickly crumpled and tossed. I don't love when someone you love wakes up with paint all over them because they rolled over on the tube of paint you accidentally left in bed while designing costumes. I wish my drawings looked finished. I wish my drawings could be neater. I wish each face looked different. I wish the hands did not have to be in pockets. I wish the feet did not have to be covered with lavish ruffles or wide cuffed trousers. I wish my rugs were without paint and ink stains. And so the costume sketch begins. So many things to touch, So many things to examine, so many books to reexamine. Creating a costume from the inside out, from the outside in, from front to back, from back to front. Seeing the character emerge through the sketch. Fabric swatches scotch-taped with fingerprints of wet paint. The costume sketch designed from a director's concept, taken from the written page, ready to be shared with the actor, ultimately belonging to the character. *On second thought, upon rereading this deposition, I am ready to SHAKE HANDS with the COMPUTER and call it a DRAW. I long for my merger. Julie Weiss Julie Weiss, Robert Duvall as Felix Bush, Get Low.