Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

The Mystery of Edwin Drood- Digital by Greg Newbold
Can I tell you how much I love doing theater posters? This is one I just finished for Footlight Players in Charleston, SC, and once again I had a blast creating the art. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, is an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens that was turned into a musical play by songwriter and singer Rupert Holmes (he of Escape: The Pina Colada Song fame). Since the novel was unfinished, there have apparently been a number of possible endings proposed by various authors over the years and this play is no different. In fact, the audience gets to vote at intermission on how they want the play to end as well as "whodunit".


Inspiration for the art came from a painting by Caspar David Friedrich of a man standing over a foggy expanse. I liked the mysterious mood of the piece as well as the strong contrasts so I paid homage to it as I created my own mysterious vision for the play.


My son posed in an old overcoat to get needed information for my painting and off I went. I gathered as many photos as I could of the foggy English countryside to get a feel for what things might look like and pulled together ideas and details from many sources to create my reality. Reaction from the client has been very positive and I think that this will add nicely to the marketing of the theater's production. Once again, I took a stab at the lettering treatment and I like how it turned out. 
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4 comments:

  1. Mike Blake StudioFebruary 17, 2015 at 10:06 PM

    Loving the folds on the overcoat, and the detailed branches on the bare trees, and the modeling of the rocks and moss in the foreground...yah. This one is great!

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  2. Brad TeareFebruary 18, 2015 at 8:46 AM

    Another classic! Good job.

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  3. UnknownFebruary 18, 2015 at 10:49 AM

    Thanks Mike! This was a fun one. A lot of the tree detail is "suggested" rather than fully rendered, but it works. I did go a bit overboard on the rocks, but they just kept feeling more and more real, so you know...

    Thanks Brad. This one feels more like a book cover than I intended, and the play is based on the book, so maybe it will pull double duty for me and get me some more cover work!

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  4. AmyFebruary 20, 2015 at 2:19 PM

    I love the mood created by the fog sweeping across the middle ground. Nice piece.

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