NATCHITOCHES – The right costumes can do a great deal to elevate any production and Northwestern State University Professor of Theatre and Costume Designer Jessica Parr has authored a new book to give tips to both student designers and professionals looking to improve their skills.
“Rendering Tips for the Costume Designer: Simple Steps for Better Drawing and Painting” is a guide for students and costume designers who want to improve their drawing, painting and rendering skills.
“Before a costume can be sewn, the designer draws a costume rendering, a picture of what the finished costume will look like,” said Parr. “Designers use these renderings to communicate with the director and the costume shop in the pre-production phase of a show.”
Parr said the book is divided into three sections – Drawing Tips, Painting Tips and Linework Tips – and includes detailed step-by-step instructions for chapters such as “How to Draw Faces and Hair,” “How to Draw Hands” and “How to Draw Feet and Shoes.”
“This format allows readers to pick and choose techniques allowing them to focus on areas that give them the most difficulty,” said Parr. “I worked to fill the book with practical information and over 100 illustrations. This reference guide can be used in conjunction with any figure drawing method or painting media. Within these pages, readers will find the answers to the most common rendering questions: Where do the shadows go? How do I make my figures look less stiff? How do I draw patterned fabric?”
Parr said she authored this book for her students based on her 20 years of teaching
“I found myself giving the same notes and sketching the same examples,” she said. “My students were asking the same simple questions such as “how do I draw faces, how do I draw hats, where do I put the shadows?” Finally, I just decided to author a book that shares all those examples and answers those questions in one place.”
According to Parr, her students come to college with vastly different art backgrounds. She believes her book has practical advice and achievable steps for people regardless of where they are at in their art journey. She said it is written for costume students, but the book can help anyone who wants to illustrate people, clothes or characters.”
Parr teaches costume design and technology in the Department of Theatre and Dance. She has designed and constructed costumes for theatres throughout the country, including Nebraska Repertory Theatre, Struthers Library Theatre, Dorset Theatre Festival, Barter Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival and the Santa Fe Opera. She is the author of “Forties and Fifties Fashion for the Stage: Patterns from Vintage Clothing” (Routledge 2018).
The book is available at https://www.routledge.com/Rendering-Tips-for-the-Costume-Designer-Simple-Steps-for-Better-Drawing/Parr/p/book/9780367707521 and on Amazon.com.
