Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2009 - 7

letters to
the

editor

I received my copy of Summer 2009 TD&T and was pleased when I turned to page 35 and read Patrick Atkinson "In the Wings"
article on Eugene Fitsch.
In 2002 my father gave me two Fitsch lithographs as a Christmas present, both of which are included in Atkinson's article; Hanging the Show and Setting the Lights. My print of Hanging the Show is an original, number 12/16, signed by Fitsch. Setting the Lights
is a reprint of the original. How cool to have the art hanging in my house in an article.
More important is that we have a publication like TD&T that can dedicate so much space for a comprehensive, interesting and enjoyable history of someone from our industry who found an outlet that will live on for generations.
I encourage everyone to seek out Fitsch's amazing work. The detail and representation of backstage is remarkable.
Thanks Patrick and thanks TD&T! The article is now neatly attached to the back of an original Fitsch.
Justin Reiter
Production Manager
NETworks Presentations, llC

I was thrilled to read Catherine bradley's article, "Costume Illustration in the digital Age," in your Summer 2009 issue. It's fascinating when a subject comes up in synchronicity among several areas of media in a field; I recently wrote a post on a related topic
(computer-aided design methods) in the costume production blog, la bricoleuse, after taking a summer course in computer apparel
design at a textiles college. How exciting that McGill has already begun work on investigating, codifying, and educating designers on the
incorporation of image editing software into the costume design process!
My one criticism of the article and the project itself is that bradley and her colleagues have yet to address vector-based drawing
software as another invaluable tool-thus far they have only investigated analog (scanned) drawings, the use of graphics tablets, and
manipulation of images and photos in raster-based software like Adobe Photoshop. If a designer or design student is already going to
shell out the money for a current copy of Photoshop-currently listed as $299 on Adobe's educational price list-s/he might as well
go ahead and purchase the entire creative suite ($449 on Adobe's educational price list), which includes their vector-based drawing
program Adobe Illustrator as well as a host of other software such as dreamweaver and Indesign. In a short time of using Illustrator
professionally, s/he'd have generated an invaluable library of vector-based design elements, such as period sleeve shapes, collars, skirt
silhouettes, and custom tools like notions templates (for quickly adding buttons and zippers to a rendering).
An excellent introductory text for learning vector-based software in an apparel-rendering context (though written from a fashion
perspective, not costuming) is Fashion Computing: Design Techniques and CAD, by Sandra burke, from burke Publishing. It covers
a range of different vector-based programs-not only Illustrator, but also the same techniques in CoreldRAW and Freehand, as well as
a bunch of info on using other programs for garment design and construction processes. It walks you through methods for creating a
whole range of garment illustrations for women, men, and children, and gives you tips for how to create different style and fabrication
looks, like how to render drapey folds or insert a pattern or print. The price point is also fairly low for a textbook, at about $30. (I have
no professional or personal association with either Ms. burke or burke Publishing I'm just a satisfied reader of the text.)
As a production professional, I'm fascinated with bradley's whole theory of CAd application and can't wait to-hopefully some
day, perhaps inevitably-work with a designer who practices it.
Rachel E. Pollock

2009

theatre

design

technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2009