[PDF Download] Character costume figure drawing step by step drawing methods for theatre costume des
Character Costume Figure Drawing
Step by Step Drawing Methods for Theatre Costume Designers 3rd Edition Tan Huaixiang
Visit to download the full and correct content document: https://textbookfull.com/product/character-costume-figure-drawing-step-by-step-drawi ng-methods-for-theatre-costume-designers-3rd-edition-tan-huaixiang/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant download maybe you interests ...
The Complete Guide to Drawing Action Manga: A Step-byStep Artist's Handbook Shoco
Draw Like an Artist: 100 Birds, Butterflies, and Other Insects: Step-by-Step Realistic Line Drawing - A Sourcebook for Aspiring Artists and Designers (Volume 5) (Draw Like an Artist, 5) Melissa Washburn
Character Costume FigureDrawing is an essential guide that will improve your drawing skills and costume renderings. Step-by-step visuals illustrate the how-tos of drawing body parts, costumes, accessories, faces, children, and different character archetypes, such as maternal, elderly, sassy, sexy, and evil. By focusing on the foundations of drawing bodies, including body proportion, bone structure, body masses, facial expressions, and appendages, this guide shows you how to develop sketches from stick figures to full-blown characters.
The third edition features a new chapter, Digital Mixed Media Costume Rendering. This chapter introduces the basic usages of Photoshop tools to enhance and improve costume designs, in order to provide easy delivery design ideas to the director and design team, provide easy changes and alterations during the design process, virtually apply actual fabric swatches over costume sketches, and help visualize lighting effects.
Tan Huaixiang is a Professor in Costume & Makeup Design and Technology in the Theatre Department, School of Performing Arts, at the University of Central Florida, USA. She holds an M.F.A. degree in costume design from Utah State University, USA, and a B.F.A. degree from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, China. Tan has received costume design awards including the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National First Runner-up, Kennedy Center ACTF Meritorious Achievement Awards, Regional Outstanding Teaching Artist, and Distinguished Achievement awards. She was recognized by Central Washington University, USA, for her teaching excellence and was a recipient of Teaching Incentive Program Awards from the University of Central Florida. Tan was a USITT Golden Pen Award nominee for her first edition of Character Costume FigureDrawing. Tan is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Character Costume Figure Drawing
STEP-BY-STEP DRAWING METHODS
FOR THEATRE COSTUME DESIGNERS
THIRD EDITION
Third edition published 2018 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
The right of Tan Huaixiang to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Focal Press 2010
Second edition published by Focal Press 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tan, Huaixiang, author.
Title: Character costume figure drawing : step-by-step drawing methods for theatre costume designers / Tan Huaixiang.
Description: Third edition. | New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009040| ISBN 9781138211704 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138211711 (pbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315452371 (ebk : alk. paper)
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009040
ISBN: 978-1-138-21170-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-21171-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-45237-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bodoni
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction x
What Makes a Good Theatrical Costume Designer? x
The Importance of Personality and Body Language x Philosophy for Drawing x
CHAPTER 1
DRAWING THE FIGURE 1
Proportions of the Body 2
The Basic Bone Structure of the Body 6
The Joints of the Body 6
The Head, Chest, and Pelvis 6
The Relationships between the Limbs and Body Masses 9
The Balance of the Body 9
Weight on Both Legs 9
Weight on One Leg 15
The Body Leaning on an Object 20
Figures in Action 23
Abstract Stick Figures in Action 23
Contouring the Stick Figure 24
Contouring the Stick Figure from Head to Feet 25
Figures in Dance 35
FigurePoses Change through Time and Fashion 49
Garments and Textures in Relation to the Body in Action 58
CHAPTER 2
CREATING THE FACE 67
Proportions of the Face—Front, Profile, and Three-Quarter Views 68
Step One: Establish the Head as an Abstract Form or Mass 68
Step Two: Block in the Features 70
Step Three: Contour the Features 72
Types and Characteristics of Faces 81
Facial Expressions 86
How Can Proper Facial Expression Be Achieved? 86
Emotions 86
Positioning the Head and Neck and Directing the Eyesight 105
CHAPTER 3
FIGURE AND FACIAL VARIATIONS 107
Characteristics of Different Age Groups 107
Children’s Faces and Body Types 108
Teenagers’ Faces and Body Types 112
Youths’ Faces and Body Types 112
Middle-Aged Faces and Body Types 112
Elderly Faces and Body Types 121
Characteristics of Different FigureTypes 122
Heavy Body Types 122
Thin, Tall, or Short Body Types 125
CHAPTER 4
HANDS, FEET, AND ACCESSORIES 128
Heads and Hats 129
Hands, Gloves, and Props 139
Hand Proportions 140
Relationship Angle between Hand and Wrist141
Feet and Shoes 149
CHAPTER 5
CHARACTER COSTUME DESIGN CREATION 158
What Is the Best Way to Begin? 159
Proportion, Action, and Movement 160
What Is the FigureDoing Beneath the Garments?161
Detailed Costumes 162
Outlining the Garment 162 The Details 163
CHAPTER 6
RENDERING TECHNIQUES 173
Creating Highlights and Shadows 173
Characteristics of Materials and Drawing Strokes 177
Painting Costumes 183
Painting from Light to Dark 183
Rendering Sheer Material 193
Painting from Dark to Light 194
Painting with Markers 201
Creating Texture 209
Creating a Pinstriped Suit and Plaid Dress 209
Creating Rough-Texture Fabrics 210
Painting the Head and Face 215
Decorating the Background of the Costume
Design 217
Drawing Supplies 228
CHAPTER 7
CHARACTER COSTUME FIGURES IN STYLE 229
Sketches and Renderings 230
Constructing Character Costume Figures in Musical Productions 230
Creating Character Costume Figures for the Musical The Most Happy Fella 230
Character Costume Figures for the Musical The Boy Friend 241
Character Costume Figures for the Musical Leader of The Pack 253
Character Costume Figures for the Musicals Once on This Island and Pippin 264
Character Costume Figures for the Musical Pippin 271
Character Costume Figures for a Drama/Tragedy 280
Character Figures for The Visit 280
Character Figures for Marisol 289
Character Costume Figures for a Comedy/Farce 293
Character Figures for The Learned Ladies 293
Character Costume Figures for Children’s Plays 300
Character Costume Figures for Just So 300
Character Costume Figures for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 306
CHAPTER 8
DIGITAL MIXED MEDIA COSTUME RENDERING 313
Introduction 313
Basic Functions of Painting Tools in Photoshop 314
Choose and Create Painting Brushes 317
Create Beads/Pearl and Sequins Brushes 318
Create Fur Brush 320
Create Feather Boa Brush 322
Create a Lace Brush Tip and Seamless Pattern Fill 324
Process of Painting a Costume Sketch 332
Step One: Scan or Import Sketch 332
Step Two: Check and Close Any Broken
Sketching Lines 336
Step Three: Paint on Layers 336
More Design Samples of Using the Paint Bucket Fill on Costume Renderings 349
Step One: Enlarge the Chest 349
Step Two: Pinch the Waist 350
Step Three: Erase the Mustache and Add Background 351
Adopt Actor’s Headshot into Costume Character Sketch 358
Apply and Manipulate a Fabric Swatch Over a Costume Figure Sketch 362
Create Repeat Pattern Fabric Fill 362
Define Repeat Pattern Fill on a Piece of Crooked Fabric Swatch 366
Create Repeat Pattern Fill from Irregular Print Pattern 368
Save Repeat Pattern Fill 371
Puppet Warp Pattern Fill 372
Add Highlights and Shadows with Dodge and Burn Tools Over the Fabric Fill 379
Change Pattern Fill as Costume Design Option 381
Organizing Layers 382
Make a Copy Merged Layer File 383
Warp Fabric and Displacement Map 387
Fill with Image 393
Conclusion 400
CHAPTER 9 COSTUME RENDERING GALLERY 401
Index431
Foreword
The art of costume design is multifaceted. However, many designers would agree that drawing the human body is the part of the process that is as thrilling as it is frustrating. Costume design renderings not only demonstrate the overall approach to a particular production, but provide the details and expression that illustrate each individual and nuanced characteristic.
The importance of the costume rendering as a vital collaborative tool cannot be underestimated. It must communicate concepts to the director, other designers, and the actor with the clarity and precision required for the makers, tailors, and artisans who will bring each idea to realization.
Although there are some who come to costume design already accomplished in drawing the human form, many do not. For young students and seasoned designers alike, creating a large quantity of evocative and detailed drawings is an ambitious undertaking. Indeed, freelance designers may find themselves working on multiple productions simultaneously, with less time than they would prefer to complete sketches to their satisfaction. Young students new to costuming may be continually frustrated with their inability to communicate strong ideas with weak drawing skills.
What is exceptional about Character Costume
FigureDrawing is that Tan’s approach is accessible and attainable, even for the least experienced illustrator. Her discussion of the drawing process is directed toward those very attributes that costume designers must master in their renderings: clarity, character, detail, and motion. Tan focuses on the movement of the body centered through the spine, establishing a framework within which all students can begin to think about the actor in costume.
While meeting for lunch at a conference, Tan began to tell me that she was working on a new chapter covering digital rendering. As a teacher who utilizes Tan’s methodology and book with all of my own graduate and undergraduate students, I was struck by the clarity and ease with which she walked me through her use of Photoshop. It was clear that she was able to enhance her renderings in a way that retained the integrity of her hand-drawing style.
Based on solid information and real practice in digital rendering for the costume designer, the highly relevant third edition of Tan’s Character Costume FigureDrawing addresses the use of Adobe Photoshop. With her virtuosity for drawing the human figure, Tan transports us into another method of communication.
Due to its cost- and time-effectiveness, digital rendering is quickly becoming a standard method for costume designers to get their deliverables into the hands of directors, designers, and costume makers long-distance, making needed changes quickly while remaining faithful to the original rendering. Tan’s third edition is important in that it approaches digital rendering with a standard that combines the beauty and animation of the drawing with the expeditious communication of digital tools, thus preserving the complementary relationship between art and design that is essential to effective costume rendering.
It is with enthusiasm and confidence that I share Tan’s new edition with students and begin to apply its methods and ideas into my own professional work.
Linda Pisano
Professor of Costume Design, Head of Design & Technology, Indiana University Theatre, Drama & Contemporary Dance
Preface
Igenuinely appreciate the valuable suggestions and advice from all my friends, colleagues, and readers, who helped me to develop this third edition.
It’s beneficial for costume designers to continually learn and grow in their craft, while keeping up with the latest in technology, especially when it can help them become more efficient, better artists. In recent years, I have colored my costume renderings with Photoshop Painting Tools. I use Photoshop as an aid to enhance and accelerate my costume design process. Most importantly, using Photoshop painting tools provides options for alterations during the design process. Most of my costume renderings are not painted in a “precise/ perfect” way. My intention is that they portray a sketchy look. In the new Chapter 8—Digital Mixed Costume Rendering—I provide an introduction to Photoshop painting tools. I am continually exploring and learning new things as I go.
Through my experience teaching theatre costume design students at the university level for many years, I have witnessed time and time again that students struggle and become frustrated when drawing human figures. I know they need guidance and instruction as they are practicing their drawings in order to improve their skills as costume
designers. I feel like it’s my responsibility to write this book to guide students when they’re struggling, and I hope that this book will greatly help all prospective designers out there.
My goal for this book is to provide a simple, efficient, and straightforward approach. Because English is my second language, it has been quite difficult for me to precisely express myself, so I hope the visual images will help out. Some days I felt like it was impossible to finish and wanted to give up, but the desire to help students inspired me to continue.
The illustrations throughout this book demonstrate my methods in an easy-to-follow, stepby-step format. I have incorporated numerous examples of my own costume designs into each subject to further illustrate how to utilize line quality, form, and texture to create facial expression, body language, character, and attire.
I hope this book can be useful to both students and casual readers. Students and professionals who are interested in a variety of character drawings may use it as a refresher or as a source of inspiration. I hope that this third edition will encourage students and foster in them enjoyment of the process of figure drawing and design artwork. If this can be achieved for each student, it will be very rewarding for me.
Acknowledgments
Ithank Focal Press for allowing me the opportunity to write and publish the third edition of Character Costume FigureDrawing and for their unending support and encouragement along the way.
I extend a special thanks to Bonnie J. Kruger, who introduced me to Focal Press for my first book; otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to write the second and third editions.
Special thanks to Professor Bill Brewer for all his support and mentoring regarding this edition and to Linda Pisano for her valuable suggestions.
I thank all my professors at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, China, including: Hou Qidi, Ma Chi, Xing Dalun, Wang Ren, Li Chang, Zhang Bingyao, Qi Mudong, Zhang Chongqing, He Yunlan, Yie Ming, An Lin, Wang Xiping, Sun Mu, and Li Dequan. They are the ones who laid the foundation for me to pursue my dreams and achieve what I have today. They nurtured and motivated me to start my costume and makeup design career, and their influence has changed my life.
I thank the professors in the Department of Theatre Arts at Utah State University—Colin B. Johnson, Sid Perks, Voce Call, and Bruce E. McInroy—for their kindness, advice, patience, and support. They helped me endure and overcome graduate school, a difficult period in my life. They provided opportunities for me to work on many productions and created many learning experiences for me. Their guidance has led me to accomplish what I have today.
I want to thank all of my former theatre department chairmen in the United States with
whom I’ve worked for encouraging and guiding me: Sid Perks, Utah State University; Bruce A. Levitt, Cornell University; Buck Favorony, University of Pittsburgh; Wesley Van Tassel, Central Washington University; and Donald Seay, Joseph Rusnock, Roberta Salon, Steven Chicurel-Stein, Christopher Niess, and Jeffrey Moore, University of Central Florida; and a big thanks to my colleague Earl Weaver for his unconditional support all these years at the University of Central Florida.
Many thanks to the entire faculty and staff at the Theatre Department, School of Performing Arts; and especially to Arlene Flores, Maureen Landgraf, and Samuel Waters for helping me when I needed it most.
I thank my dear friends Xiangyun Jie, Julia Zheng, Helen Huang, Peiran Teng, Dunsi Dai, Liming Tang, Haibou Yu, Wenhai Ma, Lu Yi, and Rujun Wang for their unconditional love and support and wise advice. You all put a smile on my face when I needed it most.
I thank my parents for teaching and disciplining me to become the strong person I am today. I owe a big thanks to my dear, talented daughter, Yingtao Zhang, for proofreading my manuscript. Her inspiration and creativity continually sparked ideas for the book. Additional thanks to my husband, Juli Zhang, for his unconditional love and support towards my professional career.
Finally, I thank all my students for their tolerance in allowing me to be their instructor and allowing me to continue to learn and grow in my career.
Introduction
The third edition contains the following new visual images: (a) replaced figures 4–7 to 4–11, and 4–27 to 4–31 in Chapter 1; (b) replaced character figures for The Learned Ladies Figure7–8A to G; (c) a new Chapter 8, Digital Mixed Character Costume Rendering, which demonstrates selective Photoshop render techniques; (d) Costume Rendering Gallery: removed 9–3A, 9–7A to D, and added 13 new costume renderings.
The new Chapter 8, just like the first and second editions, provides a simple visual guide that focuses on selected Photoshop rendering techniques and demonstrates different ways of painting costumes. Throughout all the illustrations, you will see dimension and diversity in the characters. Facial expressions, body language, body action, and props are incorporated to clearly characterize each figure. Photoshop painting techniques include: create brushes, pattern fills, puppet warp and warp fabric swatches over the costume figures, render costumes, and create backgrounds.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD THEATRICAL COSTUME DESIGNER?
I would never say that a person who draws beautiful pictures is a good costume designer. A good costume designer must have many other qualities and capabilities, such as imagination and knowledge of theatre, world history, theatre history, costume history, and literature. The designer must retain
good communication and organization skills; possess research and technical skills like drawing, rendering, computer graphics, costume construction, crafts, millinery, and personnel management; be a good team player; and even be in good health. All these factors make a wonderful, even ideal costume designer. Drawing and painting skills are tools for helping a designer develop and express visual images and design concepts. Renderings are not the final product—the final product is the actual stage costume made suitable and proper for the actors.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSONALITY AND BODY LANGUAGE
To capture the impression of a character’s spirit is always a goal when developing character figure drawings. By nature, we all relate to human emotion, because we all experience it. Characters are human beings, and human beings all possess personalities. To portray a character’s emotions and personality on paper is a challenge, but well worth the results. When I create costume designs, I try not only to illustrate the costumes, but also to portray a completed characterization. I try to manipulate every body part to build compositional beauty and artistically express the power of a character’s substance. Every gesture, action, facial expression, and accessory will add meaning and entertainment to the design. People say that we should not judge a person by his or her appearance, but when an actor appears
on stage, his or her appearance becomes significant. The character’s body language reflects the soul and spirit of the character, and an interesting gesture helps display the style of the costumes. Using body language to emphasize the personality and status of a character is to give the character an exciting appearance. Character figures enhance and adorn the costume designs, and they communicate with the director, actor, other designers, and the production team. Expressing the personality of the character in your drawings is like the saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
PHILOSOPHY FOR DRAWING
Drawing human figures should be fun. Nobody was born an innate artist and nobody will become one overnight, but I believe that with some effort, anybody can draw. Although improving your drawing skills requires tremendous effort, enjoying it and being interested will greatly help. When you are driven to do well, you will. Watch, listen, and absorb.
To develop a more positive attitude, consider this: just do it. Work helps. Avoid a pessimistic and sluggish attitude. Desire and dedication are the discipline of a career, and work is the language of that discipline.
POSITIVITY! CONFIDENCE! PRACTICE! SUCCESS!
1 1
Drawing the Figure
My objective in writing this book is to show how to draw figures using a simple and easy drawing method. Specifically, the book is intended to help theatre students improve their drawing skills so that they can give effective design presentations. Most theatre students do not have any solid drawing training, or any human anatomy or figure-drawing courses in their curricula. Drawing requires a lot of practice and knowledge of the proportions of the human body. I believe that with effort, anybody can draw. Theatre students typically have to do production assignments and work in the shops, helping to build either scenery or costumes for the production. Their time is occupied with those assignments, leaving them little time to improve their drawing skills. That is why I am trying to find a short, easy, and fast way to help them improve their drawing abilities. The methods in this book can be used without a model. However, if theatre students have the opportunity to draw the human figure from live models, they should do so. Drawing live models is a tremendous help in understanding the human body.
PROPORTIONS OF THE BODY
There are many concepts or methods for measuring the divisions of the human body. The eight-headstall figure proportion method is often used by artists or fashion illustrators. Some fashion drawings may use eight-and-a-half- or nine-heads-tall figures to demonstrate the garments, using a slim, sophisticated image. Realism is not the intent of fashion designers or illustrators. Rather, their objective is to create a stylized or exaggerated version of reality, which today is a tall, slim, and athletic figure, with a long neck and long legs. Fashion illustrations emphasize the current ideals or trends of fashion beauty. The thin body and specific poses are designed to enhance the garments. Fashion illustrators are creating the images of fashionable products to stimulate customers to purchase the garments. Beautiful illustrations can impress and influence customers to buy and wear the advertised clothing.
Costume designs for theatrical productions are quite different from fashion illustrations. The costume designer uses the history of fashion as a reference for creating costumes for many varieties of characters or groups of characters in plays. The characters are everyday-life people: young or old, thin or heavy, short or tall, with different nationalities and particular personalities. Costume design for productions requires creating practical garments that are going to be worn on stage by believable characters who have well-defined personalities. Sometimes a well-defined character costume design can inspire the actors and enhance the design presentation for the production team. In my drawings and designs, I try to emphasize a realistic style of body proportions, but I use slightly exaggerated facial features and body language to create characters with personality.
The real creative challenge is how to express personalities of characters.
Most of the proportions of the body that I used in this book are based on the theories of proportions used in many other art books. There are fantastic art books from which you can learn about the proportions of the body and about figure drawing techniques, such as Bridgman’s Complete Guide to Drawing from Life, by George B. Bridgman (Sterling, 2001); The Complete Book of Fashion Illustration, by Sharon Lee Tate and Mona Shafer Edwards (Prentice Hall, 1995); The Human Figure: An Anatomy for Artists, by David K. Rubins (Penguin, 1975); Drawing the Head and Figure, by Jack Hamm (Perigee, 1982); and Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards (Tarcher, rev. ed. 1999). These books helped me improve my understanding of the human body and taught me how to present the body well. You can study the rules and principles of figure drawing, but you have to learn how to use them through practice.
To give my characters a realistic appearance, I slightly change the size of the head. Compared to the eight-heads-tall proportions, I enlarge the head to extend outside the usual boundary of the first head area. This enlarges the head in proportion to the top half of the body. I keep the feet within the bottom-half portion of the body. When I start the foundation of a figure, however, I still start with the eight-heads-tall method because it is an even number and easier to divide for calculation purposes. My divisions on the body may differ from other books, but the measurements work for my figure drawings. My primary intent is to have a system that is easy to use.
The key for developing a character figure drawing that is in proportion is to keep the top half (from the crotch up to the top of the skull) equal to the bottom half (from the crotch down to the bottom of the feet).
The crotch is the main division point. The head can actually be made either a little bigger or smaller. A small head will make the figure look taller or thinner; a bigger head will make the figure look shorter or chubbier. When keeping these measurements in mind, the figure will always look right.
I recommend that you use the following steps to create a figure drawing until you become familiar with body proportions. Refer to Figures 1–1 and 1–2 as you complete these steps:
1.Place two marks on the paper—one on the top portion of the page, one on the bottom portion of the page—to indicate the height of the body. Then draw a vertical line from the top mark to the bottom mark. The composition of the figure should be considered; that is, keeping the figure centered or off-centered, more to the left or to the right side, and so on. These guidelines control the figure height.
2.Draw a mark at the middle point of the vertical line to find the middle point of the body. This mark is where the crotch is located and is also the half-height of the body. I am going to call the area from this mark up the upper half of the body. To me, this mark is the most critical reference point for good proportions of the body. (See Figure1–1, mark #5.)
3.Divide the upper body from the top mark to the crotch line into four equal parts. This creates five marks but four portions. Number all the marks: The very top mark, mark #1, is the top of the skull; we won’t use mark #2; mark #3 is the armpit; mark #4 is the waistline; and mark #5 is the half-body mark (it is also the crotch, pelvis, or hipline). The very bottom mark drawn in step 1 is mark #6. I will refer by numbers to these six marks extensively in the discussion that follows.
4.Make the head bigger compared to mark #2 (usually considered the chin in measurement systems used in other drawing books). The head will be increased by adding a distance approximately the size of a chin from mark #2 down (see letter A on the sketch in Figure1–1). This shortens the neck. Fashion drawings usually are just the opposite, showing a longer neck. The mark at letter A is going to be the bottom of the chin.
5.Draw an egg-shaped frame between the top mark and the chin mark, A, to indicate the shape of the head.
6.Divide the distance between mark #2 and the armpit line (mark #3) in half and mark it as letter B; this mark is going to be the shoulder line or collarbone. Generally speaking, the width of the shoulders is a measurement about two heads wide for females and two-and-a-half heads wide for males. Measure the width of the shoulders and add two marks (see letter C in Figure1–1).
7.Divide the distance between mark #2 and the shoulder line, B, in half and add another mark. This mark helps to establish the shoulder-slope line (see letter D in Figure1–1). Look at the sketch and review this in detail.
8.Divide the distance between the armpit (mark #3) and the waistline (mark #4) into four equal parts. Now you have drawn three marks to create four parts. The first mark from the top of this group is the bustline (see letter E in Figure1–1); this mark usually refers to the nipples position or bustline. The third mark from the top is the bottom of the rib cage (see letter F in Figure1–1). The second mark is not used.
9.Divide the distance between the waistline (mark #4) and the crotch or hipline (mark #5) into four equal parts. The first mark is the top of the pelvis (see letter G in Figure1–1). The male pelvis width is different from the female. The female hip width is usually wider than her
shoulders. The male hip width is less wide than the shoulders. For both males and females, the width of the top of the pelvis usually equals the width of the bottom of the rib cage or chest. The bottom of the pelvis/hipline/crotch line is wider than the width of the top of the pelvis
1–1 Proportion of the Body, Marks A through H
(see letter H in Figure 1–1). The hipline’s width will depend on whether you are drawing a female or male. The other two marks are not used.
10.Treat the chest/rib cage as a tapered box (refer to Figure1–2). Connect the shoulder line with
the bottom of the rib cage to make a tapereddown box. The shoulder should be wider than the bottom of the rib cage. Keep both sides of the body symmetrical with the body centerline. The pit of the neck is at the middle of the shoulder line—it is the body centerline.
1–2 Proportion of the Body, Marks I through M
11.Treat the pelvis as a tapered-up box. Connect the top of the pelvis line with the bottom of the pelvis line (mark #5, also the hipline/crotch line) to draw a tapered-up box. The female hipline is wider than the male hipline.
12.The area from the crotch down will be for the legs and feet. The legs join the pelvis at the hipline. Before starting to draw the legs, divide the distance between mark #5 (crotch line) and mark #6 (the bottom of the feet) into four equal parts. Then mark them from the top down (see letters I, J, and K in Figure1–2).
13.Divide the distance between K and mark #6 into three equal parts. The feet are drawn in the bottom third (see letter L in Figure1–2).
14.Draw two lines from both corners of mark #5 (hipline/crotch) down to letter L to indicate the legs. Keep them symmetrical. Then divide these two lines in half; the middle marks on these two lines are the knee positions (see letter M in Figure1–2). This method of drawing leg length avoids the leggy look of fashion-illustration figures. Our objective is to create a realistic look corresponding to the actors, rather than a fashion ideal.
15.The arms join to the chest at the shoulder line. In human anatomy theory, the upper arm from the shoulder to the elbow is longer than the distance from the elbow to the wrist. In my method, I treat them as two equal parts in length for an easy calculation ratio. When the arm is hanging down, the elbow usually lines up with the waistline. The measurement from the shoulder to the elbow should equal the measurement from the elbow to the wrist. From the elbow joint, measure down to indicate the placement of the wrist.
16.Add hands to the wrists. The fingertips usually stop at letter I (the fifth head in other books).
Asian people often have shorter arms, African people usually have longer arms, and Caucasians often have arms that are longer than Asians’ but shorter than Africans’. There are many variations and exceptions to any racial generality.
1–3 Proportions of the Body, Stick Structure, Front and Back Views
17.As shown in Figure1–3, contour the body according to the basic bone/stick structure (see the section, “Contouring the Stick Figure”). Figures 1–4 and 1–5 show the contouring lines for the male and female body, respectively.
The proportions of the body, either seven or eight heads tall, work only for the body standing in a
1–4 Contouring Lines for the Male Body, Front and Back Views
Drawing the Figure 5
straight position. When the body is bending or the head is facing up or down, you cannot apply the measurements to the body because of foreshortening.
The body measurement methods used in this book are not the only methods you should follow, but I recommend you use my system as a guide or reference for drawing stage costumes.
1–5 Contouring Lines for the Female Body, Front and Back Views
THE BASIC BONE STRUCTURE OF THE BODY
The bone structure in this book is symbolic and abstract. It is not my intention to copy the real human skeleton. My objective in using a simple and abstract bone structure is to make it easier to draw and understand, and easier to obtain the proper proportions of the figures. The shape of the human body is complex. To draw it well, you need to spend extensive time studying bones and muscles. Unfortunately, in most cases, theatre students don’t have a long time to study the human anatomy. The simplified abstract bone structure used here is going to help students to better understand the human body and its movements (see Figure1–6).
The skeleton dominates and directs all surfaces of the body, and the bone joints determine and dominate all the movements of the body. We must discuss the basic bone structure of the human body to understand body movements. To keep it clear and simple, my discussion is focused on the basic length and width of the outer edges of the skeleton, and on the major joints of the skeleton. The outer edges of the skeleton include the outline of the skull and the outline, or frame, of the chest and pelvis masses. The major joints include the spine, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip/leg, knee, and ankle. In real life, the chest and pelvis are irregular shapes. In this book, I am going to use either boxes or abstract shapes to demonstrate the body parts. Small circles will be used for each joint. Abstract sticks will be used for the length of the bone. The length of the bones between the forearm and upper arm, and between the lower leg and thigh, may differ in real skeletons, but I will make them equal distances here because it will be easier to calculate the proportion ratio.
1–6 The Abstract Skeleton of the Body and Its Joints
The Joints of the Body
Joints connect or hinge together two things. There are many joints on the human body. The spine joins the head mass, chest mass, and pelvis mass. The collarbone, shoulder blade, and arm are joined together at the shoulder and connected with the chest as a unit. Joints are capable of moving in many directions within their limitations. Each arm has its own joints: shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger. Each leg also has its joints: hip, knee, ankle, and toe. Each joint directs body movements. In figure drawing, when joints are in the correct positions, they will show comfortable movements
and body rhythm with natural expressiveness as a whole. Incorrect positions will make the figures seem stiff or lopsided. Through our experiences during our daily activities, we know how joints work. But showing the joints properly through drawing is critical and requires practice. The bone joints allow us to move our body parts comfortably and also inform us of the limitations of our joints. Consider and study how your own joints work; practice stick figure drawings to analyze the joint functions and limitations in different positions.
The Head, Chest, and Pelvis
There are three major masses of the human body— the head, chest, and pelvis. They are joined together by the spine, which controls the movements and turning directions of the head, chest, and pelvis. The significant fact here is that these three masses are able to move independently of one another (see Figure1–7).
Making the three masses move in different directions will add dramatic excitement and personality to the figure. When the body moves, the balance has to be maintained. The proper angles between the body masses maintain this balance. The neck area of the spine usually has more flexibility than the lumbar spine. The flexible spine allows the head, chest, and pelvis to face up, down, or sideways, or to turn around. When each mass faces in different directions, you will see twisting movements.
When the body is in action, the body centerline becomes curved. This line can also be called the action line. When the body bends or twists, it creates angles or curves between each mass. If the body is in a standing position, you will see the level of each mass forming a 90-degree right angle to the spine—the centerline of the body. When the body
Drawing the Figure 7
1–7 The Body Masses and Their Movements
bends forward, it brings the front of the chest and the front of the pelvis close together to form an angle, while stretching the distance between the back of the chest and pelvis, forming a curved line. When the body bends to either side, it brings one side of the chest and one side of the pelvis close together, forming an angle between them, and stretches the distance between the other side of the
chest and pelvis, forming a curved line. You will see the same pattern when the body bends backward. When the body is in a twisting position, the body centerline and the outline of the body become curvy lines rather than sharp angles. The three masses can be turned and twisted in different directions within spine limitations, but the chest and pelvis always move in opposite directions from each other in order
to keep the body in balance; otherwise, the body would fall.
The head, chest, and pelvis are joined together by the spine and move independently of one another. Make the blocks move in different directions to add dramatic excitement and personality to the figure.
8 CHAPTER 1
A small turn of the body gives some action to the figure. A full or exaggerated turn or twisting of the body increases the dramatic action and attitude of the character, and gives a loud or screaming emotional statement. Try to manipulate these three
1–8 Turning the Three Body Masses
masses by turning them in different directions, allowing them to speak for your characters’ actions. When you make the three masses face different directions (see Figure1–8), you will immediately see your character alive and active. It is essential in
character drawing to establish the relationships of the head to the torso, the head to the neck, the head to the chest, and the chest to the pelvis. These relationships portray a great deal of the personality of the character.
Drawing the Figure 9
The Relationships between the Limbs and Body Masses
We have discussed how the arms are joined to the chest, and how the legs are joined to the hipbone/ pelvis. Therefore, when the chest and pelvis move in different directions, the arms should follow the chest as a unit, and the legs should follow the pelvis as a unit. The limbs cannot be considered as separate objects from their units (see Figure 1–9). For example, when the body is in an erect standing position, the chest and pelvis masses are in horizontal lines parallel to each other. The joints of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist as well as the joints of the hip, knee, and ankle will be parallel to their units. But when the chest moves in a direction that makes the right side of the shoulder higher than the left side, the right shoulder and arm will go higher as well. When many students draw this position, they draw the arms at the same level. They forget the arms are connected to the chest mass.
Arm and leg movements also partially control the levels of the chest and pelvis. When one arm rises higher than the other arm, the shoulder of the rising arm will go higher. When one leg supports the weight of the body, this leg will push this side of the pelvis higher and in a tilted position. The pelvis can be pushed up because the flexible lumbar spine allows the pelvis to be tilted. The relaxed-leg side of the pelvis line and hipline will be dropped. The nonsupporting leg
usually steps forward, keeping a relaxed or bending position to compensate for the length of the weighted leg and the drop of the pelvis mass. Most costume designers create their figures for designing costumes without live models. They draw the figures from their heads or from reference books or magazines. Once you understand how the human structure and joints work, you will feel at ease and comfortable with your drawings. You will be able to create your own characters of motion in a variety of positions in order to demonstrate the costumes and personalities of the roles in the play.
THE BALANCE OF THE BODY
The human body is uniquely and symmetrically balanced. The human body also has a natural balance ability. The weight of the body often swings back and forth from one leg to the other when the body is walking. When the body is turning or twisting, it creates angles and curves in order to keep the body balanced. This principle is like the balance in a sculptured object. If the bottom portion of the sculpture leans to one side, then the top portion of the sculpture must lean in the opposite direction to maintain the balance of the whole piece. To create a more sophisticated sense of movements or actions, define the body language by employing twisted angles and curves facing in
different directions. To keep the body wellbalanced, locate the center of gravity for the figure. These are the important elements in helping us understand and draw human figures. Keep the movement liquid and the balance solid.
Weight on Both Legs
The spine is the centerline of the body, from where all body parts are symmetrically balanced. The joints of the body are lined up and parallel to each other. Due to the force of gravity, no matter how the body moves, there is always a center of gravity line from the pit of the neck directly down to the ground. This gravity line will never change to curved or angled, but the body centerline will change to curved when the body is in action. When the body is standing straight, all body weight is distributed equally on two legs (see Figure1–10). The body centerline is straight. The center of gravity line overlaps with the body centerline, starting from the pit of the neck and extending directly down between the middle of the two feet to the ground, whether the feet are in a closed or open position. All the horizontal lines (the shoulder line, bustline, waistline, pelvis line, hipline) are parallel to the ground and form 90-degree angles with the body centerline.
Figures 1–11 through 1–16 are design samples showing weight on both legs.
The Relationships between the Limbs and the Three Masses
1–10 Weight on Both Legs
1–11 Design Sample of Weight on Both Legs
Look Homeward, Angel
1–12 Design Sample of Weight on Both Legs
Look Homeward, Angel
1–13 Design Sample of Weight on Both Legs—Tintypes
Drawing the Figure 13
1–14 Design Sample of Weight on Both Legs—Tintypes
1–15 Design Sample of Weight on Both Legs—Tintypes 1–16 Design Sample of Weight on Both Legs—Tintypes 14 CHAPTER 1
Weight on One Leg
Weight on one leg is a common pose for costume design figure drawings (see Figure1–17). It gives the figure characteristic action and attitude for showing the costumes. There are many designs using one leg support, but the principle of balancing the body is the same. When the body weight shifts to one leg, the pelvis swings out to the side of the weight-supporting leg. The swing causes the body centerline to become curved and separate from the center of gravity line (the center of gravity line overlaps with the body centerline in the two-leg support pose). This curved body centerline is considered an action line as well. The degree of the curve is based on half or full actions/movements. A half action/ movement will show a soft or shallow curve at the body centerline; a full action/movement will show a deeper curve at the body centerline. To balance the body so it doesn’t fall, the weight-supporting foot will naturally be located where the center of gravity line ends on the ground. We discussed that the center of gravity line goes directly down from the pit of the neck to the ground. Therefore, the weight-supporting foot should be located there. This is a rule for balancing the body in figure drawings. You will read similar information in all art books on figure drawings. The center of gravity line is the key to balancing the body, figuring out a stable-standing figure, and checking if the weight-supporting foot is in the correct location—where the center of gravity line ends on the ground. Drawing the Figure 15
1–17 Weight on One Leg
We discussed how the chest and pelvis masses work and the relationship between the limbs and the masses. I will highlight the important points one more time: the head, chest, and pelvis are joined by the spine but move independently to offer us a variety of bodily movements and positions. When body weight is on one leg, this side of the pelvis swings out and tilts toward the relaxed leg because the weight-supporting leg pushes the pelvis up. The relaxed side of the pelvis drops down, and the joined leg follows. The knee and ankle of this leg will be lower than the knee and ankle of the weightsupporting leg. The nonsupporting leg may also be in a bending or relaxed position.
When the pelvis tilts to one side, the chest will tilt in the opposite direction in order to balance the body. This creates an angle between the chest and pelvis and causes the body centerline to be curved. The shoulder line, armpit line, bustline, elbows, wrists, and hands are parallel. In the pelvis unit, the pelvis line, hipline, kneecaps, and ankles are parallel and move in the same directions because the pelvis and legs are a unit, just like the chest and arms are a unit. When they move, they move together as a whole.
Figures 1–18 through 1–24 are design samples showing weight on one leg.
1–18 Design Sample of Weight on One Leg—Tintypes
1–19 Design Sample of Weight on One Leg—Tintypes
Drawing the Figure 17
1–20 Design Sample of Weight on One Leg—Tintypes
18 CHAPTER 1
1–21 Design Sample of Weight on One Leg—Tintypes
1–22 Design Sample of Weight on One Leg—Tintypes
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
CHAPTER XXXIV
TITA INTERVENES
Under the trees, as Gordon listened to the gondolier, the night grew deeper. The moonlight that mellowed over the pine forests spectrally outspread, the burnished river and the town before them, misted each hedge and tree with silver. A troubadour nightingale bubbled in the middle distance from some palazzo garden and from the nearer osteria came sounds of bustle. Through all breathed the intimate soft wind of the south bearing the smell of lime-blossoms and of sleeping bean-fields.
Wonder at Tita’s appearance had melted into a great wave of gladness that swept him at the sudden knowledge that she, Teresa, was there in Ravenna near him, mistress of Casa Guiccioli, whose very portal he had passed that afternoon. But the joy had died speedily; thereafter every word had seemed to burn itself into his heart.
“If he hated her, why did he wish to make her his contessa? Tell me that, Excellence! It has been so all these weeks, ever since her wedding. Sometimes I have heard him sneer at her—always about you, Excellence—how he knew she ever saw you I cannot tell! His servants go spying—spying, always when she is out of the casa.”
The man who listened turned his head with a movement of physical pain, as Tita went on, resentfully:
“And she is a Gamba, born to be a great lady! If she left him, he would bring her back, unless she went from Italy. And who is to help her do that? Her brother is in another land. Her father is sick and she will not tell him anything. There is none but me in Casa Guiccioli who does not serve the signore too well! I thought—” he finished, twisting his red cap in his great fingers, “I thought—if I told you—you would take her away from him, to your own country, maybe.”
Gordon almost smiled in his anguish. To the simple soul of this loyal servant, on whom conventional morals sat with Italian lightness, here was an uncomplex solution! Turn household highwayman and fly from the states of the Church to enjoy the plunder! And of all places —to England! Open a new domestic chapter in some provincial British country-side as “Mr. Smith,” perhaps, “a worthy retired merchant of Lima!” The bitter humor couched in the fancy made sharper his pang of utter impotence. Italy was not England, he thought grimly. In that very difference had lain ship-wreck for them both. Teresa could not leave her husband openly, as Annabel had left him! The Church of Rome knew no divorce, and inside its bond only a papal decree could give her the right to live apart from her husband under her own father’s roof.
Tita’s voice spoke again, eagerly: “You will come, Excellence? The signore is from Ravenna now, at one of his estates in Romagna— you can see her! None shall know, if you come with me. You will, Excellence?”
To see her again! Gordon had not realized how much it meant till tonight, when the possibility found him quivering from his disappointment at the convent. A stolen hour with her! Why not? Yet —discovery. Her husband’s servants, spies upon her every moment! To steal secretly to her thus unbidden and perhaps crowd upon her a worse catastrophe than that at San Lazzarro!
He shook his head. “No. Not unless she knows I am here and bids me come.”
“I will go and tell her, Excellence!”
“Tell her I did not know she was in Ravenna, but that—that I would die to serve her. Say that!”
“You will wait here, Excellence?”
“Yes.”
Tita swung round and disappeared. It seemed an immeasurable time that Gordon waited, striding fiercely up and down, listening to every sound. At the inn a late diligence had
unloaded its contingent of chattering tourists for the night. He could hear phrases spoken in English. The words bore a myriad-voiced suggestion, yet how little their appeal meant to him at that moment! All England, save for Ada, was less to him then than a single house there in Ravenna—and a convent buried in the forest under that moon. On such another perfect day and amber night, he thought, he had found Teresa’s miniature and had fled with Jane Clermont. Now substance and shadow had replaced one another. To-day Jane had touched his life vaguely and painfully in passing from it! Teresa was the sole reality What would she say? What word would Tita bring?
Long as it seemed, it was in fact less than an hour before the gondolier stood again before him.
Ten minutes later they were in the streets of the town, avoiding its lighted thoroughfares, walking swiftly, Tita in the lead. At length, threading a lane between walled gardens flanking great houses whose fronts frowned on wider avenues, they stood before a columned gate. This Gordon’s guide unlocked.
“I will watch here,” he said. “You will not tell her I came to you first of my own thought, Excellence?” he added anxiously.
“I will not tell her,” answered Gordon. He entered with a loudly beating heart.
CHAPTER XXXV
IN THE CASA GARDEN
The close was still—only the flutter of moths and the plash of a fountain tinkling wetly. Here and there in the deeper shade of cloistral walks, the moonlight, falling through patches of young leaves, flecked bloodless bacchantes and bronze Tritons nestling palely in shrub tangles of mimosa. This was all Gordon distinguished at first as he moved, his hands before him, his feet feeling their way on the cool sward.
Suddenly a low breath seemed to pierce the stillness. A sense of nearness rushed upon him. His arm, outstretched, touched something yielding.
“Teresa!” he cried, and his hands found hers and drew her close to him. In that first moment of silence he was keenly conscious of her breath against his cheek, hurried and warm.
“I know—I know,” he said in a choked voice. “Tita told me all. I would give my body inch by inch, my blood drop by drop to give back to your life what I have taken from it!”
She shook her head. “You have taken nothing from it. Before that night on the square it held nothing—I have learned that since.”
She was feeling a sense of exaltation. Since the day at San Lazzarro she had never expected to see him again. To her he had been a glorious spirit, struggling for lost foothold on the causeways of redemption. In her mental picture he had stood always as she had seen him on the monastery path, pale, clad in a monk’s coarse robe, the vesture of earthly penance. This picture had blotted out his past, whatever it had been, whatever of rumor was true or false, whatever she may for a time have believed. Every word he had spoken remained a living iterate memory. And the thought that her hand had drawn him to his better self had filled her with a painful ecstasy.
“Teresa,” he said unsteadily, “I long ago forfeited every right to hope and happiness. And if this were not true, by a tie that holds me, and by a bond you believe in, I have still no right to stand here now. But fate drew me here to-day—as it drew me to you that morning at La Mira. It is stronger than I—stronger than us both. Yet I have brought you nothing but misery!”
“You have brought me much more than that,” she interrupted. “I knew nothing of life when I met you. I have learned it now as you must have known it to write as you have. I know that it is vaster than I ever dreamed—more sorrowful, but sweeter, too.”
A stone bench showed near, wound with moonbeams, and she sat down, making room beside her. In the white light she seemed unreal —a fantasy in wild-rose brocade. A chain of dull gold girdled her russet hair, dropping a single emerald to quiver and sparkle on her forehead. Her face was pale, but with a shadowy something born of those weeks.
What he saw there was awakened self-reliance and mettle, the birthright of clean inheritance. The wedding gondola that had borne a girl to San Lazzarro had carried back a woman, rebellious, agonized, flushed to every nerve. She had opposed a woman’s pride to the hatred that otherwise would have made the ensuing time a slow unrolling nightmare; had taken her place passively as mistress of the gloomy casa with its atmosphere of cold grandeur and miserliness, thankful that its host was niggardly of entertainment, enduring as best she might the petty persecution with which the old count surrounded her. His anger, soured by the acid sponge of jealousy, had fed itself daily with this baiting. He believed she had come smirched from the very altar to his name and place. Yet he had no proof, and to make the scandal public—to put her away—would have seared his pride, laid him open to the wrath of her kin, brought her brother back to Italy to avenge the slight upon their house, and most of all to be dreaded, would have necessitated the repayment of her dowry. A slow and secret satisfaction was all he had, and under it her spirit had galled and chafed him. In this strait she had had no confidant, for her father, aging rapidly and failing, she would not sadden, and whenever he drove to Casa Guiccioli from his villa,
some miles from the town,—sole relic of his wasted properties,—had striven to conceal all evidence of unhappiness. Even when she had determined on a momentous step—a secret appeal to the papal court for such a measure of freedom as was possible—she had determined not to tell him yet. Grief and repression had called to the surface the latent capabilities which in the girl had been but promises, and these spoke now to Gordon in a beauty strong, eager and far-divining.
“What I have known of life is not its sweets,” he answered in bitterness. “I have gathered its poison-flowers, and their perfume clings to the life I live now.”
“But it will not be so,” she said earnestly. “I believe more than you told me at La Mira—when you said it had been one of your faults that you had never justified yourself. You were never all they said. Something tells me that. If you did evil, it was not because you chose it or took pleasure in it. For a while I doubted everything, but that day at San Lazzarro, when I saw you—the moment you spoke—it came back to me. No matter what I might think or hear again, in my heart I should always believe that now!”
He put out his hand, a gesture of hopelessness and protest. His mind was crying out against the twin implacables, Time and Space. If man could but push back the Now to Then, enweave the There and Here! If in such a re-formed universe, He and She might this hour be standing—no irrevocable past, only the new Now! What might not life yield up for him, of its burgeoning, not of its corruption, its hope, not of its despair!
“That day!” he repeated. “I saw you in the gondola. I would have spared you that meeting.”
“Yet that was what told me. If I had not seen you there—” She paused.
The chains of his repression clung about him like the load of broken wings. The knowledge that had come as he walked the floor of his monastery room with the burn of a blow on his forehead, had spelled abnegation. She must never know the secret he carried—must in time forget her own. Once out, he could never shackle it again. He completed her sentence:
“You would have forgotten the sooner.”
“I should never have forgotten,” she said softly. He was silent. He dared not look at her face, but he saw her hands, outstretched, clasping her knee.
Presently—he could not guess the dear longing for denial that made her tone shake now!—she said:
“Tita told me that—when you came to Ravenna—you had not known —”
He rose to his feet, feeling the chains weakening, the barriers of all that had lain unspoken, yet not unfelt, burning away.
“It was true,” he answered, confronting her “I did not know it. But if I had known all I know to-night, I would have crossed seas and mountains to come to you! Now that I have seen you—what can I do? Teresa! Teresa!”
The exclamation held trenchant pain—something else, too, that for the life of him he could not repress. It pierced her with a darting rapture.
Since that hour at the monastery, with its pang and its reassurance, as she felt budding those new, mysterious flowers of faith and heart experience, she had felt a deeper unguessed want. Over and over she had repeated to herself the last words he had said before that painful interruption: “Because it was a prayer of yours for me.” Her soul had been full of a vague, unphrased yearning for all the meanings that might lie unexpressed in the coupling of those two words. So now, as she heard him speak her name in that shaken accent, her heart thrilled.
“Ah,” she breathed, “then you care—so much?”
His fingers clenched. He was torn with two emotions: selfabasement, and a hungry desire, lashed by propinquity, to take her in his arms, to defy vow and present, be the consequence what it might. There came upon him again the feeling that had gripped him when she stood with him among the circling maskers, violet-eyed, lilac-veined, bright with new impulses, passionate and lovely. He leaned toward her. If she but knew how he cared!
A sound startled them both. Her hand grasped his with apprehensive fingers as she listened. “Look! There beyond the hedge. A shadow moved.”
He looked. Only an acacia stirred in the light air
“It is nothing,” he reassured her. “Tita is at the gate.”
“Oh,” she said fearfully, “I should not have said come. There is risk for you here.”
“What would I not have risked?”
“Listen!”
Another sound came to both now, the pounding of horses’ hoofs, borne over the roof from the street—the rumble of heavy coach wheels. It ceased all at once, and lights sprang into windows across the shrubbery.
She came to her feet as Tita hurried toward them. “It is the signore,” warned the gondolier.
“Dio mio!” she whispered. “Go—go quickly!”
He caught her hands. “If only I could help you, serve you!”
“You can,” she said hurriedly. “I have a letter on which much depends—for the Contessa Albrizzi at Venice. I cannot trust a messenger.”
“It shall start to-night.”
“It is in my room. I will send it after you by Tita. Ah—hasten!”
He bent and touched his lips to a curl that had blown like litten gold against her shoulder. Her eyes met his an instant in fluttering, happy confusion. Then, as he followed Tita quickly to the gate, she turned and ran toward the house.
She had not seen a man, crouched in the shadow of a hedge, who had hurried within doors to greet the master of the casa so unexpectedly returned. She did not see the rage that colored her husband’s shrunken cheeks in his chamber as Paolo, his Corsican secretary, imparted to him two pieces of information: the presence of the stranger in the garden and the arrival that afternoon at the osteria of him Venice called “the wicked milord.”
The old count pondered, with shaking fingers. He hated the Englishman of Venice; hated him for robbing him of the youth and beauty he had gloated over, for the arrow to his pride—with a hatred that had settled deeper each day, fanatical and demented. The story of the garden trespasser inspired now an unholy craving for reprisal, unformed and but half conceived. He summoned his secretary.
In a few moments more—a half-hour after Teresa’s letter had started on its way to the inn—his coach, with its six white horses, bearing Paolo, and followed by four of the casa servants afoot, was being driven thither by a roundabout course.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE FACE AT THE WINDOW
The osteria, as Gordon approached, seemed gurgling with hilarity At its side the huge unhitched diligence yawned, a dark hulk waiting for the morrow’s journey. Some of the passengers it had carried were gathered on the porch before the open windows, listening, with postures that indicated a more than ordinary curiosity and interest, to sounds from the tap-room. There were women’s forms among them.
Tourists were little to Gordon’s liking. They had bombarded his balcony at Diodati with spy-glasses, had ambushed him at Venice when he went to opera or ridotto. To him they stood for the insatiable taboo of public disesteem—the chuckling fetishism that mocked him still from beyond blue water. He skirted the inn in the shade of the cypresses and passed to an arbor which the angle of the building screened from the group.
On its edge he paused and gazed out over the fields and further forest asleep. With what bitterness he had ridden scarce three hours before from those woods! Now it was shot through with an arrow of cardinal joy whose very rankle was a painful delight. In the jar of conflicting sensations he had not reasoned or presaged; he could only feel.
What was the import of Teresa’s letter, he wondered. Much depended on it, she had said in that agitated moment. A thought flitted to him. The Contessa Albrizzi had lived much in Rome—was, he remembered, cousin to a cardinal. Could this message be an appeal for deliverance from an impossible position? Might Teresa yet be free; not from her marriage bond, but at least from this hourly torture in Casa Guiccioli? With the quick feeling of relief for her, wound a sharp sense of personal vantage. For him that would mean the right to see her often and unopposed. Yet, he argued instantly
with self-reproach, was not this the sole right he could not possess, then or ever? What would it be but tempting her love on and on, only to leave it naked and ashamed at last?
A gust of noise rose behind him. It issued from a window opening out of the tap-room into the arbor. On the heels of the sound he caught shattered comments from the peering group on the front porch— feminine voices speaking English:
“I’ve always wanted to see him. We watched three whole days in Venice. How young he looks!”
“What a monster! And to think he is a peer and once wrote poetry. There! See—he’s looking this way!”
Gordon started and half turned, but he had not been observed; the angle of the wall hid him effectually.
Just then a single vociferate voice rose to dominant speech in the room—a reckless, ribald utterance like one thickened with liquor. It conveyed an invitation to everybody within hearing to share its owner’s punch. Laughter followed, and from outside a flutter of withdrawing skirts and a masculine exclamation of affront.
With a puzzled wonder the man in the arbor listened, while the voice within lifted in an uncertain song:
“Fare thee well! and if forever. Still forever fare thee well; Even though unforgiving, never ’Gainst thee shall my heart rebel.”
“Shameless brute!” came from the porch. “I wouldn’t have believed it!”
Smothering a fierce ejaculation, Gordon strode to the window and gazed into the room. The singer broke off with a laugh:
“That’s the song I always warble, gentlemen, when I’m in my cups. I wrote it to my wife—when I was a Bond Street lounger, a London cicisbeo and fan-carrier to a woman.”
The man who stared across the sill with a painful fascination was witnessing a glaring, vulgar travesty of himself. Not the George Gordon he was, or, indeed, had ever been, but the George Gordon the world believed him; the abandoned profligate of wassail and blackguardism, whom tourists boasted of having seen, and of whom an eleventh commandment had been promulgated for all British womankind—not to read his books. And this counterpart was being played by a man whose Moorish, theatric face he knew—a man he had flung from his path at Geneva, when he stood with Jane Clermont by the margin of the lake on the night he and she had fled together. A man who hated him!
The clever effrontery of the deception showed how deep was that hatred. Gordon understood now how Tita had heard of his presence at the osteria before he had entered it. The farceur inside did not know the man he impersonated was in Ravenna to-night. This, then, was not the only caravansary at which the burlesque had been played. Nor were these tourists smirking in the tap-room, or listening open-mouthed outside to the clumsy farrago, the only ones to return to England with clacking tongues. This was how the London papers had bristled with garbled inventions! This scene was only a step in a consistent plan to blacken his name anew throughout the highways of continental travel!
A guttural whisper escaped his lips. It would be another bar between him and possession of Allegra. And Teresa? If these post-house tales reached her ears! A crimson mist grew before his eyes.
A more reckless and profane emphasis had come now to the carouser within. He had risen and approached the porch window, simulating as he walked an awkward limp.
“Take a greeting to England, you globe-trotters! Greeting from Venice, the sea-Sodom, to London! Hell is not paved with its good intentions. Slabs of lava, with its parsons’ damned souls for cement, make a better causeway for Satan’s corso!”
Again he turned to his fellows in the tap-room: “When I shuffle off it will be like the rascals to dump me into Westminster Abbey. If they do, I’ll save them the trouble of the epitaph. I’ve written it myself:
“George Gordon lies here, peer of Nottinghamshire, Wed, parted and banished inside of a year. The marriage he made, being too much for one, He could not carry off—so he’s now carri-on!”
“Westminster Abbey!” said a man’s bass in disgust.
Gordon’s left hand reached and grasped the sill. His face was convulsed. His right hand went to his breast pocket.
At that instant, from behind him, a touch fell on his arm and stayed it. “A letter, Excellence.”
He turned with a long, shuddering breath, and took what Tita handed him.
“I understand, Tita,” he answered, with an effort. The other nodded and disappeared.
For a moment Gordon stood motionless. Then he passed from the arbor, through the hedges, to the spot whither the gondolier had led him two hours before. He sat down on the turf and buried his face in his hands.
He had scarcely known what shapeless lurid thing had leaped up in his soul as he gazed through the window, but the touch on his arm had told him. For the moment the pressure had seemed Teresa’s hand, as he had felt it on the path at San Lazzarro, when the same red mist had swum before his eyes. Then it had roused a swift sense of shame; now the memory did more. The man yonder he had injured. There had been a deed of shame and dastard cowardice years before in Greece—yet what had he to do with the boy’s act? By what right had he, that night in Geneva, judged the other’s motive toward Jane Clermont? Had his own been so pure a one then? Because of a fancied wrong, Trevanion had dogged him to Switzerland. Because of a real one he dogged him now.
After a time Gordon raised his head and stared out into the moonlight. “It is past,” he said aloud and with composure. “It shall never tempt me again! What comes to me thus I myself have beckoned. I will not try to avert it by vengeance. The Great
Mechanism that mixed the elements in me to make me what I am, shall have its way!”
He rose slowly and walked back toward the osteria. A groom was washing out the empty diligence. He sent him for his horse, and in a few moments was in the saddle, riding toward Venice through the silent, glimmering streets of Ravenna.
A new, nascent tenderness was in him. He was riding from her, the one woman he loved—to see her when and where? Should he ever see her again? She might have hope of relief in the letter he carried, but who could tell if it would succeed? And in the meantime she was alone, as she had been alone before.
He rode on, his chin sunk on his breast, scarcely observing a coach with six white horses, that passed him, driven in the opposite direction.
CHAPTER XXXVII
TREVANION FINDS AN ALLY
Trevanion, the drunkenness slipped from his face and the irksome limp discarded, came from the osteria door. His audience dwindled, he was minded for fresh air and a stroll. Behind the red glow of his segar his dark face wore a smile.
Just at the fringe of the foliage two stolid figures in servant’s livery stepped before him. Startled, he drew back. Two others stood behind him. He looked from side to side, pale with sudden anticipation, his lips drawn back like a lynx at bay. He was weaponless.
A fifth figure joined the circle that hemmed him—Paolo, suave, smiling, Corsican.
“Magnificence!” he said, in respectful Italian, “I bear the salutations of a gentleman of Ravenna who begs your presence at his house tonight.” Without waiting answer, he called softly, and a coach with six white horses drew slowly from the shadow.
For an instant Trevanion smiled in grim humor, half deceived. A simultaneous movement of the four in livery, however, recalled his distrust.
“Are these his bravos?” he inquired in surly defiance.
“His servants, Magnificence!”
“Carry my excuses then—and bid him mend the manner of his invitations.”
“I should regret to have to convey such a message from the milord.” Paolo opened the coach door as he spoke. The inference was obvious.
Trevanion glanced swiftly over his shoulder toward the still hostelry. His first sound of alarm might easily be throttled. At any rate, he
reflected, these were not the middle ages. To the owner of this equipage he was an English lord, and lords were not kidnapped and stilettoed, even in Italy. Some wealthy Ravennese, perhaps, not openly to flout public disapproval, chose thus to gratify his curiosity. Anticipating refusal, he had taken this method of urbane constraint. Well, perforce, he would see the adventure through! He shrugged his shoulders and entered the coach.
Paolo seated himself, and the horses started at a swinging trot. Through the windows Trevanion could discern the forms of the menservants running alongside. He sat silent, his companion vouchsafing no remark, till the carriage stopped and they alighted at the open portal of a massive structure fronting the paved street. It was Casa Guiccioli.
The Corsican led the way in and the servants disappeared. With a word, Paolo also vanished, and the man so strangely introduced gazed about him.
The hall was walled with an arras tapestry of faded antique richness, hung with uncouth weapons. Opposite ascended a broad, dimly lighted stairway holding niches of tarnished armor. Wealth with penuriousness showed everywhere. Could this whimsical duress be the audacity of some self-willed dama, weary of her cavaliere servente and scheming thus to gain a romantic tête-à-tête with the famed and defamed personage he had caricatured that day? Trevanion stole softly to the arras, wrenched a Malay kriss from a clump of arms, and slipped it under his coat.
A moment later his guide reappeared. Up the stair, along a tiled and gilded hall, he followed him to a wide stanza. A door led from this at which Paolo knocked.
As it opened, the compelled guest caught a glimpse of the interior, set with mirrors and carven furniture, panelled and ornate with the delicate traceries of brush and chisel. In the room stood two figures: a man bent from age, his face blazing with the watch-fires of an unbalanced purpose, and a woman, young, lovely, distraught. She wore a dressing-gown, and her gold hair fell uncaught about her shoulders, as though she had been summoned in haste to a painful
audience. Her eyes, on the man, were fixed in an expression of fearful wonder. One hand was pressed hard against her heart. Trevanion had never seen either before; what did they want with him?
“Your guest,” announced Paolo on the threshold.
“What do you mean to do?” cried the girl in frantic fear. “He is a noble of England! You dare not harm him!”
“I am a noble of Romagna!” grated the old man. It was the real George Gordon they expected—not he! Trevanion was smiling as Paolo spoke to him. With a hand on the blade he concealed he strode forward, past him, into the room.
“Your servant, Signore,” said he, as the door closed behind him. There was a second of silence, broken by a snarl from the old count and a cry from Teresa—a sob of relief. She leaned against the wall, in the reaction suddenly faint. Her husband’s summons had filled her with apprehension—for she recalled the sound in the shrubbery— and his announcement, full of menace to Gordon, had shaken her mettle of resistance. She remembered an old story of a hired assassin whispered of him when she was a child. At the insane triumph and excitement in his manner she had been convinced and frightened. Terror had seized her anew—the shivering terror of him that had come to her on the monastery path and that her afterresentment had allayed.
Now, however, her fear calmed, indignation at what she deemed a ruse to compel an admission of concern that had but added to her husband’s fury, sent the blood back to her cheeks. All the repressed feeling that his cumulative humiliations had aroused burst their bonds. She turned on him with quivering speech:
“Evviva, Signore!” she said bitterly. “Are you not proud to have frightened a woman by this valorous trick? Have you other comedies to garnish the evening? Non importa—I leave them for your guest.”
Trevanion’s face wore a smile of relish as she swept from the room. He was certain now of two things. The old man hated George
Gordon; the girl—was she daughter or wife?—did not. Had he unwittingly stumbled upon a chapter in the life of the man he trailed which he had not known? He seated himself with coolness, his inherent dare-deviltry flaunting to the surface.
Through the inflamed brain of the master of the casa, as he stared at him with his hawk eyes, were crowding suspicions. Paolo’s description had made him certain of the identity of the man in the garden. But his command to his secretary had named only the milord at the osteria. That the two were one and the same, Paolo could not have known—otherwise he would not have brought another. But how had he been deceived? How, unless the man before him was a confederate—had played the other’s part at the inn? It was a decoy, so the lover of his wife, with less risk in the amour, might laugh in his sleeve at him, the hoodwinked husband, the richest noble in Romagna! His lean fingers twitched.
“May I ask,” he queried, wetting his lips, “what the real milord—who is also in town to-day—pays you for filling his place to-night?”
Possessed as he was, his host could not mistake the other’s unaffected surprise. Before the start he gave, suspicion of collusion shredded thin.
“He is in Venice,” said Trevanion.
“He came to Ravenna this afternoon.”
His enemy there? Trevanion remembered the laugh of the woman in the wagonette. Jane Clermont had mocked him! She lied! She had come there to meet Gordon. Vicious passion gathered on his brow, signs readily translatable, that glozed the old man’s anger with dawning calculation.
“You have acted another’s rôle to-night,” Count Guiccioli said, leaning across the table, “and done it well, I judge, for my secretary is no fool. I confess to a curiosity to know why you chose to appear as the milord for whom I waited.”
Trevanion’s malevolence leaped in his answer: “Because I hate him! And hate him more than you! In Italy I can add to the reputation he
