Beauty and the Beast
I loved illustrating this retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This project gave me a chance to visualize a favorite fairytale. After I sketched out the story, I photographed a very good friend of mine in each of the poses I had designed for Beauty and her sisters to serve as reference when I painted the finished art. I wanted their gestures to be as natural as possible, and the photos were very helpful. My husband Steve posed for reference photos as well , both as Beauty’s father and as the Beast. I know what you are thinking…..no, he wouldn’t let me dress him up in tights and a tunic for the Father pictures, and dressing him up in a furry gorilla suit to conceptualize the beast was out of the question. He did pose well as the hapless father, and succeeded in characterizing the beast in quite a dashing manner – minus the lion-like face and sharp teeth of course. The drama and romance of this story allowed me indulge the inner costume designer I once hoped to become. I have always loved costuming in plays and film, so researching how to dress the characters was intriguing. I bought a great book on PreRaphaelite art and was inspired by the paintings of women in elaborate gowns against richly conceived backdrops. The elegantly dressed Beast was unusual and challenging to paint, as many times in fairy tales or folk tales the beast is characterized as frightening and terrible, not cultured and soft spoken. I think that is one of the reasons why I find this story so compelling and so satisfying – Beauty saw the kindness, caring, and humanity behind that frightening face before the Prince returned to his natural state, as does the reader. That is great storytelling!
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