Good friend Tom Howe requested a family portrait as a gift for his father’s birthday in an Edward Gorey style. This was tremendous fun, mostly because I was able to discuss hat vs. feather design with Tom who is currently in Germany. If you can’t spend time with a friend you can at least costume design from afar. Tom is the dashing soldier on the right, who’s only request for himself was that he be given a mustache.
I used ink on tracing paper so that I could add patches later should the design change after the inking stage. Which, turned out to be a good idea because we needed to add a few more drinks for Tom’s parents.
I used Photoshop to add the patches and some extra hatching to blend in the new pieces. The best thing about adopting a style inspired by Gorey was working on those luxurious fur coats. I’ve wanted to do something like this ever since I was small sneaking out of bed to watch the opening credits of Mystery on PBS. Thanks for the opportunity Tom!
