RENT: Words and Images from the Scenic Designer

At this week's Meet and Greet, Scenic Designer Kathryn Kawecki showed viewers her beautiful 3D model for RENT. But this was by far not the first rendition. Read below for images of her earlier designs, and a description of her process.

In the words of Kathryn Kawecki:

[Here] are some early sketches that show a few different set-ups. Some things have changed, like the dumpster, which was cut for cost & practicality reasons. Also, some of these are before the addition of the onstage staircase & don't show all of the posters.

I created these particular sketches using Photoshop predominantly, but not just Photoshop. I have a sort of multi-media approach to making sketches.

When I'm working in a proper studio (instead of out in freelance limbo somewhere), I start out by making a super quick 3-D white model and working out the real structure of the space; I take a digital photo of the model and import it into my computer and "sketch" on top of the photo to figure out the textures, colors & surfaces that are right for the piece. Sometimes my process goes back and forth between model and sketch; I learn things in the sketch that inform the actual structure, so I make changes to the model, which sometimes also calls for changes in the "materials" in the sketch.

For RENT, there were actually 4 versions going between model and sketch as the design developed. Some of these stages were also shared with the rest of the creative team, so I could hear what felt right to them as well. For RENT, part of the process was really an editing back and honing in on the right structure and the right structure. From the beginning, we knew we were interested in bringing together multiple urban textures that we liked. The first versions of the design really crammed all the things we liked into one composition, but it had too much going on at once and was almost visually overwhelming. In the final version, I edited down the number of different textures; there is still a collision of urban textures, but with a more controlled palette.

[The image above] shows side by side a sketch and model for a different project (MARAT/SADE for URI later this fall) I'm designing which is simpler structurally, so it makes it a little easier to see the connection between the start and end of the process.

Come see Kawecki's finished product on September 4th when RENT opens the New Rep 2011-2012 Season!