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Description
The final colorized and fonted version of the sketch. The Phantom of the Opera makes an appearance as the ghastly Red Death from Edgar Allen Poe's famous horror story of pride conquered by the ultimate power of Death.

So a little detail into the rationale behind the costume design. With all due respect to Maria Bjornson and Alexandra Byrne, I never thought the Red Death costume had been executed just right in the ALW versions. The stage version always seemed a little - poofy and comical to me, and the stockings and high heels just had to go. The movie version, while elegant, lacked a certain presence without a real cloak or signature feathered hat. So I decided to once again try my hand at my own design on the character.

I restored the feathered hat to the character, and also a long cloak, which shows a little raggedness to emphasize the sense of decay. The golden details on the tunic are based loosely on 19th century military uniform designs (think of what Raoul wears to the ball) and are meant to resemble the exposed ribcage, along with glimpses of the femur and lower arm bones around the cuffs. Furthermore, the red chevrons beneath the ribs resemble muscle that has had the skin removed from it. I chose a full skull face mask - or is that Erik's face? I'm particularly proud of the cane - which is basically a dead Emperor, ironic since at this point the last Emperor of France, Napoleon III, is no longer in power after the revolution that took place as the Opera was being built. I felt that black riding boots would give the best sense of indimiation - something that the film's costume inspired.

Overall I had a really fun time coming up with all the details. Originally he was holding a sword but that ended up looking rather, as my friend DM said "Captain Phantom?". Ahhh - at least I can thank him for inspiring me to create the cane instead.

That being said, the original drawing was in No. 2 pencil on regular computer paper and was colored and words added in Photoshop 5.0.

Enjoy

Original Lineart: [link]

Description
The final colorized and fonted version of the sketch. The Phantom of the Opera makes an appearance as the ghastly Red Death from Edgar Allen Poe's famous horror story of pride conquered by the ultimate power of Death.

So a little detail into the rationale behind the costume design. With all due respect to Maria Bjornson and Alexandra Byrne, I never thought the Red Death costume had been executed just right in the ALW versions. The stage version always seemed a little - poofy and comical to me, and the stockings and high heels just had to go. The movie version, while elegant, lacked a certain presence without a real cloak or signature feathered hat. So I decided to once again try my hand at my own design on the character.

I restored the feathered hat to the character, and also a long cloak, which shows a little raggedness to emphasize the sense of decay. The golden details on the tunic are based loosely on 19th century military uniform designs (think of what Raoul wears to the ball) and are meant to resemble the exposed ribcage, along with glimpses of the femur and lower arm bones around the cuffs. Furthermore, the red chevrons beneath the ribs resemble muscle that has had the skin removed from it. I chose a full skull face mask - or is that Erik's face? I'm particularly proud of the cane - which is basically a dead Emperor, ironic since at this point the last Emperor of France, Napoleon III, is no longer in power after the revolution that took place as the Opera was being built. I felt that black riding boots would give the best sense of indimiation - something that the film's costume inspired.

Overall I had a really fun time coming up with all the details. Originally he was holding a sword but that ended up looking rather, as my friend DM said "Captain Phantom?". Ahhh - at least I can thank him for inspiring me to create the cane instead.

That being said, the original drawing was in No. 2 pencil on regular computer paper and was colored and words added in Photoshop 5.0.

Enjoy

Original Lineart: [link]