Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2018 - 67

ing in an increasingly digital world with
tech-savvy students presents a new set
of challenges to an old art form. Just a
few weeks before classes began, Rafael
Jaen's new book Digital Costume Design
and Collaboration: Applications in Academia, Theatre, and Film was published.
While I initially thought the book would
deal specifically with the ins-and-outs of
designing costumes on a computer, the
book is much more comprehensive, and
looks specifically at the art of design,
process, and collaboration with the aid
of digital tools.
Jaen's book addresses many of the
same practical approaches to design covered in other texts, such as talking to directors, assembling a costume bible and
putting together essential paperwork,
contextualizing the character and making design choices. What differentiates
this book, however, is that Jaen specifically uses the digital world to organize,
present, and share these design basics.
Jaen begins by laying out basic design principles and ways to approach a
specific costume design with the essential "Nuts and Bolts" of story and character: the Who, What, Why, When, and
Where. The section covers questions
such as: How do you talk to actors? What
is the importance of a dramaturg? How
do you have a conversation with a director? Where do you start to research and
what is a concept? He then compiles his
initial research, notes, measurements
and show information digitally in Google
(Docs, Slides, and Sheets), Pinterest,
and Dropbox and explains in detail how
to use each format and how to share it
with others.
In chapter two, Jaen gets to some
of the most practical parts of design, including the paperwork. He thoroughly
explains a costume plot, piece list, and
how to budget for a production. I especially like how he takes photos of each
actor during fittings and organizes those
into a shareable file that is accessible
everywhere. Indeed, accessibility is one
of the most compelling reasons to move
to a digital platform. No more forgetting

measurements when you are out shopping-it is right on your phone! Want to
share how a fitting went with the director? Send her the file link. Google Docs
also updates immediately, so there are
no lost files, and files shared with multiple people are always the most current
version. Jaen also discusses what equipment and software a designer would
need to work digitally.
For a designer new to the world of
Photoshop, Jaen presents an incredibly
easy path to using this multi-faceted tool.
He sticks to the basics-layers, paint
brushes, color swatching, creating fabric-and he details how to use them in a
step-by-step approach. This detail will be
particularly helpful for anyone who is not
familiar with digital rendering applications or who is intimidated by the idea of
using such tools. Jaen also shares links
to his YouTube channel, which offers the
same demonstration visually; this multimodal approach provides an important
asset for many learners.
One of the most relevant aspects
of the book is the interviews. In each
chapter, Jaen poses questions to theatrical directors, designers, and educators
about their experiences working in the
industry and their individual approaches
to their art. The answers are varied and
often much less complicated than might
be expected; many stress listening and
the value of being able to communicate-important lessons for our student
designers.

Digital Costume Design and Collaboration will be a valuable addition to
the books used for teaching young designers because it takes the processes
and functions of practical design into the
digital world with easy-to-follow guides
and instructions. The book will be particularly useful for theatre programs
with a limited costume design course
offerings. Jaen's work will not serve to
accentuate curricula or courses specifically designed to teach digital design as
a stand-alone course; all of the tools and
platforms addressed are purposefully
kept at a basic level. The content will
also serve veteran designers who would
like to move into a digital world but find
themselves a little intimidated or unsure
of where to start.
I plan on incorporating the text into
my Costume Design course. I still plan
to teach hand-rendering methods as well
as digital rendering; however, the move
from paper to digital paperwork, digital
research and organization, and design
presentations makes sense and is a natural move for most of our students.
Laura Beene is an assistant professor
of costume design and technology and
the head of the BFA program in theatre
design at Utah Valley University. She
currently serves as the chair of the Intermountain Desert Section of USITT and
has taught at UNC-Charlotte, Brigham
Young University, and The University of
Utah. Reach her at beenela@uvu.edu.

WINTER 2018

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2018