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wiki:stage:flatdesign

Flat Design

This is a subsection of set design, however can vastly impact the overall feel of a set and help distinguish a location or tone of the performance.

The Purpose of Flat Design

Having a scaled image of what goes where on the flats, especially important if lining up different types of flat.
Clear communication with crew and directors over intended final product.

The Building Blocks of Flat Design

Blocks

The easiest thing to paint, it is just a solid block of colour. Size can range from an entire flat down to about a 2“x3” area (smaller than this doesn't tend to be massively visible).

Lines

Straight, curved, writing. Lines are very versatile and can be used to separate areas or add details, however getting crisp edges and a consistent width on them can be a challenge.

Gradients

A good way to fill a large area in a way that is more interesting than a block colour. Very useful for things like skies or water.

Textures

Another way to add interest to large areas, cna include techniques such as drying

Distilling Inspiration into a Design

Integrating the Design with the Painting Process

Which bits fo your design are being painted first? Are you going to paint a base coat first, if so what colour?

Transferring the Design to the Flats

This is probably the most import step given it's what will end up being visible to the audience. The methods listed below is not all the possible methods, however they are ones which have been used in the Annex before. It is also worth bearing in mind that the best method will vary show to show and indeed you may find it best to use a combination of several.

Eyeballing it

Pros Cons
Fast Does not allow for properly straight lines
Allows individual stage crew to contribute to the design at the time of painting Can be difficult to maintain scale

Pencil Marks

Pros Cons

Masking Off Areas

Pros Cons
Gives very straight edges Difficult to do curves or organic shapes
Edges are crisp and clear with no feathering Masking tape can be a limited resource as it is single use

Templates

Pros Cons
Reusable (to an extent)Only works for repeating patterns
Relatively FastTemplates can be difficult to replicate exactly
Consistent regardless of user

Projection

Pros Cons
wiki/stage/flatdesign.txt · Last modified: 2025/03/08 17:37 by Astramordia