idiot savant

This is another illustration from first quarter: Willem Dafoe plays the title role in Richard Foreman's "Idiot Savant" (read the NY Times review here and here). In the play, Dafoe plays a man who plays with language as with paint on a canvas, rather than as noise connected to meaning. (I'm roughly quoting the original Goings On About Town article on the play, but heck if I can't find it in the NY Times database anywhere.)

I began this illustration by drawing Dafoe's face a jillion times (creepy) and then doing a quick sketch in pencil on Arches paper. I then colored it using watercolor, gouache, and India ink. The long tail of the speech bubble was added digitally as the first was way too short.