DID YOU KNOW?

Ticket sales cover only 1/3 of what it costs to produce grand opera.

To make up the difference, we rely on people like you who make financial contributions throughout the year.

You can make a difference with a contribution of just $10!

Check out this video from our General Director:

For the past few years, our face to the public has been defined by our stunning opera illustrations.  Many people inquire about them and who creates them.

All of the illustrations are commissioned by Palm Beach Opera from Mark Stutzman.  You probably have seen his work and not even known it.  He is best known for creating the “Young Elvis Stamp” for the US Post Office.

The artistic and marketing staff at Palm Beach Opera, along with our ad agency The Boner Group, work with Mark over the course of at lease a couple of months to create the illustrations.

The first part of the process is to have a phone conference wtih Mark in which we go over all of the upcoming operas including plot and character information.  From this inital conversation,  Mark creates the first pencil sketches.   Here is an example of an initial pencil sketch for last season’s Norma illustration:

From there, we make some slight changes and Mark submits a new “tight pencil” sketch.  You’ll notice that the illustration is much more detailed:

After this stage, we move ahead and Mark adds basic color to the illustration.  Here is the same Norma illustration with the rough color added:

Finally, we move to the finished product:

Our illustrations are then used in all of our print ads, web ads, brochures, postcards, and they are even turned into posters.

We’re currently working on the illustrations for the 2009-2010 season so stay tuned to our website on July 15 when they are unveiled.

All illustrations were created by Mark Stutzman and are property of Palm Beach Opera. Unauthorized reproduction of  any image contained in this blog post is strictly prohibited.