Greetings gang!

My name's Roberto, and I work as a High School Performing Arts instructor here in New York City.

I wanted to share some costumes and other production material that I've designed and put together for a stage play that I am working to produce and direct with several of my student actors.

The play is the story of the creation of The Batman mythology. It explores the relationship between artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger throughout the history of their prolific creation.

We will witness their brilliant Gotham City characters come to life on stage right next to them as their artistic inspiration grows.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into our production...

Edited by darklord1967 - 4/20/13 at 5:14pm

THE BATMAN

Clearly, The Batman’s costume was going to be a very important aspect of this play.  It had to immediately feel real, legitimate, and it had to illicit the proper mood when first glimpsed by the audience.  It was going to need to accept stage lighting well, while not coming off as a cheap, garish Halloween costume.  The costume’s textures were going to require special attention so that it would feel rich, elegant and organic.

My approach to the The Batman’s overall costuming philosophy was that Bruce Wayne intended to frighten criminals while striking at them from the dark shadows. The only touches of vibrant color on the uniform (chest emblem and utility belt) would be strategically intended to be seen even in low light. This gives the uniform some contrast and visual interest, rather than being monochromatic and dull.

Also, I wanted to approach the Batman’s costume with THREE basic prescriptions in mind:  

1)    Para-military survival gear, mixed with
2)    Primitive, tribal natural organic textures, mixed with
3)    Stately old-world gothic.

For the para-military side, I designed the all-important yellow Utility Belt to appear as a bulky, (but neatly organized) collection of ammunition pouches and high tech vials containing The Batman’s myriad of weapons and urban survival crime-fighting gear. I wanted it to look big, well-stocked, and slightly dangerous.

But it’s the primitive, tribal aspect of the costume that I think ultimately dominates.  Certainly it is the part of the costume philosophy that appeals to me the most.  When dealing with this costuming mind-set, I imagined the approach of a fierce, tribal warrior:  A large BEAST has been vanquished, and the warrior now wears its outer hide as a symbol of his own fighting prowess.  The cranium and upper jaw of the animal is worn as a head dress, with only the lower half of the warrior’s own face exposed.  The warrior honors the spirit of the fallen creature by wearing it’s skin and fighting on...  

This primitive approach made me look at the Batman’s costume mostly in terms of organic textures like leather.  The bat-cowl, cape, gauntlets, trunks, and boots would ALL need to share an identical black leathery texture.  By contrast, the accents of color on the uniform (chest emblem and utility belt) would need to feel manufactured and synthetic.  The skin-tight GREY (middle ground) body suit bridges the two worlds by appearing not quite synthetic and not quite organic.  I studiously AVOIDED fashioning this garment with typical lycra Spandex due to its glitzy synthetic sheen and instead went with a charcoal grey Supplex material with a matte finish.  But my motivation was also firmly intended to stay true to the color scheme of the costume in the comics to preserve the visual contrasts.  Going with a black armored body suit (as is typically done in live-action Batman films) was not an option for me since it would only make the character (unattractively) mono-chromatic in my eyes.

In order to lend the character the stately, old-world, gothic flavor that I thought was necessary, I paid special attention to the sillhouetted outer contour of the assembled costume.  The figure’s lines would need to be razor straight, emphasizing a powerful vertical force that was bigger than life.  The long ears of the Bat cowl and the fanned-out lines of the cape at rest were intended to give the character height, power, and a Dracula-like presence.

CAPEUsing a pattern of my own design, I fashioned a scalloped Bat-cape out of  4-way stretch dull black PVC that had the sheen, appearance, feel, and texture of soft leather. It also matched the color and texture of the Bat-cowl perfectly.  The finished cape is capable of spreading to a full 16 foot wingspan, and looks elegant and stately when at rest as it hugs the wearer’s shoulder with a shaped seam. I also made sure to create a pattern that would be long enough to drape the bat-scallops along the floor whenever the cape was at rest. This same fabric was used to create the shorts for the uniform.





Edited by darklord1967 - 9/05/12 at 3:52pm

UTILITY BELT

Conventional wisdom holds that The Batman utility belt is either styled as an ammunition pouch belt OR as the more modern tube vials belt.  

I saw no reason why the belt could not be both.  Certainly,  the costume designers of the 1960’s Adam West Batman costume, and 1980’s artist  Norm Breyfogle  felt the same way.

My goal was to create a utility belt that was VERY faithful to the comic book belt, combining design elements from the various belts that appealed to me over the years. But at the same time, I wanted a belt that reflected some of my subtle creative license.  I knew I wanted the belt and all of its accessories to be colored in a bright golden yellow, just like in the comics.  In this instance, I found it un-acceptable to “interpret” the color of the belt’s hard items (Re; belt buckle, tube vials) as polished brass or metallic gold in tone (as with Adam West’s buckle).

I built everything upon a basic golden yellow pleather waistband that would fasten from behind. The pleather ammo pouches were cannibalized from a different source and then re-colored to match the golden yellow of the waist band.   I purchased plexiglass tubes and half-moon end caps from a local supplier and got to work on building the storage vials that are so characteristic of The Batman’s belt.  After sanding, and priming the assembled tube vials, I coated each one with 10 coats of Tamiya Chrome Yellow spray enamel, and two clear gloss coats.  

The Batman’s classic Bronze Age square utility belt buckle featured a latch tab off to one side that never really appealed to me.  I preferred a simpler, slicker, more streamlined buckle, and therefore employed some creative license to create a gently curved, large rectangular buckle with a thick, prominently raised border edge.  I hand-fashioned the main buckle shape out of sheets of ABS hard plastic.  I then used white styrene strips to build the buckle’s thick outer border with fine styrene rods as the border’s raised lip.  White squadron putty filled the seams on everything. And after a good sanding prep and primer, I shot the buckle with 12 coats of the Tamiya Chrome Yellow, and 2 coats of gloss clear.

CHEST EMBLEM

There were some VERY specific things that concerned me when I set out to create the chest bat emblem for this costume: 

Firstly, I intended to use the “new look” concept Batman chest emblem ushered in by Julius Swartz in 1964.  This was the one that featured the black bat encased within a golden yellow oval.  I found this far more visually appealing than just the large black bat against the dark grey tights (which I knew would be tough to see on stage with spooky shadowy lighting). The yellow oval provided a nice contrast for the bat to be seen and gave the uniform some added visual interest with a splash of color picked up from the prominent utility belt.

Secondly, I needed the emblem to be fashioned out of something that would be flexible and TOUGH, and also be VERY sharp and clean in its presentation.

Thirdly, the size and position of the chest emblem was also a consideration.  For example, I always found Adam West’s bat emblem to be slightly small and positioned too low on his chest.  The optimal size and position would have to be experimented with.

Fourthly, the specific design of the Bat-silhouette itself would need some “adjustment” on my part since I did not really care for the Adam West design, nor any particular bat-shape from the comics.

Lastly, I wanted this chest emblem to have a subtle sculpted look rather than a flat, printed one.  To me, that meant that the emblem would have to be “assembled” and painted in separate layers, and then combined.

I began with an Adoble Photoshop rendering of my own preferred design for the shape of the bat silhouette.   I encased it within an oval, ensuring an even border space all around the bat.  I then printed out my design and checked its size and positioning on my planning mannequin until I was happy.

Next, I used my printout as a pattern to cut a template of the basic oval out of thin, white, flexible styrene.   I spent several hours sanding the edges smooth and even.  I then used the same pattern to cut a template of the bat itself , also out of the white flex styrene.  I sanded the edges perfectly round and smooth and checked the fit against the base oval.  Perfect fit.  Once the two parts were painted separately and then glued together, the final emblem was stunning, with an edge to the bat that rested in raised relief on the surface of the base oval.

The emblem is permanently affixed to the grey bodysuit with 3M spray adhesive.  Strong stuff!