I was one of the many local cartoonists lucky enough to attend the dress rehearsal of Portland Opera and Body Vox Dance Company‘s staging of Pagliacci and Carmina Burana. There are a ton of great sketches online already: Erika Moen, Ron Chan, Natalie Nourigat, and Mike Russell. Lots more coming, too. Watch twitter for the #pdxoperacomics tag.

The night was spectacular, starting with appetizers at Mortons and a fascinating tour backstage. I loved both shows, and the transition between the two was beautifully handled. I doodled all through the performances, but didn’t produce much worth showing. I’d brought tinted charcoal paper thinking I could do some nifty things picking out highlights with white conte, but the combination of a dark room and low contrast paper made it virtually impossible to see what I was doing. One sketch came out okay, the rest, ehhh.

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