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squonkhunter — Basilio And Bartolo
Published: 2014-04-27 10:37:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 2569; Favourites: 59; Downloads: 15
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Description
My two favorite characters from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). The one on the left is Basilio, a senile old music teacher who is likely haunted by images only he can see. The one on the right is Bartolo, a doctor who wants desperately to be taken seriously, but never shall.
I usually base character designs off of animals. I chose birds for these two. Basilio is a gawky, long-legged stork. Bartolo is a turkey.
27 April 2014
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Comments: 21
I think a vulture or a raven would be a more fitting candidate for Basilio. Besides, I always saw the character to be a much more sinister figure in “The Barber” compared to his relatively bumbling version in “The Marriage of Figaro”.
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That's a very good point. This pic is five years old and heavily inspired by Paolo Montarsolo's performance in Ponnelle's film. Since then I've had a greater understanding of the character and agree that I'd probably go with a vulture (picking through gossip like one picks through scraps). He is indeed more sinister in "The Barber" vs "The Marriage of Figaro," though I love both. It's interesting to see what vocal fachs were pressured between each and which ones were switched, and moving Basilio from a tenor to a bass is an interesting but wonderful choice.
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Well, considering the fact “The Marriage” is a sequel to “The Barber” one could say Basilio got a bit more high-pitched)
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Lol that's true. I meant chronologically as a composer choice Rossini had to make to distance himself from Mozart's classic.
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Yeah, I remember) But it’s hard to imagine Basilio as anything but bass in “The Barber”, especially after “La calunnia” aria.
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I think he affected me more as a tenor, especially when you watch the uncut aria "In Quegli'anni in cui val poco," which tells his backstory and explains why he behaves like an ass, but in typical Basilio fashion, he tells you a layered tale instead of outright revealing his feelings.
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Oh yes? Hadn't occurred to me. Spindly is as spindly does.
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It's all in the legs.
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I wish I could fave over and over!
Also, what a cool idea to base designs on animals! No wonder your designs are always so varied, its wonderful
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Thanks so much! 
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Yeah one of the things I want to work on is having more distinct and diverse face shapes in my character designs, so I'll definitely start trying out this idea <3
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Oh yeah, I have the same problem; it always crops up when you start getting comfortable. Currently going through a bit of a transformation myself. I recommend drawing from portraits of people with interesting features, or learning how to exaggerate on sketches of strangers. In short, look for references of people instead of drawing from your head. The best characters aren't created; they're borrowed.
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These are amazing character designs! It's interesting how you are basing these designs off of animals. I should consider doing that sometime.
~ Howler
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I recommend it! It's hard to exaggerate a human solely as a human, so I recommend working in some animal features without actually making them anthropomorphic. It can give you an interesting character and keep them looking different from the rest of your characters, especially if you choose a different animal for each.
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LOL thank you and...because it's Rossini? Lol they're really funny in the opera. When they're scheming, they think they're so dang smart. XD
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