Sin City

A windmill and a sign you can recognise from the street

For the Sin City brief I imagined a cabaret in late nineteenth-century Paris. I pictured a city worn down by unrest, where drinking, dancing and the sex trade all belonged to the nightlife of my fictional setting. I wanted the venue to offer a sense of escape as soon as someone saw it from the street. I used the Moulin Rouge, the Montmartre cabaret that opened in 1889, as my main visual reference.

I compared archival views of the Moulin Rouge with photographs of its illuminated façade and with other Parisian buildings. The windmill was the feature I wanted to keep through the iterations. The dancer on a cabaret poster gave me another idea. A sign shaped around a dancer could suggest what happens inside before the audience has read any lettering.

Moulin Rouge official history ↗

Try out towers, rooflines and the position of the blades

I drew separate studies of rounded and pointed architectural elements, including a round base, a column-like tower and a domed form. I then tried eight exterior silhouettes, ranging from a tall windmill tower to a low building with the windmill rising behind it. On the second sheet I redrew those ideas more clearly and compared how the entrances, roofs and towers fit around each blade position.

I took the low, wide option forward. The broad roof leaves room for a recognisable front entrance and a smaller wing, while the windmill and the narrow tower still break the skyline. The alternates show how much the building’s character changes if the windmill sits on top of a tall structure or shares the outline with a lower roof.

Refine the silhouette and choose the night-time palette

I refined the selected sketch in small steps. I separated the front gable from the side wing, built up the upper balcony and tower, and clarified where the windmill rises behind the roof. I added the dancer sign on the left and a fan of curved shapes behind the building on the right. The two details frame the building while leaving the entrance lettering visible.

I checked the cleaned-up drawing in neutral and warm tonal passes before comparing a dark brown roof with a blue one. The final painting keeps the brown roof, deep red walls and warm gold accents. Cool windows and a lighter side wing break up the red, and the warm lettering gives the entrance a clear focus.

Give patrons a route to the upper level

For the interior I collected red-lit theatres, curtained rooms and dark corridors alongside details of gilded wall reliefs, frescoes, porches and corner ornaments. I wanted an intimate performance room with a strong red atmosphere. A curved theatre stair gave me a way to let patrons reach the upper performance level and made that route part of the view from downstairs.

I made a cutaway study to see how stairs, furniture, balconies and performance areas can fit together across levels. Then I drew six small viewpoints, including a view past the staircase, a room arranged around a central platform, a long corridor and views taken from the upper level. Comparing them helped me find a view in which both the stage and the staircase would be visible.

Build the stage, balcony and stair as one space

I developed the view with an oval stage on the left, an arched doorway behind it, a balcony above and a curved stair on the right. In the line drawing I placed wall panels and sconces around those larger shapes and ran the curling railing along the balcony edge. The stair rises through the foreground, connecting the room’s two levels in a single view.

I made a grey model to check the volumes, followed by colour, lighting and camera tests. I compared a more open view of the model with a closer view into the room. The tighter final view keeps the stage and the stair together. I used dark red panels, warm wall lights and gold scrolls, then added framed wall decoration and patterned panels around the arch. The warmer light on the stage keeps it legible against the deeper reds.

Choose a prop that can carry the room’s ornament

I began by looking at lamps, clocks and windows before settling on a clock. In the reference board I compared the long cases and dials of hall clocks, the curved gilt decoration of Rococo panels, and the pointed openings and fine tracery of Gothic windows. I also looked at neoclassical and Gothic Revival designs while researching the period. For the clock itself I wanted to try the combination of Rococo curves and some of the taller, narrower Gothic shapes.

I drew a wall lantern, a hanging light and a gramophone to study how a prop is supported and how metal, glass and wood read in colour. The idea sheet then compares wall-mounted pieces, tall cases, a wide mantel-style silhouette and freestanding forms. Drawing them next to one another helped me decide to develop the clock with a tall, ornamented body and a broad base.

Vary the casing, then compare red and violet

I kept the dial at the top, a long middle panel and a broad stepped base, then drew three variations. I changed the curls under the shoulders, the trim around the centre and the cutouts and ornament at the base. That let me compare how much detail each part could carry while the whole object still read as a clock.

I tried both a red-and-gold clock and a darker violet version with cool accents. I chose the red version for the final painting so the casing and gilded curves would belong with the cabaret’s warm interior. I kept the pale dial, the hanging ornament in the centre and the darker gaps in the base distinct, so the decoration would leave the clock’s main structure readable.