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Civ: Mycenaeans


Atenmeses52
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Wow! That's really good! The walls of Mycenae... Very, very good.

Bronze Age.... Mmmm, good times, good times...

[apologies for my ramblings in advance]

Spoiler

You should start a career in historical illustration and become the next Angus McBride! Just a suggestion :P There are a lot of civilisations that haven't been properly illustrated before (like  Kushites), so there's huge potential in that niche market. With your abilities in historical interpretation of written and archaeological sources, you could fill a huge gap in historical art. Everybody's in to sci-fi and fantasy these days, not that that's a problem, it just leaves a lot of uncovered ground in the type of historical illustrations you make.

Also, don't take this the wrong way (I want to see you become famous with your art :P ), but I want to offer some suggestions to improve your work (even further). I think your two "weakest" points at the moment are anatomy and level of detail. I love your style, and don't think you should change it, but I think you should also try out a new style, with a stronger focus on anatomical proportions, dramatic stances, intense facial expressions and a higher level of detail. I know this is fully within your capability (I wouldn't suggest it if it wasn't), and understand it's mostly a matter of how much time you spend on a piece (oh, that precious resource, time!). The self portrait in your avatar for example, is the direction I'm talking about. Very expressive, and detailed.

If you can make a portfolio of never before illustrated historical events/places/people, with this stronger focus on "dramatic realism", you could really gather quite a following (and commissions, I suppose). Then it's just a matter of where and how to showcase these pieces, though I'd suggest making a dedicated website for your work, and create a presence on all the important social media platforms and art sites (no need to be very interactive, just update with new pieces regularly). You should make as many high quality pieces as possible, free to the public, so your work can easily spread and become known, so you will also get more paid commissions in return. Most important of all, is to tag your work properly and extensively, so people can easily find it when they look for, say, "Ancient Mycenae", or "Mycenaean fortifications", or "bronze age battle", and stuff like that, along with a well-sourced description of the scene. Seriously, tags are more important than the quality of the piece! The more, the better.

I'd love to graduate to your level of illustration one day, and create accurate historical art dedicated to African history, beginning with Kushites. That's why I'm so excited about the pieces you created for the Kushites so far. They're quite accurate, look amazing, and they're unique pieces, never before illustrated. When the Kushites are finished (research, models, full implementation in a playable mod), I'll be using your work for promotional purposes, and probably spread it around on a few forums discussing Kushite/African history and military. They'll be extremely interesting to people researching the subject.

 

Edited by Sundiata
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7 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

You should start a career in historical illustration and become the next Angus McBride!

lol "start"

Believe me, I've been trying get purchase on game art, (historical) illustration, general purpose art, graphic design, and animation jobs since i got out of school. No luck yet. Its getting progressively harder for me to justify sinking work into 0 AD anymore. I'm not making returns, even exposure aside from the forums.

You're right in that my shortfall revolves around time management. I ought to push a piece as far as I can take it, but I only ever get enough inspiration for a short breath of wind in my sails, and that's oftentimes just not enough.

I have most of my social links in my forum signature, I do really appreciate the interest.

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@LordGood:):):) , putting a smile on my face! With regard to Kushites, I still have to drop a bunch of reference materials which will influence the final design for the Kushites, but it's a lot, and I've been rather busy lately. I'm sure you'll love to go through that stuff (lot's of architecture stuff) when I drop it, and get a lot of inspiration from it. I'll try to get that done in the coming days (weeks?). It will allow for more detailed urban scenes and such.

If you're really itching to create something now, how about Queen Amanirenas with pet lions and a bodyguard? Perhaps a Roman prisoner, on his knees, arms tied behind his back? 

Spoiler

A friend created this sketch of Amanirenas for the Kushites, and put it at our disposal, do with it what you wish ;) 

59ce51aa15f90_Amanirenassketch.thumb.jpg.644204593dc67398b405e19332f8d5e9.jpg

 

Another take on quilted cotton:

59ce526d8d01a_Quiltedcottonkushsketch.thumb.jpg.d408b6b4aee8949ed2635f850b21adbf.jpg

 

Just realised how terribly off-topic this is :/ 

Edited by Sundiata
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  • 6 months later...

It's great time to bring a little life in this topic:

Here's the palatial complex and mycenaean city of Pylos, during the time of the mythical king Nestor:

DIO4DmR.jpg

LqsHXMv.jpg

Inside of the Megaron:

pSCZzoi.jpg

 

Mycenae, during the time of Agamemnon: the king returns from the trojan war:

3rQNfOG.jpg

 

The famous gate of lions:

HuxNkhV.jpg

 

The spoils of the war:

FTqaYar.jpg

 

The palace, or Megaron in Mycenae:

v4QxFuF.jpg

Palace guards and ladies from the king's relatives:

dD87ZAK.jpg

 

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Hello, sorry to bump this old thread...was searching for illustrations for Mycenaeans and was directed here. I was hoping someone would know the references of the book (in french or other) that Tomcelmare took the pictures from? I would love to get my hands on that one but don't know where to search. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

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