Bible study aids

Had an email this last week from Dr Andrew Jackson from SmartChristian.com with a list of websites which he thought would be helpful to Bible Artists. Some of the sites are already in my link list, such as the excellent 'Lifeintheholyland.com' (pictured above), but you may find the other sites very helpful also.
I pass on his email & links for your files:

"I have a passion for the lands of the Bible. I studied for a year in Israel during my undergraduate degree, and since 1989, I have been traveling through Turkey (the other Holy Land). Below are a few of the key links from SmartChristian.com that will help you study the Bible in its historical-geographical context".

www.biblemapper.com

www.biblemap.org

www.holylandphotos.org

www.lifeintheholyland.com

www.bibleplaces.com/details.htm

www.studylight.org/se/maps

www.openbible.info/geo

Thanks Andy!

My favorite Bible artists #4

Cicely Mary Barker 1895-1973

Cicely Mary Barker is better known for her 'Flower Fairies', but she also illustrated some wonderful Bible pictures. She obviously loved to draw children and flowers, and both found their way into her Bible pictures.

It is well known that her sister Dorothy set up her own school to help earn money for the family, and Cicely used the children as models to draw from, in both her flower fairy, and Bible pictures.

I love her delicate style, she manages to capture the innocence and wonder in the children's faces as they watched the Saviour. She was also another Bible artist who, like Frank Hampson, thrived on detail. The plants and flowers that she illustrated were observed with complete botanical accuracy. Her figure work was also anatomically perfect!
It wasn't only her color work that was impressive, her pen & ink work was superb also.

Cicely was a delicate child, who suffered from epilepsy, and because of this was educated at her Croydon home. After the early death of her father, she helped to earn money for the family by selling her pictures and poetry. In her later years she was described as a humble, modest lady. She had a strong Christian faith, and was an active member of St Andrews church in Croydon.

More about Cicely Mary Barker here.

Favorite Bible Artist #1 Frank Hampson
Favorite Bible Artist #2 Nestor Redondo
Favorite Bible Artist #3 Clive Uptton

Look & Learn

Thanks to Paul Green for reminding me about the 'Look & Learn' magazine.
I had forgotten how amazing the artwork was!

'Look & Learn' was an educational magazine for children produced in the sixties.
We collected every issue as kids, and kept them in the special binders provided.

'The Bible Story' was produced by the same publisher although I don't recall it. (If anyone has any back issues, I'd be very interested).
You can see from the sample above, (from lookandlearn.com), that the Bible illustrations were superb. The above picture was by an artist called Hayes, (image © 'Look & Learn' Magazine Ltd). Does anyone have any info about this artist? Clive Uptton was also one of the Look & Learn artists.

The artwork in Look & Learn was provided by the cream of British illustrators, and can be viewed at lookandlearn.com . I also include a link to the Look & Learn blog in my newly started 'Blogroll' below. Enjoy!

Zacchaeus

Just finished the latest set of Bible pictures. It's a new version of the 'Zacchaeus' story. Click here for more details.

On the BiblePlaces.com website I was not only able to find a photo of a sycamore tree for reference, but a sycamore tree in Jericho! (Thanks Todd).

We are not told Zacchaeus' age, but I've pictured him around his late thirties. Old enough to have accumulated some wealth, but still young enough to climb a tree!

There are four pictures in this set which brings our total Bible picture count to 676! This story almost completes the first of our 'Bible Exhibition' stands. There will be six in total.

Posts on other Bible stories
Blind Bartimaeus
The Rich Young Rular
Crucifixion part 1
Crucifixion part 2
On the road to Emmaus
The Nativity
Raising Lazarus
Woman taken in Adultery

Drawing the Devil!

One of the Bible stories I will be illustrating soon is the 'Temptation of Christ', This will be a difficult one to illustrate as I will need to interpret the Devil in some way. When you look through different children's Bibles at the story of 'The Temptation of Christ', you realize that few Bible artists agree on what the Devil looks like.

The example shown above is just one interpretation from a children's Bible that I have.
Frank Hampson, in 'The Road of Courage' depicted Satan as a simple shepherd. Some show the devil in a female form, as did Mel Gibson in 'The Passion'. and others still as an Angel.
No doubt Satan could take on any of the above forms and more! But, I can't see any good reason why Satan would appear in any other than his natural form, when standing before Christ. After all, there was no way he was going to deceive Christ as to 'who he was!' The question is, what is the natural form of Satan?

It's safe to say that the usual images we see of Satan, like the one above, are inaccurate. The red, hoofed, fork carrying, figure with horns resembles more the mythological creature Pan.
We do know that Lucifer was a fallen Angelic being, a spirit being who was beautiful in appearance and powerful. There's a lot of debate going on as to whether Satan was a covering cherub or not, according to Ezekiel 28. Any comments on that debate might be helpful.

Because we know that Satan was an angelic being I should point readers to the 'Drawing Angels' post, as I have gone into more detail on the subject of angels there.

Norman de la Cruz had been commissioned to work on a new children's Bible for the Philippine Bible Society. Like me, Mr De la Cruz came from an animation background and so was normally able to rough out many pictures a day.
Everything was going well until he came to illustrate the book of Job! An extract follows from an interview with Mr De la Cruz on the 'Asia Pacific' website.

“And things went fairly well until I got to the Book of Job. Then I ran into trouble. I came to the part where Satan asks God to curse Job. I knew I had to illustrate this somehow, but I became stuck. I realized that for most of my life I had been illustrating evil, violence, but here, faced with the originator of all evil, I was powerless to come up with anything. I just sat and stared at my pencils.
I can draft up to 100 illustrations in a day, but I was truly stuck here, unable to lift a pencil. I wondered if I would ever be able to draw again. That was when it came to me that I needed prayer".

I would be interested to know what his final interpretation looked like. If I'm able to get a copy of this Bible from the PBS, I'll let you know! I would be interested to receive any comments on this subject before I begin work on the story.

My favorite Bible artists #3

Clive Uptton 1911-2006
Clive Uptton was a Wartime political cartoonist for the Daily Sketch between 1940-1942. He was a left handed artist like myself, but wrote with his right hand!
You can actually tell he was left handed from his Bible pictures! (left handed artists draw the shine in peoples eyes on the left hand side! Right handed artists draw it on the right.)
As well as his pen and ink drawings he liked to work in watercolors, oils and acrylics, Following the war he became an internationally successful illustrator, poster artist and painter, painting both landscapes and portraits. In 1930 Clive Uptton added an extra 't' to his name to avoid confusion with another illustrator of the time named Upton.

In the late 1960's Clive Uptton was commissioned to produce 121 full-color Bible illustrations for 'Egermeier's Bible Story Book. I first came across Upttons Bible pictures in the Ladybird Bible stories series, (606A). In my humble opinion he was the best artist in this series. I'm not sure if these pictures were reprints from the 'Egermeier's Bible as I don't have one to compare them with.
It's easy to spot a Bible illustration by Clive Uptton, as all his characters seem to have big brown eyes! I particularly like the facial expressions he manages to capture.

Uptton died shortly before his 95th birthday.

Favorite Bible Artist #1 Frank Hampson
Favorite Bible Artist #2 Nestor Redondo
Favorite Bible Artist #4 Cicely Mary Barker

Bible Exhibitions

Just finished the latest Bible picture story which covers John 18:13-40.
The story includes the 'Trial of Jesus' before Caiaphas and Pilate, and 'Peter's denial'.
There are 8 pictures in this set, and the story is available in powerpoint, or A3 poster form. Click here for details.
This brings our total Bible picture count to 672!

We are temporarily pulling off illustrating the Gospel of John to complete some urgent Bible exhibition work, but don't worry! All the stories that we complete for the Bible exhibitions will be available as normal in powerpoint or poster form from the Bible picture website.

Some of the new stories, (to be completed in the new style), will include:
Birth of Christ
Early years of Jesus,
Temptation of Christ,
Parables of Jesus including:
The lost coin,
The good samaritan,
The prodigal son,
The lost sheep.
Zacchaeus,
Blind Bartimaeus,
The rich young ruler,
Healing of the 10 lepers,
The Transfiguration,
The Ascension, and many more!

If you would like more information about our Bible exhibitions, or would like to host one, contact Jem Hudson at:
jem@foundationmatters.com
The new Bible exhibitions will be touring schools in the UK and Germany.

Biblical theme parks

This post is not really on the subject of Bible illustration, but I thought this off-topic item might be of interest to some.

I recently came across Bruce Barry's website, 'Wacky World Studios' based in the U.S.
Wacky World Studios specialize in producing themed environments for children's churches. Bruce explains his mission here, I think basically the idea is to make children's church more of a stimulating environment for children to be in.
Dave Walkers cartoon above suggests that some youth groups might want to take the concept a step further! To see more of Dave's cartoons visit CartoonChurch.com

I was reminded when viewing the 'wacky world' site of a similar type of work that I used to be involved in. Many years ago, before I started illustrating the Bible, part of my work was to produce concept art for theme parks worldwide. The two samples below were done for a proposed 'Bible theme' visitors centre.
The first one depicts the 'Parting of the Red Sea'. Visitors walk between two gigantic water screens that have movie images of pharaohs chariots and soldiers projected onto them. A larger than life model of Moses is stood on the rocks behind with the pillar of fire by his side.

The second picture shows a full scale model of Goliath that children try to knock down with a carefully aimed stone! There's a touch sensitive pad on Goliath's forehead which, when hit by a stone, causes the model to fall backwards onto the ground!. A boy can also be seen trying to lift Goliath's shield, (bottom right).
Unfortunately, both these ideas never got past the concept stage.


Bruce Barry's site also provides ready done Bible murals for church walls. (see 'Bible murals' in the link list). Speaking of murals, check out the mural that the children in our church worked on here.

Also recently found a link to some 'Biblical theme park' concept art for sale from the early 60's.
'Bible Storyland' was conceived by Disney Promoter Nat Winecoff and should have been built in California around 1960. Check out this early concept art here.

Update: 9 June 08
I've just come across another article about a new proposed Bible theme park for Tennessee here. I think you'll agree that the artists rendering of the 'Exodus experience' looks strangely familiar-!!
And before you ask, No! They never asked me if they could use the idea!

Biblical costume photos

The very first Bible costume photo references have gone up on BibleArtist.com.
With more photos to follow shortly!
The photos were kindly supplied by LEGIO SECVNDA AVGVSTA, The Roman Living History Society based in Winchester, UK. Check out their site here.

The copyright owners have kindly given permission for the photos to be used for reference by Bible artists in their illustrations.
If you have any photos of people in Biblical costume, contact Bibleartist.com
Photo © LEGIO SECVNDA AVGVSTA 2007

DC comics 'Stories from the Bible'

Had a reply recently to an email I sent to Joe Kubert.

For anyone who doesn't know who Joe Kubert is, he is one of the great American comic book artists who worked during the 'Golden and Silver age' of comics for DC. Famous for his work on 'Sgt Rock' and 'Hawkman' amongst others.

I had asked him if any more issues had been printed from the DC Comics 'Stories from the Bible' series which he edited, and Carmine Infantino had published back in the mid 70's.

Mr Kubert told me that although he was Jewish and proud of it, he had fully intended producing the entire Bible, including both Old and New Testament stories in the 'Stories from the Bible' series. Unfortunately, because the workload on him at the time was so great, the series never passed issue one!
Issue one, for those who haven't seen it, covered from 'Creation' to 'Sodom & Gomorrah', and was illustrated by the late Nestor Redondo.

This is one of those 'what if' projects, where we are left to wonder about the amazing artwork that might have been!
Sadly, I can't imagine DC comics or Marvel ever attempting to do a project like this again.
More about Joe Kubert here.

Which Bible clothing colors should I use?

When you come to adding color to your Bible characters, do you ever wonder which colors you should be using on clothing for authenticity?

I've just read a very interesting 40 page booklet titled 'Drawing Bible Pictures'. It was written by W H Whanslaw, and was first published in 1943. (twelve further editions followed).
It's basically a 'How to draw' book for Sunday school teachers, encouraging them to produce their own Bible posters. This booklet has all the usual contents found in a 'How to draw' book such as 'How to draw Heads, Hands, Feet, Animals, Birds, Landscapes, Perspectives', etc, etc. But it also includes some quite in-depth articles on 'Hand/eye coordination', 'How clothing folds', 'Light and shade' and 'Pictorial Composition' which goes into great detail on how the Dutch Masters composed their paintings!

The section that I would like to share with you is about the suggested choice of colors for Bible clothing.

Bible Costume
The upper classes should be shown dressed in long, roomy clothing with borders and fringes to emphasise the social strata. If color is being used purple must be avoided, since only one person - the Roman Emperor - was entitled to wear this color. Bright reds for cloaks should be used sparingly, for red was generally a woman's color; deep red and rich brown-reds may be used, as well as greens, especially emerald green for decorations. Almost any kind and variety of blue may be used to good advantage, either in solid masses or in the form of stripes of various widths.

The lower classes favored browns and blues, pale greens, and all shades of yellow. Women would wear either blue or white dresses, with red and yellow decorative stripes and ornamentation.

A Centurion would wear bronze armour, a red skirt, red at the shoulders, and a scarlet cloak; this cloak was worn only by the officers. The three feathers in the helmet were red with black tips, and showed that he was in the colonial army; the sword was bronze, the breeches dark blue or black, the boots of black or brown leather.

The common soldier wore steel armour with a bronze helmet, chestnut-brown vest and skirt, dark blue breeches and black leather sandals, and carried a shield in bright colors.

I'm not sure how accurate the above notes are, or where W H Whanslaw got his research, but it is interesting reading. If anyone has anything they would like to add on the above subject, please add a comment.

Johnny Hart goes Home!

Just heard today that the brilliant Christian cartoonist Johnny Hart went home to be with his Lord on Saturday. He was 76. He died of a stroke at his home in Endicott, U.S.
A sad loss for his family, friends and fans worldwide.
The fact that he died the day before Easter Sunday, when the world remembers the 'Resurrection of the Lord', must have been a comforting reminder to the family that death is not the end!

My brother and I were brought up on 'The Wizard of Id' strip in the 70's, which he co-created with fellow cartoonist Brant Parker. They were the funniest strips!
I was thrilled to hear that he had become a christian and was involved in the kids work in his church. I'm sure he was a great blessing to them. The kids will miss him.

Hart was best known for his cartoon strip 'B.C', which was launched back in 1958. (the year I was born!)
When he became a Christian he started to introduce Christian themes into the strip which led to much criticism, but what cartoonist worth his salt doesn't have critics? From what I've read about the man, Hart was a good name for him.
He will be missed by all his fans here in the U.K.

Christian artists never stop creating. They just get a bigger palette with more colors!

Raising Lazarus!

The latest Bible story to be illustrated is 'The raising of Lazarus', (John ch11).
The story includes 8 pictures, and is available either as a Powerpoint,
or in A3 Poster format.
In picture 3, you can see the actual town of Bethany in the background. I used an early engraving for reference.

Indications are that Mary, Martha and Lazarus were reasonably wealthy. For instance, we read that Lazarus was buried in a tomb. Most burials at that time were in 'Shaft' graves, which were 6' deep x 20" wide. Tombs were reserved for the wealthy.
We also read in ch-12 how Mary used very costly oil of spikenard, (worth 300 denarii), to anoint the feet of Jesus.

Picture 5 shows Martha telling Mary that the Lord wanted to see her. This story is taking place during the 'Shiv-ah' period, (the Jewish week long period of grief and mourning for close relatives). Mary is in the 'house of mourning'. Those who have gathered to pay their respects, and comfort the two sisters are seated either on the ground or on low stools, as was the custom. The normal chairs being upturned.

Those present have torn their clothes on the right side. The left side, (over the heart), being reserved for the loss of a parent.

In pictures 7 and 8 you can see the freshly whitened tomb of Lazarus.
Edersheim tells us that a mixture of chalk and water was used to whiten sepulchers. This process had to be repeated over time, as rain water would wash the chalk away.
In picture 8, the chalky mixture can be clearly seen on the clothes and hands of those who moved the stone. (see picture).

The story of Lazarus brings our total Bible picture count to 664!

Posts on other Bible stories
Blind Bartimaeus
The Rich Young Rular
Zacchaeus
Crucifixion part 1
Crucifixion part 2
On the road to Emmaus
The Nativity
Woman taken in Adultery

Inking

I had a visit last week from an old friend who now lives in Virginia. Paul Green is a fellow artist, now turned author.

Like me, Paul was brought up on the 'Silver age' of DC Comics. But unlike me, he did go on to draw Superman!

One of the things that we were discussing, apart from the sad deaths of so many of the 'Silver age' artists, was how inking has changed over the years, and how modern inking has become so clean and crisp, it's almost machine like! It's hard to imagine modern graphic novels getting better!

Inking at D C Thomsons
I started my training as a cartoonist back in 1976. Inking in first with a dip pen, but soon progressing to a brush. You don't get the same problems with a brush, like:
spattering,(when the nib catches on the surface of the paper),
beading, (putting too much ink down, which can take ages to dry!).
clogging, (when paper fibres get torn up by the metal nib).

Both 'spattering' and 'clogging' were problems associated with inking onto watercolor paper. Now that digital coloring is here it's no longer a problem, as you can ink onto a smooth surface that can be scanned.
Inking with a brush can take a little longer to master, but it is safer. (I've still got two permanent tattoo's from stabbing myself with a dip pen!)

D C Thomsons was an excellent training ground, for the cartoonist or illustrator, and the biggest studio of it's type in Europe at that time.
It was while training at Thomsons that I was introduced to, what was then called, the 'Continental style' of cartooning. This style of inking appeared in the continental comics such as 'Spirou'.
The undisputed king of 'Continental style' inking, in my opinion, has to be Albert Underzo! So much movement in his line work.
I loved 'Asterix' when I was a child, and even in 2007, few artists come close to his amazing line work!

I've recently been impressed with the inking of Paolo Eleuteri-Serpieri. His work on 'The Great Bible Discovery' series #19, is excellent. At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that his pictures are overworked, but on closer inspection, every line seems to have a purpose! Serpieri has to be the master of cross-hatching!
No one does it better!

Digital Inking
Digital line work is great when you need a perfect brush line, or when you need to color the line work. (See sample here).
You are pretty much in complete control of a digital line.
Is 'digital inking' cheating? It depends on how you look at it. If you've spent 30 years honing your skills with a brush or a dip pen, you might think so. Or, you could argue that it just makes life easier for everyone. Digital coloring certainly has. Who knows, in years to come, maybe all inking will be digital!
I can't help thinking though. I'm kind of glad that Albert Underzo never had a graphics tablet!

Latest ICC Competition!

Nate Butler is President of 'International Christian Comics ' in Albuquerque, USA..
He emailed me last week with details of the 'latest ICC competition' which I've pasted below.
If you would like to enter, let Nate know a.s.a.p.

We've launched our 2nd International Christian Comics Competition (ICCC)
Submissions should be original, short comics features (1, 2, 3 or 4 pages maximum) that are evangelistic in nature and/or display an aspect of Christian discipleship. The message of the comic should be appealing and understandable to a non-Christian audience, without compromising the message of the Gospel.
True stories, including Bible adaptations and personal testimonies, are encouraged particularly.
For more information, please visit this page of our web site:
http://www.comix35.org/intcompetition2.html

Nate recently visited Japan, and met with some 'manga Bible artists'. His comments are below.

"I had some meetings with manga artists in Japan just last month where we discussed how to portray Adam & Eve in the only way that would be 100% genetically accurate ... about how artists often draw Goliath and other Philistines with the wrong kind of helmet in spite of a great deal of hieroglyphic evidence clearly displaying the look of Philistine soldiers ... about the look of Noah's Ark ... etc., etc. ... all very interesting stuff that I hope to get down in writing someday!"

I'm looking forward to reading all about that Nate. Many thanks!
Graham

The 'Bible Artist' list

You will probably have noticed the recently added list of 'Bible Artists'.
(Green box, right hand column).

I originally intended this to be a 'Bible Artist blogroll', but I soon found out that there are very few Bible artists with a blog! And the few Bible artists that did have a blog, were not blogging about Bible art!
So, I decided to change it to a list of Bible artist links.

Bible Artists
To be included on this list, you need to have either, illustrated a Bible, or have a website with your own Bible art displayed. If that's you, send me an email with your details.

Christian Artists
I also noticed that there are many good Christian artists that don't necessarily have Bible art displayed on their websites. This list is to include them!

Jewish Bible Art
I thought it would be nice to include some Jewish Bible art, so if you're Jewish, and have your own Bible art displayed on your website, send me an email with your details.

Don't forget to vote in the Poll! (Blue box, right hand column).

Writing in the sand!

The latest Bible picture story to be added is the 'Woman caught in the act of adultery' (John 8). If you need pictures of this story, click here. The story takes place in one of the sandy floored courts adjoining the main Temple. I presume that the flooring was sand, as the Lord Jesus stooped down to write in it, and what He wrote could clearly be read by those who stood around. According to Jewish law, it was unlawful to write even two letters on the sabbath day, but it was acceptable to write in dust! (shabbat 7:2, 12:5)

There's been lots of speculation as to what the Lord Jesus wrote in the sand that day. Some suggest that it was a list of sins, others suggest that it was a list of the names of those stood around. I often wonder if it was something like, "This is a list of the sins committed by......", and then He stopped writing and waited for someone to cast the first stone.... no one dared! For whatever reason, the Bible does not record what was actually written.

In picture 2 the pharisees are pointing with the finger of their left hand, (The hand with the phylactery strapped to it!) emphasizing their confidence that the full weight of the Law supported their accusations. In fact, the Law stated that both the woman, and the man should be stoned, but where was the man?

In picture 3 you can see the accusers starting to leave, beginning with the eldest first. The older we get, the more honest we should become about our sinfulness before God.

This story contains 5 pictures and brings the total picture count to 656!

Posts on other Bible stories
Blind Bartimaeus
The Rich Young Rular
Zacchaeus
Crucifixion part 1
Crucifixion part 2
On the road to Emmaus
The Nativity
Raising Lazarus

A Good Read!

I'm reading an excellent book that I came across recently by Anne Punton.
'The World Jesus Knew' is full of very useful information for Bible artists.
Anne Punton worked for CMJ , (Church's Ministry among Jewish people), for 12 years in Israel, which explains her knowledge of Jewish culture and traditions.

She goes into great detail on Biblical clothing, the construction of buildings, the methods and tools of agriculture, the landscape and climate of the Holy land, and lots more. It's one of those rare reference books that you can't put down! If you're illustrating the Bible, you need this book!

You can obtain copies easily from Amazon. It's published by Moody .
ISBN 0-8024-2480-5

I recently found out that CMJ, (in the UK), owns a collection of 300 year old 'biblical' costumes. I've been emailing them to see if they would release photos of them, either via their own website, or this blog. This would be an excellent reference resource for Bible artists. Although 300 year old clothing is by no means ancient, apparently, middle-eastern clothing changed very little in the period between.
I've no had replies to my emails as yet, but I'll keep trying!

Posts on other helpful books:
The Great Bible Discovery series
Finding Harold Copping
The Bible Story
The Splendor of the Temple

Bible pictures: Cartoon Vs Realism

I would be interested to know your views on the above topic. So I've added a poll for you to vote on, at the bottom of the right hand column. Please spare a minute to vote.
(The poll is now closed. The results are below).

Most of the Bible pictures we produce are in a realistic style, apart from the parables, which I tend to do in a cartoon style.
We have found that those involved in presenting the Bible message to children prefer their pictures to be reasonably realistic. Some people are understandably turned off by cartoon depictions of the crucifixion.

I went into my local christian bookshop last week to browse, and I was amazed to find hardly any new children's Bibles containing realistic illustration. Nearly every new Bible on offer was a cartoon version.
Don't get me wrong, there are some excellent cartoon Bibles out there, and I think that there's room for Bibles illustrated in all styles. What bothers me is the lack of choice on offer. I'm not sure that christian publishers have their finger firmly on the pulse on this one.

When we brought out our '3D books', a few years ago, two were in a cartoon style, and two were realistic. The publisher predicted that the cartoon versions would outsell the others.
In fact, the reverse happened! The realistic style outsold the cartoon style by 2 to 1.

What happened to all the artists like J J Tossot, William Hole, Harold Copping, Henry Coller and of course, Frank Hampson?
Great Bible artists who all travelled to the Holy land to gather visual references and produced some of the best realistic Bible illustrations to date.

Let us know your opinion by voting in the poll!

The poll is now closed:
175 voted for Realistic Bible illustration.
15 voted for Cartoon Bible illustration.
3 voted as having no preference.
Many thanks for your votes and interest in the subject.

'Project Michelangelo'

A few years ago, we decided to involve the children who attend the church youth club in the painting of a mural, (with a Bible theme), to be on permanent display in the church hall. We had no idea how long in would take, but we decided to try and complete it during the six week school holidays.

All the kids and leaders arrived, dressed in their scruffs, and work began. We started by painting 5 sheets of plywood, (8'x4'), with white paint. Then we transferred the picture from the small version, that I had done in advance, to the full-size boards. I intended keeping tight control over this process, but found that the older kids wanted to copy parts of the picture themselves.

All of the boards were painted flat on the floor, with plenty of space around them. This way, 3 or 4 children could comfortably work on each board. Special attention had to be paid to using the same colors on parts of the image that crossed from one board to another. (this didn't always happen!)

The whole project was a great success, and was completed on time!
It was both fun and educational. We were able to spend time talking about the Bible stories that we were painting. The children enjoyed learning how to mix colors, how to paint a metal effect, (see Goliath's helmet), and how to paint marble pillars, (see Samson). Every age and ability was involved. The very young were given large areas to paint in a certain color, like a gigantic coloring book. This wasn't always neat, but the older children tided it up later.

We had a lot of fun too. some evenings ended up with a big paint fight! and everyone went home covered head to foot in paint! Great fun. Don't try this if you haven't got washable floors! All in all, it was a great bridge-building event.

The finished mural, (pictured above), was a massive 8' high by 20' long! It depicted 14 scenes taken from both the 'Old' & 'New Testaments'. There were about 20 children involved, ranging in age from about 5 to 13 years old.

A few weeks ago, one of the kids involved in the mural came to see me for a reference for a job that she was applying for, (she is 17 now). While I was photocopying her form, I noticed that one of the questions was, "What achievement to date, are you most proud of?" Her answer was, "Painting a mural at my local church". It wasn't until then that I realized just how much the painting of that mural meant to those kids.

I suggested to the kids that we should try a 'Sistine chapel' type picture next, for the ceiling! They can't wait!!!

Covering the Ark

An interesting comment was left a few days ago by Jason from North Carolina, on the 'Day of Atonement' post. Jason pointed out that, in Numbers 4:1-15 the Ark of the Covenant along with the other items of furniture in the Tabernacle were always covered while in transit.

I have drawn the Ark uncovered while in transit at least twice that I can think of! This highlights another problem that Bible illustrators face. We tend to only read the portion of scripture that we're about to illustrate. Numbers 4 is one of those passages that sets a precedent for all the verses that follow concerning the Ark.
Just about every Bible artist I know has missed this one! The fact is, the only time we should show the Ark uncovered, is when it's in the Holy of Holies.

I'm slowly redoing all of our earlier Bible stories in the new (more detailed) style. So, when I redo both the 'Crossing of the Jordan' and 'The walls of Jericho' stories, the ark will be well and truly covered! Thanks Jason.
Another interesting question is, what was the Ark of the Covenant actually covered with?

Badger skins or Dugong hides?
When I was reading the verses above, (in the amplified Bible), I was very surprised to read that the Ark was covered with 'porpoise or dolphin skins'! (not badger skins). On further inspection, I noticed that the amplified Bible also records that the Tabernacle itself was covered with dolphin or porpoise skins! If you're as confused as I was, then you might find the excert below, (from netbible.org), enlightening.

The word 'Badger' is found in Ex. 25:5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19; 39:34; Num. 4:6, etc. The tabernacle was covered with badgers' skins; the shoes of women were also made of them (Ezek. 16:10). Our translators seem to have been misled by the similarity in sound of the Hebrew tachash_ and the Latin _taxus, "a badger." The revisers have correctly substituted "seal skins." The Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply the name tucash to the seals and dugongs which are common in the Red Sea, and the skins of which are largely used as leather and for sandals. Though the badger is common in Palestine, and might occur in the wilderness, its small hide would have been useless as a tent covering. The dugong, (pictured above), very plentiful in the shallow waters on the shores of the Red Sea, is a marine animal from 12 to 30 feet long, something between a whale and a seal, never leaving the water, but very easily caught. It grazes on seaweed, and is known by naturalists as Halicore tabernaculi.
(Source: http://netbible.org)

I have only ever seen the covering of the Tabernacle depicted in illustrations, (and on models), as consisting of brown fur. If Dugong hides were used, the covering would have been a bluish-grey in color, and almost leather like. If anyone has any other comments on this, we'd like to hear them!
(Dugong image: www.euratlas.com)

Related posts:
The Day of Atonement
The contents of the Ark

Drawing Angels!

I was asked just before Christmas, if I could draw a large angel for our church youth group, as they were performing a nativity play.
I always feel a little uneasy when drawing angels, mainly because, I'm not too sure what they look like! For the same reason, I also feel uncomfortable drawing anything relating to heaven. I hold to the view that these things are beyond human imagination, therefore, however we try to depict them, we are sure to fail miserably!

Man boasts that he can achieve whatever he can imagine, but God begins where mans imagination ends! There are many instances in the Bible where man, after seeing a heavenly vision, attempts to describe the indescribable! e.g. Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 10, Revelation etc. In Corinthians ch12:2, Paul 'beheld sights and heard unspeakable words which it would not be possible for man to declare'. In the same way that 'words failed' Paul, if the worlds greatest artist were to see those same visions, I believe that he too, would be unable to paint them onto canvas.

The Bible mentions different types of angelic beings, such as 'Cherubim', 'Seraphim', 'Thrones', 'Archangels', 'Angels', 'Principalities and powers. etc. The descriptions given, of both the cherubim in Ezekiel 10, and the seraphim in Isaiah 6:2, fall into the category of the indescribable! There are descriptions given, but they're not easily translated into coherent images.

The craftsmen of Moses' day however, didn't seem to have any problems depicting cherubs. They made two cherubim in solid gold for the 'Ark of the Covenant'. Presumably, Moses was given the visual information about cherubs, which he in turn passed on to the craftsmen. We also read in Ex 26:1 that skilled craftsmen wove images of cherubim into the design of the tabernacle curtain. According to Ezekiel, cherubs have four wings. I've only ever seen two winged cherubs on reconstructed models of the 'Ark of the Covenant'.
The word 'Seraphim' means 'burning ones' which suggests that they have the appearance of fire.
Adolphe Napoleon Didron, (1886), illustrated both cherubim and seraphim based on the literal descriptions given in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 10. The end results however, were most unusual.

So, going back to angels. How should we draw them? What do they really look like? Most of the 'Angel imagery' that is accepted, is provided by the 'Old masters'. If we are to base our pictures on these images alone, then angels will remain as either 'fat babies with wings', or slightly effeminate looking men with long white robes, wings, and in some cases, a sword. So, how scriptural are these images?

Firstly, it's important to mention that, out of the list of angelic beings mentioned above, it's angels that interact with men, and they appear in human form. Notice also, that angels always appear in adult form, (not as fat babies!)
Most of the time they are male, although female ones seem to be mentioned in Zechariah 5:9.
In most Bible passages about angels, Wings are not mentioned! In Genesis chapters 18 & 19 for instance, the angels had no wings. At least not visible ones.
Seraphim, cherubim and thrones however, do have wings , but Seraphs only use two of their six wings to fly!
Angels are recorded as wearing white robes, which in some cases radiate dazzling light. (Matt 28:3), but, angels also appear in normal clothing, (Gen:18).
If Pauls comments about 'entertaining angels unawares' in Hebrews 13:1-2, is applicable today, then it would suggest that angels keep up-to-date with fashion too!
It seems that angels either appear as men, (so as not to cause alarm), or in their natural state, which is both awesome and terrifying. (Luke 24:5).
In Psalm 78:25, angels food is mentioned which suggests that angels may also eat!

If anyone has done a study of angels, (from the Bible), and would like to share their thoughts, particularly on the physical appearance of angels, please leave a comment.

Related posts:
Drawing Cherubs
Drawing the Devil

Bible pictures on the net!

Searching for Bible pictures on the internet can be very frustrating!
When you search Google for 'Bible pictures', it's possible to get to page 80, and still not find what you're looking for! In fact, by the time you get to page 80, you won't find anything biblical at all!

Google is apparently working on 'new search technology' that will only show 'very relevant' web pages that match the search term used. in other words, when you search for 'Bible pictures', you will get a list of sites that actually have Bible pictures! Isn't that what's supposed to happen? Anyway, for those of you who can't wait for Googles new technology to arrive, and for those of you who still haven't found 'The Bible picture website', read on!

Older collections
There are a few sites out there that do contain Bible pictures. These can range from nineteenth century engravings by Gustave Dore, to Flash-cards produced in the sixties! Good as these pictures are, it's very difficult to hold the attention of todays 'Cartoon Network' loving children, (whose attention span has been reduced to two seconds), with black & white engravings by Gustave Dore!
The Bible picture website produces 'new artwork' with todays kids in mind.

Continuity
Many sites boast 'large collections' of Bible pictures which are usually scans taken from old Bible story books, children's Bibles or very old paintings.
Again these are very good, but there's a problem with continuity, as most of the stories are made up from pictures done by several artists, which means that the main character, whether it be Moses or Jesus, can change several times during one story! The Bible picture website uses one artist per story!

Private collections
Many children's workers know an amateur or semi professional artist who produces Bible pictures for them. Some of these collections are starting to appear on the web. The only problem here is that because the artist, more often than not, has produced the pictures as a favor, or at very low cost. they tend not to have the time to do the proper research required for each story. When I was a professional illustrator producing Bible pictures in my spare time, I had the same problem.

I've added a list of all the Bible picture resource sites that I can find on the web. It's at the bottom of the right hand column. If I find any more, I'll add them too!

Related posts:
Need Bible pictures?
How to use our Bible pictures
Can you help?

Feeding the 5,000

For those of you who think that the 'picture counter' on the right has been stuck on 641, It's not!
It's just that I've been illustrating the 'feeding of the 5,000' in John ch 6, and it's taken longer than usual.

If you need pictures of the 'Feeding of the 5,000 story', click here.

To start with, I wanted to get the scenery reasonably accurate, so I started by looking at maps and photos of the area as well as studying old paintings and wood engravings that were actually done in the Holy land.
The supposed area where this event took place is known today as the 'Golan Heights'

In picture one, you are looking from the high ground, westward across the sea of Galilee. On the opposite shore, some 5 miles away, you can see Capernaum, where the Lord Jesus travelled to the following day.
In pictures three, and four, you are looking northwest, and the River Jordan can be seen in the distance, close to where it flows into the Sea of Galilee near Bethsaida.
If you look at a contoured map of the area, you will see that the slopes rise gently from the Sea of Galilee at this point. This was a large area of grassland, (v10) making it ideal for grazing.

I have drawn both sheep and lambs amongst the crowds, as this was at the time of 'Passover', so there would have been lambs in abundance. In picture four, I show a small child sat with a lamb at her side, like a pet. This is a reminder of how jewish families at 'Passover' were to take the lamb into their home, on the 10th of Nisan, 4 days before it was sacrificed. I'm sure that any children in the family would have grown attached to the lamb during this time, making the eventual slaughter of the animal that much more painful! A stark reminder to them of both the consequences of sin, and how their ancestors were saved only by the shedding of the blood of an innocent lamb!

When I was drawing the crowds of people, I started to think about the logistics of how the food would have been distributed. There could well have been over 10,000 people present as the 5,000 mentioned didn't include the women and children.
Whenever there are plates of biscuits to be given out at our church following a family service, you can guarantee that all the volunteers for the job are the children! I would imagine that children were the same then. So in picture four, I show, alongside the disciples, eager children distributing the baskets of bread and fish.

For more about the Sea of Galilee, click here.

Pictures of the Nativity

If you are looking for pictures of the 'Nativity', click on one of the links below:

New pictures of the Nativity: Part one.
New pictures of the Nativity: Part two.
Christmas Jigsaw Powerpoint.
Wisemen powerpoint.
Nativity powerpoint.
Nativity in 3D powerpoint.

As I write this post it's early December, so I thought I'd add a post with a Christmas theme! below are a few interesting facts and thoughts about the 'Christmas story' that might be helpful to all you Bible illustrators, or maybe those preparing a Christmas sermon.

Why Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?
Gold was a royal gift given to kings, or in this case the 'King of Kings'.
Frankincense was used by priests, reminding us that the Lord Jesus was to become our 'Great High Priest'. Like Melchisedic, He was to be both a Priest and king.
Myrrh was an embalming spice used in the burial of the dead, reminding us that Jesus came for a purpose, to die as a 'sacrificial lamb' for the sins of the world.

Mary
Most modern scholars agree that Mary was only around 14 years old when she gave birth to the Lord Jesus. This would have made her around 47 years old at the time of the crucifixion. Both the 'Jesus of Nazareth' series, and the new film, 'The Nativity Story' , correctly show Mary as a young teen.

Swaddling clothes
This was an eastern custom whereby a baby was bound with long strips of cloth, in the same manner as an Egyptian mummy! The arms and legs of a baby bound in this way were quite rigid!
Strips of cloth were also wrapped across the babies chin and forehead, so that only his face could be seen.

We three kings?
Actually, the wise men were not kings, and there were probably more than three of them!
Some experts believe they were of Persian origin.The wise men were members of the 'Magi' which was an ancient religious order that worshiped the elements, (fire, water, air etc). It is possible that the wise men attributed deity to the star which they were following. If this is true, this would not be the first time that God used a lifeless object of worship to point men back to Himself! I'm thinking of the image of Dagon that fell prostrate before the Ark of the Lord. (1st Samuel ch5).

Bethlehem star
I once read an article in the 'Readers Digest' by the famous Astronomer Patrick Moore, concerning 'The Star of Bethlehem'. He studied each Bible verse that mentioned the star, and compared them with the very latest information we have about the stars, to see if the behavior of this star could be explained.
The interesting thing was that even though there are only a few verses that mention the star, these few verses showed that this star behaved like no other!
He concluded the article with the words, " The Star of Bethlehem remains a mystery!"

Related posts:
New pictures of the Nativity
Nazareth or Egypt?
Drawing Angels

Need Bible pictures?

Don't forget to check out the 'Bible picture site'
We now have a new domain name 'www.biblepicturewebsite.com'. This will be the web address of our 'new U.S. site' based in Philadelphia. This site will be in U.S. dollars and should provide an even better service to all our customers in the U.S. At the moment this address will connect to the main 'Visual Impact Resources' site, until the new site is complete.

We have already completed over 100 stories from the Old and New Testaments! They include over 640 pictures so far.
Each picture is hand drawn with brush and ink and digitally rendered.
All our picture sets are available as immediate downloads, for when you need those Bible pictures quickly!
Alternatively, you can order each picture set in A3 poster form. For those of you who are outside the U.K. A3 is 420mm x 297mm or 11 1/2x16 1/2 inches. The posters can be mounted onto a flipchart pad or laminated and used as flashcards.

We also have a range of 'Amazing 3D Bible pictures' available as Powerpoints or posters, for use with 3D glasses! Why not buy all the kids in your Sunday school/kids club a 3D viewer from 'here'. Then download a 'Bible story in Amazing 3D' from our 3D PowerPoints!
Our childrens 3D Bible storybooks make great Christmas presents too. There are 4 titles, and each book comes with a free 3D viewer!


Related posts:
How to use our Bible pictures
Bible pictures on the net!
Can you help?

Being Roofless!

I Found a couple of interesting things out recently to do with synagogues that might be helpful to other Bible artists also.

1). Synagogues in the days of Jesus were often built without roofs!
Coming from Manchester, which is famous for it's rainfall, the concept of a roofless building is a strange one! I don't think I've ever yet seen a Bible illustration that depicts an open-air synagogue, so watch this space!

Speaking of roofs, (or lack of them), Paul Beck left some helpful comments about them on my 'No more Domes'. post. Check it out! (Thanks Paul).

2). Synagogues were built on high ground
Whenever possible, synagogues were built at the highest point of a town or city. So, If you happen to be showing an external view of one, remember to illustrate the buildings around at a lower level.

It was also the practice of those involved in 'Idol worship' to build their temples on high ground, the idea being that they were closer to the false deities that they worshiped, (Sun Gods, Moon gods, etc). These are referred to in the Old Testament as 'The high places'.

Related posts:
What did Herod's Temple look like?
Houses in Bible times
No more Domes!

Bible Research

Continued from the 'Gathering Bible references' post./

Once you have gathered together references for figures, buildings and landscape etc, It's time to start some serious research!

The basic tools for this are, the Bible, (obviously), Bible Atlas, a good commentary, Concordance, Bible dictionary and a parallel New Testament. But even then, there are sometimes questions left unanswered. So, It's also helpful to have a book on 'Bible customs' to hand. The one I use is 'Manners and Customs of the Bible' by James M. Freeman.
If you have to illustrate a custom such as 'Casting lots', books like this can help you to understand how it was actually done.

Much of my research is now done on the internet.
Websites like BiblePlaces.com are a mine of information! If you are serious about Bible illustration, I would highly recommend this site to you. Todd Bolen's blog will also keep you up to date with all the latest news in Bible archeology. I could spend hours on this site!

When illustrating 'The healing at the pool of Bethesda' in John ch 5, (sample above). I was informed by Professor Bolen, who's based at the university in Jerusalem, that most of the pools in Jerusalem at that time were open air.
Many children's Bible artists, and some of the 'Old Masters' (see Carl Bloch), show this as an enclosed pool. Information like this cannot always be gleaned from the study aids mentioned above.

When you're happy with your references and research, It's time to start drawing!
At the end of the day, a lot of what we draw will be guesswork. But, if we use all the research tools available to us, at least we will be making an educated guess!

Related posts:
Illustrating a Bible Story
More Biblical costume reference!
Which Bible clothing colors should I use?
Easy mistakes to make!
Bible study aids
Gathering Bible References

Noah's Ark?

We all know what Noah's Ark looked like, don't we?
It was a big wooden boat with a big house on top! .......Wasn't it?

We've all gotten so used to seeing images of Noah's Ark in children's Bibles, (with all the animals waving through the leaded glass windows to Noah, who is busy watering all the hanging baskets of flowers), that we seldom question if those images actually resembled the ark at all!

The nearest Ark I've seen, (to the Biblical description),appeared in John Cross's book, 'The Stranger on the road to Emmaus'. It was basically, a long black box floating on the water! I know it's not as pretty as the traditional version, but our job's not about illustrating fairy tales!

Remember that the Ark was probably black in color as it was coated in pitch! When you look at the actual dimensions, (I built a small scale model in wood), It's surprisingly long and slim! In-fact, in black, it almost looks futuristic! Remember also that the Ark was HUGE! To see some models of Noah's Ark, click here.

So if we know what the ark looked like, why do we keep going back to the fairy tale version? Well, tradition is hard to break! I think that's the problem. Tradition! (It's the fault of Bible artists, yet again!)
So, full marks to all the artists like Nestor Redondo and others, who spent the time to research the subject, and had the guts to draw what they saw!

Easy mistakes to make!

#1 The writing on the wall
When illustrating 'Belshazzars Feast' in the book of Daniel, remember to position the hand to the left of the finished writing on the wall.
Not the right, as shown in most children's Bibles. Remember, Hebrew is written from right to left!

#2 Crossing the Jordan
When illustrating the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua ch3-4. Remember that if you were stood on the banks of the Jordan facing Jericho, the flow of the water would be from right to left. This means that when the water banked up allowing the children of Israel to cross, it would bank up on the right side of them. Not the left as shown in some Bibles.

The Bible says that the Jordan actually receded a few miles upstream, To the city of Adam,(v16) where the waters heaped up. Therefore no wall of water would have been in view as the israelites crossed the Jordan. It is more dramatic though when you can see the wall of water! Although, the waters receding back many miles in both directions, (when the priests feet touched the water), must have been a fairly awesome sight too!

Interestingly, this is almost the same spot where the 'Baptism of Jesus' took place many years later. How much more would the waters of the Jordan have wanted to recede back at that event!

#3 The Star of David
Many Bible artists use the 'Star of David' as a Jewish symbol in their Bible pictures. For instance on decorative panels in synagogues etc. This symbol wasn't used till much later. Images of the 'Menorah' have been around for a lot longer, so perhaps a menorah would be a more suitable image. Any other suggestions?

#4 The High Priests Breastplate.
If you've gone to the trouble of researching the colors of all twelve of the precious stones on the breastplate of the High Priest, (which you should). Remember that, as Hebrew is written from right to left, It's probable that the first stone mentioned would appear top right, and the last stone mentioned would appear bottom left.
Many years ago, I illustrated a life size 'High priest' in oils on canvas, for an evangelist friend of ours. One mistake I made, which I later changed, was to illustrate the two chains that attach the top corners of the Breastplate to the two shoulder settings, as link chains. They should have been 'wreathen' or 'braided' chains, which are more like ropes, and much stronger.

#5 Cover the Ark.
Remember to illustrate the Ark of the Covenant under cover when in transit. (See the 'Covering the Ark' post).
Also remember that the Cherubs over the Ark had four wings, not two. (See the 'Drawing Angels' post).

Related posts:
Covering the Ark
Drawing Angels
Drawing Cherubs