More Questions

We have a few more 'Bible illustration' related questions from two Bible artists.
The first ones came in from Nathan (Jumbo) who runs the Biblical Animation blog.
Nathan has been working on a film based on the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel ch 2. Here are his questions:

1. Would the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream have worn a loin cloth? Was the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw clothed or nude? The Bible gives details about it's breast, belly, thighs and legs--all items that wouldn't be visible when wearing the typical clothing of the day. Add to this the symbolism of the statue (man's kingdoms/man's reign), and this creates the problem.
(When I illustrated this story I added a loin cloth for the sake of modesty, which most Bible artists seem to do. Graham).

2. What other objects might have been found in Nebuchadnezzar's bedroom? Also, where might references of these objects be found?
Nathan has already added a Mesopotamian bed, some lamp stands, and two barrel-vault windows flanking the bed.

The second set of questions came from Levi. Here they are:
3. Are there any resources available regarding the hairstyles of Hebrew men during Biblical times?

4. Were there differences in dress between the idolatrous temple workers (i.e. prostitues) and the general female dress of the time, and if so, what were they?

5. I noticed that people were able to tell that Peter, in Mark 14:70; Luke 22:59 as well as the apostles in Acts 2:7, were Galilaeans. Did Galilaeans dress differently than anyone else, or were they like the Samaritans having different features?

These are all good questions that will take a little research to answer, (unless someone out there already knows the answers!) All comments are welcome!
Levi also wanted to know where he might find good reference for authentic Biblical clothing. I originally set up Bibleartist.com for the purpose of displaying photos of replica Bible clothing, (until I realized how hard they were to find!)
The 'Nazareth Village Project' have some nice photos of authentic Biblical costume. They also produced some replica clothing for CMJ for a live exhibition. (see picture above, © cmj 2008).

Looking at the photo above reminded me to say that if you are going to the trouble of having authentic Bible costumes made and getting people to pose in them, remember to ask your models NOT to smile on the photos-!!
 
Related posts:
Question 1
Question 2
Gathering Bible References
More Biblical costume reference!
Which Bible clothing colors should I use?

More Biblical costume reference!

I know it's hard to believe, but I've finally got around to adding more Bible costume reference photos to BibleArtist.com.
The delay has not entirely been my fault! (I've had to wait for photo's).

The latest set have been sent in by David Scott from CMJ. (Thanks David). David also recommended the 'Nazareth Village project,' which I hadn't come across before. It's worth a visit, and has some really nice photos.

If anyone else has some good photo's of Biblical type clothing, please get in contact, or leave a comment!

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.

Gathering Bible references

A fellow artist once told me that "An artist is only as good as his references". After five years of illustrating the Bible, I now know that to be true!
Gathering references can be a time consuming but important task. Made all the more difficult for me as we are providing a series of 5-6 pictures on average, for each Bible story, which means that I need references of the same people/buildings from different angles!

Before you begin to illustrate a Bible story, there are many types of reference that you will need. Firstly, I would like to deal with 'figure reference'.
Figure reference is arguably the most important, as each story focuses on the characters in it.

The best form of figure reference is photographic, but finding photos of people in Bible clothing is not easy. If you can lay your hands on some good Bible clothing, invite all your bearded friends around, (the male ones anyway!), and get snapping!

It's also important for an artist to elaborate on his photographic references, otherwise a combination of a poor choice of models and Bible clothing can result in a beautiful painting of the twelve disciples that look more like twelve software engineers at a toga party!

If you have the luxury of time (and money) to do the above, that's great. But, if you're working to a deadline like me, then go for 'plan B' which is, get your references from anywhere and everywhere! Old books, old Bibles, old photos, old masters, even old comics! Cataloging your references in a filing cabinet will save you lots of time.
(I must do that one day!)

'Bible buildings and landscape reference'. (See my 'No more domes' post).
You may or may not have noticed that Bible illustrators, on the whole, avoid illustrating buildings. Why is this? I think there's a number of reasons for this, but the main one is that there's very little good reference available.
One artist who does include detailed back-grounds however was William Hole RSA RE.
Hole actually travelled to the Holy land in the early 1900's and painted his pictures on the spot!
His book 'The Life of Jesus of Nazareth' includes some really nice buildings.
When you compare Holes pictures however to photographs taken around the same period, you will notice some very similar architectural features, which means that if those features were around in Holes day, they were probably not around 2,000 years earlier. Despite this, these pictures still include some of the best 'Bible buildings' I've seen!
to be continued:

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

Illustrating a Bible story

Before you start to illustrate a passage from the Bible, You need to read the passage first!
Not just once, but many times. Why?. Because there are things that you will need to know that won't be obvious after just one reading.
e.g. What time of day is it? What was the weather like? Does the story take place inside or outside? If it's inside, what type of building is it? If the story is outside, what is the location? How many people are present? How old are they?
Is there a custom mentioned that you will need to research? Is there an item mentioned that you will need reference for?
These are questions that you don't generally ask when you read a Bible story, but you need to, when you're illustrating one!

It's amazing how many Bible illustrators don't ask these basic questions.
(I admit it, I've made a few mistakes in my time!)
I have children's Bibles that show Jesus walking on the water, on a bright sunny day! (It was night!), and the sea in the picture was like a sheet of glass! (There was a storm going on!) Not that it would be any easier walking on water when it was calm!
I have Bibles that show the parting of the Red sea in the daytime! (This event was also at night!)
How old was Daniel when he was in the Lions Den? Most childrens Bibles will show him to be anything between a teenager to around 30 years old. He was actually 80-90 years old!
When illustrating the life of a Bible character, you need to take note that 10 or 20 years can pass in-between chapters! Remember to check the dates in the margin.
These are all basic mistakes that could have been easily avoided by a closer reading of the text.

After making notes of all the relevant points above, it's time to start looking for references! I will deal with gathering references in a later post!

Related posts:
More Biblical costume reference!
Which Bible clothing colors should I use?
Gathering Bible References
Bible Research
Easy mistakes to make!
Bible study aids
Being Roofless!
No more Domes!
What did Herod's Temple look like?
Houses in Bible times