Where the technicalities come into play and the real expertise is needed is in reconstructing missing parts and especially soft tissues. So while I will baulk if they want to paint it blue and pink with purple spots and yellow stripes jumping 20 feet in the air, I'd not pull faces if they wanted it green with black stripes vs black with green stripes, or running rather than rearing up and so on. Unless there is some behavior or quirk of anatomy that I want shown off, my general take is to try and simply provide scientific guidelines for the artist and let them lead it where they will. I know of colleagues who are happy enough to let the artist do pretty much as he pleases and those who will commission a piece down to the exact pose and colour patterns, backgrounds etc. Again this can vary enormously depending on both artist and researcher, and even the specifics of the piece to hand. This is a position I sympathise with, but at the same time – as a researcher who has never had the research budget to spend on artworks – those whose only demand on your resources is time are naturally a big draw and I have indeed collaborated with people to help them with their scientific accuracy and development in exchange for a piece I can use to promote and illustrate my research.Īnd so to the actual collaborative process. Unsurprisingly, at least a few palaeoartists have felt more than a little of a pinch while trying to make a living and have suddenly been faced with a gaggle of competitors offering to work for free. Moreover, there are now dozens, perhaps hundreds, of budding artists working out their dinosaurs and mammoths and trilobites online and offering their services to researchers and museums just for the chance to have something of theirs used. Most researchers have enough on their plates without having to deal with detailed requests for help on tyrannosaur or abelisaur anatomy and while I know of few researchers who would turn such a request down flat, one does occasionally get most unreasonable requests. This is great for those wanting to break into the field, but naturally it has brought tension too. Where even 10 years ago it was probably hard to get anyone outside of the ranks of publishers and researchers to have heard of you, or seen what you can do, it's becoming ever easier to mail prospective clients and send them a link to your online portfolio and have people share that information. Increasingly though, thanks to the internet we're seeing ever more people being able to gather information on palaeoart and prehistoric animals, get feedback from researchers and push their art in front of those who might pay for it. I know of artists who were working as technical illustrators for scientists and were in a position to have a go at the odd life reconstruction and things went from there, there have been wildlife illustrators who were drafted in because they could do animals properly, "normal" artists who found a flair for it or drove themselves into the field, and those who simply got a call out of the blue and asked if they fancied trying their hand at dinosaurs. As for how people get into the field, well this naturally varies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |