Where can you work as a historical illustrator?

Ask the first magazine you had in mind, they have contact numbers on the issue right? Give them a call and inquire. or Try publishers for historical books or novels. Ready your portfolio.

Approach both of those.

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>>2991165
National Geographic, Osprey books

I'm under the impression that there's less work comissioned for history books because it's considered a niche subject and doesn't make the returns to warrant the cost (however I'm of the opinion that the writing is usually surface level and a collection of meseum photos sells worse than a book of lively illustrations). If you look through new books it's mostly photos from museums with some stock/public domain illustrations and occasional 3D assets. I own a lot of older history books where the time and money was spent to illustrate everything from cover to cover, but that seems pretty rare these days. These jobs do still occasionally pop up, Sven Nordqvist was commissioned to do a book on the Götheborg Ship and East India Company and one on the Birka viking settlement, but he's also one of the most respected illustrators in my country with books translated into other languages, and these were done in like the late 90s. Like I said I'm not an expert on the field, but your best bet is probably doing your research yourself, getting to a high level and getting into touch with a history writer to collaborate with.

I do miss this type of book, because they used to be more common. Here's a comparison of a very comprehensive and richly illustrated book on the history and tactics of the Carolean army from the 70s, this thing must have taken hundreds of man-hours to illustrate. Bottom pick is a new-ish general book on military history that feels very typical. The photos are all high-res and good reference, yet feel less alive and inspiring than the illustrated book.

De wdka is net als alle andere Nederlandse academies ronduit kut omdat men er je totaal geen tekenvaardigheid en techniek leert of voorbereid wordt op de arbeidsmarkt. Ik heb ook illustratie gedaan aan de wdka en dat was een grote vergissing. Je zou eens kunnen kijken naar de opleiding tot wetenschappelijk illustrator (dat leek mij wel wat) maar die opleiding bestaat alleen in het buitenland.

ja daar ben ik t wel mee eens. Het eerste jaar ben ik best wel geschrokken dat er echt totaal geen tekenvaardigheid wordt aangeleerd en het alleen maar over vage ideeconcepten wordt gepraat.

>>2991263
Illustrations will always have their usefulness in general because it's much easier to see the keys to recognize a certain bird or plant in an illustration than a photo, and that's pretty much true for anything from weapons to aircraft or clothes.

>>2991165
There's a Dutch company called Karawanseray publishing. They sell magazines called Medieval Warfare, Ancient Warfare and Ancient history. There are more such magazines in Europe which you can work for as a freelancer.

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Hello, OP, can I know what you do to prepare for this kind of work? How do you build up the visual library for things only accessible as archaeological exhibits or illustrations done by other artists?

I always wanted to flesh out historically accurate stories, but this is the major hurdle I haven't figured out yet, the methodology of gathering material for an epoch, esp. prehistoric, ancient and early medieval.

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>>2992781

You can't.

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Looks like OP abandoned his thread, I repeat the >>2992781 question to whomever might read it.

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Why not take the architecture fundamentals you have mastered, and try making places that DON'T exist? Then you will be in demand as a conceptual artist. Every movie with modelwork or cgi places started as a picture drawn by the likes of you.

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hey, sorry for not responding, >>2992781
I usually take my inspiration from history books, and kind of getting some general knowledge of what i want to make. then i base what i make on pictures i've found on the subject. i find this information on the internet mostly so i would not be too sure of the accuracy.
mostly i base it on archeological finds from the same era.

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>>2994703
that would be a good idea. adding some fantasy into my work could really make things more interesting. I am concidering this :)

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>>2996173
If you ever watched the Lord of the Rings movies,the concept artists reflect on how they came up with the looks of the locations in the film. The Elves were full of natural plantlike curves,the dwarves angular and blocky. Think how the cultures of our real world influenced their architectural style, both from necessity and their ideals,then apply this to work of your own.

Here's a challange:imagine a Reptilian race,coldblooded but orderly and disciplined, who evolved in a tropical climate. Being cold blooded,they have specific needs when it comes to building structure(heat management comes to mind),and being law abiding they would tolerate cramped conditions more readily. What would their homes look like? Their government buildings? Their temples? And for a further challange,how would they be forced to adapt these basic tenets if they were conquerors like Romans and expanded to places with a Northerly chill,or an Equatorial swampiness? Let's see what you come up with!

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>>2992781

If it makes you feel better, sometimes these illustrations (especially the really ancient ones) are based on like, one shitty carving and part of a broken pot and then the artist's best guess.

People know shit all about the sea peoples but apparently this artist thought they wore potted plants on their heads. Maybe they did. Who knows.

>>2996173

is this your work? did you graduate from school? If so, ouch.

working is for normies.

>>2998257
le ebin 4chan secret club xD

Its a shit job.

>>2998263
>Being a normie