07-16-2007, 12:54 PM
Hi folks.
Giorgio Albertini is a friend of Raffaele D'Amato and a professional illustrator based in Milan. I had the pleasure of meeting him there in his studio.
I saw some of the original paintings as they were being painted. They are at a much smaller scale than I would work at, Albertini obviously has better eyesight than me and they are filled with an incredible amount of detail!
Like me Albertini would have been given masses of reference material from Raffaele himself but unlike me would have done exactly what Raffaele told him to do! He would have been very insistent on costume detail and facial characteristics and is far more demanding than anyone else I have ever worked for.
The amount of work Raffaele spends on his research is both incredible and time consuming and as someone pointed out you are not paid for that, you are also expected to supply the artist with what he needs in the case of Raffaele that would amount to about three A4 packed folders worth, plus you have to provide all the photographs often paying extortionate rates for the use of some museum images. If you break even when you get paid it is a miracle and that goes for what the artist does too. The wonder is that anyone bothers to do such work at all!
Raffaele was working on the Concord book well before we started on our Osprey book and it was only completed after we had finished! The Publishers must have been very, very understanding and patient is all I can say!
Graham.
Giorgio Albertini is a friend of Raffaele D'Amato and a professional illustrator based in Milan. I had the pleasure of meeting him there in his studio.
Quote:Nice plates, but the artist loves purple and gold colours - not to mention everybody has peacock feather helmets!!
Quote:Yes, some helmets are definately incorrect, although older 3rd c. types could survive into the 4th c. (I doubt whether the Praetorians would still have these older types though). I have great doubts about these helmets with metal 'feathers' though. I know they're based on the 'supposed' Cornuti from the Constantinian Arch, but these reconstructions look more like samurai helmets instead of Roman ones. Too fanciful.
Quote:Professor D´Ammatto is very knowlegable about Byzantion but I am of the imprssion that the publisher wanted to increase sales with impressive artwork.
Quote:The advisor of this artist sucks.
Quote:Sloppy research in my opinion
I saw some of the original paintings as they were being painted. They are at a much smaller scale than I would work at, Albertini obviously has better eyesight than me and they are filled with an incredible amount of detail!
Like me Albertini would have been given masses of reference material from Raffaele himself but unlike me would have done exactly what Raffaele told him to do! He would have been very insistent on costume detail and facial characteristics and is far more demanding than anyone else I have ever worked for.
The amount of work Raffaele spends on his research is both incredible and time consuming and as someone pointed out you are not paid for that, you are also expected to supply the artist with what he needs in the case of Raffaele that would amount to about three A4 packed folders worth, plus you have to provide all the photographs often paying extortionate rates for the use of some museum images. If you break even when you get paid it is a miracle and that goes for what the artist does too. The wonder is that anyone bothers to do such work at all!
Raffaele was working on the Concord book well before we started on our Osprey book and it was only completed after we had finished! The Publishers must have been very, very understanding and patient is all I can say!
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.