Artefact Illustration Course 2025

Location: 5VFP+XW Mansfield, UK

Season: April 10, 2025 to April 29, 2025

Session Dates: Two day courses: 10th & 11th April 2025, or 28th & 29th April 2025

Application Deadline: April 27, 2025

Deadline Type: Contact for Details

Website: https://mercian-as.co.uk/illustration.html

Program Type:
Field School

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
Mercian Archaeological Services CIC

Project Director:
Andy Gaunt

Project Description:

This two day course, lead by experts from Mercian Archaeological Services CIC, will teach the basics of artefact illustration.

Despite the ready availability of digital cameras and the near universal application of colour printing in archaeological monographs and journals these days there is still a need for artefact illustrations.

Indeed, a good artefact illustration can convey much more information about the object than even a good photograph.

 Drawing an artefact also compels the illustrator to look at it in great detail, which can allow subtle details to be revealed and a greater understanding of the artefact to be reached.

Delegates will learn the conventions and techniques used in producing artefact drawings, and will put these into practice using real archaeological material.

The course will be taught through a combination of lectures and demonstrations and practical activities, with delegates getting the opportunity to practice their illustration skills on a range of genuine archaeological material.

Providing the finished drawings are sufficiently accurate and high quality they may be used in site reports and publications, in which case they will be credited in the reports.

Day one will be spent looking at the conventions and techniques of artefact illustration, and will then focus on how pottery is drawn, with the majority of the day spent producing pot drawings.

Day two will focus on small find illustration (i.e. struck flint; metalwork (of different types); worked stone; clay tobacco pipes; etc.) with delegates able to choose to practice drawing one or multiple types of objects from this list.

The practical sessions will focus producing drawings using pencil and paper and drafting film and ink, and include inking drawings up for publication using pen and drafting film.

As the majority of archaeological illustrations these days are finished digitally, the final session of the course provides an overview of some of the digital work-flows and methods (such as photogrammetry) employed to produce modern illustration.

There will not be time for delegates to practice digital illustration as part of this course, but those delegates who wish should be sufficiently equipped to practice these techniques on their own after the course.

No experience or artistic talent is required to produce archaeological illustrations!

This course will be suitable for anyone who wishes to learn about archaeological artefact illustration, whether just for fun or personal gratification, if they wish to be able to illustrate reports for local archaeological societies and groups, or if they wish to undertake archaeological illustration professionally. The techniques and conventions learned will be applicable at all levels.

 

Period(s) of Occupation: All Periods

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 2 days

Minimum Age: 15

Experience Required: No Experience Required

Room and Board Arrangements:
Accommodation not provided