Glen McBeth
Roman Armpits

What did they do for deodorant in olden days?

Editorial

Commissioned | Professional

Why did you make this work:
The brief was to illustrate an article for BBC History Magazine that asked what people used before deodorants. I picked a quote from the text in the article by Roman poet Ovid who in 'The Art of Love', said that one should 'avoid against letting the 'rude goat' find its way beneath your arms.’ Drawing 'rude goats' under someone's armpits was my way in!


What materials and techniques did you use?:
I decided that it would be fun to create this whole piece as as if it was an uncovered Roman mosaic. I created a basic plain background mosaic collaging different plain areas of photographs of mosaics together using photoshop. I then coloured each piece of mosaic using photoshop following a pencil sketch of the image.

How were your illustrations used:
The illustration appeared alongside an article in BBC History Magazine


Commissioner Name :
Susanne Frank, Art Director
Commissioner Company :
Immediate Media Ltd
Commissioned for:
BBC History Magazine

Social Media:
twitter.com/McbethGlen
instagram.com/glenmcillustration

Personal Website:
glenmcbeth.co.uk


Currently Based:
United Kingdom (UK)

Biography:
I love coming up with the concepts for illustration. Taking the text and coming up with interesting ideas and images is a massive part of my process. I love thinking up concepts that play with scale, unusual combinations of imagery, exaggeration and humour.

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