Mark Samuel

Mark Samuel

My father was a modern architect and one of his house is today listed.  Several of my ancestors were water-colourists; or otherwise concerned themselves with art, scholarship and literature, I was brought up in a house full of pictures and books. However, I was more interested in archaeology, in which I have worked continuously since 1981 – I have specialised in the study, analysis and reconstruction of buildings only known from archaeological excavations. My training was largely pre-CGI/CAD and I have always enjoyed using pencil and watercolour to record buildings and landscapes. I left the Museum of London in 2001 and have since worked as a freelance archaeological specialist. Since 2014, I have worked on several reconstruction diorama projects.  There is no Prince-Charles approved purity in my approach, which can be described as “steam-punk”! I use CAD to model the subject and then (once the client has made their choice) select a fixed viewpoint. The basic forms are modelled using the simplest “two-and-a-half D” techniques. The ‘block’ view, once ready, is transferred to watercolour paper using a lightbox. The final image is then painted with fine detail provided by eye and mind. This allows freedom to create a convincing degree of messiness and dilapidation where appropriate – not so easy with CGI.

I have done some literary illustration largely for my own fun.  Some are from real literature while others are ‘genre’. They have been described by various people as ‘charming’.  The  themes invariably have a historic bent – usually comic. I hope you enjoy them.

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