At 7:19 PM -0800 2/23/02, E. A. Jolie wrote:
>I wanted to see if anyone recommended a generalized
>guide/book (or books) on artifact illustration.
>Specifically, a colleague and I may need to draw some
>perishable artifacts (e.g., textiles, basketry,
>moccasins, and so forth), and we were curious as to
>what books existed, and what were recommended.

In our shop, we have three books.  Brodribb's is the first I
recommend, followed by Grinsell, Rahtz and Warhurst.  These two are
products of the letterpress era, when pens were more commonly used
than today for drafting. The second is a comprehensive introduction
to the process of getting a report processed.

The three books are:

Conant Brodrib, Drawing Archaeological Finds, Association Press, NY, 1971

Leslie Grinsell, Philip Rahtz, and Alan Wrhurst, The Preparation of
Archaeological Reports, John Baker, London, 1966.

Brian D. Dillon, Editor, The student's guide to Archaeological
Illustrating, second edition, Institute of Archaeology, University of
California, Los Angeles, 1985.

The third volume covers a number of different styles and media, but
it is weak on the mechnics of reproduction, where Brodribb is
strongest. I wouldn't recommend Dillon as the only source for a
beginning illustrator. Brodribb goes into details of technique for
the benefit of those illustrators without art training. For a lucid
explanation of reasons for particular conventions, see Grinsell,
Rahtz and Warhurst.

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