The costume color indication for Samoset, for Two Bad Pilgrims. Not that there’s much costume. Samoset walked into Plymouth Plantation in the middle of March wearing hardly anything at all. He was showing the pilgrims he had no concealed weapons. He was being theatrical and used symbolism to communicate: as ambassador from Chief Massasoit, he wanted to express goodwill to the pilgrims and he mustn’t have trusted his broken English. The Wampanoags wanted to know whether the pilgrims were peaceful, so Samoset carried two arrows, one with an arrowhead and the other blunt.
How would you walk into a potential enemy’s camp and ask about their intentions—while not knowing their language?
Here’s my costume color indication for Master Jones for Two Bad Pilgrims. ‘Master’ was what they called the ship’s captain back in the 1600s. I couldn’t find a contemporary picture of him, like an engraving—so I made him up. I tried to give him a salty swashbuckling air with the plumed hat, sash and of course, earring.
https://www.johnmanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/JohnManderslogo300w1-300x58.jpg00johnmandershttps://www.johnmanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/JohnManderslogo300w1-300x58.jpgjohnmanders2009-11-04 22:58:182009-11-04 22:58:18Master of the Mayflower
It’s November—time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and pilgrims! Here’s another scene from Two Bad Pilgrims. This one shows the pilgrims beginning construction of Plymouth Plantation. The first thing they built was the common house/fort. This is my thumbnail sketch, 2 inches tall.
One of the great things about being an illustrator is that you’re always learning something. F’rinstance, to draw this scene of 17th century building construction, I had to find out how those buildings were framed; how a block and tackle works; how an ox yoke is harnessed. I made several trips to the library and spent some time on the internet.
I show the pilgrims hauling cannon to the upper storey of the fort.
Art director Jim Hoover and editor Kendra Levin had a team of crack historians fact-checking my sketches. Turns out the pilgrims didn’t bring any oxen with them on the Mayflower, so I replaced the ox with a group of men when I inked in the drawing. Too bad; I kind of liked the ox. The timbers are shaped to form mortise and tenon joints. That’s an adz lying in the foreground.
Samoset
book promotion, illustration processThe costume color indication for Samoset, for Two Bad Pilgrims. Not that there’s much costume. Samoset walked into Plymouth Plantation in the middle of March wearing hardly anything at all. He was showing the pilgrims he had no concealed weapons. He was being theatrical and used symbolism to communicate: as ambassador from Chief Massasoit, he wanted to express goodwill to the pilgrims and he mustn’t have trusted his broken English. The Wampanoags wanted to know whether the pilgrims were peaceful, so Samoset carried two arrows, one with an arrowhead and the other blunt.
How would you walk into a potential enemy’s camp and ask about their intentions—while not knowing their language?
Master of the Mayflower
book promotion, illustration processHere’s my costume color indication for Master Jones for Two Bad Pilgrims. ‘Master’ was what they called the ship’s captain back in the 1600s. I couldn’t find a contemporary picture of him, like an engraving—so I made him up. I tried to give him a salty swashbuckling air with the plumed hat, sash and of course, earring.
Plymouth Plantation
book promotion, illustration processIt’s November—time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and pilgrims! Here’s another scene from Two Bad Pilgrims. This one shows the pilgrims beginning construction of Plymouth Plantation. The first thing they built was the common house/fort. This is my thumbnail sketch, 2 inches tall.
One of the great things about being an illustrator is that you’re always learning something. F’rinstance, to draw this scene of 17th century building construction, I had to find out how those buildings were framed; how a block and tackle works; how an ox yoke is harnessed. I made several trips to the library and spent some time on the internet.
I show the pilgrims hauling cannon to the upper storey of the fort.
Art director Jim Hoover and editor Kendra Levin had a team of crack historians fact-checking my sketches. Turns out the pilgrims didn’t bring any oxen with them on the Mayflower, so I replaced the ox with a group of men when I inked in the drawing. Too bad; I kind of liked the ox. The timbers are shaped to form mortise and tenon joints. That’s an adz lying in the foreground.
Color indication—
—and colorized final art.
Colorization by Mr Vince Dorse.