Mark Samuel

Architectural Archaeology

Reconstruction Dioramas

Other examples of dioramas can be seen on Mark's AOI online portfolio

Are You Considering Commissioning a Reconstruction Diorama Artist?

Here are some things to think about which will enable Mark to give you an estimate or some ballpark costs.

How Big?

  • The width and height of the image to be painted (how big do you need it in reproduction?)
  • Pencil or watercolour? (important cost implications!)
  • How much interpretation of the evidence do you want? - or not want!
  • Are you able to supply research materials, plans etc. ?
  • ​Timescale: does the image have to be painted within a specific time frame?

Your Ideas / Type of Design

What would you like your image to look like? A cut-away? Inside or outside?  How much ‘zoomed in’? Eye-level or birds-eye view?  A high level of architectural detail or a good idea of the surrounding environment?  People and their doings?  One or several periods?

How much do dioramas cost?

  • Do you have a specific budget or funding source for the project?
  • A ballpark day rate is £300 per day + travel and materials. Different complexities of design will take different lengths of time to paint. Please ask Mark for advice.

FAQs: Commissioning Illustration

Illustrations are priced according to a number of factors which vary from project to project. These factors include:

  1. What the illustration will be used for
  2. How long it will be used for
  3. How much time it will take to create etc. The best way to find out how much a particular illustration will cost is to get in touch to discuss your requirements.

The Association of Illustrators have produced a very useful Guide to Commissioning which is well worth reading, particularly if you have not worked with an illustrator before.

Copyright put very simply is the right to copy something. The owner of the copyright to an image is the only person who has the right to reproduce it or allow others to reproduce it. Copyright is automatically created as soon as an illustrator draws, paints or creates a piece of work in any medium, and lasts for the illustrator's lifetime plus 70 years. When an illustrator creates artwork for a client, the illustrator still automatically holds the copyright to that artwork, but grants the client permission to reproduce the artwork in the form of a licence.

Copyright is a highly valuable and wide ranging right, which essentially grants the copyright holder the right to reproduce an illustration in any context, as many times as they like, throughout the entire world, and to modify the image in any way they please. The copyright holder can also sell the rights to the artwork to anyone they choose.
The cost for a copyright buy out will obviously reflect this, and as such please do not expect to do so without a very significant cost implication.  It is almost never appropriate for an illustrator to assign complete copyright to a client, and in the vast majority of cases a licence proves to be the best option. A licence means that the client only pays for the specific rights which they require, rather than a large number of rights they may never need to use.

The information here is a basic introduction to copyright issues relevant to commissioning illustration. If you would like to find out more information then you can visit the Intellectual Property Office website which is an excellent resource on the subject.

All from a trusted heritage sector specialist

Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists
Member of the Association for Hertitage Interpretation
Member of the Association of Illustrators