“So what do you do for living?” “I make history!” Awkward pause and confused look my way. So much for sense of humor I think to myself, smile and quickly say “I am historical illustrator.” “Oh, you are are graphic designer!” with a relief they exaggerate their response. Inner eye roll and with a sigh: “Something like that... Think books, old school way.” In reality, people assume everyone who translates art digitally is a graphic designer and stamps mass production posters, cover art, logos; sits around computer all day in pajamas and what not ... Let me elaborate. * A Historian: an expert in or student of history, especially that of a particular period, geographical region, or social phenomenon. An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. As a historical illustrator I deal with ethnographic study and showcase particular cultures folk art by creating visuals/illustrations. * Inner-workings of a historical illustrator consists of immense research through scholarly publications, periodicals and interviews. You unconsciously become multilingual as translating is a crucial element of the process. You write more research papers now than you did back in University. Visiting museums, antique exhibits and thrift store treasure hunt is part of your job. You have more books than whole neighborhood combined. Developing “scholar eye strain” and frequent sneezing while paging periodicals is a given. Sometimes you don’t know how to-look at things without holding up a magnifying glass or an urge to grab a pencil and redraw it or “can you please quote the original source?” You don’t eat, you snack. Most of the time you look like Einstein as you are too busy with research that everything else fades away. You get outraged when there is a historical inaccuracy in movies. When you see a pattern you automatically start decoding its symbolic meaning. You don’t know what day it is, but you can perfectly visualize folk art phenomena from particular era. In other words, passionate scholar with an artistic flair - #HistoricalIllustrator 🤓
