Commissioning Original Epicurean Artwork

It's been a constant frustration to me over the years that I don't personally have even the most basic artistic talent to produce sketches of any of the major art subjects. I think that that's in part why I have always gravitated toward these sketches made early on from the Herculaneum discoveries -- I particularly like this "look" in the face/eyes of Epicurus, and the format lends itself to easier reproduction - but it's still not a "line sketch" we would be more easily translatable digitally.

I download every version of Epicurus I ever come across, but not many seem to have a lot of "sketch" potential. Perhaps the "stamp" version might convert well, and it's a pretty good likeness.

This color version might also have some potential, but I expect one of the first two would do best.

However I would love to get a good sketch version of the full statue that Elli is talking about, but i have a feeling that it would almost require reworking it from scratch to get something that really works as "art."

I know there must be artists who are good at quick sketches who we might even be able to "commission" to do the job, but I've never made any progress.

I am going to check here: https://www.fiverr.com/categor…esign/cartoons-and-comics

Ok there are a huge variety of options at that link, and no doubt it just takes research (time) to go through the list and find artists who seem to be targeting the type of "look" that would be desirable to have. I am going to split this into a new thread.

Also I would think an important part of any such commissioning project would be to be sure that "we" (or whoever commissions) gets the legal right to duplicate / distribute.

Certainly it would be desirable to get core artwork that can be released under some kind of GPL license that is free to everyone to use. However I would not want to foreclose or discourage the idea of an individual undertaking a project method to recover costs, or even (gasp) make a profit of some kind. If that's what it takes to bring good results into fruition, then whatever method works best.

I envision one of many desirable options would be to commission something in a format roughly like this,which has fewer but bolder lines:

That seems to me to be much easier to duplicate in small size or different formats that trying to digitally convert the 3d picture of the seated figure. I think the seated figure could also be done in this format if the artist stylizes the design and finds a way to emphasize the face/head features.

That example comes from here:

https://www.fiverr.com/komangj…&pos=7&seller_online=true

But to truly pursue this intelligently I am thinking that it is desirable to take the time to read through many profiles of many artists and hopefully find someone whose thinking and disposition might be at least somewhat consistent with Epicurus (for example I doubt it would make sense to commission someone whose specialty is islamic art, or fundamentalist christian). And of course in checking the existing samples we can more easily find someone who has done something in the past like we are thinking about.

I will get started looking through the options but surely if anyone else has thoughts or time to invest looking for options, please post.

Others that strike me as talented:

https://www.fiverr.com/monocro…pos=12&seller_online=true

https://www.fiverr.com/saifull…d3a52da8&pckg_id=1&pos=10

https://www.fiverr.com/thinman…2af38a191&pckg_id=1&pos=5

https://www.fiverr.com/jpbravo…af38a191&pckg_id=1&pos=12

https://www.fiverr.com/rezaram…8fa0a71a7&pckg_id=1&pos=7

https://www.fiverr.com/masrxya…8a60b0eb&pckg_id=1&pos=40

OK - Here is the first finished product I ordered off of Fiverr. i would not call it a great work of art but I would say it is pretty good and well worth the cost of 7 dollars to have access to it! To me this does seem to have the intelligent yet still friendly look in the eyes that I think is a prerequisite.

It's my understanding that the artist claims no ongoing rights in it so we are free to use it as we see fit. To the extent that it is necessary to say anything about the rights to it (I doubt it's necessary) I disclaim any rights to it and release it under the "GPL" like linux software.

I would think this drawing ought to be helpful in several projects. I am attaching it in the original PNG format it was sent to me, but it ought to be convertible to vector or other formats - I am just not sure how at the moment. If anyone knows how to convert to a vector that would then not lose its sharpness when enlarged, it would be great if you could convert and repost here in this thread. [Edit -SVG is now attached.]

SVG: extractedepicurusnewa.svg.zip

Godfrey -- I use Libreoffice Draw too. My understanding is that SVG is a vector file, so it should be enlargeable indefinitely with no loss of resolution, which ought to mean that an SVG format is as usable for a wall hanging as it would be for a ring. (or so I think)

Here is a second version - This one I am not so pleased with the eyebrows, but I think the overall look is still ok, and my goal here was to get some raw material for others to work with and improve and incorporate with other designs, so I think this is helpful for that. SVG file attached as well.

SVG File: 21369232_851848841647784_396203029474a1716147_n.zip

Those are very nice thank you for posting these! Are you saying you did these by hand, or with the use of software?

Joshua I wonder if this sketch of Epicurus lends itself to easier conversion into something usable for our projects:

It looks like we don't. I saw Issa Rasshid from Iraq post this on facebook. and I asked him, but his reply was only that he saw it on the internet. I am not good with Google image search but I will try that to see what comes up

Ah yes. I am not sure if that is an old one, or a modern version... I suppose it would be the rigorous thing to do to set up a thread and categorize all known images of Epicurus. I doubt the number would be unmanageable