Bloopers
Part of the learning process is realising when I've made a mistake in an illustration! I thought this page would be useful to show how a single illustration is only a snapshot in the process of learning about a person or place, and there is always more to learn. Below are some examples of places where I realised I made a mistake of historical accuracy.
Empress Chengtian
Chengtian was empress of the Liao Empire. When I was drawing her, I used murals of women from Liao-era tombs as the inspiration for her outfit. However, I later learned that these were haner women, or women of Han Chinese origins who lived under Liao rule. Their mob-caps and high-waisted dresses wouldn't have been worn by a Khitan woman like Chengtian. A contemporary account of her from the time says that she wore a cap lined with kingfisher feathers. Her boots, jewellery, and over-robe, though, are things she could have actually worn. Overall, her outfit should look more like the one I drew the Yicheng Princess wearing, except with the aforementioned accessories.
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The Mother of Pueblo Bonito
At the time I drew this illustration, it was widely believed that the ponderosa pine in Pueblo Bonito was an actual tree growing in the middle of the complex. However, recent research has determined that it was actually a pole planted in the ground. The way I've drawn the tree with the bark and roots here doesn't really work with that information. The pole was probably used for important ceremonial purposes, so the idea behind the picture remains the same, but it's an interesting detail. Her outfit is also not entirely accurate. The way this textile is depicted is more of a man's breechcloth style, whereas women may have worn something more akin to the manta Pueblo women wore in historic times. The jewellery and sandals are still accurate though.
Below: An older reconstruction of Pueblo Bonito which influenced mine.
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Sitt al-Mulk
The images that I based Sitt al-Mulk's appearance on may actually be images of dancing slave women, not high-ranking aristocrats like Sitt al-Mulk. Fatima Mernissi says in her book The Forgotten Queens of Islam that the Fatimid royalty wore white to distinguish themselves from the Abbasids, who wore black. So Sitt al-Mulk would have probably been wearing a longer dress in white rather than the shorter red dress shown here. The difficulty in designing her outfit is that she's in the women's quarters, so wouldn't be wearing the typical medieval women's outer-garments to conceal her face. I'm also not sure if the way I've drawn the jewels put into the fountain is accurate, but I haven't found a reference image showing what it should look like.
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High Priestess Senshi
In Japan, the direction that the robes are folded over a person's chest has a very important meaning: Robes folded left over right are for the living, and robes folded right over left are for the dead. Only ghosts and people being buried wear their robes folded right over left. However, when I was drawing this illustration, I kept flipping the reference photos to get the angles that I wanted, so some of the robes are folded the wrong way! The same thing happened with the Empress Dowager in the background of my Kokannon illustration.
Below: Women dressed in Heian-period clothing for Aoi Matsuri, the modern recreation of the medieval Kamo Festival.
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Sei Shōnagon
There are a few small mistakes in this illustration. The first one is that the garden shouldn't be all grassy as it's shown here. Rather, there should be raked gravel in most of the empty spaces. The streams also usually flowed in from the northeast, rather than the northwest as pictured here. I knew both of those things at the time but went with this for reasons of artistic license. You can read more about the layouts of Heian gardens here. The other issue is the orange tree. I drew the blossoms at the same time that the fruit is ripe, which I don't think is actually possible. Finally, I'm not sure she would have worn ALL of those colours at once, even if they are all associated with summer.
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Thorbjorgr Litlvolva
I forgot to include Thorbjorg's gloves, showing her erroneously with bare hands. The other inaccuracy with this illustration is the platform that Thorbjorgr is standing on. At the time, I didn't have much to go on except for the phrase "raised platform" in the translation I was reading, so I just drew something I thought made sense. However, I've since learned that women like Thorbjorgr were actually on elevated chairs or scaffolds, so she should be sitting on one of those instead. The item from Birka pictured below possibly represents the log chair or vaulted chair of a völva, according to the Swedish History Museum.
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