Illustrator Assistant Intern

I was so thrilled and really honoured to be accepted as the Illustrator Assistant Intern at the Wessex Archaeology Sheffield office. Before starting my internship I felt really excited, but also rather nervous. I was excited about the prospect of learning new things, gaining valuable experiences, contributing to archaeological reports, and being part of an active, friendly and professional archaeological office environment. I was nervous because I was worried that my inexperience with certain technical computer programmes used by Archaeological Illustrators would be a problem. I’d used software such as Photo-shop and Illustrator before, and I draw as a passion, but being a first year student at university I have not been introduced to the more technical programmes, so I was a little anxious, though very interested and excited to be able to learn.

Archaeological Illustrators use computer programmes such as AutoCad and ArcGis – to create technical drawings of plans and sections based on field drawings, as well as laying out photographs and accurately mapping the location of a site. These illustrations are then placed into client reports and published in journals or books.

My worries were short lived however as I was quickly shown how to use both of the programmes by lovely, patient and very knowledgeable Graphics Illustrators in the office, and instantly put my new – skills in to practice by creating lots of digitised and precise versions of profiles and sections for a particular excavation. I have drawn a skeleton from a site image, and created figures based on historical maps showing the location of a site throughout the ages. Using the programmes is a repetitive but careful process, and it’s very easy to make a mistake – sometimes just one incorrect input, value or line can make all the difference! But so far, I actually thoroughly enjoy using both AutoCad and ArcGis – I especially like being precise and concentrating, and finding new shortcuts and ways to do certain functions – and have also enjoyed learning, practising and producing. It’s definitely taught me already that learning involves a heavy amount of practice-makes-perfect!

 

I’m having a fantastic time and have really taken to using the software, producing figures, profiles, and illustrations, as well as interacting with the great team of people who work here in Sheffield, and I look forward to learning even more over the next few weeks!