Military history magazine survey

[Narukami]

Naginata?

(presumably a samurai, with the two swords - although I seem to remember the weapon was popular with monks... that might be one of those popular misconceptions though :wink: )

Quite right Nathan. Many of the prints that illustrate the Hekei Monogatari (the great epic tale about the Gempei Wars) show the monks armed primarily with naginata. And of course the most famous yamabushi of all time, Musashibo Benkei, used a naginata in his famous fight with Yoshitsune at Gojo bashi in Kyoto. Yoshitsune was the first person to ever defeat Benkei. So impressed was the monk that he became Yoshitsune's most loyal retianer.




:wink:

Narukami

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Naginata?

(presumably a samurai, with the two swords - although I seem to remember the weapon was popular with monks... that might be one of those popular misconceptions though :wink: )

Thats the word! :-)

[Jona Lendering]

That print is of a samurai armed not only with his daisho (or pair of swords) but also with a naginata.

Thanks Dave.

And now back to Jasper's original question about military journals.

[D B Campbell]

With Leipzig 2013 and of course Waterloo 2015 coming up, it would also be just in time for many of the biggest commemorations of the Napoleonic wars.

It certainly seems a good time to back Napoleon: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17397172.

[Ghostmojo]

And get ready for four solid years of Great War centenary stuff!

I can almost imagine them at the BBC mapping out BBC4's schedule with daily Tommy's diary accounts and what happened this week 100 years ago etc.

Personally, I wouldn't mind. My grandfather fought against the Turks in Egypt and Palestine and my great uncle against the usual suspects in Flanders. Therefore, I have both historic and familial interests - plus my son is going on a school battlefields trip in June...

[Ghostmojo]

Any magazines about fortifications?

I can imagine one about Spanish forts built along the Pacific coast of North America called:

Califortication :-D :lol: :wink:

Might even be extended into a TV series (narrated by David Duchovny).

[Graham Sumner]

john m roberts wrote:
A general ancient history magazine would be welcome. Let's face it, the big reason most of us subscribe to AW and MW is for the wonderful illustrations. The articles are good but the illustrations are outstanding and worth keeping. I think an ancient history magazine with illistrations of the same quality would be successful.



Jona Lendering wrote:
Have you considered a non-military magazine? A magazine called "Ancient History", dealing with ancient society in general, would be nice. Of course, this is my personal interest, but I suspect I am not the only one.


In the UK many of these topics are probably covered to some degree by the various Archaeology Magazines for example here we have 'Current Archaeology', 'Current World Archaeology', British Archaeology and 'Ancient Egypt Magazine'. There is also the 'BBC History' magazine.

However if what RAT readers are looking for are the specially commissioned artists re-constructions of scenes or characters, clothing etc.. that are well liked in Ancient Warfare magazine then the problem would be that most publishers unlike Jasper would almost certainly be unwilling to pay anything for them.

'Military Illustrated' magazine when it first started paid a small fee for artwork and had some of the leading British artists like Angus McBride and Richard Hook contributing which was part of its appeal. Later on however they did not pay anything for artwork which was one reason why the painted re-constructions dried up.

I have been approached twice this week with enquires for permission to use some of my illustrations. My response is that they can certainly use them and that they can be downloaded from my website for a small standard 'use of' fee. This is basically less than if I myself wanted to use a photographic image from a Museum for use in one of my own publications. However in both cases the people contacting me did not want to pay anything and thought that their use of my work was some form of free advertising. That is fine and you can do it once or twice but not all the time.

A re-construction painting such as the Castleshaw fortlet featured on my website produced in close consultation with the archaeologists over a number of meetings and site visits can take several weeks to produce. It is also in all modesty a specialist skill and yet many people still believe they can use such images for no cost at all.

Therefore if any magazines make use of such illustrations then in all likelihood they have probably been supplied by the contributor.

Graham.

[Charlie]

As a fellow Illustrator Graham I totally agree with what you have said. I get emails constantly asking to use my illustrations in some form of media, and you get really sick and tired of too many of them wanting it for free. That classic line..."oh but it's free advertising"
I use to freelance for many magazines, but these days unfortunately a lot of illustrations have been replaced by cheap photographs from the miriad of photo libraries out there.
One magazine I worked for many years...Australian Geographic (Australian version of National Geographic) did a survey a few years back and wanted to know how it's readers first became aquainted with the magazine, and what they loved most about it. Well people overwhelmingly said the illustrations to both questions. About 2 years later they did away with 90% of the illustrations...figure that out!

[Narukami]

This is what the writer Harlan Ellison had to say about "free publicity" ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

:wink:

Narukami

[D B Campbell]

This is what the writer Harlan Ellison had to say ...

Amen to that. "And they don't even send a copy of the DVD." Yup, been there. :roll:

[Titvs Statilivs Castvs]

Almost died from laughter at 2:12... :lol: