CHURCH ICONOGRAPHY
My graphic design position at Byzantine Artworks involved taking photos of my employer's individual iconography and photoshopping them together to make new scenes that fit the architecture & requests of over 20 Greek Orthodox churches all across the United States. My work would be used to determine with church congregations & the iconographer the final design. Once finalized, my designs would be projected onto a canvas where I would help trace the image while the iconographer painted. Occasionally I would paint backgrounds in the ceilings & domes of several churches.
SAINT MEDALLIONS
The below are designs made for iconography to be added around the stain glass windows of a church in Massachusetts. At first glance they appear to be very simply made. As you can see below in the photo slides, the detail that went into producing them. My boss instructed me to find photos of the various versions of saints he had done in the past and mix and match the best saints' face onto the torso he most preferred. Each letter would have to be individually added in according to the stylized lettering he'd used on all his past works. After cropping each individual part out from various photos he approved of, I'd combine the multiple parts to finalized the versions you see below.
WALL ICONOGRAPHY DESIGNS
The below are designs made for iconography to be placed on several walls within St. Luke Greek Orthodox Church in Broomall, PA. Each of the character, settings, and objects within the icons are all separate objects meshed together using Photoshop. It was also important to ensure accuracy of wall measurements and proportions.
ALTAR WALL
The below was one of the bigger projects I worked on. In the photo slide you can see the individual characters are all separated entities. Under the guidance of my boss, the great iconographer George Papastamatiou, I was constanly directed to move characters around in order to balance the scene just right. The previous graphic designer had provided inaccurate measurement ratios according to the actual architecture of the church which you can see I fixed by the end of the slide after starting from scratch. Because some characters were in front of others, I had to recreate body parts later on when I was instructed to separate the apostles out. I also designed the church behind Christ after the actual church that this was finally painted into.
DESIGN WORK PROJECTION & TRACE WORK
For all my photoshopped designs, the iconographers would either print a copy and use to model for their painting or they would project my design onto a canvas where I'd also help do pencil trace work over the projected figures to ensure proper proportions and dimensions fit the canvas to be later painted and then Elmer-glued to the walls of the church.
PAINTING
Once our trace work would be completed, the iconographer Georgios Papastamatiou & crew would work their magic and paint over it until perfection. Occasionally I'd be asked to paint the backgrounds of the canvas. Sometimes this meant I was in the studio painting on a canvas. Other times it meant while on 3 to 4 story high scaffolding reaching all the way up to the church ceilings and dome!
MOSAIC DOOR ARCH DESIGNS
The below are designs made for iconography to be added above the doorframes of a church in Massachusetts.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON BYZANTINE ARTWORKS...
It was a great honor to work for George Papastamatiou. He is one of the most widely recognized Byzantine Iconographers alive in the world today along with his wife, Brunilda, a most gifted mosaicist. Along with a support staff of artisans and craftspeople, Byzantine Artworks has developed a wide range of capabilities, from design consulting, master plans and restorations, to the production of the finished art work including mosaics, iconography, stained glass and stonework within Greek Orthodox churches all over the world. The aim of the work they do is to create spaces which, according to Tradition, elevate the person towards the contemplation of God by creating a heaven on earth. I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to learn under his guidance among the hundreds of students he has had in his life. One of the best jobs I ever had! Please check out his website in the following link if you are interested in seeing more of his work!
Check out Byzantine Artworks Website....
