@mhoyle.bsky.social
Professional archaeological Illustrator, archaeologist, artist and teacher. I have worked in the field of archaeology and archaeological illustration for over 30 years. I also teach archaeological illustration workshops: BA(hons) PGCE MCIfA FSA Scot.
I’ve been working on some concept designs in blender 5.2 (for fun). Focusing on lighting and composition for ancient street scenes, with post production composite layering and complex texture maps. #blender #archaeology #daz3d
October 5, 2026 at 5:30 PM
I’ve been working on some concept designs in blender 5.2 (for fun). Focusing on lighting and composition for ancient street scenes, with post production composite layering and complex texture maps. #blender #archaeology #daz3d
Whilst looking for some add ons for blender 5.2… and came across blend surface. It’s quite an old one, designed for 4.2 LTS. Why didn’t I know about this one before!! It does exactly what it says on the tin (as it were) so I utilised some existing assets to create this little diorama… #blender
August 19, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Whilst looking for some add ons for blender 5.2… and came across blend surface. It’s quite an old one, designed for 4.2 LTS. Why didn’t I know about this one before!! It does exactly what it says on the tin (as it were) so I utilised some existing assets to create this little diorama… #blender
Having recently created some dioramas for large scale museum displays. I’ve been inspired and spent sometime developing some new detailed assets for future reconstructions. Created in blender and textured using the very powerful #FluentMaterialiser add on. #Blender #Romans #Photoshop
June 3, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Having recently created some dioramas for large scale museum displays. I’ve been inspired and spent sometime developing some new detailed assets for future reconstructions. Created in blender and textured using the very powerful #FluentMaterialiser add on. #Blender #Romans #Photoshop
Amazing to see my reconstructions on display at the Unearthing Vindolanda: Footwear from the Edge of the Roman Empire exhibition in Toronto, Canada, at the Bata Shoe Museum from May 2026 until September 2027.
With over 100 footwear-related artifacts from Vindolanda. #Vindolanda #Romans
With over 100 footwear-related artifacts from Vindolanda. #Vindolanda #Romans
May 7, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Amazing to see my reconstructions on display at the Unearthing Vindolanda: Footwear from the Edge of the Roman Empire exhibition in Toronto, Canada, at the Bata Shoe Museum from May 2026 until September 2027.
With over 100 footwear-related artifacts from Vindolanda. #Vindolanda #Romans
With over 100 footwear-related artifacts from Vindolanda. #Vindolanda #Romans
Different camera angle and a longer focal length shot of a Roman barrack block cutaway reconstruction. Produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender #Batashoemuseum #Vindolanda #Romans #Shoes #Blender
April 8, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Different camera angle and a longer focal length shot of a Roman barrack block cutaway reconstruction. Produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender #Batashoemuseum #Vindolanda #Romans #Shoes #Blender
Some WIP of a 4th Century Roman workshop cutaway reconstruction. Again produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto, Canada. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender. #Batashoemuseum #unearthingvindoland #Vindolanda #Romans #Shoes #Blender
March 25, 2026 at 10:29 PM
Some WIP of a 4th Century Roman workshop cutaway reconstruction. Again produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto, Canada. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender. #Batashoemuseum #unearthingvindoland #Vindolanda #Romans #Shoes #Blender
Some recent reconstructions (3 in total) created for a new book by AOC archaeology! Here a taster of the cover image.
You can explore the full publication here: www.sidestone.com/books/black-...
#SiteStoriesSaturday #Archaeology #Heritage #BlackLochOfMyrton #AOCArchaeology #PublicationLaunch
You can explore the full publication here: www.sidestone.com/books/black-...
#SiteStoriesSaturday #Archaeology #Heritage #BlackLochOfMyrton #AOCArchaeology #PublicationLaunch
March 21, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Some recent reconstructions (3 in total) created for a new book by AOC archaeology! Here a taster of the cover image.
You can explore the full publication here: www.sidestone.com/books/black-...
#SiteStoriesSaturday #Archaeology #Heritage #BlackLochOfMyrton #AOCArchaeology #PublicationLaunch
You can explore the full publication here: www.sidestone.com/books/black-...
#SiteStoriesSaturday #Archaeology #Heritage #BlackLochOfMyrton #AOCArchaeology #PublicationLaunch
Some WIP of a Roman barrack block cutaway reconstruction. Again produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto, Canada. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender. #Batashoemuseum #unearthingvindoland #Vindolanda #Romans #Shoes #Blender
March 20, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Some WIP of a Roman barrack block cutaway reconstruction. Again produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto, Canada. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender. #Batashoemuseum #unearthingvindoland #Vindolanda #Romans #Shoes #Blender
Some recent reconstructions of a Roman leather workshop and close up of a cobbler at work. Produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto, Canada. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender. #Batashoemuseum #unearthingvindoland #Vindolanda #Romans
March 18, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Some recent reconstructions of a Roman leather workshop and close up of a cobbler at work. Produced for @batashoemuseum in Toronto, Canada. For their up and coming “unearthing Vindolanda” exhibition which opens in May. Created in blender. #Batashoemuseum #unearthingvindoland #Vindolanda #Romans
Another brilliant day teaching archaeological illustration with some lovely students in Durham today. #archaeology #Illustration #Lifelinglearning #DurhamUniversity
March 7, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Another brilliant day teaching archaeological illustration with some lovely students in Durham today. #archaeology #Illustration #Lifelinglearning #DurhamUniversity
A bit more WIP for another illustration of a beautiful Medieval pewter disk. Drawn using Procreate. #archaelogy #Medieval #archaeologicalIllustration #digitalart #procreate
February 26, 2026 at 7:47 PM
A bit more WIP for another illustration of a beautiful Medieval pewter disk. Drawn using Procreate. #archaelogy #Medieval #archaeologicalIllustration #digitalart #procreate
Finishing off some personal projects. Firstly this one. The focus was on utilising the camera f stop, and realistic “god rays”. Created and rendered in #blender with some post production in #photoshop with a working title of The Hunt. #illustration #IronAge
February 1, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Finishing off some personal projects. Firstly this one. The focus was on utilising the camera f stop, and realistic “god rays”. Created and rendered in #blender with some post production in #photoshop with a working title of The Hunt. #illustration #IronAge
More Friday night Archaeological Illustration using #Procreate. Slowly adding some detail of the cancellous tissue in this #Roman bone object. #ArchaeologicalIllustration #Archaeology #Romans #DrawAnyWhere
January 30, 2026 at 9:18 PM
More Friday night Archaeological Illustration using #Procreate. Slowly adding some detail of the cancellous tissue in this #Roman bone object. #ArchaeologicalIllustration #Archaeology #Romans #DrawAnyWhere
A bit of weekend illustration work on some lovely Bronze-Age sword mould fragments. I love the flexibility of procreate on the iPad #DrawAnywhere #Procreate #BronzeAge #ArchaeologicalIllustration #Archaeology
January 17, 2026 at 6:14 PM
A bit of weekend illustration work on some lovely Bronze-Age sword mould fragments. I love the flexibility of procreate on the iPad #DrawAnywhere #Procreate #BronzeAge #ArchaeologicalIllustration #Archaeology
Final render of 2025 (promise)! I had some fun tweaking the weather FX sliders and lighting rig #blender #medieval #snowscene
December 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Final render of 2025 (promise)! I had some fun tweaking the weather FX sliders and lighting rig #blender #medieval #snowscene
Final “tweaks” to the seasonal reconstruction… updated focal length and height setting on the camera which (in my humble opinion) helps draw the viewer it to the scene more and makes it “less flat” to view. #blender #Medieval #Archaeology
December 19, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Final “tweaks” to the seasonal reconstruction… updated focal length and height setting on the camera which (in my humble opinion) helps draw the viewer it to the scene more and makes it “less flat” to view. #blender #Medieval #Archaeology
Something a little more “seasonal” this little Medieval street scene was created in blender and utilising the powerful weather fx plug-in to create the environment. I used blenders “add snow” to place snow on some of the assets⛄️… #Archaeology #Medieval #blender #Photoshop
December 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Something a little more “seasonal” this little Medieval street scene was created in blender and utilising the powerful weather fx plug-in to create the environment. I used blenders “add snow” to place snow on some of the assets⛄️… #Archaeology #Medieval #blender #Photoshop
A WIP on a flint knapping scene created using Blender and Daz 3D. Nice to refresh some skills from DAZ 3d and use their Genesis 9 deformers for figure modifications. Also playing with Blender 5 Multiple Scattering sky model #Archaeology #Mesolithic # #Blender #Daz3D
December 16, 2025 at 6:37 PM
A WIP on a flint knapping scene created using Blender and Daz 3D. Nice to refresh some skills from DAZ 3d and use their Genesis 9 deformers for figure modifications. Also playing with Blender 5 Multiple Scattering sky model #Archaeology #Mesolithic # #Blender #Daz3D
Another brilliant Archaeological Illustration workshop today at Durham Uni. It’s lovely to see the students confidence and skills developing. #ArchaeologicalIllustration #LifeLongLearning #Archaeology #Illustration
December 6, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Another brilliant Archaeological Illustration workshop today at Durham Uni. It’s lovely to see the students confidence and skills developing. #ArchaeologicalIllustration #LifeLongLearning #Archaeology #Illustration
More #blender self improvement work, looking at scene construction and asset placement. Using small details to build a story. With some compositing post production work adding volumetrics #medieval #Archaeology #blender3d
November 28, 2025 at 9:04 PM
More #blender self improvement work, looking at scene construction and asset placement. Using small details to build a story. With some compositing post production work adding volumetrics #medieval #Archaeology #blender3d
WIP on a quick scene with some 3d mud splatters to test the Multiple Scattering settings of the Nishita sky shader. Still trying to tweak the exposure setting. Also trying to work on the focal length settings to create movement. #blender #blender3d #medieval #Archaeology
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
WIP on a quick scene with some 3d mud splatters to test the Multiple Scattering settings of the Nishita sky shader. Still trying to tweak the exposure setting. Also trying to work on the focal length settings to create movement. #blender #blender3d #medieval #Archaeology