Medieval market question

[Rogue Shadow]

I am trying to make a creation for the monthly contest on commerce/trade, and my setting is a market. What kinds of shops would there be? I have one 2 food stands, 1 drink stand, a fortune teller, a lady selling flowers, a letter carrier, and guards, but what other things would you see? I am having a mental block on the subject.

[Remyth]

Possibly a glass blower... Other than that I'm sure you can find some things via Google.

[Rogue Shadow]

Great idea! Although I'm not sure how to make a glass blower... I'll work on that. Thanks!

[Remyth]

Here is my take from my market years ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyrondurkn ... 811160276/ Its kinda hard to see from the picture but I think there is another in that set somewhere of the guy.

[Handar]

In the spirit of brainstorming, there might be a cooper, some live animals being driven to market, some other animals randomly running around, a performance of a mystery play, a thief stealing money or food, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, a pair of priests passing through, another thief in a set of stocks, a tinker's cart, a cobbler, a carpenter, or a weaver.

That list is obviously not anywhere close to exhaustive, but hopefully it will help to jump start the creativity. I'm looking forward to seeing what you put together.

[Rogue Shadow]

It's going to be a 32x32 scene, so I want it to be colorful, crowded, but not so crowded as so you can't see the details. I wouldn't be expecting too much out of this, but I'm hoping people will like it. I like the thief in stocks idea, by the way.
*Edit: On this topic, what would be a better color for the pathways/streets? Tan, or dark bluish grey? My current street color is dark bluish grey, but I think if I looked through my bins I could find tan if need be.

[Handar]

On this topic, what would be a better color for the pathways/streets? Tan, or dark bluish grey? My current street color is dark bluish grey, but I think if I looked through my bins I could find tan if need be.

My suggestion would be to use a variety of colours for a pathway. Dark and light bley, reddish brown, tan, and maybe even black are all colours one would reasonably expect to see in a pathway. Nothing 'in nature' is ever just one single colour or hue, and mimicking this will lend a greater degree of realism to your market. This assumes, of course, that realism is what you're aiming for, it might not be.

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

How about the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker?

[elondisc]

Remember that back then a lot of things were barter systems or would be the selling and purchasing of raw goods (cotton, lumber, livestock, vegetables, etc.) and that there was often a pretty heavy religious influence in towns and castles (which is something Lego always leaves out). A good resource may be to watch some episodes of "pillars of the earth". Its a miniseries that was on starz. It has a lot of scenes of markets, and market towns in it.