Late Roman Revisit: the shield

[RobH]

Hi All

working on my Roman again after a massive break. This time the shield:

Painted in acrylics:

Left: a template (paper) was used (created with a compass) and a simple pattern cut and a pencil used to draw the circular shape. Then using thin washes of Vallejos the basic shape was filled in.

Centre: Thinned acrylic again to outline the key elements. Further highlighting done to the body; some red to get position of eye and tongue.

Right: Scary bit. I mean scaly bit. More highliting prior to the nerve-wracking bit of painting the scales. More work done to tongue.

To do: Neaten up edges, weathering (using oils I expect) and boss and rim.

At leat I've done the bit I was dreading.

Feedback and criticism most welcome

Rob

 

[gforceman]

Stunning work,

one day i hope to be able to paint like that. Just amazing!!!

Gino

 

[Guy]

Fabulous Rob, You mentioned the template and then stenciling.....can you elaborate some more there. Some of the figures I plan to paint have the eloborate shield decoration and maybe your method is my answer. I have the same intimidation with some of the figures, due to shield designs.
Thanks,

Guy

 

[gordy]

excellent!
BTW, how did you get the darker blue border around the edge of the shield to fade/blend?

 

[RobH]

Guy
I'll see what I can do: I can take a picture and do a short description in a bit: be patient.

Gino
Why thank you very much! It's articles like yours in MilMod and the like that help us all persevere with the painting.

Rob

 

[RobH]

Gordy:

The basecoat of blue was layers of light blues mixed with browns, then thinned washes of a dark blue all over but accentuated in the edges. There was some experimental 'dot' painting (may be visible) in the darker blue, but again this was 'filtered' (in a MIG Jimenez sense) with the lighter blue. After the basecoat was applied, all paints were thinned at least 70:30 wateraint.

May sound involved, but with acrylics this can all be done very quickly (staringainting ratio 95:5)

Hope this makes some sense

Rob

 

[garyjd]

Rob, Beautiful job on the shield. One day I'm sure to do a figure where a shield with some sort of design is required, they are a neat touch. The scales were probably "fun" to paint. Any way good going.~Gary

 

[gordy]

makes sense, a very good gradient from dark to light, i've seen many times stepping of transitional hues that weren't gradiated so nicely

 

[gordy]

gradients/blending like this:

stepped

blended (your method)

 

[RobH]

Cheers Gordy:
Yes, I guess that is what's going on. In essense it's stepped, but the filters mask that to create the gradations. I've done AFVs in the past (and present) and flat surfaces are a pain to make interesting. That's why it's good to take ideas from other brances of the hobby.

Rob

 

[simon1969]

Nice!
That dragon wasn't there sunday was it?

You'll have to show me that "transition" technique one day!

Simon

 

[Shane]

Rob,

I love seeing shields with designs. Nice scale effect. It seems easy to let the colors get out of hand. But yours seems nicely restrained.

 

[RobH]

Cheers Shane:

yeah, I have a tendency to paint 'earthy'. I leave the bright colours for my fantasy subjects!


For Guy, Here's the paper template:

it's nothing grand: sketched the design on paper and cut out a template. Used a punch and die set to cut a hole for the boss; everything seemed to sit. Wish I'd used watercolour pencil to sketch the design, as Quang did on his Kyoto Belle tatoo; I can see the logic in that approach.
It certainly wasn't exact!

Also thought of using small pin pricks on the paper template instead of cutting.


By the way, the reference for this is here:
Notitia Dignitatum

You'll see the design I've used; it's also in the Concord Roman Army book, on an Angus McBride illustration.

Rob

 

[Richard E]

Rob

That looks great, I love painting shields and flags myself. Are you going to weather it down or leave it like that ?, and did you use the template when painting the first stage or just use it as a marker ?

Richard

 

[RobH]

Cheers Richard

I used the template purely to put pecil marks on. Took it off for the painting.

I intend to weather it but I'm a bit afraid of over doing it now and obscuring the detail.

Rob

 

[Guy]

thanks Rob,
Brilliant idea there....will give it a try myself

Guy

 

[gforceman]

articles like yours in MilMod and the like that help us all persevere with the painting

Thanks Rob,

I always thought people never read my articles. No i know at least one person is. I've recently switched to acrylics, and the filter technique is realy great to make transitions. Personally I like more contrast between my light and dark parts, but that's just a maater of time. Maybe you can paint in a few scratches on the shield; a very easy thing to do and which gives evan more life to an object. i always paint a dark line for the scratch, and directely underneath it a thin line with my lightest highlight colour. this will create a 3-d effect like the scratch is really deeper then the rest of the shield, just a thought though.

BTW, will you be going to the Trucks and Tracks show on february the 28th and 29th 2004?

Please keep me inspired with pictures of your splendid work,

Gino

 

[RobH]

Maybe you can paint in a few scratches on the shield; a very easy thing to do and which gives evan more life to an object. i always paint a dark line for the scratch, and directely underneath it a thin line with my lightest highlight colour. this will create a 3-d effect like the scratch is really deeper then the rest of the shield, just a thought though.

Gino, that's what I'm planning to do, pretty much as you describe. Might try to 'chip' the serpent too, after all it's painted onto the shield. Then I intend to fade it with oil paints (as Adrian bay does with spots; bit nervous of doing that though - varnish, or not to varnish first)

I think I pretty much read every article in the mags eventually; I think everyone has something to input and there's always an idea lurking away in there....

Never been to a trucks and tracks show; usually a Euro man but as I do armour as well, I may be tempted (have a Ferdinand ready to paint; just a case of putting some figures on it). Maybe I'll go down for a day.

Cheers for the encouragement - when it's finished, I can start something else!


All the best

Rob

 

[quang]

Rob,

You chose the most logical and efficient route to paint that serpent.

I found that for 'free hand' subjects such as patterns and designs on shields, flags (or tattoos), the main issue is to establish : 1– the RIGHT SIZE and 2 – the RIGHT POSITION.

The right size can be obtained by scaling down a pattern on a piece of transparent paper (cartridge paper) or film (frisket film). The drawing is then moved around on the surface to be painted, correctly positioned, then marked.

From then on, it's all downhill. You just have to fill in the outer shape in a paint-by-number fashion.

Like Guy says, 'it's simple'

Quang

 

[gordy]

(Rob glad to see I'm not the only Samauri Jack fan )