Soldiers SR-59 Vexillarius of Constantine The Great - Update 1

[roadking]

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I have been working on this figure off and on over the past two weeks, trying to formalize the color palette in my mind. There will be various reds involved and each one needs to be a separate tone, richness and warmth. I've started the face as can be seen in the two photos below. Usual mixture of oils involved, nothing new. The first photo is basic flesh mixture with first highlights completed wet-on-wet. The second photo is with the shadows roughed in.​

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I have also been painting the shoes and groundwork. The groundwork was done with washes of Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Mars Black and Greenish Umber. I will start working some highlight tones in as I begin to paint his trousers (White/Off-White).​

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[Steve]

Jim, since you mention reds and are obviously knowledgeable about Roman forces, I have a question. In the nineties I recall somewhat of a stir in the miniature community over archeological information that indicated that legionarries actually wore unbleached wool rather than the red that we had come to identify with them. I have a Young Roman soldier bust coming up on the painting table and I am curious to see what you say about it. THANKS!

 

[roadking]

Well William it depends on the time period in question and the rank of the figure and unit in question. Many early Romans would have been in unbleached linen with higher ranking figures in the early Imperial period showing a greater likelyhood of being seen in red. Let me know the specifics and I can help. An additional and better resource would be Dr. Mike over on the Med-Rom forum. There is a link on my blog.

Jim

 

[Steve]

1st c. AD. Common soldier. Thanks!!