This commission was for some medieval knights / sergeants / footsoldiers, with a specific set of parameters for each unit. The first 'unit' was to be six knights, modelled both mounted and on foot;
Each of the knights was to be distinguished from the sergeants (see later post) by being mounted exclusively on barded horses. For this first pairing, I went with a horizontal 'bar' in mint green and white - like the Pacer sweets I enjoyed as a kid (that's vert and argent for you sticklers!). I chose matching heads for the foot / mounted versions, and used one of the surcoated bodies from the Templar infantry set for the dismounted knight. I also chose to use the same weapon, and the same shield design - hopefully making it clear that he's the same chap.
Rear shot of the same - the heraldic design is a Veni Vidi Vici shield transfer of a hydra. These knights are not supposed to be actual depictions of anyone historical, so mythical beasts and geometric designs were used to keep them generic-ish.
I love orange - so there had to be a knight in an orange scheme. Often, I pair orange with green; but on this occasion I didn't want to clash with my 'green knight', so I quartered the orange with white (the white helps with keeping the models nice and bright too). I took the same approach as for the other knights, in that I selected matching head / shield / weapon. I suppose I could equally have armed each of the mounted chaps with a lance instead. Perhaps Mark will commission lance-armed versions of his knights in future :)
Rear shot of the same. Again, I used a mythical beast for the blazon - most of the VVV transfers I have are black, so again it makes sense to keep the colours light; otherwise a black design might get 'lost'.
Light blue - another favourite of mine, and usually / often paired with scarlet. Again, I didn't want to clash with a later red knight, so the blue is quartered with white. The weapon matching is not exact here, as I liked the idea of at least one knight with his shield slung and a huge two-handed axe in use. The mounted version does have an axe, but not the single beard design which the foot version is wielding. Mark - if this jars, let me know and I'll try lopping the axe head off and replacing with a matching design.
Rear view of same, showing the geometric 'sun radiant' design (this time nicked from a box of Greek Hoplites). From most angles, the axe difference is not noticeable - and most often, they'll not be seen on the field of battle at the same time anyway :)
Another bar design, this time using wine red and white. The base style differs from my usual, though some of the steps were similar. Firstly, I used bought-in 3mm MDF precut bases, which I have used elsewhere but usually round rather than rectangular. I cut down the figure base and superglued them in place, as I normally do, and then disguised the base edges with a clay filler (again, as per usual). To match with the client's own basing style, I then omitted my usual sand-coating stage, and just gave the clay two sealing coats of PVA. The PVA sets flexible but hard, and makes a great base for the brown 'mud' colour which was applied next. Finally, I was back on familiar ground (pun intended) with a smattering of green surface texture.
Rear view of same. The green ground cover I use is a mix of Heki railway scatter, with assorted green tea leaves / mixed herbs / shredded raspberry leaves mixed in. This is meant to replicate blown leaves over grass - something medieval man would have experienced a lot of, given that most of Europe was still pretty tree-covered in the 12th / 13th centuries.
I love these eye-catching chequerboard designs, and they're great fun to paint. I knew I wanted to include one, but I agonised over the choice of 'opposite' colour to go with the white. It finally came down to a straight fight between blue and black, and I reasoned that if I went with blue and hated it, I could easily overpaint with black. As it happens, I really liked the blue. The heraldic design is a wavy Spanish cross, in red this time as the blue was just a shade too dark for a black one to work well.
Not sure why I didn't do a reverse shot here... and chose instead to show them charging the other way. Anyway, it shows off the chequerboard scheme nicely.
I recently painted some Wars of the Roses guys in a mostly yellow / white scheme, and thought it might suit one of the knights. I'd already done several 'quartered', so I thought I'd ring the changes with a diagonal stripe, or 'bend'. This was the beginning of the trouble. First, the stripes were much harder to get at the correct angle than a horizontal or vertical line. Then, the yellow I chose was a bit feeble and needed multiple coats. Next, the yellow-on-white looked odd (and broke a heraldic rule - as it was metal on metal, argent / or). I solved the latter by striping the yellow with thin black lines, so now the two metals were butted against a tincture. The next issue was the charge, or shield design. I had about 70 to choose from, and they all looked wrong. I toyed with the idea of having no charge at all, then took inspiration from football shirts, and placed small 'rose' badges at top left.
Reverse of same.
So, that was the first part of the commission, next up is another foot / mounted combination - the sergeants.
No comments:
Post a Comment