It's been quite some time since I last posted a template, sadly. Real Life has been the bugbear, in part, plus I've been commissioned to do some flags for an ImagiNation. It's been a very enjoyable project but it's a pity there aren't 72 hours in a day! Hopefully images of some of those will be appearing on the appropriate blog but I'm sworn to secrecy until that happens, upon pain of lifelong conscription into a very rough and tough regiment...
I've enjoyed developing my flag drawing skills. I'm currently working on possible prototypes of some British Napoleonic colours; snapshot attached of roughs of variants of the colours of the 33rd Foot 1815. The final versions of these flags are produced as high quality PDF files, with the advantages of vector images that they are highly detailed and crisp at almost any magnification.
When doing some hunting on the 'Net for information on British 18th and 19th century flags I came across this very inspiring site: http://www.dupagemilitaryflag.com/743917.html with lots of fascinating detail on British flags, and also on how so many modern illustrations and reproductions get the proportions of the flags and their details badly wrong. It's mostly because people misread amd misuse what is still one of the prime sources of information, a book produced in a limited edition in 1893, Samuel Milne Milne's "Standards and Colours of the [British] Army 1661-1881". (The DuPage military flag site also has a very interesting article on AWI Hessian flags, available as a PDF file, and photographs of some of the splendid and beautiful reproduction flags they make for museums, re-enactors and anyone who wants a high-quality, well-researched historical military flag or colour.)
Sir Davad, Glad to see yor still with us! I was just about to send a personal e-mail to check up on you. Your British flags look great, but what else have we come to expect. Again, I'm very pleased to see you posting again.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, David. I have no interest in Nappy stuff (although many do), but it is good to see you posting again.
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Hi Bill,
ReplyDeleteThank you. I was going to email you too, to see how things were going; I hope your wife's treatment is going well.
All the best,
David.
Thanks, Jeff. Napoleonics is a sort of "legacy" interest of mine, going back to boyhood, but I doubt I'd have started on these Napoleonic flags if I had not been asked to do some. Now I'm doing them, I am enjoying them, and learning new drawing tricks, too, which is very useful.
ReplyDeleteHope all's well with you.
All the best,
David.
Sir David, Lynda just finished her radiation treatments and her last blood test was good. We were very lucky to catch her cancer so early and things look excellect. Thanks for your concern. Unfortunately, I've been far too busy to do much on our hobby!!!
ReplyDeleteNice work on the flags! I think those could do double duty as AWI flags for the Brits?
ReplyDeleteWelcome back and well wishes.
Hi Bill,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the treatment is going so well. Hopefully you'll both be able to put it all behind you soon - and you'll be able to get back into the wargaming!
All the best,
David.
Hi Rusti,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Hope all's going well for you.
Unfortunately AWI British flags were significantly different; they didn't have the red saltire for Ireland (which came in in 1801) and the wreath around the central device was also very different.
All the best,
David.
Thanks David, Rookie mistake on my part. I was too excited to see that you were producing flags, I must have gotten carried away. :)
ReplyDeleteThe saltire is a deal breaker, but at 6mm, I could easily live with the different wreathes. A nice .svg from you and my meager photoshop skills and I could take care of it!! :) :)
Rusit
David
ReplyDeleteVery nice flags; I particullary like the heavy shading version, they look very realistic.
I was going to print some own-designed flags for my imagi-nation army (growing slowly) but now I want some like these! Any hints you feel able to pass on about how to achieve the shading effect?
With best wishes
John
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteThanks.
It ideally needs a detailed tutorial with pictures to describe how I do it but, in short, in my vector drawing program Xara Xtreme (but it's probably similar in any vector drawing program, even the freeware Inkscape) I first draw and colour the basic flag. I then use a bitmap fill of the rippling cloth as an overlay, set to a two-tone colour (e.g. brown-yellow on a yellow flag or black-grey on a white one) with transparency at about 75-80%. I often then need to fiddle with it until it looks right; the transparency in particular often needs adjusting to get the right visual effect. That's about it, really! (Finding the right pattern of rippling cloth took quite a long time, before I started the work on the flags.)
If you'd like more explanation of any point, let me know. It is a very compressed explanation, I admit. :-)
HTH
All the best,
David.
Hi Rusti,
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the 4th Foot flag pdf I sent; I'll see if I can do one or two others in the next few months.
Cheers,
David.