...or that's what it feels like, making the flags for a unit when I've only managed to paint one miniature. However in this case it's more of a necessity. As we don't know what flags Frei-regiment von Gerlach had (if they existed at all) I've decided to create some myself, and the only decent laser printer I have access to will become somewhat unaccessible when my current job ends at the end of this week. For the flags themselves, I've used one of the later Hessian flag designs by Frédéric Aubert from Kronoskaf as a basis. The later flag seemed to be appropriate as Prussia's allies in the west introduced a greater variety of light units towards the end of the war (Hannover with its British Legion, Brunswick and its Volontaires auxiliaires, etc.).
Creating the flags wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be. On NBA, David said that he'd added texture to his flags by importing the texture as another layer. I don't have the program that David uses but found a youtube tutorial for something similar using the free 'paint.net' program. For a suitable texture I used a portion of one of Da Vinci's drapery studies and followed this tutorial on youtube. Later I did a google image search for drapery study and found a large number of images with more suitable folds for a rippling flag, but I'd already done these and can't be bothered changing them, to be honest. This method won't replace the high printing quality of commercial flags like GMB, but for making hypothetical flags it's a lot easier than painting freehand (which I don't think I have the skill or patience for anyway!). The flags are relatively plain (compared to the line regiment versions) which I thought was more fitting for a Frei-regiment. I plan to have a stand with four standard bearers on, as I like the depictions in Rochling et al's paintings of Prussian regiments with their stand of a few colours and I've got a couple of extra colour bearers who are just gathering dust in the lead pile. As I'm planning a large regiment of 60 or so (I'm trying to build kleinkrieg forces with only a few units a side, but a larger figure to historical numbers ratio), I don't think the four colours will overpower the unit as it might a small one.
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteVery effective flags - they should look good. It is a pity, though, that von Gerlach are so elusive!
Cheers,
David
http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/
It is a shame that there is no further information on them (if they aren't the result of a mistake along the way), although that makes it easier for me with the flag. Rather than knowing how the flag of the unit looked but with no one reproducing a flag for such an obscure unit, I can get away with a bit of free license. I might well give the drummers reversed coats even though Hessian drummers didn't follow this practice, as no one can prove me wrong and reversed coats do look nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for tipping me off to the layers trick, David.
Adam
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteYes, I often find it frustrating that quite a number of details of the period are not known - though it's not often a whole unit's existence proves troublesome! But it's true that these holes in the evidence do provide some creative opportunities. ;-)
Glad the layers tip was helpful.
Cheers,
David
http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/
This Flags are very impressive. I would have never thought that they are selfmade.
ReplyDeleteThey were dead easy to do, That-brush-guy. The hard work was done by Frédéric Aubert in designing the emblem on the flag and Da Vinci for doing the study I copied and pasted. It's so easy to do with that paint.net program. Just remember to only reduce the size of the image when setting up the print. The printer can shrink the image and keep a lot of the detail, but reducing the size of the image itself in paint.net will just reduce the pixels and you'll end up with a blurred flag.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Adam