WIP 14th cent. flemish Militia

[Fipse]

Hi everybody,

next year I´ve got the chance to illustrate a historic documentation about the Hussite-Wars. So for good or bad I have to work with colours. I want to achieve a style where details are visible but the drawing is still vivid. My great examples are people like Gerry Embleton or Angus McBride.

This drawing is a flemish militiamen of the town of Gammond based on the Leugemeete-frescoes of ca. 1340.

It is - after some smaller tries - my first "real" colour study in Painter mainly done with opaque round brush and some details with artists chalk.
I know that there are some problems with the anatomy (I would love to have someone to paintover the right foot - lost my nerves on it ;)) - I didn´t care much about it, I wanted to get this time just into colour.

I would love to hear your opinions about the choice of colour, the way I worked etc. I´m still fighting with the digital media, and it´s still feeling clumsy. But I think this is the right way for this project because I suppose there will be a lot of correcting small details in the future when I work with the historians.

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/Flame1.jpg

Here are some details in 100 %.

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/Flame2.jpg

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/Flame3.jpg

Hope to hear from you

Fipse

[ummo]

I am just learning so take what I say with a grain of salt but I think although the colors are appropriate, they dont look realistic enough. They are maybe too cookie cutter-ish? Like his face with exception to under his eyes is "flesh colored" and his tunic is "royal blue" or whatever. Maybe mix in some saturated reds or yellows into his face and something similiar into his tunic just so that the colors arent so standard. Maybe someone else with more qualifications can state that clearer or shoot me down?

The details like his chainmail and the straps look really good.
I like it :D

[Fipse]

Hi Ummo,

thanks for your reply. Yes, you recognised my main problem. I´ve been coming from a nearly all black and white background and am splatting colours on my pictures like shades of grey with pencils. Getting away from strict linework was my first step, now I try to improve with exactly the insertion of contrast colours etc.

As I told above for this type of illustration I´m a little restricted in expressive uses of colours but maybe I should experiment first with less topic-oriented drawings ...

I would love to have someone more advanced like me making a quick paintover with the colours as an eye opener - I think in my momentary state of mind this would help a lot.

Fipse

[amateurateverything]

okay, i'm totally retarded, so i know nothing of the history lesson(although i do like history) but the color thing is definately what i noticed first...don't be afraid of brightness and shading...(also, sorry, i'm an amat...too, so this isn't necessarilly a proff opinion, just mine..)

(but if it's in a book about history, doesn't the blander coloring make it look more aged and more in context? hmmm...)