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Post by paintdog on Jul 15, 2021 10:02:29 GMT
Shield designs can be a work-of-art in themselves.
Certainly, they can provide a challenge for the painter of 1/72 figures.
Both 28mm & 15mm figures are well covered (pun intended) by companies such as Little Big Men Studios with a lot of wonderful transfer prints for the Ancient & Medieval periods.
1/72, not very much at all, which leaves painting sometimes intricate patterns by hand, if the figures comes with a shield not embossed in the plastic.
I am by no means a fantastic shield painter but I have a few tips that might prove useful.
Geometric patterns are the easiest but even more complex designs (such as a Greek hoplites' Medusa's Head pattern) can be attempted by first priming in white or grey then using a fine point black art line pen to draw the design.
This allows for mistakes as the lines will be painted over but it gives you the opportunity to plan & fit a design onto an actual shield.
I also sometimes use paint pens, which come in a variety of colours, to actually colour the shield in.It provides a steadier stroke than a brush.
One of the biggest hurdles are unit shields eg for Late Romans where every figure carries shields with the same pattern. This will highlight small discrepancies from figure to figure.
With about 200 Late Romans to paint- many of them shielded- there's a further challenge. I'm using the primary source Notitia Dignitatum as a guide. Each unit has a different & distinct shield design. Some are easy. Some are quite detailed religious iconography. Evidently, the elite units had simpler, even plain patterns so I'm probably not going to have many garrison units (Limitatei) with their detailed & complex patterns. Here's a sample:  I generally paint a trial shield before doing the entire unit. The Late Romans will certainly be a colourful bunch. donald |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2021 15:44:42 GMT
Is there not a computer programme where you can take a close up picture of one shield, make sure the picture is scaled to 1/72, then make a sheet of them on paper and glue on? No idea if one does exist, or how much said programme would cost, just throwing the idea out there. I have seen someone selling Napoleonic flags on sticky backed paper before, so must be some way of doing it.
Does sound a real task painting those intricate designs over and over though! Good on anyone who takes it on though, they have my admiration.
What I see there is really nicely done. I like the shield in the top left corner of the picture!
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Post by waynew on Jul 15, 2021 19:11:47 GMT
Some nice work. Years ago there used to be decals available for 1/72 scale shields. I definitely made use of them. That was over twenty years ago and I don't even remember the name of the company now though I might have some leftovers somewhere. I got out of ancients many moons ago so...
I used to use paint pens, too, when I had to. Much better results. Thanks for the tips.
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Post by Ironsides on Jul 15, 2021 19:20:09 GMT
Some nice work. Years ago there used to be decals available for 1/72 scale shields. I definitely made use of them. That was over twenty years ago and I don't even remember the name of the company now though I might have some leftovers somewhere. I got out of ancients many moons ago so... I used to use paint pens, too, when I had to. Much better results. Thanks for the tips.
Little Big Men Studios...
Still going strong... no late roman stuff though  |
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Post by waynew on Jul 16, 2021 16:34:08 GMT
That's it! I know I used their decals on my HaT Legionaires - c. 1st BC; one of the last truly Ancient sets I painted as I realized there were just too many great sets coming out at the time for me to keep up with it all. I reluctantly began to limit my 1/72 collection to just those areas I was really interested in and enjoyed painting the most.
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Post by paintdog on Jul 17, 2021 23:43:57 GMT
Assembly-line approach is best:  donald |
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Post by pll on Jul 18, 2021 9:14:40 GMT
Hi Donald. I too share your fascination of painting shields on ancients. It is a bit easier on 1:32 which is what I work with though I admire your efforts in 1:72. Some manufacturers emboss the designs onto the shield which makes it a bit easier following the lines of the design rather than doing it all freehand. Though I was interested to hear about how your use ink pen to set the design outline first. I enjoy tackling the intricacy of designs with the individuality of Ancient Greek hoplon facings with animals, birds and snakes as well as face motives. Painting the heraldry blazons on medieval shields can also be quite challenging. It is easier to paint striped or chevroned motives than rampant lions or small birds. It is fun trying it out and you can always overpaint to tidy up the result. I must say I enjoy painting flags by hand where printed versions aren't easily available. It surprising what you can achieve with a steady hand.
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Post by paintdog on Jul 18, 2021 23:05:18 GMT
. Painting the heraldry blazons on medieval shields can also be quite challenging. If you're painting medieval heraldry, I can only stand in awe.
Although I'm an indifferent painter, the shields come into their own when fixed & massed:   I will say the hardest shields to do are the white circular ones. donald |
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Post by pll on Jul 28, 2021 8:35:08 GMT
![]() Hi again Donald I was trying to post some pictures of the types of shield designs I referred to in my earlier post. Unfortunately my efforts to upload the pictures using the add attachment then add files wasn't too successful. I keep getting the file is too big beyond the 1MB limit. This is true both with pictures taken with a regular camera and with a phone. It doesn't make much difference - both appear too big to post. You seem pretty adept at posting pictures. I must be doing something wrong. Or maybe the Hat administrator can assist. |
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Post by Forum Admin on Jul 29, 2021 4:40:52 GMT
Greetings!
You can e-mail the pictures to the e-mail address on the website!
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Post by pll on Jul 29, 2021 8:04:32 GMT
Thanks Hat, I'll try that
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Post by deraltefritz on Sept 14, 2021 15:10:36 GMT
![]() Hi again Donald I was trying to post some pictures of the types of shield designs I referred to in my earlier post. Unfortunately my efforts to upload the pictures using the add attachment then add files wasn't too successful. I keep getting the file is too big beyond the 1MB limit. This is true both with pictures taken with a regular camera and with a phone. It doesn't make much difference - both appear too big to post. You seem pretty adept at posting pictures. I must be doing something wrong. Or maybe the Hat administrator can assist. If you operate in the Apple Mac world, then you can select the size of your photo before you upload it. The choices are generally Small, Medium, Large and Actual sizes. |
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Post by pll on Sept 16, 2021 8:28:29 GMT
Hi deraltefritz. Thanks for your advice about sizing. Unfortunately I am not an Apple user - but thanks anyway. I have just checked your latest Punic figures on the pictures forum. I really like the shield designs on both your Roman and Spanish figures - but especially the Spanish ones. Great colour design combinations.
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