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View Full Version : what heraldry should i paint my bretonnians in?



sicarius2424
12-26-2009, 04:50 PM
i just got a bretonnian battalion and i don't know what the heraldry should be i would like the whole army to be the same heraldry right now i'm thinking montfort or brionne but i'm open to sugestions

BDub
12-26-2009, 06:21 PM
Do you mean Livery? I ask because each knight should have his own Heraldry. The livery would be the color scheme for the soldiers fighting under a particular Duke/Lord/Knight etc.., and generally draw their colors from his heraldry. Whatever you decide, it should probably match your general in some capacity.

sicarius2424
12-27-2009, 11:24 AM
yeah srry

and i would like them all to match the lord too to atleast to some extent

BDub
12-27-2009, 02:17 PM
Well then I think your best bet would be to pick a primary color Then I would pick a secondary or tertiary color that is either significantly lighter or darker in value that the primary. Then do all of your other accessories in neutrals (browns, tans or even greys).

Its also a good Idea to pick a metallic treatment for metals that your want to stand out. Most people go with gold or silver, but I would encourage your to experiment with how you approach that metal. For instance you could go really warm gold or cool gold by varying the washes and base colors you use with the metal - this works with silver as well. This approach will give you a wide range of metals like bronzes and brasses, steels, irons etc..

So for instance you might pick a strong royal blue for your primary color. Then for your secondary color you might go with a really warm white (like a bone color). This will look like white against the blue but will accomplish two things for you, 1) because it is warm it will compliment the blue as it leans towards blues complimentary color and the value will be different enough to give you good contrast and readability on the table, 2) Because its not pure white you will be able to play with value ranges, ie. have a darker and lighter tone for shadows and highlights - pure white is hard to pull off, its too contrasty and gives you no room for value subtleties.

So with these two colors you would probably want to go with a warm gold as this will compliment the blue for the same reasons as the warm white. You could go with a cool silver to work with the blue. This will give your army a cooler feel than the gold would as it would be helping out the blue where as the gold would be helping out the white and warming the army.

Last but not least are all the leathers and woods that are not strictly part of the uniform. Here again you should ask if you want the army to be cooler or warmer. If warmer, go with tans and browns - if cooler knock the saturation out of these warmer colors by adding blues to them or just experiment with grays outright.

Another little tip - if you are painting symbols or heraldic motifs over your primary and secondary color, consider outlining them in black if they are lighter or your metal color if they are darker than the colors they sit on.

This is basically my approach to every thing I do, both on the painting table as well as textures on digital models. I hope it helps you.

Sorry for the long spiel, I didn't set out to do a workshop, hehe.

lobster-overlord
12-27-2009, 05:28 PM
Pages 17 through 27 of the Bretonnian Army Book (4th/5th edition... 1996 print date) has great information on Heraldry. It not only has examples, but provides the "rules" by which you can chose to place colors together. For instance, white represents silver and yellow, gold.

One element that the newest book adds is grittiness. The older book has a more lively vibrant army, while the new book has a worn and grizzled army. If you want a lot of good info to help, and are especially interested in having a colorful army, I'd suggest picking up a copy of the older book.

sicarius2424
12-29-2009, 08:01 PM
Well then I think your best bet would be to pick a primary color Then I would pick a secondary or tertiary color that is either significantly lighter or darker in value that the primary. Then do all of your other accessories in neutrals (browns, tans or even greys).

Its also a good Idea to pick a metallic treatment for metals that your want to stand out. Most people go with gold or silver, but I would encourage your to experiment with how you approach that metal. For instance you could go really warm gold or cool gold by varying the washes and base colors you use with the metal - this works with silver as well. This approach will give you a wide range of metals like bronzes and brasses, steels, irons etc..

So for instance you might pick a strong royal blue for your primary color. Then for your secondary color you might go with a really warm white (like a bone color). This will look like white against the blue but will accomplish two things for you, 1) because it is warm it will compliment the blue as it leans towards blues complimentary color and the value will be different enough to give you good contrast and readability on the table, 2) Because its not pure white you will be able to play with value ranges, ie. have a darker and lighter tone for shadows and highlights - pure white is hard to pull off, its too contrasty and gives you no room for value subtleties.

So with these two colors you would probably want to go with a warm gold as this will compliment the blue for the same reasons as the warm white. You could go with a cool silver to work with the blue. This will give your army a cooler feel than the gold would as it would be helping out the blue where as the gold would be helping out the white and warming the army.

Last but not least are all the leathers and woods that are not strictly part of the uniform. Here again you should ask if you want the army to be cooler or warmer. If warmer, go with tans and browns - if cooler knock the saturation out of these warmer colors by adding blues to them or just experiment with grays outright.

Another little tip - if you are painting symbols or heraldic motifs over your primary and secondary color, consider outlining them in black if they are lighter or your metal color if they are darker than the colors they sit on.

This is basically my approach to every thing I do, both on the painting table as well as textures on digital models. I hope it helps you.

Sorry for the long spiel, I didn't set out to do a workshop, hehe.

dan thats alot of reading
and dan thats alot of good advice! thanks

BDub
12-29-2009, 10:38 PM
Yeah, I know. I just started writing and trying to be clear and it ended up a little long. Sorry, and you're welcome. Be sure and post pics when you get them up and running.

sicarius2424
01-03-2010, 07:26 PM
may take a while but sure when i can