Monday 30 January 2012

A Flag 'Quickie'

Just a brief note on how I do flags in answer to Simon’s comment. Now, I’m no flag expert. There are plenty out there who do flags expertly. Doing flags for the Sedgemoor regiments came about years ago when there were no flags commercially available ( I still think today they may be limited.) and I had to do my own. This is how – I still do it like this today for these new regiments you've seen on this blog. The sample below (after cutting out from sheet) took about 20 mins - if that.
  The results are a little crude but don’t look too bad, I think.

Initially I photocopy the flag (black and white) from a souce i.e. book, magazine ... and scale to a suitable size. You usually need 2 copies to give each side of the flagThese are slightly larger as I wanted them to stand out on the table.
Then I cut out and group the photocopies onto a single sheet and photocopy (scan and print..) this sheet so I have a single sheet with most of the flags on. I keep a 'master sheet' so I can make as many flags as I want!

Next I cut out the flag I want:
Block paint the flag: Here I used Vallejo Flat Red, Foundry Arctic white B and Vallejo Yellow Ochre. (The bit on the left is to hold whilst painting.)


  Next highlight with Vallejo Scarlet, Foundry white C and Vallejo Light yellow


  Glue to pole with Pva glue or Pritstick and fold to shape


  When dry tidy up edges and a final/light highlight on creases etc.




And there you are – a little basic but not a bad overall effect. Remember this was done quickly so may come across as a bit 'rough and ready.'
Usually when I use commercially available flags I still paint on some highlighting to make the flag/ colours stand out more.

More on flags another time.

8 comments:

  1. Might even give me the confidence to do some of the flags I have sitting in books - but not available elsewhere.

    Is that normal thickness paper or a form of art paper?

    Thanks

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  2. Just standard printer paper - standard thickness - nothing fancy.

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  3. That really looks very good to me. Congratulations, sir . . . excellently done!


    -- Jeff

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  4. Thanks for explaining this - about to take the plunge.

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  5. Oddly, exactly how I do mine except I use Photoshop to do all the scaling and printing.

    Your workbench looks worryingly organised. Any chance of some photos?

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  6. Mike - I think photoshop would be better for me but don't have it yet. Would it be able to do ECW flags where one side is a mirror image of the other and not a copy!!?
    Re: the work bench. Photos for you up soon. Sadly, as a rule, I am that organised!! Will give some info on a later post.

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  7. I've just discovered your blog and find it very enjoyable. You are very talented with the brush and with modeing. One point about the flags. Someone pointed out to me that flags tend to furl at a diagonal rather than vertically. Keep up the good work

    Fritz

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