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| 12 AUG 2011 at 1:23pm |
Jarhead0331Colonel
Posts : 8733
Joined: 24 MAY 2006
Location: 0, Texas
Status : Offline | Great work!
I don't think I can pinpoint just one preference, I think all of your options are important to the image. Historical accuracy is very important, but so is interesting subject matter and artistic balance. However, if I HAD to pick one, it would be historical accuracy...if I know the image is depicting anything in an inaccurate manner, then I will lost interest in it because it has no credibility. Frankly, when it comes to things military, fictionalization is unnecessary...it doesn't get much more spectacular than the actual events.
"And They shall know no fear, for they are fear incarnate"
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| 12 AUG 2011 at 1:37pm |
KnaveryCenturion
Posts : 930
Joined: 10 JAN 2005
Location: US
Status : Offline | Hey tayete,
Very nice piece. What's the glove on the ground mean? I know that in impressionist painting for instance, a knocked over picnic basket meant the loss of virginity or sexual act that has taken place. Does the glove represent something specific?
I'm definitely not a grognard, but most of the fellas around here are. I can tell you hands down that accuracy is the most important. I wouldn't know military accuracy if that glove got up and slapped me in the face. For me it's more about feeling. It's like music... You can play a million notes and show you're one of the best guitar players in the world, but if it doesn't have feeling, it means nothing.
A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians. -- Frank Zappa
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| 12 AUG 2011 at 1:38pm |
Centurion40General
Posts : 10892
Joined: 31 OCT 2003
Location: CA, Halifax
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Jarhead0331
Great work!
I don't think I can pinpoint just one preference, I think all of your options are important to the image. Historical accuracy is very important, but so is interesting subject matter and artistic balance. However, if I HAD to pick one, it would be historical accuracy...if I know the image is depicting anything in an inaccurate manner, then I will lost interest in it because it has no credibility. Frankly, when it comes to things military, fictionalization is unnecessary...it doesn't get much more spectacular than the actual events.
Ditto, on all points.
"I love Anne Hathaway and her penchant for nudity." -The Dawg of Metal
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| 12 AUG 2011 at 4:18pm |
DaCubsFanCenturion
Posts : 160
Joined: 15 APR 2005
Status : Offline | Is that a watercolor? [I need to learn how to read] I've tried that before...I stunk.
Very nice work. I've recently noticed a great amount of WWI paintings and other imagery from the period, and I certainly don't see anything wrong with a more abstract representation of an interesting subject matter.
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| 12 AUG 2011 at 4:43pm |
FenwickCenturion
Posts : 141
Joined: 29 MAR 2007
Status : Offline | Please keep posting your work.
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| 12 AUG 2011 at 4:59pm |
SkwerlCenturion
Posts : 64
Joined: 21 JUL 2006
Status : Offline | Fantastic! More please.
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| 12 AUG 2011 at 5:25pm |
GreybriarCommander
Posts : 2704
Joined: 30 MAY 2008
Location: US
Status : Offline | I believe that is the best work in watercolors I have ever seen. Keep it up!
This war is not about slavery. --Robert E. Lee
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| 13 AUG 2011 at 4:44am |
KG_JagCenturion
Posts : 43
Joined: 3 MAY 2011
Status : Offline | Uniform accuracy should not impede other aspects of historically driven art.
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| 15 AUG 2011 at 4:44am |
tayeteCenturion
Posts : 148
Joined: 15 OCT 2003
Status : Offline | Jarhead: Thanks for the encouragement and for the opinion. Your last sentence made me smile as for us, non combatants, a battle is just what we have read. Now I have some children and some experience in life I think I can guess the smell, how dust and smoke and sound will be, but I am sure I will be far away from the real experience. But if footage cannot bring us the same feeling the fighter has in the same moment, how could art do the same? Very interesting opinion, Jarhead, I think it sums what I was aiming for...
Knavery: He he,...you know Freud nowadays isn't what it used to be. Let's say I needed something to point you to the guy, and the glove was an option
Centurion40: Thank you!
DaCubsFan: Thanks for your opinion: very valuable.
Fenwick: Thanks a lot...I was a bit ashamed of posting my pieces, but I'll post some more until you get bored
Skwerl: Thanks a lot, I'll post a quick doodle after this post.
Greybriar: Thanks a lot, but I am sure you have seen also the works of Angus McKie and Richard Scollins (my favourite one), in Osprey and Military Modeling magazine. Those watercolors could be hanging in my room and I would never get tired of watching them.
Rg_Jag: I agree, and in most of the cases that would be the objective. But if for example, I have in my mind a wonderful picture of a soldier walking in a forest with all the lights and shadows falling upon him: should I sacrifice that vision in order to show that his coat had 7 buttons, or should I hid them in the shadows as the "arty" rules would advice...ah, decissions, decissions... That's why all your opinions are so interesting to me.
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| 15 AUG 2011 at 4:49am |
KidCommander
Posts : 1214
Joined: 18 JAN 2006
Location: US, FL
Status : Offline | I would enjoy seeing more of your work.
USN Ret.
Hey NSA! How goes it? Nothing to see here. Have a Nice day! ;-)
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| 15 AUG 2011 at 4:51am |
tayeteCenturion
Posts : 148
Joined: 15 OCT 2003
Status : Offline | A Prussian aspiring officer, in 1903. I think the 1910 period is one of the most interesting ones regarding uniforms. That transition from brilliant colours, feathers, and such, to khaki brings a strange mixture that is great to paint.[image]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-42lk13sR18E/Tkj5Q2f8CMI/AAAAAAAAEzc/ASzhXKQR0vs/s1600/110814+-+germany+1903.png[/image]
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| 15 AUG 2011 at 6:24am |
Centurion40General
Posts : 10892
Joined: 31 OCT 2003
Location: CA, Halifax
Status : Offline | Nice! The Europeans made such interesting uniform designs.
"I love Anne Hathaway and her penchant for nudity." -The Dawg of Metal
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| 15 AUG 2011 at 5:20pm |
Electric_StrawberryCenturion
Posts : 226
Joined: 6 JUN 2006
Location: US
Status : Offline | Thank you for sharing some of your work. As to how historically accurate the portrayal is, I think that would depend upon the setting. If the setting is a parade ground or even perhaps in the openning deployment status of an engagement, then I can see a slavish attention to accuracy.
However, in a situation as you described of a soldier walking in a forest, if see him as somone who has just participated in a battle, maybe all the buttons and braids are no longer in place. If the setting is near the end of a campaign, then perhaps the uniform has become a conglomeration of whatever became available. In such a case, who is to say what is accurate?
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| 16 AUG 2011 at 9:38am |
W8taminuteCenturion
Posts : 698
Joined: 30 NOV 2010
Status : Offline | tayete your work is beautiful. I agree with your comment on being able to stare at this type of watercolor for hours on end. Please share more!
Originally Posted By tayete
...What do you look for when you admire a military illustration? ...
I won't pretend to be an expert on uniform accuracy so I won't comment on that aspect of military illustration. What I admire and find fascinating in a military illustration is the expression of the soldier. Take for example the image of the Confederate Rebel you posted in the original post. When I looked at him I saw a man who although weary from battle is still very proud of what he's doing. He's too dignified to let the painter capture his true condition, one of absolute tiredness, so he puts on an expression of pride. That tells me that this man is a real man.
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| 16 AUG 2011 at 9:44am |
Centurion40General
Posts : 10892
Joined: 31 OCT 2003
Location: CA, Halifax
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By tayete
A Prussian aspiring officer, in 1903. I think the 1910 period is one of the most interesting ones regarding uniforms. That transition from brilliant colours, feathers, and such, to khaki brings a strange mixture that is great to paint.[image]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-42lk13sR18E/Tkj5Q2f8CMI/AAAAAAAAEzc/ASzhXKQR0vs/s1600/110814+-+germany+1903.png[/image]
It occurs to me that there may be an opportunity for you (assuming that you are not already doing it) to put buyer's faces in your paintings. So let's say that someone wanted to commission a custom work to put their face on Hessian grenadier, or one of Napoleon's generals- there just might be a market for it.
"I love Anne Hathaway and her penchant for nudity." -The Dawg of Metal
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| 16 AUG 2011 at 9:50am |
khill9702Centurion
Posts : 999
Joined: 25 NOV 2009
Location: US, WA
Status : Offline | Yeah the paintings are excellent. Its nice that you found a hobby that combines two of your loves, military history and art. I am always envious of artists and musicians because I dont have a creative bone in my body. I have a really nice book of paintings by Don Trojani that was paired with short but thorough readings explaining the scene. I love it. He is meticulous about accurate details as well. Keep posting the paintings man, they are always appreciated.
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| 21 AUG 2011 at 11:23am |
tayeteCenturion
Posts : 148
Joined: 15 OCT 2003
Status : Offline | Centurion40: Yes, we europeans have always loved the envelope over the letter (I don't know if this has any sense in English). While the americans were using Gattlings since 50 years ago and their cavalry used mainly guns, in Europe we continued in 1914 with spears for our curassiers and ulans. While you were using khaki, we still wore our spiked helmets, our red trousers to the front... But the uniforms were wonderful!!!
It is a nice idea that of yours...I have been working as a portraitist recently, and that is a fine idea. I'll have to make a test with my selfportratit as a Kaiser's guard or somtehing like that []
W8taminute: thanks for your kind words! I guess everyone who wears an uniform has pride in his heart (or in her heart, as women in Spain participate in front line combats)! Thank you for sharing your impressions on my picture!
Khill9702: Thanks! I am also envious of musicians too...I think it is the most...artistry art of all the arts []. And Don Troiani...that is the Major League players. Not only he is a great militaria collector and knowledge posesser, but a fantastic artist. Now he can allow himself hiring models to pose for his big pictures and that adds all the realism and accuracy he needs. That would be nothing without his mastery of several mediums (oils and gouache mainly), but he deserves being among the greatest painters alive. One thing I have to tell him when I ever meet him (if that happens some wonderful day): Why do you use the same model pose in several pictures? (I know the answer: deadlines, I love that pose, that fitted perfectly in this scene again...).
In the next post, a new picture...
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| 21 AUG 2011 at 11:31am |
tayeteCenturion
Posts : 148
Joined: 15 OCT 2003
Status : Offline | A member of the forum asked for a picture of a cavalry soldier from the punitive expedition to Mexico in 1916. That is a small episode I did not know of, and has served me to learn a bit more about US (and Mexico) history.
So, after some search, here is a quick picture of a soldier of the 10th Cavalry, composed by afro-american soldiers. This regiment fought against my ancestors in Cuba, when the island was still Spain's. They fought in la colina de San Juan and several other places, and were sent with Pershing to pursue Villa.
There are not too many resources about them, and I had some trouble finding the colours of the uniform, as they seem to vary a bit from source to source. It is interesting they wore googles in that era...I thought it was really recent.
The scan is a bit off... I should dedicate some time to learn how to photograph and scan correctly this kind of pictures []
[image]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4Cv4ydIjJdU/TlFASYGOsMI/AAAAAAAAE1g/rb4yY0iEhtE/s800/110820%252520-%25252010th%252520cavalry.jpg[/image]
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