| alpinetoffee | 27 Mar 2011 6:26 a.m. PST |
With the talk about the new Perry French Imperial Guard figures, I'm hoping that this might be a timely look at aurore as I'm getting a) confused about the colour and b) confused about how to paint it even if I knew what it looked like. According to most sources, the colour "aurore" comes from the French word for dawn and, apparently, can be compared to the colours that one sees if one is up and about at that time. Unfortunately, what people see appears to be different as the colour is described variously as: a pinky-orange; an orangey-gold; a pale orange Going through the usual suspects here are what illustrators decided on:
Osprey pics: dark orange-gold, with a touch of red
Histofig: doesn't exist, they use gold
Funcken: gold with a touch of orange
NYPL contemporary print: pale orange
Vinkhuizen: pale yellowy orange
Rousselot: faded orange
Pourpre.com: a kind of light yellow ochre
Bellange: darker faded orange Osprey plate commentaries say "it was a mix of red and yellow tending towards the yellow".
Google image search shows a mix of colours in museum pieces and reenactment stores. I'm using Vallejo paints and looking for a base, shadow and highlight. So far I have tried varieties of:
024 Bright Orange
022 Light Orange
and then also tried mixing them with a
014 Deep Yellow
and using
137 Cavalry Brown
as an undercoat. Nothing has looked particularly "right" or good (although obviously with the variety of sources it would be easy enough to paint anything you pleased!). I'm debating about bringing a Flesh (018 Flat Flesh) or a light yellow (008 Beige) into the mix, but before I do, does anyone want to share any formulas for what scheme they use when confronted by French Guard cavalry? Or what their idea of aurore might be? |
| Connard Sage | 27 Mar 2011 6:42 a.m. PST |
Have a read of this link particularly para.6 |
| Cardinal Hawkwood | 27 Mar 2011 7:46 a.m. PST |
then there is the scale thing.. |
| alpinetoffee | 27 Mar 2011 8:45 a.m. PST |
Thanks for that link, Connard Sage, that was interesting reading. I've been playing with the two starting colours given on the pourpre.com site in a graphics programme since they came close to the yellow with red idea and produced the following if they are of interest to anyone (light to dark): #FFCB60 to #F9A800 to #D28E00
and
#F8CD59 to #EBAD0A to #B98809 |
| Cardinal Hawkwood | 27 Mar 2011 3:14 p.m. PST |
Comnnard, that is quite the most amazing link..I can never look at Prussian blue objectively again,and Saxon blue and Saxon green? I wonder which Vallejo covers them… a tryuly interesting look into the 18th c mind…I reccomend a full reading of this site..truly splendid..I would like a hard cover hard copy of this book..
Alpintoffe . waht size/scale are these figs you are painting.. surely 54mm at least ? |
| Deadmen tell lies | 27 Mar 2011 11:23 p.m. PST |
Maybe try this link for a color match link Regards
James |
| alpinetoffee | 28 Mar 2011 12:09 a.m. PST |
Cardinal Hawkwood, they are Front Rank 28mm. But it is the painting, not gaming, side of things I was interested in. (If I was painting for gaming, I probably would have just used some light orange with a wash and called it good!) Seriously, I was inspired to get back into it after decades away by people like Oniria (The Eagle – oniriaspaintings.blogspot.com). |
| Cardinal Hawkwood | 28 Mar 2011 7:02 p.m. PST |
yes understood.. so you need a yellow with a pinkish tinge as described in that link of connards as oppossed to the campbells cream of tomato soup of the modern rendering |
| Connard Sage | 29 Mar 2011 10:58 a.m. PST |
It is an interesting site isn't it? I have an interest in earlier pigments and pre-aniline dyes (not totally associated with gaming), and I'm of the opinion that many gamers are chasing a chimera in their quest for 'accurate' colours. I have visions of a British line in brick red coats of various shades , but I confess a preference for a uniform brighter red myself :) |
| julianmizzi | 01 Apr 2011 10:47 p.m. PST |
Aurore = Pale orange. I use Gamesworkshop Blazing Orange and then add white to it to pale it down . That was also reinforced when going to French Army Museum @ Les Invalides and saw original Guard uniforms which also had Pale Orange. And also in Fontainebleu the Museum of Military Arts and History ( which personaly is better than the one @ invalides as you can get right up close to all the exhibits – when i went you have to be escorted around the exhibit upstairs ) |
| alpinetoffee | 02 Apr 2011 4:00 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the reply and the information, julianmizzi. That's the kind of colour I saw on some of the Google image searches but wasn't quite sure how fading over the centuries had come into play… (I think the Vallejo 022 Light Orange is an equivalent to the GW colour you mentioned, for anyone else reading this.) |
looks at a multi-period building.