by sargentx » Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:30 pm
I've been experimenting with different approaches to flags lately and am always dissatisfied with their toy-like appearance. I tried painting on foil, transferring decals to gel medium skins, the usual foil sandwich thing, partially melting decals, you name it. I figure the reason they look wrong is that there is simply a lack of fine detail in the creases and folds that no material can capture at these scales.
So.... I downloaded some photographs of real flags blowing in the wind, resized them and adjusted their look in photoshop. I printed them off, glued them back to back and added real curves and undulations to add to the faux, photographic distortions. I touched up the sides with a pen and glued them onto the pole with some gel medium. To my eye, things look a lot more realistic than my previous strategies and they photograph really well in the final model shots.
Probably only good for larger ship scales.
- Attachments
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- The flag I printed off (photograph of a real flag that's been resized in photoshop and adjusted for contrast.
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- The flag as it appears with additional real curves on the pole.
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- The flag on North Carolina done the same way.
I've been experimenting with different approaches to flags lately and am always dissatisfied with their toy-like appearance. I tried painting on foil, transferring decals to gel medium skins, the usual foil sandwich thing, partially melting decals, you name it. I figure the reason they look wrong is that there is simply a lack of fine detail in the creases and folds that no material can capture at these scales.
So.... I downloaded some photographs of real flags blowing in the wind, resized them and adjusted their look in photoshop. I printed them off, glued them back to back and added real curves and undulations to add to the faux, photographic distortions. I touched up the sides with a pen and glued them onto the pole with some gel medium. To my eye, things look a lot more realistic than my previous strategies and they photograph really well in the final model shots.
Probably only good for larger ship scales.