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JournalThe British Flat Figure Society

No 115 WINTER 2014

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BFFS Journal No 115 - WINTER 2014

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Front Cover: Figures by Greg DiFranco.See the article on page 3.3. Painting Flats.Greg DiFranco tells us how he uses light, shadows and colours on his figures.9. Gladiators.Painted examples from Gianpaolo Bistulfi's collection.12. What's New.Figures from the pages of Die Zinnfigur.14. The Judgment of Osiris and Hunefer’s Book of the Dead.Mark Kirkbride looks at the Egyptian Book of the Dead.16. ObituaryMichael C. Taylor.18. What's New Too.Western Miniatures.19. Society Contacts.Who is who and Society information.Rear cover: Gladiators.See Gianpaolo's article on page 9.

Note: The minutes of the A.G.M. that were to have been published in this Journal have been held over until the Spring edition to enable us to include Mike Taylor's obituary.

The opinions expressed within this Journal are not necessarily those of the

Editor, the Committee, other officials, or the British Flat Figure Society.

This is the last Journal for 2014. I hope you all find it interesting.Many thanks to Greg DiFranco for his informative article. It is certainly interesting to see how such a talented painter goes about his work.Gianpaolo Bistulfi has sent us some more from his collection of figures, this time the Retter Gladiators.Mark Kirkbride has provided another article, this time with an Egyptian theme. I must admit that I find figures from Egyptian court and religious life quite fascinating. At the last minute, with the Journal at the printers, came the sad news that Mike Taylor had passed away quite suddenly. Nick had only just interviewed him for a 'Profile'. Thankfully we were able to include a tribute to Mike in this issue. He will be missed.Best wishes to you all for the New Year.

of The British Flat Figure

SocietyJournal No 115 Winter 2014

Journal

The BFSS Annual Event is being arranged earlier in the year in 2015, on 29th March at Knowle. Usual times - 10:00-16:00. Note that this is the day clocks go forward!Theme for 2015 - '1815 - the 100 days'.

2015 is a Kulmbach year, the Zinnfigurenbörse will be held 7th-9th August.

Euromilitaire will be held over the weekend of 19th-20th September at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone.

Painting light and shadow on a 2 dimensional flat with the goal of creating the illusion of 3 dimensions has always fascinated me. It is interesting that many new flat painters focus their questions around the technical aspects of flat painting, namely the painting medium, brushes, and not near enough around light and shadow (and also color harmony which is not covered here). To me there is no more important aspect, because this is where the illusion of three-dimension is created.

The way in which artists achieve the illusion of three dimension is through two major artist techniques, one is perspective drawing and the other is the effective use of color values (i.e. the relative light or shadow of a color). Flat painters need not worry much about perspective, since the designed flat already has this incorporated, especially effectively if engraved by a Lud-wig Frank or Karl Mohr by the way. It’s the use of color values and the respective light and shadows that allows the painter to transform the two dimensional flat drawing into a three dimensional object.

I think we can break the subject of light and shadow down into five major categories, each of which we will discuss. They are 1- the light source, 2- form shad-owing, 3- color value, 4-thrown shadows and 5- reflected or bounce light. To start with a simple summary, the third dimen-sion is achieved by creating a form with the proper placement of light and shadow values, enhanced by reflected or fill light, and extended to the feeling of distance between objects with thrown shadows, (i.e. form and depth)

The first thing to do though is to forget for a moment what you may have learned in round figure painting, namely to highlight from above and shadow from below. And if you think that round figure painting is simply highlighting the outer surfaces and shadowing the crevices, then you need to give yourself a lobotomy also.1- The Light Source

We start with the light source, that is the theoretical light source (not the bench light you are using). Here we are deter-mining where the sunlight will emanate from and which side of our figure it will

illuminate. This then provides us with the blueprint for where we will place the lights and shadows.

Whereas round figure painters tra-ditionally place the light source directly above a figure, Flat painters prefer the light source from one side of the flat. This place-ment provides the most dramatic lighting on a flat, i.e. it allows the artist to paint the entire range of values across the figure, thereby increasing the three dimensional

look or illusion. The time honored rule most commonly used by Flat painters is to place the light source above the upper left side of the flat (your left side, which is actually the flat’s right side). This places the illuminated areas (the highlight plane) on the upper and left surfaces of the figure and the shadow plane on the right and lower surfaces. And this places the turning edge somewhere in the middle of the figure. A turning edge is the point where the light

Notice of the AGMThe AGM will be held on 29th March (earlier than usual) at the Solihull Masonic Temple, 1621 Warwick Road, Knowle, Solihull, B93 9LF.Please send any items to be raised at the meeting to the Hon. Sec. Nick Ball at least one month prior to the meeting for inclusion in the Agenda.Volunteers for any committee post should contact the Hon. Sec. at least one month prior to the meeting.

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plane transitions to the shadow, basically splitting the figure into two major tonal or value areas. (See Illustration A)

Although the upper left is the most commonly chosen light source location it really doesn't matter whether you chose this or the upper right of the figure. What is more important is that you maintain a consistent light source throughout your figure or grouping. For a beginning flat painter I would suggest placing the light source facing the figure's face if the flat is in profile. In this case, first choose which side of the flat you would like the viewer to see, and then have the light source coming from the side that hits the figure’s face. I suggest this because it is much more dif-ficult to paint a face in shadow since there are no highlights and any light that hits the face would be skylight or reflected. Of course, in a grouping in which the figures are facing in multiple directions you can-not avoid a face in shadow, so you would probably want to place the light source shining into the face of the most figures of the group, or the most prominent figure of the group. Mike Taylor is a master of painting faces in shadow, and you should study some of his pieces to develop this skill. (see Illustration A)

As we get more confident and skilled at placement of the light source then we can move it slightly forward or backward of the figure to create different light pat-terns than typical. An example would be the Napoleon in Egypt flat where I have placed the light source coming from the upper left of the figure but also moved it as if coming from behind the figure so that most of the figure is in shadow. 2-The Tonal Uundercoat and Bisecting the Figure.

If you were to look at a person during a hazy day, you would notice that there are little to no thrown shadows and the light falls down on the person like a halo of soft muted light and all of the shadowing is soft and on the undersides of objects. This is not unlike how we paint round figures. However, when we paint flats we typically want a dramatic lighting effect that can create the feeling of 3D. The best lighting source for this would be a figure painted in a sunny day setting. This is not to say that artists should not paint interesting lighting situations on flats, but for the purposes of

this article we will concentrate on a light-ing source that is what you would see on a sunny day.

As a starting rule, it is most pleasing to the eye to bisect the figure with approxi-mately 75% of the figure in the illuminated area and 25% in the shadow area, i.e. 25% distance from the far edge of the figure. This gives the artist 75% of the Flat’s surface to work in the more colorful highlight to middle tones and keeps the darker tones to a minimum. You can change this when you get more confidence and want to create dif-ferent lighting effects, but the 75/25 rule is easy on the viewer and the painter as well. The best way to apply this concept to your flat is to start with a “grey study” or tonal undercoat. This can be accomplished by either using various grays or cool browns, or for oil painters, thinned out burnt umber. This is in order to work out the light and shadow pattern without worrying about color. Also at this stage it’s a good rule to not worry about any details, concentrate on light and shadow patterns. I like to stick with larger brushes here, which allows me to paint more freely and avoid fussing with details. A nice feature of using oils at this stage is that you can play with the edge by simply running a dampened brush along the edge to move it a bit. Of course you can do the same with acrylics, but you will need to overpaint to move the edge around. I like to think of it as essentially creating a blueprint for where the light and shadow

patterns should be, without worrying about the complexity of color and details. Also, it allows for a bit of creativity in your light and shadow painting since you can be more free with the brush since details are not important at this stage.

Later we will discuss that how to apply color over this tonal undercoat and refine the details. Light and Shadow and Form.

Try this simple experiment. Draw two parallel lines on a piece of paper. Next draw a straight line in between the two previous lines. Next evenly shade (not too dark) the entire left side from the middle line to the left-most line. What do you see, the three lines have now started to take on the form of a long box. You have now created a form with value. Now darken the shaded area around the middle line only, and feather the edge of the middle line. You have now turned the sharp (or hard) edge of the shadow area to a feathered (or soft) edge and in doing so transformed the box into a “tube-like” object with a simple change in the way you apply shading. Bottom line, you have created form with a simple application of light and shadow tones and hard and soft edges, this is the essence of creating form with light and shadow.

As with all realist art, it is important to first simplify any complex subject we are attempting to render before moving

to detail. Although our nature as figure painters is to focus on detail right from the start, detail should be saved for later. This is a difficult transition for many of us, since we spend so much time in our hobby working with fine detail. Focusing on the simple forms in the person or object we are painting allows us to more easily determine the major areas of light and shadow and hard and soft edges, without being confused by the added complexity of details, folds, etc. Some of the com-mon simple forms we find on a Flat figure are, spheres such as the head, tubes such as the torso, arms and legs, boxes such as cartridge boxes, rectangular boxes such as shoes and horses heads. With hard edges we can simply “fill – in” the space with the proper overall value, with the soft edges, we need to determine where the blended edge of the shadow will begin and what shape it will take. Obviously, with an oval such as the head, the shape would curve with the edge of the sphere and be soft at the cheeks, like the shadow we see form around an egg. And then within that form there are hard edge objects on a face that are major forms, such as the nose and even lips (objects within objects). With a leg (or tube) we can think in terms of a long straight “tube-like” object with a shadow and turning edge like we discussed with the drawing of 3 lines. (See Illustration C)

Let’s briefly discuss stepping an object backwards or forwards. Once you feel like you have mastered the bisected figure and 75/25 light patterns you will notice that all the objects on the figure tend to look as if they are exactly in line from a shadow perspective. But in reality many objects are either slightly back or forward from one another and we can actually move objects back and forward on a flat simply by how we place them in the light and shadow pattern. For instance, on the Garde du Corps flat the figure’s left leg and left arm have been painted to look as if they are moved back. This was accomplished by putting most of the arm and leg in the shadow area rather than painting each leg in the 75/25 pattern. Any highlights they receive are actually ambient light, which we will discuss later.

A good learning experience is to try your hand at a grey scale on a simple drawing, such as you would find in a color-ing book using crayons or colored pencils.

Experiment until you get the feel for work-ing with the shadow line and forms on the simple line drawing and until it starts to look like it has form to it.

Once the shape and form are painted we can start adding some detail with the grey study just to help you later when colors will be applied. For instance, more detailed folds, edges of belts, eyes, ears, etc. can be painted in the grey tones at this stage. Always remind yourself that the details must be painted within the overall value area we just created with the general forms of the light or shadow.

3-Defining Color Value and Applying-Color.

Before we can determine how to mix our various tones, and where to place them, we need to understand the concept of Color Value. Color Value is simply a term artists use to describe the relative lightness and darkness of a color. Sounds easy right? Actually it is the relationship between color values that is the difficult part that we need to study and master.

Every object we paint has value to

it, and every color that comes from a bottle or tube starts with its own value. We then go and alter this value by adding lighter and darker valued colors. Even bright and vibrant colors (i.e. those with high Chroma) have value to them. An example might be Cadmium Red Light (or a scarlet Andrea acrylic) which is a middle value on the lighter side. One of my favorite examples of seeing “value” in the extreme is when you see the light shining through a mini blind on a bright day. Pick out an object in the room that is the same color all around and notice the intense difference between the area where the light hits (lighter value) and the area where the mini blind throws a shadow (darker value). Now think about how you would mix these two values of the same color on a palette.

Everyone interested in painting flats should prepare a simple grey scale as an exercise in understanding value relation-ships. Take an index card and mix a middle grey. Then work your way to the right in black and to the left to white. Make sure there is an even transition and use at least 10 greys in between. Now the most im-portant part comes, pull out some colorful paints and try and match the colors to a corresponding grey on the scale. At first it will be difficult, but by doing this you are starting the training process to recognize color values. Learning how to match these values will help you learn how to mix and place values of color in the appropriate illuminated or shadow area of your flat. (see illustration B)

Many times I mix a grey scale on a piece or index card, and as I mix various paints I pre-match the mixture to the cor-responding grey on the scale. It’s a helpful guideline that allows me to test the value before I place the mix on the figure. Importance of Middle Tones or Values.

Let me take a quick diversion here and discuss the importance of the middle values. Some think that when we discuss the light and shadow planes that this is one in the same as the highlight and shadow colors we mix for round figure painting. Actually when we are painting in two dimension (flats) the highlight and shadow planes are a simple way of bisecting the figure into two major tonal areas, not simply a highlight and shadow tone. So if we divide the figure into two sections then there is an entire

Figure 1

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I usually pre-paint large thrown shadows, such as the rider's shadow onto the back of the horse, when I do the initial value blocking and painting. However, small thrown shadows, such as the reins, are better painted on the object after the basic painting is dry.

Another way to enhance 3D with thrown shadows is by creating distance between the objects, or “spatial” shadows. The concept is that when a shadow is separate from the originating object, i.e. the shadow is not connected, the further away the shadow is the more illusion of three-dimensional distance is created. An example is the rein on the horse, the further

away the thrown shadow line is from the actual rein, the more illusion of distance be-tween the two objects is created. To create this, you simply leave or paint in the base (or non-shadow) color value in between the rein and the rein’s thrown shadow. Another example of a spatial shadow is the arm and spear on the Alexander the Great 30mm flat that I painted a number of years ago.

The physics of thrown shadows is that the intensity of the shadow changes based on its distance from the object. Simply put, thrown shadows are more intense or darker the closer they are to the object that creates them. The further a thrown shadow is from the blocking object, the lighter it becomes. For instance, the thrown shadow from a rider onto the back

of the horse is very dark nearest the rider, but lightens as you move towards the rear. This is because the surrounding bounce light and sky light neutralizes the shadow intensity. When painting spatial thrown shadows, the entire shadow is neutralized because of the theoretical distance from the object to shadow. One effective way to neutralize thrown shadows is to lighten the shadow value a bit by adding mid blue to the shadow color. This is very effective when the thrown shadow is facing upwards, because of the effect of blue sky light bouncing into the shadow.5-Reflected Bounced and Ambient Light

Painting indirect light, i.e. reflected or ambient light, is a powerful tool for the artist to use in creating the feeling of roundness. Simply put, it is the way paint-ers include the effect of indirect light in the shadow areas. In real life the shadow area is not just one or two dark tones, but many subtle changes in tone. Lie on your back under a picnic table on a sunny day and once your eyes adjust you will see an entire array of values, yes they are all on the dark side but they are there. How does this happen when there is no sun hitting this underside? It comes from the light that is reflecting or bouncing off the ground.

Reflected light for our purposes occurs on the far side (away from the light source) of the shadow area. So instead of painting the entire far side of the object in full shadow value, we lighten the shadow as we move further away from the light source. Ambient light is the available light that illuminates a shadow area from other sources, basically for our purposes, from the sky. If you are a beginning Flat painter you may want to skip most of this section and come back when you have mastered the other aspects of light and shadow, because it is a bit complicated. That said, there are some simple applications of reflected and ambient light and tricks of the trade that beginning Flat painters can experiment with. These can be used even if we don’t fully understand the “physics” of indirect light and will be described here.

The most important principle is that indirect light neutralizes shadows. There-fore, the darkest part of a shadow area on a form is where the light changes to shadow (the turning edge as we discussed before),

range of color values that includes lighter as well as darker middle tones across the spectrum of light and shadow, but keyed within either the darker shadow area or the lighter highlight area. Each area has its own array of middle tones. By cutting the figure into two sections with the turning edge, we free ourselves to paint the range of middle to lighter values (including the lighter middle values that we traditionally call the base colors) into the light plane, and the darker middle values into the shadow plane. So as you notice we need to think in different terms about color mixing when we are painting flats verses when we paint round figure. This is a conscious change in how we think that is needed, especially if we first learned how to paint by painting round figures. Years ago I wrote on article on painting flats and the editor, who was a round figure painter, actually edited out the part about bisecting the figure into two!!! 4- Thrown Shadows

Now we come to the technique that provides a most convincing way of trans-forming our flat into a three dimensional object, namely thrown shadows. A thrown (or cast) shadow is one which is created when an object blocks the light, thereby throwing a shadow on another object behind the first. An example is the shadow your body throws on the ground under bright sun light. In flat figure painting we look for areas to apply thrown shadows to enhance the illusion of three dimension.

Thrown shadows are different from the highlights and shadows of the subject itself. They have the definitive form of the subject that created them but they also conform to the shape of the object they are falling on. A simple example, and one that is very effective on mounted flats, is the shadow thrown from a horse's rein onto the horse's neck. The shape of the shadow would be a thin line like the rein itself, but it would not be straight. Instead it would conform to the shape of the horses neck and therefore be curved downward as you approach the front of the neck. Other examples of thrown shadows would be those thrown from the peak of a hat onto a face, from the rear of a rider onto the back of the saddle and horse, from an extended arm or other object onto the body, from the body onto the ground or base. These are the most common, but obviously there are many more instances of thrown shadows.

Figure 2

and not the side furthest away from the light source as you would expect. Jump ahead and read the egg experiment , and note that the darkest part of the shadow on the egg is the turning edge, and that the shadow gets neutralized or lightens as we move around to the bottom of the egg. Therefore, when you are painting in the shadow area, the values actually go the opposite way from the light area, i.e. the turning edge is darkest and the values get lighter as you move to the far edge. The key when painting in indirect light is to keep the values on the dark side – never let indirect light be as light a value as any color or value in the light plane.

Now lets discuss some physics, firstly, indirect light is not a highlight and as mentioned, should be kept dark. As with all rules, this can be broken with special effects, such as when there are other light sources filling in the shadow (a trick used a lot in Fantasy painting) but in general stick with the rule. Another aspect is that lighter colors reflect more light than darker colors. Therefore, with white you can see very strong reflected light in the shadow area, whereas with darker colors it is much more subtle. A good example

is when painting a white horse. You can paint some relatively strong middle tones into the belly of a white horse because it will reflect a good amount of light from the ground. Of course, this would not hold true for a Bay, the reflected middle tones would be more subtle. For this reason, the best object to start experimenting with reflected light would be on a light colored object.

Indirect light is painted with the help of the grey scale. So mix colors on the darker side of the grey scale and have fun painting them into the shadow area. Its amazing how many values you can place into the shadow plane.

The difference between the two types of indirect light we have discussed is very subtle but important. Reflected or bounced light is the light that bounces off one surface onto another, so for a flat it would mostly be the light that bounces off the ground onto the undersides of ob-jects in shadow. For this reason I like to use warm colors for reflected light, such as yellows and orange. Ambient light for our purposes, is the light that comes from the sky and illuminates the upper parts of a figure that happens to also be in shadow.

For this reason the color of ambient light would have a bluish cast to it. An example of ambient light would be the lighter por-tions of a shadow thrown from a rider onto the back of a horse and saddle, the various tones being blue in cast. Even shadows painted on the ground would warrant this treatment. This contrast of warm reflected lights on the undersides, and cool or bluish ambient light on the upper shadow surfaces, adds greatly to the illusion of three dimen-sion we are seeking.

Some simple tricks – The basic simple trick of reflected light painting is to mix a slightly lighter color than your deep shadow (use the grey scale) and paint a thin line of it along the right edge of your flat (i.e. the opposite side from where the light is hitting), blending the edge into the shadows. This is especially effective on light objects, for instance, a mid grey on the right side edge of white trousers.Putting It All Together.

Now that we have gone through the 5 concepts its time to put it all together in terms of the painting steps. First of course we need to pick the light source, which is the artist’s choice, and will form the focal

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The term gladiator derives from “gladius", the short sword used by the Roman army.

The gladiators were the protagonists in fights for the amusement of the Roman people.

Some believe that the practice of duels between gladiators evolved from the Etruscan sacrificial death rituals, but this is far from certain.

Instead, it is pretty sure that its origin is to be connected to the institution of the "munus", a "duty" on the part of wealthy people to offer this show to honour a deceased man.

Over time, the gladiator fights be-came the most eagerly awaited part of the show, which was held in amphitheatres (in Rome, the most famous was the Flavian Amphitheatre, called the Colosseum). These shows (circenses) lasted the whole day and soon became a way to obtain the good will of the people by the rulers. The poet Juvenal coined the famous phrase "panem et circenses" (bread and shows), ascribing to the people these unique ex-pectations from life.

These shows began in the morning with the execution of people condemned to death, transforming into show even these unfortunate events: in fact the show to the people was also meant to ensure the respect of the laws and the power of Rome. In addition to the trivial beheadings, there were crucifixions, people burned on pyres, people being fed to wild beasts,

beasts that were specially imported from the farthest corners of the Empire. There were also clashes between those sentenced to death: these, however, must all die and there were at the end of the fighting some officers, dressed as Charon, that with a club made sure that everyone was really dead (thus negating the attempt by some posing as dead).

Another part of the show could be the "bestiarii" (fights against the wild beasts); and finally the long waited attrac-tion: the battles between gladiators.

The gladiators were initially those sentenced to death or prisoners deported from the conquests on the borders of the empire that had distinguished themselves for their courage and strength.

Over time, the gladiators became an elite category of people who, despite being despised at civil level, could gain the favour of the people cheering in the various fight-ing for their heroes and they could get a good economic position. Gladiatorial schools were born, managed by the "lanista", a businessman who invested money to train champions and then earned considerable sums for the organization of the fights, or in renting or selling his gladiators.

The fighters could be real profes-sionals, inexperienced new gladiators, con-victed, or free men, without distinction of race or sex (the fighting female gladiators, quite rare, were very welcome).

We must debunk some myths

transmitted especially by Hollywood films: first, it was rare for a professional gladia-tor to die in the arena. The cost to train a gladiator was high and could not be wasted; furthermore, the public became attached to their favourites and even in case of defeat they wanted to see them fight again in new challenges. Therefore, the scene of the decision of life or death with the thumb upward or downward from the public and the Emperor at the end of each fight is false. Even better, if a gladiator was incidentally killed in combat, the lanista perceived a refund by the Sponsor of the games.

False as well is the salute of pres-entation to the Emperor of the gladiators before fighting: "Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant" (= Hail, Caesar, those who are about to die salute you). The phrase was spoken by a group of those condemned to death, trying to ingratiate themselves with the Emperor Claudius before they started fighting each other; Emperor Claudius, not touched, simply said "Go on".Types of gladiators:

The gladiators were divided into types with their own characteristics in terms of equipment and allowed actions. Each category of gladiators had advantages and disadvantages, selected appropriately with the aim of giving equal chances to each combatant.

There were many types of gladia-tors; the most common were:

The Mirmillo was armed with a

point for where the entire light and shadow pattern will be keyed. Second we create a grey study, taking into account the form shadows, where the turning edge of the shadow lines will be. Within this step we also work into the grey study the thrown shadows we want to add. Then we consider where we want ambient or bounce light to neutralize the shadows while still working the grey study. Finally, we start mixing our colors and mix the various values we want to apply to match the grey values we have already defined. I typically do not recom-mend “wet on wet” painting, i.e. where the artist mixes a light or shadow tone directly into the wet paint on a figure, but if you think you can control the values with this approach then go at it! I should also mention that color harmony and chroma are important aspects of color mixing that I did not cover here, but that is something you can read in any art book. Mixing colors so they fall within the atmosphere of the figure you are painting is some-thing all figure artists should study and consider. A figure painted in what is called “local” color with no attempt to harmonize the color mixing is something to avoid if we are seeking realism in figures. The Egg.

Now that we have gone through the 5 concepts its time for another experiment. Place an egg on a table under a strong light and notice the changes in value (light to dark). Notice that there are two major areas of value or tone on the egg, the lit area and the shadow area. Notice that the shading is darkest, or has the strongest value, at the point where the light transitions to the dark (the turning edge). The shadow then gets neutralized as you move more towards the table. This neutralizing of the shadow is what we call reflected light (the light reflecting off the table onto the shadow area of the egg). Once you have convinced yourself that you can see these different values then you are on your way to developing that eye. Next go outside on a sunny day and look at other objects to try and see the same value transitions. Avoid studying objects

in a room with multiple light sources, or overcast days, this will only confuse you in an already complicated concept.

When I have presented this subject at seminars I always make a point to the audience to change the way in which they view objects once they leave the room. Go outside and observe the various value transitions you see in shadow areas, look for reflected light and color, note the phys-ics of thrown shadows. You can actually train your eye to see these things, which by our nature we tend to ignore until we are made aware of them. After all, there is no better teacher than educated observation.

Photo Captions.1) Flat of Napoleonic Officer – after priming, a thin wash of Burnt Umber oil paint was used to define the shadow lines, turning edge, and some general value relationships, without the complexity of color. This becomes a value guideline for mixing and placement of the actual painting of color.2) Glorious Empires 54mm – Napoleon in Egypt – In this case Greg moved the light source to a nontraditional spot, i.e. behind the figure. Instead of the recommended 75/25 pattern, this is more like 10/90.

Notice the full array of values, albeit on the darker side, in the shadow areas. 3) Series of Photos of the Garde Du Corps Standard Bearer a) Flat is primed and ready to paint b) After selecting the light source (from the upper right of the figure) a tonal undercoat is applied, in this case using various shades of grey, white and black acrylic paints. Note how the figure’s left arm and leg appear to be moved back, which was achieved by placing them mostly in shadow. c) Here Greg has started to apply color and carefully matching the corresponding light and shadow values of the colors. Note the thrown shadow from the back flap of the hat on the cap. Note the difference in the light to shadow relationship on the figure’s left leg (5% in the light) versus the figure’s right leg (which is in the typical 75% in the light). This was done to reflect different angles of the object to the light source and adds to the interest of the light and shadow pattern. Also note that the front of the face is in shadow and is illuminated with ambient

light from the sky, which has a blue tone to it. d) The completed Garde Du Corps Standard bearer. (front cover) 4) A 90mm Quadra Concept flat of Marshal d'Ornano painted by Greg. In this case the light source is emanating from the figure’s left side (the artist’s right side). (front cover)

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short sword and large curved rectangular shield. As an armguard, he wore protective clothing and a shin guard that below the knee repaired the bottom of the left leg. He wore a helmet with a visor and a straight ridge that was decorated, in addition, with coloured pens. The Mirmillo usually fought against the Thracian.

The Thracian had an armament that drew its origin from Thrace. He had a crested helmet with visor, surmounted by a head of a griffin; he was armed with a sword with a curved blade and a rectangular shield small and very light. As protective clothing, he wore his right arm in a pad-ded sleeve. On both legs he wore a padded guard that came above the knee.

The Hoplomachus resembled the Thracian in arming and clothing protection, with the exception of the small round shield and a spear to be used in the close clash (the hasta). He was additionally equipped with a short sword, the gladius.

The Retiarius was a gladiator armed with a throwing net, a trident and a dagger. He had no shield or helmet. The only protective clothing that he used was a bronze shoulder plate worn on his left arm. His main opponent was the Secutor. The Retiarii were generally chosen from among young and very handsome men and were particularly admired by women.

The Secutor (chaser) was a Mirmillo who specialized in the fight against Re-tiarius. To offer no point of attachment to the net launched by his opponent, he wore a rounded helmet without ornament and with small oval eyeholes. His weapons were a short straight sword as well as a large rectangular shield.

The Provocator wore a helmet with-out crest, but with a visor. He was equipped with a short bladed sword and a medium to large rectangular shield. He wore typically a small metal armour on his chest, one greave on the left leg and one padded protection (manica) on the right arm.

By these short notes, we immerse ourselves in the world of gladiators; now, let's see how we can make a little study on this subject with tin flat figures.

The basic series is surely Retter (dis-tributed by Dangelmaier), with beautiful engravings by L.Frank. The series includes gladiators saluting and fighting, doctores (the trainers), groups fighting against wild animals, female gladiators and characters from the crowd in the Amphitheatre.

Using figures from various manu-facturers that have in their catalogue the Roman era, you can add further characters and accessories. I have added some pieces from the wide range of Neckel’s Roma series with Emperor on the throne and palace guards.

And now we can start fighting, not by gladius, but by our brush!

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discovered with Hunefer’s example being one of the most well known.

The ritual is completed with the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a pair of enormous scales. (Egyptians believed the heart showed all their good and bad deeds.) It was weighed against the principle of truth and justice (maat) represented by a feather

If the heart balanced against the feather then the deceased would be granted a place in the Fields of Hetep and Iaru. If it was heavy with the weight of the wrong-doings the balance would sink and Ammut would devour the heart. In this case the deceased is doomed to eternal aimless wandering through Duat - populated with politicians and used chariot salesmen no doubt.Other Important Events in the Egyp-tian AfterlifeTaylor’s sets illustrate in flats one of a number of the important events of the

Egyptian afterlife. There are a number of others including:Deities - H.G. Lecke AG 1-24 - 24 of the Egyptian Gods, another set designed by Mike Taylor.Embalming - Neckel AE 71 - 95c – figures representing priests, embalmers, mourners and a variety of furniture to accompany the deceased into the afterlife.Mouth Opening Ceremony - W. Otto OVI 1 – 20 – set showing priests performing this ceremony.Sennedjem - Western Miniatures – representing several priests and goddesses working with Sennedjem’s sarcophagus. (This family tomb was discovered in 1886.) This set based on paintings from the tomb is also designed by Mike Taylor and engraved by David Lepeltier.AvailabilityAll but the Western Miniatures figures are available from Berliner Zinnfiguren:

www.zinnfigur.comNeckel Zinnfiguren - [email protected] Miniatures - [email protected] or via 2d Figurines on the BFFS website.Information sourcesAlong with many Internet sources:The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt – Manfred LurkerThe Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt – Richard WilkinsonAncient Egypt: An Illustrated Reference to the Myths, Religions and Temples of the Land of the Pharaohs – Lorna OakesThe Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead – Carol AndrewsMany of the flats of Ancient Egypt are designed based on papyrus paintings or those found in tombs, which makes for an interesting hunt as well.

The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of funerary texts intended to assist a deceased person’s journey through the Duat or underworld and into the afterlife. Usually written on papyrus though occasionally on leather the books were placed with the dead - their length and quality depending on the wealth of the owner.

The most popular scenes depicted in the books include the Ceremony of the Opening of the Mouth and the Weigh-ing of the Heart in the Hall of Judgment before Osiris.

One well-preserved Book of the Dead belonged to Hunefer from which Michael Taylor designed his figures in July of 1987.

Hunefer was a royal scribe who lived with his wife Nasha during the 19th Dynasty around 1310 BC. He was also ‘Overseer of Royal Cattle’ and steward of King Seti I. The location of his tomb is not known, but he may have been buried in Memphis. His illustrated Book of the Dead is now in the British Museum.

One scene in the Hunefer Papyrus illustrates the ‘Weighing of the Heart’ ceremony, which determined the fate of an individual in the afterlife.The FiguresMike Taylor’s rendition of the ceremony titled - Judgment of Osiris was engraved

by H.G. LeckeOS1: Osiris - is normally identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is normally depicted as a green-skinned man to represent resurrection or black as a representation of the netherworld with a pharaoh’s beard, wrapped as a mummy, wearing a crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side and holding a crook and flail.

Behind Osiris are Isis, his consort and her sister Nephthys. They are the pro-tectors of the deceased and represent the mourner. Isis also acted as the protector and sustainer of the deceased in the afterlife. OS2: Horus - Falcon headed son of Isis and Osiris is holding the arm of the initiate about to be judged. Son of Osiris and Isis,

Horus the sky god is frequently depicted with the head of a falcon. (In other contexts he was the god of Lower Egypt and ruler of all Egypt.)OS3: Anubis - Jackal headed god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He is the god of the dead and of embalming and is normally shown in canine form with the head of a jackal or dog. Among other duties he conducts the weighing of the heart in the ‘Hall of Judgment’ before Osiris and the 42 Gods.OS4: Thoth the scribe - depicted with the head of an Ibis serves as a scribe of the gods. He is also said to have invented the art of writing and is responsible for all

kinds of accounts, records and recording of ‘divine words’.

Mike and Lecke complement the Judgment with a Canopy & Ammut the Devourer as a separate set. OS6 – Ammut - personification of divine retribution, a beast with the head of a crocodile, legs and body of a lion or leopard and the back legs of a hippopotamus. She was the destroyer of those who led wicked lives and who were not to be granted access to the afterlife. She combines characteristics of the most dangerous animals known to the Egyptians.Weighing of the Heart CeremonyThe ceremony was believed to have taken place before Osiris and a tribunal of deities. Standing before the tribunal the deceased

was asked to name each of the divine judges and swear that he or she had committed no offense through the Negative Confessions of Maat, which are 42 confessions the deceased must recite.Examples include:I have not committed sin.I have not committed robbery with violence.I have not stolen.I have never stopped the flow of water.Etc.

The lines of the declarations vary somewhat from tomb to tomb and may be tailored to the individual. A number of illustrated Books of the Dead have been

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Figures from the pages of Die Zinn-figur. All figures 30mm unless otherwise

stated.

Below, a set of French Marines of 1870. Designed and engraved by Rieger.Presumably these would be suitable for the Battle of Bazeilles in the Franco-Prussian War.

Available from:Otto Muxfeldt, Fr.-Schumacher-Allee 138, 22417 [email protected].

Right, a large scale bust of an old gypsy woman. Designed, engraved and edited by Julia Kehle, Dorfstrasse 28, 5425 Schneisingen, Switzerland.www.atelier-pferdestube.ch. Tel 00411/56/246 05 15.Next, a 40mm flat of Napoleon holding out his snuffbox for a Grenadier of the Old Guard to take a pinch. Designed by K.Breyer and engraved by Lepeltier: Available from:Erhardt Strassburg, Zwickauer Strasse 120, 04279 Leipzig.Tel 0341/8774341.Below, one of Dr. Dangschat's sets seems to have found a new home. This set is 'The Old Swan Inn' with a party of British redcoats relaxing outside the Old Swan Inn. I hope some more of Dr. Dangschat's sets will become available again. This set can be obtained from:Dr.Eberhard Dau, Strandstrasse 2a, 17213 Malchow.www.zinnfiguren-fleesensee.de

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Nick Ball interviewed Mike for this profile only the week before he passed away.Member ProfileName : Mike TaylorWhere were you born: Cheshire (middle England). Relationship to BFFS: New Member (rejoined). What is / was your occupation: Fashion display, Writer, Illustrator – Artist in general. What did you want to be when you grew up: 5 foot 11 inches Three words that describe you best: Perfectionist, good sense of humour, sensitive. If you could invite 3 people to dinner (dead or alive) who would they be: Nefertiti, Isabella Adjani (Actress), Jesus Christ. What won’t you leave home without: Spare underpants (would have said keys, but I forgot to bring them!!!). Who would play you in a movie: Margaret Rutherford. What is your favourite Holiday destination: Egypt, but I’d like to go back to India. What is the latest book you have read: ‘Art of the flat tin figure’ by Michael C. Taylor (highly recommended). Your secret vice: Women (no secret then!). Do you have an ambition: To live another 5 years (too much to do) People would be surprised to know: Eric Morcambe was a friend, and I met The Queen Mother and Salvador Dali. Your favourite Quote: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Your favourite colour : Black. What is your current painting project: Designing another set of Bosch (not the household appliances!). What medium do you use: Oil - Winsor and Newton. What is your favourite subject(s) to paint: Women’s faces, Fantasy figures but not Military. If you could give one tip to fellow painter’s what would it be: Be patient.

Mike Taylor was and always will be considered one of the best flat figure painters we shall ever see. I was not fortunate enough to know him very long, as I too am a relative newbie to the flat world, but obviously knew of his incredible art many, many years ago through his books. In fact like quite a few of you here, he was probably the greatest influence in me taking up the art of the flat tin figure.Mike had many jobs, but he is obviously best known for his illustrations and design work. Still one of the best sets of figures he ever designed are the Flower Fairies, which are still very popular today along with all his Egyptian figures and boats.I recently commented to him that you could always tell a figure of his, as not only was it simple and pure in design, but his painting had a flow and blend to it that just said ‘Michael Taylor did this’The last project he designed was a Bosch set, and was currently in the middle of a second. Of all the designs he has done these were his personal favourite, and I am hoping,that, as a tribute to him, his family will allow this second set to also be produced. Mike only used Winsor and Newton oil paint with white spirit, keeping everything simple but effective. In his studio he had all his figures in glass cases, and above his painting area were hung his many awards. Amongst these was his World Master Medal; an award so deservingly given, and the one he was most proud of.Mike had a great sense of humour, and had really hoped to get to Kulmbach next year for one last time.I think he inspired us all, and he will be greatly missed. Of his art? All this is being left to the National Tin Figure Museum in Ommen, The Netherlands. A fitting place for a very fine and beautiful collection indeed.Mike Taylor passed away suddenly on the 18th December. Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife Ali, and to his son Mark, we wish them all the best in the future.

Nicholas Ball Hon. Secretary

Examples of Mike's work: 'White Knight' from 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Primrose' from 'Flower Fairies', 'Hina and Tinirau' and figures from 'Heironymus Bosch'. All designed and painted by Mike.

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Society ContactsPlease send all information to be published in the Journal to Jerry Mortimore. All other correspondence with the Society should be addressed to the Secretary. Membership applications and renewals go to the Membership Secretary. All addresses can be found on this page.The next JournalThe copy deadline for the next Journal is 15th January 2015 for the Spring edition.Contributions to the Journal can be typed, handwritten or digital. Images need to be high resolution; 300dpi with the long side about 1500 pixels or larger. They can be sent via Dropbox on the internet.Annual SubscriptionsFull membership including printed Journal:UK - £ 22.00 Rest of Europe - £ 27.00 Rest of World - £ 29.00Online Only, includes the Journal only as a PDF option: - £ 18.00Subscriptions are due for renewal in January every year.Payment of subscriptions can be made by cheque, postal order, or Paypal. We cannot accept foreign currency cheques unless drawn on a British bank.Paypal payments should be made in Sterling to [email protected]. Add £1 to cover Paypal fees.Cheques must be made payable to The British Flat Figure Society, not to the Membership Secretary or any individual person.AGMThe AGM is held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting, usually in early June.It is requested that all matters for discussion at the AGM and nominations for posts on the committee should be made to the Hon. Secretary before the end of the April preceding the meeting.This will enable the agenda to be published in the Summer Journal during May.The AGM minutes and financial statement will be published in the Autumn Journal following the AGM, but may be made available earlier on the website.

Contact The committee and Area Representatives of the Society

Hon. Secretary:Nick Ball 2 Manor Fields, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells Kent, TN4 ORG. Email: [email protected]

Membership Secretary:Ed Humphreys, 11 Oakely Terrace, TalwaenyddBlaennau FfestiniogGwynedd, LL41 3LYEmail: [email protected]

Treasurer:Ed Humphreys, Address as above.

Additional Committee Members:Ian Parkinson, Ashton House, Main Street, Hemingbrough, Selby, North Yorks YO8 6QE

Editor:Jeremy Mortimore,Oak Meadow House,Chilsworthy, Holsworthy, Devon, EX22 7BQTel: 01409 254869E-mail: [email protected]

Journal Distribution & Printing:Jeremy Mortimore, Address as above.

Show Stand Co-ordinator:Chris Seeley, 13 West Road, Bury St EdmundsSuffolk, IP33 3ELTel: 01284 763560

Journal Back Numbers:Mike Taylor, Stonechat House, 8 Ferndell Close, Cannock, StaffsWS11 1HRTel: 01543 579187

Archivist:Richard Hyne, 23 Letchworth Road, Baldock, Herts. SG7 6AA

Webmaster:Mark KirkbrideE-mail:[email protected]

Area Representatives

SOUTH-WEST: Tony Du-Vall,4 Pixie Dell, Braunton,North Devon EX33 1DP

BRISTOL & AVON: Dick Jenkins,51 Tregarth Road, Bristol, BS3 2QR.

MIDLANDS: Jon Redley, 64 York Avenue, Finch-field, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV3 9BU. Tel: 01902 423732

NORTH-EAST: M.G.Wardle, 96 WestEnd Drive, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 5JXTel: 0113 258 1508

NORTH-WEST: Malcolm Collins,16 Tithe Barn Street, Currock, Carlisle,Cumbria CA2 4EL. Tel: 01228 46444

EAST ANGLIA: Michael Creese, ‘Nutwood’, Great Glemham Road,Stratford St Andrew, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1LL Tel: 01728 602746

SCOTLAND: John Russell,2 Marcus Crescent, Aberdeen AB21 0SZTel: 01224 790680

CANADA & USA:Patrick J. Deluhery18 Morningside TerraceWest Springfield, MA 01089Tel: [email protected]

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND:John Brewer, P.O. Box 5250,Turramurra, Sydney, Australia [email protected]

ITALY:Gianpaolo Bistulfi, Via Alberti 10,20149 Milano, ItalyTel: 02 33106690E-mail: [email protected]

New figures from Western Miniatures.Top, the new series 'At the Globe Theatre'. All up to Titania have been engraved, the others are not yet available.Juliet, Romeo and Falstaff are shown in colour painted by Jon Redley. All figures are £2.50 each. Below that are figures from the First World War 1914 series 'The Recruit'. The painted examples are again by Jon Redley.All except the last three have been engraved.These are also £2.50 each.Postage £2.50 per order.

All figures 30mm unless otherwise stated.

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