I have a bare minimum of 13 to do, then I'm on to colouring them in
The great thing about this (apart from the time it takes to colour each of them in) is that being 3D models I can rotate these buildings to get several different symbols from each one.
Day 6... except that its only the fifth day since I started this. Its just a day early like the last one.
This is another of the angular houses like Day 2 and Day 4 above. I think I might need a short break of a couple of days now. I'm not used to drawing so much so quickly all at once. I think people who do Mapvember and all those other map-a-day challenges must be pretty superhuman!
Ok. Call me totally insane, but I've just found a Tudor Inn in Warwick (same place as the Mill Street houses I've been using as inspiration for the models), same period and basic style (note the semi-circular pattern in the timbers on the second floor). Even though its insanely complicated I just cannot resist the urge to model it for the set.
Like all things, its down to patience and practice.
If you want to render that as an isometric symbol that you can use with PF isometric symbols in Perspectives you would need to set the view to parallel projection, and the camera to isometric
I didn't recognise it at first, but this is a vintage postcard of Mill Street from the days before it became fashionable to paint everything black and white. From the car in the image I would date this about 1930-40. It looks like a Ford Model T... sort of...
The next big question (some way down the road from here) is now what colour to do these things - modern black and white, or the more natural mud and bare wood colours.
I'm tempted to agree, since fantasy maps seem largely to be based on the medieval period, it would be better to use the more natural colours - as they would have appeared at the time they were built. The colours would have been brighter and less faded when they were new, of course, but otherwise fairly similar to what you see in that postcard.
However, we shall see whether the contrast will work well enough when we get to that stage. I still have to finish drawing them all first
Actually, black and white would have been the original colours, not just the modern version. The main timbers were often tarred to protect them (black) and the wattle and daub plastered exteriors painted with limewash (white), again protectively. An ill-maintained property would end up more muddy coloured for the infill segments of the walls instead of white fairly quickly, however, as limewash has to be re-applied fairly frequently (especially in Britain - endless rain...).
In a fantasy environment though, various colours might be equally appropriate.
Well, these things are why varicolor is so nice. A basic white should be relatively easy to add a varicolor mask to, so you can produce houses in whatever color desired.
Just wish I could walk down a street in medieval times and see these things as they really where, and not just speculation. I know limewash was used quite extensively, but they did know how to make colors too. Granted, dyes where much more difficult and expensive to make than today, so I guess making enough to paint a house may have been prohibitively expensive for the average medieval family, although some colors where far easier than others.
I was wondering when someone would get around to suggesting that option :P
I think if I end up doing varicolour it would be better to make the wattle and daub or brickwork varicolour and leave the timbers 'as-is', or to only tint them a little as if the rain has washed the colour out of the wash into the wood.
If they were tarred and whitewashed then the tar would also have run in a very slow and gloopy way because it never sets rock hard. That's why old paintings are such a problem to renovate and keep good - some of the pigments were based on tar and bitumen and they run down the canvas over the decades. These timber-framed buildings would have looked quite a mess just a couple of years after they were new if there had been a couple of really hot summers.
Reds and browns have always been fairly easy to manufacture - think Fair isle wool colours, based on lichens and seaweeds. Its the blues and intense reds and yellows and greens that were not (apart from the deep viridian green of arsenic and the blue of cobalt, which would really have been the preserve of artists and wealthy merchants. So an earthy sort of 'natural dye' palette would be better than the default one, but thanks to Ralf showing me how to do it I can set up a template with an appropriate earthy colour palette
Monsen commented:Just wish I could walk down a street in medieval times and see these things as they really where, and not just speculation. I know limewash was used quite extensively, but they did know how to make colors too. Granted, dyes where much more difficult and expensive to make than today, so I guess making enough to paint a house may have been prohibitively expensive for the average medieval family, although some colors where far easier than others.
Well, you can always take a look at the surviving medieval manuscript paintings of houses, and there is evidence (beyond modern analyses for tar and limewash on Tudor-style properties, and the fact the methods for building and preserving properties like this still survive in places) for the elaborate decoration of medieval cathedrals and other large church buildings (people with the money then, of course). Not quite the same, I know, but about the best we can manage!
This is a smithy. Not finished, but that's because I'm guessing most of this from bits and bobs I've seen online about how iron was smelted and worked in the middle ages. That's a smelting furnace in the yard. The metal is worked in the lean-to space, which will have no windows. You can't see the colour of the glowing metal properly if there is too much light, so all these open smithy depictions we see are quite a lot wrong. Darkness is required to do the job properly.
EDIT: This is actually a screen shot of the final building. The first version had solid walls without windows... just to explain the following conversation about design
Loopysue noted:That's a smelting furnace in the yard. The metal is worked in the lean-to space, which will have no windows. You can't see the colour of the glowing metal properly if there is too much light, so all these open smithy depictions we see are quite a lot wrong. Darkness is required to do the job properly.
The smelting furnace looks OK as a modest medieval bloomery. It'll need some mess around it, particularly around the hole for the bloom to be removed at the base, and pipes (which might have attached bellows) to get air into it near the base as well. Maybe needs a block or even a couple of steps alongside to allow the top-loading to be carried out.
For the smithy, sorry, but I have to correct your "open smithy depictions..are quite...wrong" and "in darkness" comments. It gets extremely hot in a smithy, so at least wide doors that will open are pretty well essential, or other forms of ventilation, even an entirely open wall or two (or where there are removable walls/shuttering). For judging the metal's colour, normal to dim light is fine, but darkness isn't, as there has to be enough light consistently to work the metal properly. Light from only the forge and the glowing metal, maybe with a lamp or two, just isn't suitable, because there's far too great a contrast between the artificially-lit and dark areas. The key thing for judging the metal's temperature by the colour is to have a set-up that avoids direct sunlight in the smithy.
The smithy chimney is probably too large for a medieval smithy; it looks more like something from a (probably late- to post-medieval) blast furnace. Broad and rectangular would be perhaps more likely for the Tudor period.
Comments
Commitments and life are calling, so I've done this one really early. Its an angular extension to Day 3.
Hope you are feeling a bit better?
Just finished Day 5 a whole day early, but I do have to go out tomorrow, so I'm unlikely to get anything done now till Thursday.
I just know this one is going to end up being called "The OXO House" :P
The great thing about this (apart from the time it takes to colour each of them in) is that being 3D models I can rotate these buildings to get several different symbols from each one.
This is another of the angular houses like Day 2 and Day 4 above. I think I might need a short break of a couple of days now. I'm not used to drawing so much so quickly all at once. I think people who do Mapvember and all those other map-a-day challenges must be pretty superhuman!
One genuine and very real Tudor Inn coming soon.
Sketchup and I have a love/hate relationship. It hates me cause I'm not good at it.
Like all things, its down to patience and practice.
If you want to render that as an isometric symbol that you can use with PF isometric symbols in Perspectives you would need to set the view to parallel projection, and the camera to isometric
I've been a bit delayed today, but I should catch up sometime tomorrow with another new building.
I didn't recognise it at first, but this is a vintage postcard of Mill Street from the days before it became fashionable to paint everything black and white. From the car in the image I would date this about 1930-40. It looks like a Ford Model T... sort of...
The next big question (some way down the road from here) is now what colour to do these things - modern black and white, or the more natural mud and bare wood colours.
However, we shall see whether the contrast will work well enough when we get to that stage. I still have to finish drawing them all first
In a fantasy environment though, various colours might be equally appropriate.
Thanks, Wyvern
I think a subtle mix of the two things, then, since it would be really odd for everyone in the village to decide to redecorate all at the same time
Just wish I could walk down a street in medieval times and see these things as they really where, and not just speculation. I know limewash was used quite extensively, but they did know how to make colors too. Granted, dyes where much more difficult and expensive to make than today, so I guess making enough to paint a house may have been prohibitively expensive for the average medieval family, although some colors where far easier than others.
I think if I end up doing varicolour it would be better to make the wattle and daub or brickwork varicolour and leave the timbers 'as-is', or to only tint them a little as if the rain has washed the colour out of the wash into the wood.
If they were tarred and whitewashed then the tar would also have run in a very slow and gloopy way because it never sets rock hard. That's why old paintings are such a problem to renovate and keep good - some of the pigments were based on tar and bitumen and they run down the canvas over the decades. These timber-framed buildings would have looked quite a mess just a couple of years after they were new if there had been a couple of really hot summers.
Reds and browns have always been fairly easy to manufacture - think Fair isle wool colours, based on lichens and seaweeds. Its the blues and intense reds and yellows and greens that were not (apart from the deep viridian green of arsenic and the blue of cobalt, which would really have been the preserve of artists and wealthy merchants. So an earthy sort of 'natural dye' palette would be better than the default one, but thanks to Ralf showing me how to do it I can set up a template with an appropriate earthy colour palette
I know its a day late, but I didn't have a lot of time yesterday
And thank you also for the encouragement
This is a smithy. Not finished, but that's because I'm guessing most of this from bits and bobs I've seen online about how iron was smelted and worked in the middle ages. That's a smelting furnace in the yard. The metal is worked in the lean-to space, which will have no windows. You can't see the colour of the glowing metal properly if there is too much light, so all these open smithy depictions we see are quite a lot wrong. Darkness is required to do the job properly.
EDIT: This is actually a screen shot of the final building. The first version had solid walls without windows... just to explain the following conversation about design
For the smithy, sorry, but I have to correct your "open smithy depictions..are quite...wrong" and "in darkness" comments. It gets extremely hot in a smithy, so at least wide doors that will open are pretty well essential, or other forms of ventilation, even an entirely open wall or two (or where there are removable walls/shuttering). For judging the metal's colour, normal to dim light is fine, but darkness isn't, as there has to be enough light consistently to work the metal properly. Light from only the forge and the glowing metal, maybe with a lamp or two, just isn't suitable, because there's far too great a contrast between the artificially-lit and dark areas. The key thing for judging the metal's temperature by the colour is to have a set-up that avoids direct sunlight in the smithy.
The smithy chimney is probably too large for a medieval smithy; it looks more like something from a (probably late- to post-medieval) blast furnace. Broad and rectangular would be perhaps more likely for the Tudor period.