The History of the Kingdom of The West
Scrolls

Layout And Composition.

Photo and Contribution
by Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

Layout And Composition.
After printing out copies of Johann's likeness and many of the tents on his "photo album" page, the next phase was refining the concept and doing the layout. First was taking the paper (a half sheet of 3 ply Bristol rag, cut down to 18 x 24 inches, which is a "standard" frame size in the U.S.) and ruling in the margins (1.5 inches on the top and sides, 2 inches on the bottom). Next, that rectangle was divided in half horizontally -- all of the illumination would have to fit in the upper rectangle. The upper rectangle was divided in half -- the figure of Johann needed to fill up the left half or the mass of tents in the right half would overpower the likeness instead of making a pleasing background.

The paper was taped to a closet door and out came the opaque projector; the print-out of Johann's photo was projected onto the paper and adjusted until it fit into the left side of the layout. Using a very sharp HB pencil, the likeness was traced onto the paper. If you don't have an opaque projector, you can measure the space and then take the printout or rough sketch to a xerox machine and blow it up in size until it fits, then trace it. It's difficult to trace anything through 3 ply paper -- you can't maintain a crisp line, everything is fuzzed through the thickness of the paper. The way to get around that is to either project the image (best), or make a tracing using tracing paper and then transfer that image onto the paper. If you're going to transfer a tracing, make sure you use a good dark pencil for the original tracing (a 2B works well, although you'll have to sharpen it frequently). Turn the tracing over and place it face down on a piece of scratch paper, then use a dark, soft lead pencil (again, a 2B or 3B) to scribble over the lines of the drawing, as if you were making a brass rubbing. Now turn the tracing right side up again and center it on the paper (or canvas or whatever --- you can do this when drawing Arms on a shield) and go over the lines on the front (use that HB pencil -- you don't want it too hard or the lead will tear the tracing paper, nor too soft), pressing hard as you go. Lift up the tracing paper, and viola! -- there's your image, albeit a bit smudgy. Clean up the transferred image by using a kneaded eraser to lift up the loose graphite (press the kneaded eraser against the lines and lift up; do this repeatedly until all that's left is a faint outline), then sharpen up the HB pencil and go over the lines carefully to restore a crisp image. This method, although time consuming, works quite well, but expect to lose some of the spontaneity of your drawing in the process.

Next, a piece of tracing paper was laid down over the prepared paper and the composition was worked out on the tracing paper. It's better to fuss about with things on the tracing paper instead of drawing, erasing, and drawing again on the nice paper -- this can rough the surface and cause problems later when applying ink or paint.

After looking through the tent gallery again and also looking through all of Johann's columns for any other pictures of tents, I liked a painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger, dating from 1555 (see the article "Tents And Crucifixions" at http://midtown.net/dragonwing/col9803.htm) and other period illuminations, which always seemed to show tents pitched on a hillside. Working from photos of Johann's tents downloaded from his web site, I started sketching in tents going up a hillside. This was fairly easy to do freehand because tents are geometrical in shape; I merely had to decide where the eye line (horizon) was and apply perspective (would you be looking up or down on the tent, would you see the side or the top?). In this case, the eye line is running almost straight through the embattled valence of the purple tent (Darkwood Barony) on the right side of the layout. It was harder to get the effect of a tent flap tied back just behind Johann's harp -- I had to study the photos and re-draw this bit quite a few times until it felt right. Normally I would have done the portrait on the tracing paper as well, but as I was working from a tracing rather than doing it freestyle (I'm quite capable of doing a portrait without aids; this just saved time), I didn't want to draw it twice, and I could see the drawing up through the tracing paper quite well (which is why that area is blank on the tracing paper layout you see here).

After deciding which tent went where and positioning it carefully -- note that the tops of the tents coming down the hill form a diagonal to lead the eye back into the center of the composition, but that they don't line up, which would make things too static -- I was left with a small open area right in the middle. Running a tent rope through there helped, but not enough. I needed something in there; considered making it an eric but didn't want to go through the bother of trying to put in fighters. I'd already decided that the tents would be empty -- this was about tents, not about their furnishings, and anyway, it's easier and I was on a tight deadline -- now I needed something to go in that space. What should it be? I went through the Dragonwing site again, and found the perfect thing -- Squire Harry's cat house (see article "How I Got Started In Tentmaking at http://midtown.net/dragonwing/col9912.htm). The miniature tent was just the right size and the right scale, and it added a small touch of humor which is always pleasing. And it has a cat (have I mentioned that I like cats?). And then to add just a bit more animation to the landscape, I sketched in my sister Kara of Golden Rivers (Johann's wife) standing in the doorway of one of the tents, spinning wool with a drop spindle. I also took great care to make sure the tents were properly roped and that all of the guy lines were flagged (West Kingdom law requires it!). Anybody else would not give a rip about a tent's guy lines, but this scroll was going to be in a tentmaker's house, so it needed to be accurate.

I drew in the shield for the Arms (over the years, I've made many a template for these, and must have at least a dozen in different shapes and sizes) down below in the center of the box for the text and thought about how to incorporate that all important Laurel wreath. Put one on Johann's head -- no, that always looks a little silly and it would be too small. In Duncan Saxthorpe's Laurel scroll I'd encircled the Arms with the wreath and this had worked well (albeit inside the frame of an illuminated letter), so I put the wreath around the Arms. Not bad. No room for a crest/achievement (just as well, I'm so short on time) but a motto scroll could go nicely above the Arms. Still, it would be nice to have a laurel motif somewhere in the main illustrated panel. Of course the Kingdom Arms has a laurel wreath and I considered having a banner hanging behind Johann in the royal pavilion, but that might look presumptuous. So I ditched the Gothic cut-outs in the corners of the frame and replaced them with carved laurel wreaths.

The finished layout was cleaned up a bit and I went over it with a 2B pencil to make sure the lines were clear and dark, then traced the design onto the good paper. I have a small light box but this can be done by taping the tracing paper to a window, taping the good paper over it, and tracing until all the blood runs out of your arm and pools in your chest. Or you can lift a piece of glass out of a picture frame, take a small lamp with the lampshade removed and put it at your feet and prop the glass on your lap and across the lamp with the edge on a chair opposite (use a pile of books to make a nice slant). The light will shine up through the glass and it works as a make-shift light table.

-- Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).