The History of the Kingdom of The West
Scrolls

Layout and Design of Artwork

Photo and Contribution
by Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

"With the layout now complete, the color scheme had to be planned and a decision made on what would be gilded. Some parts of the composition are set the Arms, for example, must be in their proper heraldic colors. The landscape was going to be stormy gray-blue and green, which are cool colors; therefore the foreground should be done in warm colors. Rose's favorite color is orange so she would be gowned in a creamy pale orange. The original thought was to make the floor and columns white marble. That left the encircling letter, which I declared should be done in three shades orange on the inside, dark orange in the middle, and warm red on the outside edge. Aldith expressed doubts about this. Actually, she flat out declared that it wouldn't work. I declared that it would. Blue and orange? Yes, blue and orange. That's going to be too garish. No, it won't, it'll be subtle yet vivid. Well, prove it!

"Out came the colored pencils and a color study rough was duly produced on a piece of flimsy sketch paper. This sketch was produced before the final layout was reached, so note that the motto was still on scrolling around the central letter. Also I had thought to do something vine like behind the large letter -- Aldith suggested a diapering pattern of four-petaled roses (a play on the recipient's name). While later looking at this I decided that a white marble floor and columns was too stark, even with the addition of veining. It turns out the Internet is good for some things -- looking at many images is one. A search of various granite/marble dealers turned up color pictures of stones and I looked for one in a warm color. Crema Valencia marble turned out to be just what was called for -- a pale yellow-gold with brownish-orange veining (and even more fun it's Italian!). And upon reflection, smooth polished columns would be a bear because of -- the reflections. Best to make them with fluting so that's one less issue to have to deal with (there are already reflection issues going on in Juan's scroll with the lovely shiny metal sword, which turns out to be the hardest thing to paint in the entire picture). So the Tuscan pillars became Doric pillars." -- Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

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