Northumbrian Part 4

I finished up the border pattern on the tunic and painted the leather belts.  With that finished I was able to add his other equipment (minus the war horn).  Those pieces are just base coated at this point, but they will be the next things I work on.  I'm debating what I want to do for the shield color.  I've base coated the metal parts with Ritterlich Blue.  But the center section will have one main color or perhaps two with alternating sections.  I'll then go over that with another design based on the helmet.  So I'll probably work on other parts while I try to figure out my plans for the shield.

Here's a close up of how the pattern developed.  I started with the two border lines, measuring as I went to keep the spacing consistent.  I then went and added a bunch of guide dots (again measuring the keep the spacing consistent).  Now, I get on to doing the actual design.  By building it up in several stages, it will be easier to create a uniform looking pattern.  The first stage is a series of arrows or sideways v's going around the tunic.

Next I loop the ends of the v's around to form two leaf shapes.  Then I extend the base out to form more of an x.  And the final stage is to add the outside loops to connect up all the lines.  I was using a couple different colors as I went to give it some light-dark contrast.  But after the final stage I went in with some glazes to further develop the shadows and tie it all together.