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Post by etiennehamel on Nov 14, 2012 18:52:04 GMT
when it come to viking animal patterns i'm a complete newbie so i was wondering if there was an actual rule when it comes to designing those pattern (or art) i'm thinking about a fantasy project that will probably serve as an heirloom piece since this project is really important to me. don't worry nothing bad happened i just want to transcribe my thoughts on a sword.
i won't tell the details of the project since i want it to be MY sword it will not be meant to be sold as a design or to put into production. just to have my own meaningful sword when i can afford it (if i don't learn how to forge it and forge it myself)
i know there is a basic form like an animal for example a dragon like on the albion valkyrja but how am i suppose to get the graceful interlaping art with another type of animal like a wolf, a bear or some kind of bird? i don't quite understand it...
does anyone knows about that kind of art?
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Post by K. Vander Linde on Nov 14, 2012 19:13:54 GMT
Ok, from what I understand what you want spans many styles. Any particular style from a region? There is diffrent art from diffrent people. Geat Angles & Saxon Norse Thats just to name a few. But you said you were looking for animals so look at Anglican art, it is not as interweaving like that of the Geats and Nores it is more straight forward like the Danish and Saxon art. Hope this helps and If I misunderstood what you were looking for let me Know. Best of luck on your project.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Nov 14, 2012 20:09:04 GMT
This one is difficult to explain.
Basically, the key thing is... practice practice practice practice!!!! You can't get much past this. Pick a figure and keep drawing it, trying to get all the under and over interlacings in their correct places. Remember that every interlace whereever possible should alternate the over-under pattern. This doesn't always hold true; sometimes you can sacrifice it for aesthetic purposes, like if a little bit just doesn't matter that much for the overall design.
A very good book to help is Celtic Knots: Drawing and Illustrating (something like that) by George Bain. It's not quite the same thing, but it can be helpful.
Jake Powning is also very helpful on Facebook... look him up there!
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Post by etiennehamel on Nov 14, 2012 20:27:08 GMT
K. Vander Linde: the norse style is what i'm looking for, the geat is nice too. Eheru Aran: thanks for the ideas might ask jake about this. also i meant by that is the interlacing some part of the animal or is it something else?
keep the advices coming i think i really need it :lol:
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Post by Hrafnríkr on Nov 14, 2012 21:35:10 GMT
Here's a timeline showing the periods and names of the different Scandinavian animal art styles. Might be helpful in your googeling. The one K Vander Linde called "geat" is actually the Urnes style, named after the Urnes Stave Church.
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Post by etiennehamel on Nov 14, 2012 21:51:34 GMT
from what i can see the best suited for my sword would be the urnes style since i opted for a pettersen type AE inspired hilt (not the same pommel).
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Post by brotherbanzai on Nov 15, 2012 0:28:44 GMT
The interlace is supposed to follow the over under pattern which can easily get tricky where there are a lot of passes. Knot work animals don’t really have that limitation. I find it helpful to think of the pattern as a loose knot. Draw it in such a way that if you were to pull on the loose ends, it would tighten into a knot. The ones that I’ve seen generally have the knot made up of parts of the animal such as the tail, legs, or elongated pieces coming off the shoulders, elbows, or head, maybe like tufts of fur or a mane.
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Post by etiennehamel on Nov 15, 2012 2:54:43 GMT
i see, thanks brotherbanzai your explanations makes sense and with the picture it helps to the visual side of the explanations. so the elongated lines can be fur,mane and probably feathers right? very nice. i think i begin to see the design more clearly now, if there is something else i should know please keep those answers coming it really helps
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Nov 24, 2012 0:09:28 GMT
Another good place to just get a feel for styles are random image searches. Just go to Google Images, take off all the filtering (yes, can be scary) and look for things like 'viking knotwork' or even use the names of the art styles in the wonderful timeline graph Hrafnkir posted. Look at everything, heck, I got a great idea from a tattoo once. One other thing to consider, does this need to be 'period' accurate? If so, that's a whole additional can of worms, but once you find a style you like, it's easier to narrow down. Just my .02
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