THE
SIGN
The
sign completes our figure. The paint and ground give it life, personality
and place the figure into a context where he fits (we can't put our
figure onto a stand with sand because it looks like he is walking
in a sandy area and the coat that he is wearing indicates that he
is in a cold area, at the end of autumn or beginning of winter (as
his coat is open).
The
sign is going to be placed next to our figure - the sign is very important
as it is going to place our figure into a historic moment in time
(and this is important!) It is a precise and tough job as we have
to make sure we do not make any mistakes (not only in spelling but
also in the soldier's historic circumstances). It will not look good
if we add some information like Columbus discovered America whilst
going for a drive in his 4x4 (this does not look good?) Therefore,
before you start:
-
Even before you start painting the figure, you need to look for
the historical context so that you can place your figure in an era.
In
our case we need to place our soldier in the first years of the
Second World War because:
-
The service uniform that the officers wore from June 1941 to February
1943 consisted of a peaked hat M1935, field jacket M1935(with five
buttons and a dark green collar), brown leather belt M1934, officers
socks and high black leather boots, standard gun with a gun holster.
(You can easily find this uniform on the internet or in specialized
books on the German army of that era). This is the uniform that
they wore.
The soldier must be in Russia as:
-
The soldier has a rifle PPSH-41 (Russian). The German troops preferred
these weapons to their own (machine rifle MP-40), as in icy temperatures
Russia rifles were more trustworthy.
It
must be at the end of autumn or at the beginning of winter because:
-
You can not see any other clothes around and he is wearing his coat
open (in the middle of winter in Russia I don't believe one could
have their coat open) therefore the cold temperature must be bearable.
It
must be before the defeat of Stalingrad (end of 1942 - beginning of
1943) we can tell this by looking at the proud and victorious pose
of the soldier, from this stage on the German army began to go through
the Russian front
Therefore
we have placed our official: in the Russian front, between 1941 and
1943, autumn, before the defeat of Stalingrad: therefore it has to
be autumn 1941 (let's say October).
Around
these dates the Germans attacked the Russians on three fronts (North,
Centre and South) choosing one or the other is indifferent (lets say
the north).
Now
we have to find a troop which fought in the Norm front in autumn in
1941 in Russia: one of them is the Infantry Division No.1 (look up
this information on Google or in specific books).
Normally
information will come in the box with the figure as to where the soldier
comes from. With time, after doing a few, we will know exactly where
to place the soldiers ourselves.
The
rest is easy:
-
Look up on Google pages that refer to the I German Infantry Division
and you will find in one of these its coat of arms. Copy it.
-
Use Power Point to create the sign, so that it looks something like
this:
.
.
Then
print it, cut it and glue it onto the stand (with great care) and
there we have it. In other courses you will see other ways of making
the signs.
SUMMARY:
It is not necessary to know all of these things, nor to try and be
Sherlock Holmes, but painting a figure is more than just painting,
it is about getting knowing about the environment surrounding this
figure and using this information. Not putting the figure into the
correct environment can ruin our work (remember Columbus and the 4x4).
