Wednesday 4 December 2013

Viking Clothing Palette

Before I get started on painting the vikings I had a little browse around, to see if I could find any information on viking clothing. There's very little specific historical evidence, but there are plenty of re-enactor sites to peruse. These people spend their weekends dressing as vikings, saxons, etc., in medieval camps and events. There is a surprising amount of research and authenticity applied, so if you like your figures to have a dash of realism, then they are a good source of inspiration.

You might think that they look a dowdy bunch, but the photo is probably taken under a typical English sky and so not quite as bright as it might be! There are certainly plenty of browns and tans, creams and pale colours. But there is also a surprising range of other colours. If you are really interested, you can even find recipes to make dyes for yourself.


I remember talking to a re-enactor at one event in York, England, about his clothing. He was wearing a lot of brown leather and fur, but also a pale red, almost pink cloak. He explained that it had been made using natural dyes and that the colour faded quite a lot. There's no real evidence to suggest that vikings liked red (as they are often depicted in films and books), but even if it were historically accurate, it would quickly fade to a dusky pink. 


The most important point I learned was that the colours are subdued, desaturated. So I will be keeping the clothing fairly low key, particularly for the bondi (and even more so for the levie if I ever collect them). In any case, the main focal point of the figures is the shields, so keeping the clothing fairly unexciting will act as a good plain backdrop for the prominent shields.

4 comments:

Warlord Paul said...

That's an interesting bit of research you've done there, well done.

Kael said...

I'm the one at the front in purple! :)

Vikings of Middle England

Alan said...

Imposible: cochineal is from Mexico... far from the viking area in America...

Karl said...

Except Polish Cochineal was popular before the 16th century and is much closer to that region.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...