Ambassador Project - Haven Guard Flag & Torso Designs

[Mister Phes]

Yes, to four. The base color and three more printed over it.

*I'm guessing black(the lines) counts as a color, not positive.

You've since stated "torsos, head pieces (and presumably also leg pieces!) can have a maximum of four printed colors, (NOT including base color!) and black is counted." so now you can incorporate one more colour into your revised torso design, if you wish.

[Lind Whisperer]

You've since stated "torsos, head pieces (and presumably also leg pieces!) can have a maximum of four printed colors, (NOT including base color!) and black is counted." so now you can incorporate one more colour into your revised torso design, if you wish.

I incorporated it. I'm really glad that we're allowed four colors - keeping the belt dark orange just didn't look right. Not exactly sure why I didn't change the buckle to tan in the first place...

Edited August 19, 2014 by Lind Whisperer

[Mister Phes]

In which case all you'd need to do is make the buckle on Michaelozzie's version the same colour as the collar and that would preserve the correct colour count.

No, I'm mistaken, that would still be 5 colours!

Here is the original version - I'd modify it myself if I was using my regular computer with my preferred software.

[The_Cook]

4 printed colours over a base (the plastic) colour. Black lines count as one of the printed colours.

In the aforementioned image

Base (plastic) colour of Dark Flesh

Colour 1 black outlines

Colour 2 brown belt

Colour 3 tan tassles

You have one free colour left to use for either the buckle, the sash or the collar. Everything else will have to utilise an existing colour.

It's also worth pointing out that the number of colours available isn't necessarily 4 for all parts; I only did the analysis on torso's because we needed that information to make progress. It's quite conceivable that the printers for the heads are different from the ones for torsos and may not have been set up to handle the same number of colours!

[michaelozzie]

There are quite a few Lego torsos around with more than 4 colours

[michaelozzie]

Here's a simpler Torso design with less colours.

havenguard1 by michaelozzie1, on Flickr

[Capt Wolf]

I like this one a lot! I was about to suggest losing the red sash to get the color count down, and that does it. The collar has to be white because the period collars were lace. Also, by losing the powder pouches, the torso is more versatile, but the brown belt still suggests a musketeer's uniform.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Capt Wolf

[rodiziorobs]

I would use that last design but with tan instead of grey, and add the sash back in, but in tan. It just needs that little bit back in, as it looks to bare without it.

[Lind Whisperer]

I'm really sorry these aren't higher quality. Due to unfortunate incidents beyond my control, I'm limited to only using drawing programs available online. I do think that they give the general idea of what I was going for, though.

I looked up pictures of Dutch port guards, but was unable to find any from island ports. I was, however, able to find this picture of the same era Amesterdam City Guard(Warning, it's a pretty huge picture - apologies to the mods!):

I based this Harbor Guard uniform off of the soldier with the musket, and the Harbormaster off of the person in dark blue with the big white ruff.

Brickhaven Gaurd torso by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

Turned out fairly well, considered the issues I was going through. Problems:

• Buttons are nice, but the strings need to be thicker, also they need to go all the way down to the bottom.
  
• Ruff wrinkles need correcting, and the ruff itself needs to be smoothed out.
  
• It needs some pockets or wrinkles in the large empty spaces on each side.
  

Harbormaster Torso by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

I was rushed, and it shows. Problems:

• Yellow diamonds need to be thinner, and the dark blue quadrilaterals inside them removed.
  
• Swash needs to be far, far more graceful, and the wrinkles fixed.
  
• Dark blue wrinkles on the shirt itself aren't as bad as they might be, but they still need to be cleaned up.
  

Edited August 19, 2014 by Lind Whisperer

[The_Cook]

There are quite a few Lego torsos around with more than 4 colours

Whilst I wouldn't say that I did an exhaustive search of every torso everything that I looked at had 4 colours plus the plastic. Stippling can be used to make it look like there are more shades but ultimately there was still no more than 4 printed colours.

[Capt Wolf]

Revisiting the flag discussion briefly...

Just to clarify "background #5 actually has more votes (8) than background #1 (6 total with cannons) or #7 (7 total with cannons)" - do you mean "or #7 (7 total without cannons)"

I meant with cannons. Looking at all the flag combinations voted for so far, 13 use background #5, 13 use background #7, and 11 use background #1. The most popular individual flags are #1-1 and #7-1 (5 votes each), followed by #5-1, #1-4, and #7-5 (4 votes each). If you combine the -1, -2, and -3 options into a single category of "background with some sort of crossed cannons," the leading vote-getter so far is background #5 (8 votes that include cannons: 4 for #5-1, 1 for #5-2, and 3 for #5-3), followed by background #7 (7 votes that include cannons: 5 for # 7-1, 1 for #7-2, and 1 for #7-3), and background #1 (6 votes that include cannons: 5 for #1-1, 1 for #1-3).

Basically, I was just looking for a way to find meaningful trends in the voting.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Capt Wolf

[Yooha]

These torsos are all fantastic!

If you allow me, I used them for some minifig renders. I made a few combinations of torsos/legs/hats/etc..

Personally I think that the one with the tan arms looks the best - that picture with a real Dutch soldier helped a lot.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Yooha

[michaelozzie]

These torsos are all fantastic!

If you allow me, I used them for some minifig renders. I made a few combinations of torsos/legs/hats/etc..

Personally I think that the one with the tan arms looks the best - that picture with a real Dutch soldier helped a lot.

That render looks really good. Indeed the tan arms is a good choice. Infact colours like red and blue would work well too for the arms to add more colour.

[Mister Phes]

If you allow me, I used them for some minifig renders. I made a few combinations of torsos/legs/hats/etc..

Excellent work Michaelozzie, Lind Whisperer and Yooha!

Now we really do have some exciting fresh torso designs to really differentiate the Haven Guard from the Imperial Soldiers.

However, we'll need three different torso designs:

• Regular Haven Guard - we're pretty good here.
  
• Commander - should look like the regular Haven Guards only more important.
  
• Leader - so maybe that should be the Harbormaster - although in the context of the Haven Guard the title "Haven Master" seems more appropriate.
  

[michaelozzie]

I will have a crack at the commander uniform tonight

[Lind Whisperer]

Here is my attempt at a "Commander" torso.

I was trying to figure out a suitable torso, when I saw this officer in the picture I'd found:

Captain of the Guard by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

He might not look like an officer, but recently I have watched several episodes of Águila Roja, and the sheriff has on multiple times worn an outfit that is almost exactly the same.

Here's my attempt to replicate it:

BrickhavenCaptain by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

I think it turned out fairly well, all considered. Problems:

• The bley stippling on the collar needs to have a more uniform "dotting".
  
• The decorations on the diagonal belt were drawn after the ones on the picture, but they should probably be both cleaned up, and revised to have more of a "LEGO" feel.
  
• The belt needs a smoother curve. Also, the gold should be lightened so it doesn't look the same as brown.
  
• The decorations on the vertical belt should be cleaned up, and edited.
  
• The sash and wrinkles could have turned out worse, but they should both be refined.
  
• General clean-up, color refinement.
  

Edit:

Here's the torso in dark orange. I think it looks better than the one in black.

BrickhavenCaptain - Dark Orange by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

Edited August 20, 2014 by Lind Whisperer

[Mister Phes]

If anyone wants to see an orange background instead of black, I can make one. I tried creating one already, but the design doesn't look quite right without the black background.

Feel free to submit as many variations or different torso designs as you wish - it's always good to have options.

[Capt Wolf]

Here is my attempt at a "Commander" torso.

BrickhavenCaptain by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

Edit:

Here's the torso in dark orange. I think it looks better than the one in black.

BrickhavenCaptain - Dark Orange by Lind Whisperer, on Flickr

I like both of these, especially the one in dark orange. Nice work!

The tan arms do look good, and I like the harbor master with the red sash and white ruffled collar. #3 (without the musket belt with powder charges) is my favorite of these four (it's a more versatile torso). I'm getting excited about seeing these in actual legos!

Edited August 20, 2014 by Capt Wolf

[hjmediastudios]

Here are a couple quick designs I whipped up, more in line with a 1700s-1800s look than the 1600s look that seems to be prevailing here. I may do the harbormaster if there's interest.

Edited August 21, 2014 by hjmediastudios

[Mister Phes]

I may do the harbormaster if there's interest.

By all means do so!

[Capt Wolf]

If anyone does more minifig renders using the 1600s era torsos, I'd also like to see how they look with the Armada (combed morion) helmet instead of the musketeers hat, as that helmet would also be appropriate for Dutch soldiers of that time period.

[CMP]

Here are a couple quick designs I whipped up, more in line with a 1700s-1800s look than the 1600s look that seems to be prevailing here. I may do the harbormaster if there's interest.

Those are perfect. My only fear is that printing light colors against dark colors turns out terribly most of the time.

[Bart]

(...)

Here is an example using the 2009 Imperial Guard torso as a placeholder:

(...)

I like those designs, I don't particulary care about which shade of orange, in real live is always different then from a computer screen.

But I do think that the facing should be blue, (the red or blue behind the cross belts)

and I'm not a fan of these yellow epaulettes, the white looks good above, and I can see gold happen on high officers, but common soldiers are better of with blue or white in my opinion.

and maybe an Idea, officers white pants, and common soldiers grey.

Bart

[Ltfalcon]

WOW The HJ Media Studios samples just blew my socks off! Theses are cool and original.

[Mr. Townsend]

I really like the designs of HJ Studios. The I prefer the one on the left and especially enjoy the emblems on his buckle and shako. Leg printing is also very cool. I would like to see a classy officer design in this style.