When I first started the Lion Rampant project, I chose the Clifford family as a loose background, mostly because it offered up the prospect of painting white livery, something a little bit different from the usual blue and red of the era. The tricky bit is painting a red wyvern on this white field. I have had a look around and found a couple of images that should help.
The first of these is from the
Red Wyverns website, showing some of the re-enactors in action. Or rather, showing their surcoats in close-up, so I can see how they have tackled it. It's a perfectly adequate wyvern I suppose, but it doesn't quite work for me. The thing to note is there are three main features to portray - the sinuous body, the curled around tail, and the wings. I reckon the wings on this attempt are a little overdone.
The second image is an artwork, and here I think the artist has done a far better job. The artist is Graham Turner and I am using his image without permission, hopefully this is not a copyright issue. The
Graham Turner facebook page is an absolute treasure trove of military and medieval art, well worth a look. The image depicts the Clifford household fighting at the Battle of Ferrybridge. The wyvern motif here is far better in my eyes and for future reference there's even a flag I could use as inspiration. I am aiming for something like this, if I can recreate it on a tiny area of plastic surcoat.
I have attempted to mimic this design on my flag, fashioned from a plastic pole and a piece of foil lid (from a yogurt pot is a good thickness). The design is almost a copy of the atwork, I have repositioned the front limbs a little and accentuated the sinuous body a little more. This will eventually be attached to one of the men at arms. I will probably bend the flag a little and maybe add a tiny bit of weathering.
