Blue & Gold tartan concept

[OC Richard]

Yes it's me still beating that 'blue and gold tartan' drum

Not completely happy with what's currently available, I thought I'd take a stab at it myself.

The trick is to not make it look like a 'blue and yellow' tartan, nor 'blue and brown'.

I'm combining two colours of yellow plus brown and white to attempt to make it look golden. (When gold is depicted in paintings it's usually done with yellow, dark brown, and white.)

Another trick, which I learned in looking at the University of California Riverside tartan, is that to avoid the blue and yellow mixing in the tartan and looking green, you must use a blue that tends to the purple and a yellow which tends to the orange (blue + yellow = green, blue-violet + yellow-orange = neutral).



Another version with a slightly different shade of blue, and the yellow/brown/white area being all equal-width stripes, which is perhaps stronger visually



Here, for comparison, is the bespoke tartan of The Charleston (South Carolina) Police Pipes & Drums



Here's the thread I started a while back on blue & gold tartans

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...s-again-70755/

[pbutts]

I enjoy your discussion of the design process. How do you envision pleating this design? Is it for a new band kilt?

[EagleJCS]

When I see the words 'Blue and Gold' I immediately think of Cub Scouts (6-10 year olds in the Boy Scouts of America). Those are the colors associated with that phase of the Scouting program in the US. (Generally, red and green are the colors for Boy Scouts ages 11-18, and forest green and gray for Venture Scouts ages 14-21).

Just my long association with the program (going on 38 years now).

That's a good dissection of how the different colors would be combined to make gold, though, Richard.

[Ron Abbott]

The Charleston Police Department used to wear the (modern) MacLean of Duart.

How do I know?

I bought 32 of their (old) kilts circa 2003 to kit out a newer pipe band !

[OC Richard]

Sorry to revive this, but I've just done a bit more experimenting, subtle variations on the theme.

Here it is, stripped down and simple, with all bands equal, giving a glowing/prism effect



That blue field looks a bit too vacant, so I put a line in it. Hmmm.... maybe too much like the Charleston (SC) Police...



I thought I'd take a stab at a more complex variant. Maybe less is more.



About pleating, I'd probably prefer it be pleated to the blue block or the black line (middle concept). Pleating to the white line would make the back washed-out and pale.

The blue & gold obsession comes from the two states I've lived in (West Virginia and California) and the sports teams I support (West Virginia Mountaineers and LA Galaxy) all having the same colours.

Last (and perhaps least) concepts using two different blues, lacking the visual impact of the tartans above

[Benning Boy]

I like the less is more version at the top of your latest post. When you put the black stripes across the blue it looks fenestrated. The complex versions to me look over worked and jumbled. The simple one says blue and gold tartan, the complex ones are saying they aren't sure what they are to be.

[GrainReaper]

As I sit here with my coffee I find my eye drawn to the first pic in post #5 I feel it's simple enough to be elegant

[tundramanq]

I really like the first picture of post #1 best. It is quite pleasing to my eyes. It seems to have the right amount of contrast and is non jarring to the eyes - up close and from across the room. If for a band, it needs to look it's best from a distance and I think the added stripes will kind of blur into the blue and lose the nice contrast balance. Especially with pleats in motion.
That's my second cup of coffee worth.

[OC Richard]

Thanks!

Makes me consider things in a new light.