History of Musketeers

This is an extract from an article which I feel is most useful to me.

"Musketeer History
In the year 1600, King Henry IV created an elite force to serve as his personal guard and armed them with muskets. They were disbanded in 1646, and later reformed in 1657. These 150 musketeers were known as "Gray Musketeers" because of the gray horses they all rode, until the king, on a whim, gave them all black stallions and changed their monicre to "Black Musketeers". They were again disbanded in 1776, again reembodied, and disbanded again for the final time in 1791. Some have asked why the Musketeers in Dumas' writings did not carry muskets (a logical question). The answer lies in the strict code of ethics and honor that these men lived by. The king's Musketeers were personal bodyguards, and were held to be the noblest and most renown fighters of their day, and for them to use a firearm instead of a blade would have been unthinkable, leaving the lesser ranks of Musketeers to kill their enemies from a distance." (Necessary, 2010)

Also, in conjuction with having an eagle as a sidekick I decided to look up whether they actualy did use them or not. It turns out that Napoleon had a golden eagle on the end of his staff, along with the letter N. Regimens liks the squadron of the Horse Grenadiers also carried them mounted on top of the blue regimental flagpole in battle. This eagle is said to bare the same significance to French Imperial regiments as the colours did to British regiments, and to lose the Eagle would bring shame to the regimen. Also The Fusiliers (the french infantry of the 1800s) were said to be a later version of the Musketeer in a sense, so having an eagle as a sidekick might not be such a bad idea.

"The Fusiliers made up the majority of a line infantry battalion, and may be considered the typical infantryman of the Grande Armée. The Fusilier was armed with a smoothbore, muzzle-loaded flintlock Charleville model 1777 musket and a bayonet. Fusilier training placed emphasis on speed of march and endurance, along with individually aimed fire at close range and close quarters combat. This differed greatly from the training given to the majority of European armies, which emphasised moving in rigid formations and firing massed volleys. Many of the early Napoleonic victories were due to the ability of the French armies to cover long distances with speed, and this ability was thanks to the training given to the infantry. From 1803, each battalion comprised eight Fusilier companies. Each company numbered around 120 men.

In 1805, one of the Fusilier companies was dissolved and reformed as a Voltigeur company. In 1808, Napoleon reorganised the Infantry battalion from nine to six companies. The new companies were to be larger, comprising 140 men, and four of these were to be made up of Fusiliers, one of Grenadiers, and one of Voltigeurs.
The line Fusilier wore a bicorne hat, until this was superseded by the shako in 1807. The uniform of a Fusilier consisted of white trousers, white surcoat and a dark blue coat (the habit long model until 1812, thereafter the habit veste) with white lapels, red collar and cuffs. Each Fusilier wore a coloured pom-pom on his hat. The colour of this pom-pom changed depending on the company the man belonged to. After the 1808 reorganisation, the First company was issued with a dark green pom-pom, the second with sky blue, the third with orange and the fourth with violet."- wiki


http://www.clfc.org/articles/musketeers.htm

Musketeer Research:Uniforms

Classic Musketeer

The Musketeer first came into fame under King Louis XIII of France. He kept a company as his personal guard and they were the inspiration of Alexander Dumas' series of novels. The most famous of which is "The Three Musketeers". True to their name, Musketeers were excellent shots. Unfortunately the Musket had to be reloaded each time it was fired. This made the Musket a limited weapon if ranks were over run and combat turned hand to hand. Due to this, survival for the Musketeer depended on being an excellent swordsmen as well. Today, those who don the raiment of the Musketeer invoke an image of the finest qualities in all men; Gallant, brave, chivalrous, and debonaire.

The Man in the Iron Mask Musketeer

This dashing outfit is sure to make the ladies swoon. Patented after the Uniform of a French Musketeer during the reign of King Lois XIV, this version features only 2 changes from the original, those being the color and front cross size. All other detail remains the same. Although blue is the traditional color for the French Musketeers, black makes for more striking contrasts. 

 Louis XIV Musketeer

After the death of Louis XIII, his son, (XIV), made some changes. One of which was to redesign the uniform of his musketeers. The hem was lengthened and wings & collar were added to include fashionable features of the time. This tabard could be worn with either a dandy collar shirt or a Jabot, which was the incoming fashion. This is the actual uniform worn by Musketeer's during King Louis XIV's reign.

Musketeer Officers Uniform

Leiutenants Uniform

Captains Uniform

When King Louis XIV became King of France, he instituted many changes to the look of his countries military. The Kings Musketeers, his personal guard, were of particular focus for king Louis. He wanted to improve and update their dress in keeping with the fashion of the times. In lieu of the Fencing vest, Officers in the Kings Musketeers wore frock coats to denote rank. Lieutenants wore a blue coat with red cuff and lining. Captains wore all blue. Both were trimmed in silver. Another unique feature was the triple vented backs of these coats, typically was the style of gentry frocks alone in the 16th century. The Full version of this uniform sports the frock coat, Vest and pant matching the cuff, & white shirt with cravat.. All though the Musketeer tabard was the standard fare for the enlisted men, officers would wear them from time to time over their frocks. There are a few schools of thought as to why, but the one that makes the most sense is that in a battle, the officers would be harder to target among the ranks. Both coats are expertly tailored with suit fronts, shoulder pads, and functional pockets. (please note: there is no left breast insignia on any of the officer coats)

Musketeer Rapier

Musketeer rapier and sword has a history behind it that tells the tale of the three musketeers. Musketeers trusty companion was the Musketeer sword. They were masters of swordplay and sword fighting to defend the king and queen. Many sword enthusiasts have the Musketeer sword as part of their medieval collection from the Middle Ages. Dark Knight Armoury has Musketeer swords can be used for display or for battle re-enactments, each reproduction is created to the specifications from the originals. Our Musketeer rapiers that are functional are made from quality steel and can withstand a Musketeer sword fight. Other rapiers are purely decorative with attention to detail and intricated designs giving your home or office the perfect decor. All our Musketeer swords and Musketeer rapiers are expertly hand-crafted and authentic replicas.

Bibliography

Authentic Wardrobe  (c) 1989 - 2011

Dark Knight Armoury Inc

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Lip Sync Part 1: Jaw Bounce

Character Design Class 2: Body Types and Faces

Today was about scratching the surface in conjunction with character body types, delving into how body shapes define a character and also experimenting with morphing these body shapes to create a "new"character.

Super heroes are quite square and upright, with triangular shaped torsos to bring out their buffed up chests. I had Hercules to draw, but went on to drawing other types of characters.

Hercules

Character Ideas

These are my initial character designs for the ninja and musketeer. These were just picked out ofthe sky to start me off.