Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: Fremitus Borealis on July 22, 2020, 12:00:38 PM
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Just curious if anyone knows of a service for printing off shield transfers? I know Jeff Jonas has a fairly detailed how-to guide on his website, but....I haven't owned a printer for years, and I'm not really inclined to buy one when this would be literally the one thing I'd use it for :D I'd much rather just slide someone the money for their time and materials.
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I see no one has given any ideas.
Decal paper can be bought from hobby shops to print on - you know this part. My suggestion is to enquire from a print shop to print onto the paper needed or start asking friends and family who has a colour printer.
Another would be to check who is selling colour printers on local second hand sites and look at the reviews for high resolution and quality and buy a cheap second hand one (that you can see print before buying to ensure it’s still working properly- they would be selling it for a reason!).
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I've been wondering something similar... maybe, a problem in eliciting responses is that you've posted this on the 'Age of Myths' board. 'Fantasy' people use shield decals,'Future Wars' people use vehicle and mini decals, I would guess most of the boards here have some people who use transfers rather than painting designs, and probably a few of them at any one time are considering custom decals. I am currently thinking about options for shoulder-markings for a custom Space Marine chapter, but I rarely visit the 'Age of Myths' board because I don't game in this period - I just happened on this thread by chance.
Pro: I do have a printer.
Con: No idea how much the paper costs. Not sure how to control sizing either. My understanding is on these home-produced decals, white is a problem.
Honestly I don't yet know whether I'm going down the custom decal route, but it's a possibility. If I do, I'll be interested in collaborating so we can hopefully both keep our costs down. Of course that may depend on where you are too - I'm in the UK, so if you are too, maybe we can sort out a plan.
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Citadel Six?
http://www.citadelsix.co.uk/ (http://www.citadelsix.co.uk/)
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Perhaps someone more local to you who has a printer and the basic know-how might help?
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Here in the USA CostCo has print services. Just bring your USB and some decal print paper (which will cost you 20$ or so) and they can probably fix you up.
Other places that can do this are Print service shops at Staples, BestBuy, UPS stores. T-shirt print places might also have laser printers you might negotiate a price.
The key thing is to "gang" up as many images on one sheet, leave plenty of bleed around the edges. I print mine at 300 dpi which is usually good enough for eyeballs.
The biggest problem is lining up the scale of your graphics- so they end up the correct size on paper from the digital images. I usually do a number of draft B&W test prints to make sure I am printing at scale, before wasting the fancy decal paper.
But as stated here is a link to the process:
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/AncientBattles_Homebrew_Transfers.html
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Actually you don't even need a dedicated printer.
Print out your decals on regular paper and take it to the nearest copy shop with a good laser colour copier. Bring your LASER decal sheets with you and they'll gladly print them out for you.
I would suggest doing a few test prints on regular paper first and preferably in colour once you got the size correct. Laser printers tone colours down a bit.
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I create my own shield designs in Photoshop and print them with laser printer on selfadhesive matt paper.
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Someone in your family or a friend has a printer surely.
Just print them onto transfer paper on it!
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Thanks for the responses, guys.
I've been wondering something similar... maybe, a problem in eliciting responses is that you've posted this on the 'Age of Myths' board. 'Fantasy' people use shield decals,'Future Wars' people use vehicle and mini decals, I would guess most of the boards here have some people who use transfers rather than painting designs, and probably a few of them at any one time are considering custom decals. I am currently thinking about options for shoulder-markings for a custom Space Marine chapter, but I rarely visit the 'Age of Myths' board because I don't game in this period - I just happened on this thread by chance.
Pro: I do have a printer.
Con: No idea how much the paper costs. Not sure how to control sizing either. My understanding is on these home-produced decals, white is a problem.
Honestly I don't yet know whether I'm going down the custom decal route, but it's a possibility. If I do, I'll be interested in collaborating so we can hopefully both keep our costs down. Of course that may depend on where you are too - I'm in the UK, so if you are too, maybe we can sort out a plan.
Yeah I just posted the thread here because this is the only board I visit, and I'd remembered a few ancient wargamers mentioning doing this before.
As far as joining forces, alas, I live across the pond in the Rebel Colonies, so I'm afraid it would be cost-prohibitive.
Here in the USA CostCo has print services. Just bring your USB and some decal print paper (which will cost you 20$ or so) and they can probably fix you up.
Other places that can do this are Print service shops at Staples, BestBuy, UPS stores. T-shirt print places might also have laser printers you might negotiate a price.
The key thing is to "gang" up as many images on one sheet, leave plenty of bleed around the edges. I print mine at 300 dpi which is usually good enough for eyeballs.
The biggest problem is lining up the scale of your graphics- so they end up the correct size on paper from the digital images. I usually do a number of draft B&W test prints to make sure I am printing at scale, before wasting the fancy decal paper.
But as stated here is a link to the process:
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/AncientBattles_Homebrew_Transfers.html
Yeah Jeff, it was your website that gave me the idea in the first place! :D
Thanks for the tip on some places to try. I still haven't completely ruled out picking up a printer to try it myself, but I'd just much rather spend that $100+ on more minis lol Then again, considering the potential cost of paying a shop to print them off... I wonder if the cost wouldn't even out pretty quickly....
As far as scaling the images, I admit that's what I'm most apprehensive about. I don't have photoshop, but I also doubt "winging it" is a good idea. Hmm...
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When I worked at a print shop, we charged $1 for a colour laser print.
Call around and see.
I have to thank you for this thread as I was looking at making an order for a bunch of decals then started to see how the prices were adding up and was thinking of putting it off for the future.
Then reading this thread it makes me realize how much better (cost effective, convenience) it would be to just print my own decals.
I've lots of Romans, Celts and Germans. Not to mention Carthaginians and Greeks. Either I can give Steve at LBMS a holiday in Spain or I can calculate the cost of what it would have been buying from them and try to put that away for my family to have a holiday.
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Here in the USA CostCo has print services. Just bring your USB and some decal print paper (which will cost you 20$ or so) and they can probably fix you up.
Other places that can do this are Print service shops at Staples, BestBuy, UPS stores. T-shirt print places might also have laser printers you might negotiate a price.
The key thing is to "gang" up as many images on one sheet, leave plenty of bleed around the edges. I print mine at 300 dpi which is usually good enough for eyeballs.
The biggest problem is lining up the scale of your graphics- so they end up the correct size on paper from the digital images. I usually do a number of draft B&W test prints to make sure I am printing at scale, before wasting the fancy decal paper.
But as stated here is a link to the process:
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/AncientBattles_Homebrew_Transfers.html
Thank you for sharing!
I do have a question about the white. Are all the decals you show on figures with white (ie the bull's head with white outline below) one a white painted shield? Did you just print a red around the bull and the white was an unfilled (clear) area?
(http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/hoplite_decals_transfers_jjonas/Ancientbattles_hoplite_shield_samples_008.JPG)
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Ha yeah, as it turns out, I found a deal on a printer this morning and decided to just pull the trigger, good the reasons you mention. Now I've just gotta figure out how in Zeus's name to make a template like Jeff masterfully presents on his site. I've been playing around with this Photoshop esque free program, but I'm struggling enough with just this past that I might scrap it and just try good old MS Paint ???
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The decals as printed (below), colors are imbedded in. It doesn't have to be that way, but I often make color variants to "fill out" the sheets
The ones which are not black on bronze are painted white first. Some edge cleaning and over painting was done once finished. For example chips and damage are painted on because it seems a waste to have that embedded in the design. I think it is better to have them be clean (in case later on I will reuse them) than to dirty them up.
One thing I left off my page is I use a PIXMA MX920/MX922 printer.
So far it has outlasted other more expensive brands that seem to fall apart after a year or so. Photo quality is very good. Ink usage good, Ink cost not cheap but better than competitors. Wifi and Bluetooth setup easy peezy. So far very reliable (which will end of course now that I've jinxed it).
But I have found it very useful for my decal projects. (Another will be posted soonish for Agrianians).
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/printers/inkjet-multifunction/mx-series-inkjet/mx922
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I found this online. It gives essentially the same information as Jeff does, just differently. It might help if you’re not sure about the process.
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2007/07/tutorial-custom-decal-sheets-2.html
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I found this online. It gives essentially the same information as Jeff does, just differently. It might help if you’re not sure about the process.
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2007/07/tutorial-custom-decal-sheets-2.html
Thanks. At this point I think the part I'm most unsure of is the making of the decal sheet itself... but it's always good to have multiple perspectives.
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Thanks. At this point I think the part I'm most unsure of is the making of the decal sheet itself... but it's always good to have multiple perspectives.
You mean in the photo editing program itself?
I’m not sure which program you’re using, but you should be able to make a work sheet/canvas in the size of the printer decal paper. Then set up some lines the distance apart you have measured the size of the shield face you want the decal to be and enlarge/reduce the image to fit.
Print off a test sheet in black and white on regular paper so you can cut it out and see if it fits. Adjust as necessary and try some more test prints until you get them the right size.
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Actually you don't even need a dedicated printer.
Print out your decals on regular paper and take it to the nearest copy shop with a good laser colour copier. Bring your LASER decal sheets with you and they'll gladly print them out for you.
I would suggest doing a few test prints on regular paper first and preferably in colour once you got the size correct. Laser printers tone colours down a bit.
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You mean in the photo editing program itself?
I’m not sure which program you’re using, but you should be able to make a work sheet/canvas in the size of the printer decal paper. Then set up some lines the distance apart you have measured the size of the shield face you want the decal to be and enlarge/reduce the image to fit.
Print off a test sheet in black and white on regular paper so you can cut it out and see if it fits. Adjust as necessary and try some more test prints until you get them the right size.
Yeah, I have basically no experience at all with things like Photoshop. I downloaded a program called "Inkscape" that is similar I guess, but there's still the learning curve factor. Funny enough, I've been watching a bunch of YouTube videos on making custom decals and I think I am pretty good on how to edit the images individually, it's just making the lines for the template that's giving me fits lol
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Some programs may not have all the features of others. There’s a reason photoshop is so popular and expensive.
GIMP is a very popular free alternative.
Do a search for free alternatives for photoshop.
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Some programs may not have all the features of others. There’s a reason photoshop is so popular and expensive.
GIMP is a very popular free alternative.
Do a search for free alternatives for photoshop.
Yeah I have GIMP as well as Inkscape. I've gotten to the point tonight where I am drawing in guidelines to a sheet (to hopefully be able to plunk in my shield designs later... I will probably edit those in GIMP?), but I have a feeling I'll later find out there's a much easier and quicker way than what I'm doing.
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Software:
GIMP is an adequate substitute for PhotoShop (I have an old version of PS and it still works so that's great).
There are a number things that make things work best (PS techniques).
Use layers to keep things separated.
Make you own grid guidelines that can be greyed back on a bottom or top layer which can be locked.
You can make a template guide of the shield outline on another layer if you need it- usually the grid is good enough.
Test print your grid in BW and make sure it aligns with your shields. You can either draw around them, or hold them up to a light and shadow judge them with the paper.
Build you basic art designs in separate files. For example you might want colored surrounds in one file, and symbols in another. That way you have a whole list of your high res images outside the printable document.
In PS use "Place" image (or it may be called embed now) to bring in your designs. Place them as "smart objects" then scale them to fit your grid. You can then repeat and copy and paste duplicates.
The good part of using "smart objects" is that if you decide to update a symbol then you only need to update the original art. Then when you update or re open your PS document the changes magically update.
All this may sound complicated- because it is. But the rewards are high if you learn the tricks.
Properly sprayed and protected home brewed decals are just as sturdy and workable as many commercial versions. Plus you have control of the design if you need fifty similar ones. I have a big issue getting my LBMS two part system ones to work for me- I reckon that is because I'm a clutz. So I prefer the old school dip them then align them then if needed use some setting solution.
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/hoplite_decals_transfers_jjonas/Creating%20a%20transfer%20set.jpg
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/hoplite_decals_transfers_jjonas/Place%20and%20scale.jpg
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Software:
GIMP is an adequate substitute for PhotoShop (I have an old version of PS and it still works so that's great).
There are a number things that make things work best (PS techniques).
Use layers to keep things separated.
Make you own grid guidelines that can be greyed back on a bottom or top layer which can be locked.
You can make a template guide of the shield outline on another layer if you need it- usually the grid is good enough.
Test print your grid in BW and make sure it aligns with your shields. You can either draw around them, or hold them up to a light and shadow judge them with the paper.
Build you basic art designs in separate files. For example you might want colored surrounds in one file, and symbols in another. That way you have a whole list of your high res images outside the printable document.
In PS use "Place" image (or it may be called embed now) to bring in your designs. Place them as "smart objects" then scale them to fit your grid. You can then repeat and copy and paste duplicates.
The good part of using "smart objects" is that if you decide to update a symbol then you only need to update the original art. Then when you update or re open your PS document the changes magically update.
All this may sound complicated- because it is. But the rewards are high if you learn the tricks.
Properly sprayed and protected home brewed decals are just as sturdy and workable as many commercial versions. Plus you have control of the design if you need fifty similar ones. I have a big issue getting my LBMS two part system ones to work for me- I reckon that is because I'm a clutz. So I prefer the old school dip them then align them then if needed use some setting solution.
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/hoplite_decals_transfers_jjonas/Creating%20a%20transfer%20set.jpg
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/hoplite_decals_transfers_jjonas/Place%20and%20scale.jpg
Yeah, I hear ya. There's something to be said for "paying your dues" with annoying stuff to get the satisfying payoff at the end. I've spent all my free time today on these computer shenanigans instead of painting, alas, but here's hoping it'll be worth it!
By the way Jeff, if it's not giving away any trade secrets or anything ( ;) ), mind if I ask what size you tend to scale your shield decals to? I've measured every shield and [hoplite/phalangite] shield I have, and I'm getting a range of between 11mm and 13mm.
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I don’t want to take away from your question to Jeff, but I found this tutorial which would be comparable to making decals for Carthage’s allies like Numidians.
https://mitchwargaming.blogspot.com/2013/03/pictish-shields.html?m=1 (https://mitchwargaming.blogspot.com/2013/03/pictish-shields.html?m=1)
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That's an excellent other process. Using a bitmap editor to scan into vector is a very useful technique. You can convert rasters to vectors in Photoshop as well but it is actual work.
Having a program like Inkscape is a boost to find, as Adobe Illustrator (my preferred bitmap to vector conversion tool is very expensive).
Having vectors as the placed or embedded smart objects work just as well as rasters- depending on your output. For example for hoplite shields at 10-12mm design radius and my 300 dpi home printer- there isn't too much better resolution to be squeezed out from a 512x512 pixel smart object.
Obviously if these were intended for higher definition, or maybe to be used for 54-60mm figures then I would be investing my time in vectors. But I haven't tried it for those scales as yet.
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Thanks for that link, Wmyers! Combining that with Jeff's will be really helpful.
I think I'm starting to "get the hang" of the creation aspect, if nothing else so far. I've got about 20 different designs that pass the "eyeball test", and might end up mixing decently with what I have already... though probably better mixed in with ones I hand paint than with my LBMS ones, at least for now lol
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That’s awesome!
I was glancing through the LBMS site and noted the first decals that were done were only 4 designs repeated 3 times. Or was it 3 repeated 4 times?
As the years went by (each set has a copyright year) they progressively get better, more detailed, battle damage and shading are added.
I’d love to see his tutorial for how to create the initial template for the shield size.
It’s probably a lot easier than one may initially think.
Then copy and paste the template 12 times and place the art in the template.
I noted the ripped surface showing boards underneath is reused in various sizes. Once you create a cut or tear or splatter, just copy and paste and resize and rotate as needed.
With some practice you could potentially make designs to sell.
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That’s awesome!
I was glancing through the LBMS site and noted the first decals that were done were only 4 designs repeated 3 times. Or was it 3 repeated 4 times?
As the years went by (each set has a copyright year) they progressively get better, more detailed, battle damage and shading are added.
I’d love to see his tutorial for how to create the initial template for the shield size.
It’s probably a lot easier than one may initially think.
Then copy and paste the template 12 times and place the art in the template.
I noted the ripped surface showing boards underneath is reused in various sizes. Once you create a cut or tear or splatter, just copy and paste and resize and rotate as needed.
With some practice you could potentially make designs to sell.
You know, I hadn't really thought about that last point, but it's true. Hell, see my first post in this thread! Jeff is right that this process can be such a pain the "payoff" at the end will be great.....but a lot of people aren't going to have the time or inclination to spend on it. Admittedly, I've had the thought multiple times in the last week as I'm fiddling at my computer trying to figure out these damnable programs (or watching YouTube videos thereto) like, "You know, you really should be painting right now..."
So maybe in the long-term, selling some transfers for beer money could be an idea lol There's obviously not a huge market for this, but I would imagine a small cadre of folks would really appreciate it.
I would definitely want to get better at the "art" aspect first, though. So far what I've mostly been doing is combining/modifying images I've found on the interwebs, kind of like Jeff describes on his site about homebrewed transfers. I'd imagine there would be a few legal hangups over intellectual property of anything that isn't from, say, a Greek black figure pot, and rightfully so!
Anyway, one thing I am kind of excited about though is that this is letting me indulge one of the things that get me interested in the Macedonian/Successors period in the first place: the syncretism of various cultures during the Hellenistic age! Sure there may be no evidence for it, but I love the thought of a unit of phalangites with a shields bearing the image of Zoroaster or the 8-pointed Wheel of Buddhism surrounded by a Greek key pattern.
What's funny though is I keep catching myself thinking "I need to make more so they're not all the same!!", when in fact the wargaming standard seems to be perfectly fine with whole units having the exact same shield pattern, even when it was unlikely historically :D
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Yeah, I’ve noted that Macedonians and Successors have uniform shield designs. I’m not sure the historical validity of that. I’ve just taken it for granted that is accurate without any independent research.
I too have been looking at shield designs. Some good ones seem to have been done for video games like Total War.
Warlord used to sell the Immortal hoplite decal sheet that was a very good deal.
https://www.warlordgames.com/webstore-greek-hoplite-shield-designs-transfers/
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Yeah, I’ve noted that Macedonians and Successors have uniform shield designs. I’m not sure the historical validity of that. I’ve just taken it for granted that is accurate without any independent research.
The most recent info I've read/heard is that outside of elite units like hypaspists, Silver Shields, Praetorian Guard, etc., most ancient armies would have been quite a bit more "irregular" than you might expect. Wargaming from what I've noticed seems to owe more to Napoleonic and later era standardization than anything.
I too have been looking at shield designs. Some good ones seem to have been done for video games like Total War.
Yeah I've actually nabbed a few screenshots from some old Rome: Total War mods of some of my favorite units :)
Warlord used to sell the Immortal hoplite decal sheet that was a very good deal.
https://www.warlordgames.com/webstore-greek-hoplite-shield-designs-transfers/
Ah yeah, I recognize some of those :D My first ever box of Warlord hoplites (which were actually Immortal... says so on the sprue!) came with a sheet of those. I think it had all the ones that are just black or white.
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I guess if you’re not selling them and they are out of print and it’s only for your own personal use, could a person scan them and then print?!
Copyright law here states you can make copies for your own personal use (music, videos, books, etc), but selling becomes piracy.
But that’s not very fair for a company who is currently selling the items.
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I guess if you’re not selling them and they are out of print and it’s only for your own personal use, could a person scan them and then print?!
Copyright law here states you can make copies for your own personal use (music, videos, books, etc), but selling becomes piracy.
But that’s not very fair for a company who is currently selling the items.
I think if you're "borrowing" images (well, bits of images) from what was already a fan mod of a video game (Europa Barbarorum in my case), it gets even murkier. Obviously for personal use no one is really gonna care, but selling them? Who knows? In this case it seems it would be nearly impossible to track down the original creator of a specific shield of a specific unit, in a fan made mod where things were credited to someone's user name on a message board thatay not exist anymore, or they haven't posted on in ten years!
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What may be very easy is to draw the design by hand in a larger than scale size and then scan it in and then convert it to vector or just leave it and then fill in various areas with colours and reduce it in size to match the template.
When it’s printed the scale reduction will reduce any imperfections as well.
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I think if you're "borrowing" images (well, bits of images) from what was already a fan mod of a video game (Europa Barbarorum in my case), it gets even murkier. Obviously for personal use no one is really gonna care, but selling them? Who knows? In this case it seems it would be nearly impossible to track down the original creator of a specific shield of a specific unit, in a fan made mod where things were credited to someone's user name on a message board thatay not exist anymore, or they haven't posted on in ten years!
True, but if you send a message we will get a email.
I know this because I was a skinner and modeller over 8 years for Roma Surrectum 2 (Rome Total War mod) and also work for Europa Barbarorum 2 and several mods for Medival II Total War.
All roman shields in Roma Surrectum 2 are my creations and everyone who asked me to use them with my name in credit list could use it, but mods (or people) who used it without permisison were banned (not talking about personal use).
I am not active since 2013, but gave a lot of permissions in the last few years. 😉
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Have you ever made any tutorials on how to make shield designs?
None of the ideas I have have I seen online. That's why I was thinking of just drawing them.
It seems a lot of the designs available commercially are just too perfect. Exact flipped copies on the opposite side of the shield (ie Celtic and Dacian designs).
When one looks at reenactors' shields, they are not that perfect. Mind you, perhaps with more time available in ancient times and perhaps with artists employed it would have been really good. But I look at tanks and aircraft (when they were hand drawn and not printed with use of computers and vector graphics) and they are not perfect nor photo realistic, by a long shot!
An examination of contemporary artwork shows, possibly, what artwork may have been like during the era.
Greek shields and art are far and above some of the Roman stuff. Late Roman designs look absolutely ... retrogressive.
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Have you ever made any tutorials on how to make shield designs?
None of the ideas I have have I seen online. That's why I was thinking of just drawing them.
It seems a lot of the designs available commercially are just too perfect. Exact flipped copies on the opposite side of the shield (ie Celtic and Dacian designs).
When one looks at reenactors' shields, they are not that perfect. Mind you, perhaps with more time available in ancient times and perhaps with artists employed it would have been really good. But I look at tanks and aircraft (when they were hand drawn and not printed with use of computers and vector graphics) and they are not perfect nor photo realistic, by a long shot!
An examination of contemporary artwork shows, possibly, what artwork may have been like during the era.
Greek shields and art are far and above some of the Roman stuff. Late Roman designs look absolutely ... retrogressive.
No, I didn't make any tutorials. I am afraid that there are no tutorials about this... but you can find a lot how to make some effects, damages...
I started with GIMP in 2005 (it was a free software, not sure about it now). In general you can do all in Gimp what you can do in Photoshop. Now I use Photoshop.
I agree about existing shield designs for Barbarians.
I don't like to see dekorative shields in my Gallic warbands, because only nobles and some elite units had them. That is why I made my own shield designs to fit Victrix shield models. Designs are simple.
Don't get me wrong... I really like LBMS transfers and have few houndreds of them. I also have some Veni Vidi Vici roman decals.
These are some designs created for Claymore Castings pavisier few years ago... the pic with units is a David Imrie's picture from Saxon dog group (with my designs).
EDIT:
Link of my shields.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=106909.msg1333209#msg1333209
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Gorgeous.
I guess if I had one question to ask, it would be how do you make the template shape to be the right size?
Obviously you must measure the shield off the mini and then draw in the borders OR do you scan the shields?
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Gorgeous.
I guess if I had one question to ask, it would be how do you make the template shape to be the right size?
Obviously you must measure the shield off the mini and then draw in the borders OR do you scan the shields?
Thank you.
Yes, you need to take a measure of the model, make some test how it fits and then create final shape.
It is impossible to scan a shield correctly because mostly they are curved.
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Thanks for the info, Pinno! I was wondering this myself, as since hoplite/phalangite shields are just circles, most other ones have a different shape. I was thinking I would base any other designs (Thracians', for instance) on LBMS transfers I already have, since while the designs are of course proprietary, the sizes are not.
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Could I sell this centaur design shield transfer? Sure.
Will I - probably not.
Shield transfer companies often add extra details that make their designs more copyrightable.
Obviously scanning and printing and selling other people's sheets is totally against copyright.
Doing the same for personal use is not against copyright. Obviously copying from the actual sheet means you lose quality and sharpness, but that may not be an issue if simple repetition of designs is desired. Scanning and placing from existing sheets will still need testing as dpi and scaling of your software may not actually give you a 1:1 scan placement (so be forewarned).
Generally decal/transfer companies make their products cheap enough to buy what one needs.
My problem is what happen if they don't offer the common and more simple designs in numbers that I want?
That's why I embarked on this process since often hoplite "store bought" decals are way too over the top either with colors or busy-ness or both.
The reenactor's shields I used as reference below:
https://www.ancienthoplitikon.com/thumbnaillarge/CENTAURASPIS28s29.jpg
The decal after being scaled/warped and retouched:
http://www.ancientbattles.com/HeroesOfGreece/hoplite_decals_transfers_jjonas/Sparta_Shields_003s.jpg
This design is based on vase art of centaurs with tree branches:
https://www.theoi.com/image/O12.1Kentauroi.jpg
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I would like to do something completely original if I was going through the process, anyway.
Like to and ever getting around to it are 2 different things...
I was thinking of purple background Praetorian designs.