The word camouflage came to the English language from French, meaning to disguise or conceal. One of the first instances of camouflage being observed began with fine artists studying nature. In observing animals, artist and amateur naturalist Abbott Thayer recognized the qualities that enabled predators and prey to survive and be consumed as part of the food chain. Thayer wrote on countershading, the instance of an animal’s skin or fur being darker on the upper side of their bodies and lighter on their underside. When light shines on an animal with this type of marking, it makes them appear flat and inconspicuous to the eye. Some of Thayer’s writings on this subject have been debated, but the evidence around countershading and disruptive patterning became the basis for camouflage in military use, such as the painting of ships and the development of uniforms.

The advancement of more accurate firearms and weapons in the 19^th century meant a greater need for soldiers and military personnel to be protected. The most important component and function of camouflage might be the ability to fit into a natural background. This idea is exploited when disruptive patterning is used.

Disruptive patterning often uses crude shapes and forms such as stripes and spots. These organic or natural looking shapes break up the outline of an animal (such as a zebra or tiger), military hardware, or personnel. It is important to note that disruptive patterning is just one form of camouflage. Colouration, shadow, distraction, self-decoration (a soldier who paints his face), veiled behaviour, motion, changeable skin colour, counter-illumination, transparency, mimesis and dazzle are all forms of camouflage that are used in the social world and natural world.

Some of these were applied to military hardware and tactics during WWI. The dazzle (a form of optical illusion) pattern has been used on battleships. Mimesis was used on “observation trees” developed by French artist Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scevola. These trees - modelled after a pollard willow - became sites to observe things, while not being observed in return.

Camouflage uniforms began with the use of bland khaki and green uniforms for rifle units. Eventually by WWII, disruptive patterning was used not only to conceal soldiers but to be recognizable to others within your army.

The French artist and designer Andre-Charles Mare was one of the early developers of camouflage in both hardware and gear. Mare, along with artist Fernand Leger, used the bold language of Cubism (see Sensational Still Lifes in Solitude) in the development of uniforms and hardware. Mare and his team (including Leger), designed authentic looking fake trees, hollow on the inside so soldiers could climb inside and use them as lookouts. The team camouflaged military hardware, such as canons, so they would not be seen from the air. They created fake objects that looked like military hardware too, all in an effort to deceive the enemy. Mare kept detailed journals with blueprints, notes on Cubism, and ideas for the creation of objects.

Pattern is one of the visual elements at play in camouflage. Pattern is a natural or chance marking used repetitively in art, design and in nature. Patterns can be seen on leaves and trunks of trees, waves and rocks in the ocean, and paths, roads, and highways made by humans. In combining organic shapes, patterns, and the colours of the landscape, artists were able to develop camouflage.

Pop Art and Popular Culture

In the 1980s, Pop artist Andy Warhol began to incorporate camouflage into his works. When making artwork and looking to everyday life for inspiration, Warhol began to see how camouflage was becoming popular with hip-hop and rap artists in the five boroughs of New York City, who were wearing used camouflage clothes found at army surplus stores. Using this pattern in his artwork, Warhol references conflict but also a part of pop culture that was now very visible.

During WWII, Vogue Magazine used camouflage in several of its layouts. Fashion designer Stephen Sprouse collaborated with Warhol to create a wardrobe of clothes with Warhol’s camouflage pattern. Since then, high and low fashion have readily used camouflage, including high-end fashion and product designers like Philip Treacy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Versace, Moschino, iPhone, Adidas, Vans, and Lululemon.

Today militaries all over the world employ camouflage in the service of war, protection and disguise. In 2001 the Canadian Army was the first to create a digitized version of disruptive patterning for use in the war in Afghanistan.

Begin by gathering a piece of paper and your pencil. Using the image carousel containing examples of some types of camouflage, draw out your own pattern of camouflage. This will act as a draft to understand how the shapes flow together when you draw them.

Experiment with colour: using your markers or paints, fill in the camouflage pattern with colours that work well together. They do not have to be traditional camouflage colours, as long as they work together to create a cohesive pattern. Remember, Andy Warhol used colours like bright pink for his camouflage portraits, so there’s no limit to what colours you can use.

The more shapes your camouflage pattern has, the more convincing it will be in tricking the eye into flattening your final image, so plan out your drawing and painting well.

Once you are happy with the draft of your camouflage pattern, find a photo of yourself, a photo of someone else (get their consent if necessary), or a picture of someone drawn from a magazine or newspaper page. You will be drawing your camouflage pattern on top of this photo, so make sure the background imagery isn’t too dark and that there is adequate space in the background to contain some of the pattern. If necessary, cut the person out of the photo and glue them onto a larger piece of paper.

Begin to draw out your camouflage pattern using your draft as a reference, making sure it covers the entire surface of the paper. The figure must be evenly covered.

Once this is done, lightly mark your shapes with letters that correspond to the colour you will fill them in with (for example, R = red, B = blue, etc.). This will help you plan out your colour placement so that no similar colours end up laying directly next to one another. This does not happen in traditional camouflage.

Carefully fill in the camouflage shapes with their corresponding colours with marker or paint. When going over the face, ensure to use a lighter application of paint or marker to keep the colour slightly transparent.

When you have completed your work, photograph it and if you feel comfortable post your camouflage artwork on Twitter, hashtag them with #MacLarenWedge and mention us @MacLarenArt so we can retweet your work!