Charity unveils animated portrait of the last Tommy

 
War veteran: Harry Patch as painted by David Tucker
Sian Boyle7 November 2013

Six “digital portraits” of war veterans have been commissioned to mark 100 years since the start of the First World War.

The Not Forgotten Association (NFA) has launched the series of animated portraits to help keep alive the memory of those who served in the trenches.

Harry Patch, the last surviving “Tommy” who died aged 111 in 2009, is the first subject of the work by London-based artist and documentary filmmaker David Tucker. He painted a portrait of Mr Patch in oils before digitally turning each of the 2,671 brush strokes into an individual layer. These were then animated to reconstruct his face and recordings of his reminiscences were added along with Radiohead’s song Harry Patch (In memory of).

The portrait was inspired by a photograph taken by former 40 Commando Royal Marine Giles Price, who was injured in Iraq in 1991 and has received direct support from the NFA.

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke said that the way Mr Patch talked about war had a profound effect on him. He added: “It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war without the likes of Harry to remind us. I hope we do not forget.” Tucker said he was privileged to have worked with those who knew Mr Patch.

Each portrait will depict a different generation of service veteran spanning the past 100 years. The first portrait can be seen on the NFA website and YouTube.

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