Heraldic Design

[Sir James A]

ugh the inkwell program is such a pain in my butt! I hate Java...I did when I was learning and I do now that I have to use it...

I might end up just using photoshop to make my heraldry design!

Ya I used paint for this. But to get the shield shape to be right i got it off a heraldry design site. Its the same as most of the coat of arms the men on this site have.

Yes I quite like it! I really want to use a stag but I want the other stuff too so it wont really work so I may drop the whole stag thing. I'm still debating on whether or not to keep the bordering chevrons or not. My biggest concern is how the surcotte will look. Im thinking of making the green chief on both sides so I can be more easily identified. Except the back won't have the formee crosses. I may add a secondary chevron like thing at the bottom. I will be sure to post another update later this month.

A green chief border at top with the 3 crosses, and a stag over the white background - just drop the chevron and it will be easy to keep the stag without looking too "busy" for early heraldry

[Aiden of Oreland]

ugh the inkwell program is such a pain in my butt! I hate Java...I did when I was learning and I do now that I have to use it...

I might end up just using photoshop to make my heraldry design!

Ya I used paint for this. But to get the shield shape to be right i got it off a heraldry design site. Its the same as most of the coat of arms the men on this site have.

Yes I quite like it! I really want to use a stag but I want the other stuff too so it wont really work so I may drop the whole stag thing. I'm still debating on whether or not to keep the bordering chevrons or not. My biggest concern is how the surcotte will look. Im thinking of making the green chief on both sides so I can be more easily identified. Except the back won't have the formee crosses. I may add a secondary chevron like thing at the bottom. I will be sure to post another update later this month.

A green chief border at top with the 3 crosses, and a stag over the white background - just drop the chevron and it will be easy to keep the stag without looking too "busy" for early heraldry

I did something with that with earlier pieces of mine. But they had different elements. I'll go back over and play around a but more and post the results.

[Sir Edward]

ugh the inkwell program is such a pain in my butt! I hate Java...I did when I was learning and I do now that I have to use it...

I might end up just using photoshop to make my heraldry design!

Yeah, there's no "perfect" heraldry editor out there, unfortunately.

For the Order website, we've standardized around a 170 x 200 resolution. But I generally ask people to submit a much larger image to me and let me resize it.

[Don Jorge]

This is the height and spacing I would modify all the other eagles at in my other mock ups so they are evenly spaced from the top and side borders...I think...


I like the key I just wish the program let me change it so it was horizontal instead of vertical...also probably need to adjust it so the shaft of the key is in the middle rather than the picture itself (it is at 50% but the program puts the whole picture in the middle rather than the shaft of the key).


Some cool variations with 3 eagles instead of 2:



Opinions or observations?

[Sir Wolf]

i like the first one.

[Sir James A]

First or second; first is first choice, second is second choice. Purely coincidental.

[Don Jorge]

i like the first one.

Yeah, I do too but I think towers might be overdone a bit and really like the idea of keys...maybe if I find a different type of key and use some art editing program...

[Sir Douglas]

I like the first one, too, but I can understand why you're worried that castles might be overused.

Maybe try a variation with two keys crossed in saltire?
A castle and a key might make for some interesting symbolism, though it would also be that much more difficult to reproduce it on things.

[scott2978]

Don't know how much it matters to you guys, but most of what passes for heraldry these days, including the descriptions of the various elements, are not medieval but 16th - 18th century meanings. Heraldry was not an exact science in the middle ages, and there was pretty much no regulation of it for nearly the entire medieval period. Until some time in the 14th century the most common way of acquiring arms was simply to invent them for yourself. It wasn't until 1415 that any official organization existed to regulate them and settle disputes. So if you portay a knight from before then, they sky's really the limit, within reason, and what we know about trends of heraldic design throughout history.

[Sir James A]

I like the key I just wish the program let me change it so it was horizontal instead of vertical

I missed this since there were pretty pictures.

Pick the object by clicking on the design square in the middle, and it has rotation there. It's mildly wonky but put "0" (without quotes) in the rotation box (it'll be empty by default) and then click the +15 / -15 to rotate it around. You can do 90* for horizontal, or do 45* and -45* with two of them to do crossed keys like you have below.

It's a fairly versatile program given the $0 price tag.

[Timothy]

Hi

There are at least two heraldry groups on FB. Heraldry Society and International Heraldry Society. Both have helped me in my design.

Timothy

[Sir Edward]

I like the key I just wish the program let me change it so it was horizontal instead of vertical...also probably need to adjust it so the shaft of the key is in the middle rather than the picture itself (it is at 50% but the program puts the whole picture in the middle rather than the shaft of the key).

It does let you change all of those things. To rotate horizontal, edit the "rotate" field to have a 90 or 270. To shift it left or right, change the "Horizontal" and "Vertical" values.

[Sir Edward]

Don't know how much it matters to you guys, but most of what passes for heraldry these days, including the descriptions of the various elements, are not medieval but 16th - 18th century meanings. Heraldry was not an exact science in the middle ages, and there was pretty much no regulation of it for nearly the entire medieval period. Until some time in the 14th century the most common way of acquiring arms was simply to invent them for yourself. It wasn't until 1415 that any official organization existed to regulate them and settle disputes. So if you portay a knight from before then, they sky's really the limit, within reason, and what we know about trends of heraldic design throughout history.

Yes, this is a good reminder. This is partly why we don't enforce any of it, in terms of arms used in the Order. But I try to encourage people to work within the rules, in case it matters to them, or they want to also register their arms with the SCA or another organization.

[Aiden of Oreland]

Can't forget that if your heraldry looks to much like another SCA member in the same group as you, it is invalid.

[Don Jorge]

So my designs were turned down as someone already has picked out green field and chevron division in or and 2 charges above and 1 below...so I worked with an SCA herald and came up with this. It is a Cant on my name as Costa also is the root word for Costilla...rib...I think it will look fierce in the battlefield and on a jupon!