How I Design

Note; This article is written with the idea one has knowledge of how to use graphics software like GIMP, Paint Shop Pro, or Photoshop, and for someone with a minimal of heraldric knowledge. If you do not use GIMP or another graphics program you may not understand what I am saying here. If you are a herald please do not feel I am talking down to you as you probably know more than I.

The design process is actually pretty simple for me, and would be for anyone familiar with graphic design. First, I come up with an idea for a design, what images I want on the shield, how I want it styled, and the colors. If the shield is to have just a plain background (the field) I simply pull a blank SCA shield graphic up in GIMP (a free raster graphics editor) and fill it with whatever color (tincture) I want. These blank shield graphics are available at many of the SCA Kingdom Heraldry sites or on my Blank Shield Page. The basic heraldric tinctures are azure (blue), gules (red), vert (green), sable (black), and purpure (purple). In addition to these colors are the metals Or (yellow) and argent (white).  A color cannot go on a color, it must go on a metal. And a metal cannot go on a metal it must go on a color. In the SCA this is called the Rule of Tincture. You can read more about the Rule of Tincture at http://heraldry.sca.org/armory/lessons/lesson01.html.

In addition to the colors and metals are the furs. Some of the furs are ermine (white with black ermine spots), ermines (black with white ermine spots), erminois (yellow with black ermine spots), and pean (black with yellow ermine spots). There are others. Furs are considered a color or a metal depending on the primary background color. Thus ermine and eminois are metals while pean and ermines are considered colors. There are other furs and you can find these these at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Furs_in_heraldry. If I am using a fur, I have graphic files for these, and I simply open the fur file, copy the image, and switch to the window with the blank shield, select the field of the shield and paste the image in. It would take much too long to color in all the spots. And I do not have that kind of patience.

If I am diving the field into different tinctures I then use Coat of Arms Design Studio (CoADS) at http://inkwellideas.com/coat_of_arms/. A field division is an area that is a different color from the rest of the field. For example if the field of a shield were per pale it would be divided into two colors lengthwise down the center of the shield and one could be black and the other red. Some examples of field divisions can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_the_field. There is a rule in the SCA that if one is using field divisions there must be good contrast between the tinctures. Red and black would be okay as there is good contrast. Black, purple, and red would not be as there is not sufficient contrast between the colors. The rules in the SCA regarding this can be found at http://heraldry.sca.org/armory/lessons/lesson01.html.  I use Coat of Arms Design Studio to get the divisions right as I am no good at judging free hand how to draw them. If one wants to stick to GIMP, Paint Shop Pro, or Photoshop. and not use Coat of Arms Studio they can use one of the shield graphics from my Blank Shields page or from elsewhere on the internet. A word of warning the shields produced by Coat of Arms Studio are fatter than the shields standardly used in the SCA. When I design a device in CoADS I have to pull up a standard blank shield graphic in GIMP select the field and paste the CoADS shield into the selection, In GIMP it is sometimes easiest to save the shield as a JPG or PNG at that point, close the file, and reopen it. GIMP does not seem to play nice with layers. In other graphic programs you can usually just merge the layers. If I am using a blank shield with a division then it is just a matter of me filling in the various divisions with a color I want.

Once I have the field done the way I want it I begin pasting in the charges (the images on the shield). A charge is any image that occupies the field of the shield. These usually are symbols like a cross or an annulet (basically a ring), images of various beasts like lions or wolves or birds, images of plants such as roses or lilies, or what are called ordinaries. An ordinary is a simple geometric figure on the field such as a cross or rectangle that runs the length or width of the shield. These run from one side of the field to another (or in the case of crosses to all four sides) An example is a bend, which is a band of a different tincture running across the shield diagonally. Another is a chief which is a band running across the top third or fourth of the length of shield. There are several of these. Examples cane be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_(heraldry). There are several places image files of charges are available on the net. Some I insert in CoADS when using it (all are taken from examples of heraldric devices), I also have files I have downloaded and can paste in in GIMP. A couple of good sites with heraldric charges are http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/Stars/Heraldry_SVG_Images/index.htm and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Heraldry.

A word of warning for SCA members designing their own devices, some heraldric charges that can be found on the internet are not period. Be sure to check with a herald about whether a charge is period or appears too modern. Charges generally are a solid color sometimes outlined in black or with details being filled in in other colors.An example is a stag who might be brown with yellow antlers. Charges must follow the rule of tincture. No metals on metals or colors on color are allowed unless it is a simple artistic detail (brown eyes on a white animal or such). Many charges can be shown as the color they appear in nature. In this case they are called "proper." An acorn proper is brown. A list of the proper color of things can be found at http://heraldry.sca.org/coagloss.html#proper

Generally, I try to stick to only two or at most three charges group (a charge group are a set of related charges). There is a limit in the SCA of three layers of charges. A field counts as one layer, an ordinary as another, and a charge as another. Thus if I have a field with a ordinary upon it, and a charge upon that I have reached my limit. In addition there can be no more than eight charges. Finally, the SCA College of Arms will not allow what is called "slot machine heraldry." An example of slot machine heraldry would be three different kinds of charges all in a row. For example were I to place a rose, a cross, and a fleur de lis all in a row across the shield that would be slot machine heraldry.

Once I am done with a design I generally turn the background around the shield transparent. I do this by making it a color I have not used in the design. For example if I had a device with a white field, and a blue bend between two red roses I would make the background around the shield yellow and then make yellow the transparent color. I then crop the image to the size of the shield so that the edges of the shield touch the edge of the canvas. I then resize the image so that the shield is roughly 6 inches tall and 5 inches wide when printed out. This is the standard size used on SCA device submission forms, and if a kingdom allows color print outs of the device will make pasting it into the shield on the form much easier. Finally I save it in PNG file format. I do this as it saves the image's transparent color. Jpeg files do not allow transparent colors. I could also save it as a GIF file as GIFs also support transparent colors. I prefer PNG format myself personally. If I like a design I will then post it here on this blog. And I am done!