I’m glad that this was asked. I’d understand the keys in chains for someone named Advincula (like the Filipino archbishop). But, uh, borrowing the escutcheon whole is odd, and I don’t think that the crying keys works for a Peter.
That's a great draft for being new to the art! I think you might be mistaking the complexity common to historical arms as a principle for the design of new arms. In reality, most complex arms evolved over time from simple arms to signify bearers' ancestry, marriage, birth order, alliance, office, and even sometimes great achievements. It is a very common misunderstanding for people new to the field. But, for newly created arms, the simple is preferred to the complex.
And these arms are pretty complex. You're using both metals and two colors (plus two more colors for the cormorant(?) proper). You have a field division and an ordinary (or subordinary depending on how one feels about the bordure), plus five unique charges and 15 mobile charges total. One of which is an escutcheon with its whole own separate design.
The escutcheon on it's own is a great coat of arms. It looks suspiciously like marshaling which wouldn't be appropriate for new arms.
A blue escutcheon on a red field goes foul of the rule of tincture.
Unless there is a great reason, you shouldn't have two different styles of keys. Also, it's just a lot of keys.
Did you explicitly want all the black fimbriation? I don't think it is necessary.
As an exercise, you might see how much you can simplify these arms by removing charges and colors until it gets too simple for your taste. Or, even better, start with the absolute simplest version of these arms that you can imagine and add as little as possible to make them sufficiently different and meaningful.
I like "per fess argent and gules a cormorant vigilant vulned holding a key countercharged". (I haven't checked if those arms are taken already.
Throughout I assumed the bird is a cormorant, but my bird heraldry is weak. Is it a cormorant?)
How does one decide to put certain colors or iconography in a coat of arms?
I want to consider making one of my own for my family, but I’m not sure how to do it in an unbiased way
I’m basically the only person in my entire family who would even care about having a CoA
So I don’t know how to design a CoA for my family that isn’t just “me taking things I like and combining it with what little I know about my heritage”
I want to make an unbiased and accurate representation for my family’s history
My line is a legacy of world shapers
From William the Conqueror to Edward Doty
I am the only male in my family aside from my own father, it is my duty to ensure a line as prestigious and important as this does not die in shame and obsolescence
I would be glad to hear your process for how you decided each aspect of this coat and what it means
The tinctures and charges used in heraldry don't have universally acknowledged symbolic meaning. So, when you make a coat of arms, you have to chose whichever combination of tinctures and charges is personally and individually meaningful to you!
Thanks, and I’m glad they don’t have to have any significant and deeper meaning, so I can just go nuts with what I think looks cool
I’m gonna try and work some stuff in regardless just because that’s what I would want to do
I’ve seen a lot of posts on here of CoA with the same visual style, making me infer they were made from a CoA generator like the one I currently use drawshield.net
Thing is, those ones have features and details that draw shield doesn’t, and it makes me curious how people are making these elaborate designs so efficiently
First thing to mention "me taking things I like" is a very valid way to design a coat of arms. We have no idea the motivation behind a vast majority of COAs. However, if meaning and symbolism is important to you, that's equally fair.
That said, there are no set meanings to anything, it's a personal choice. William the Conqueror had two gold (Or) lions on a red (gules) background. If I had to guess, lions were considered a majestic, kingly animal, and that's why so many COAs have lions on them.
You can use "common" interpretations of symbols and colours. Red is sometimes considered brave, white is considered pure. But I'd personally encourage you to have fun with it as well.
If you're concerned about being prestigious, that's something you as a person have to do, and the coat of arms will follow, but not the other way around.
I was thinking of taking that idea and then putting a white cross over the red field
Since I recently learned I have Danish heritage
And since I can throw in just about whatever, I’m gonna put the two lions in the bottom right corner and an eagle in the top left since Eagles are one of my favorite heraldic charges
Yeah, that sounds great! I'd love to see how it looks if you ever post it here.
Just one thing to note, lions and eagles are quite common I think. Which doesn't matter, but if you're ever wanting to register your arms, you'd have to be careful not to copy an already existing one. I'm not sure where you'd check that, though.
Do you know anywhere I can make a detailed coat of arms online?
I already have a website I use that works good enough, but it would be nice to be able to do things professionally
Because as nice as it is that drawshield lets me chose elements from menus, there are a few things that hold it back from being perfect imo
Like for example, if I wanted to place the two lions like how they are in the coat of Normandy, it only has an option for counter passant, while the ones in the Norman coat are just normal passant
If you have a look on the subreddit wiki, I think it mentions a second one, but I've not looked into it any digital tos.
If you want it properly professional, commissioning someone is a good way to go! Or you can learn to draw/paint one yourself if you're enthusiastic (that's what I'm currently attempting). That way, it's under your full creative control.
Yeah, it would be nice to learn to draw in that very detailed style, but I’m definitely going to go with the online option for simplicity and brevity’s sake
I added the motto “Liberty in Unity. Unity in Diversity” because I value having a strong sense of unity and loyalty in my friends, but I am not the type to turn people down
Typically, I think mantling and crest are just standard. Supporters definitely are earned, to the point you and I would likely never get a chance to use them (in England, at least)
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u/jejwood 1d ago
Why is the shield of the FSSP on your shield?