Create a Coat of Arms for Yourself!

[Magus]

Found this pretty neat heraldry design program on the web (http://www.inkwellideas.com/coat_of_arms/index.shtml) (scroll down and click on where it says "free version"), allows you to design the thing pretty much in any way you want, quite a number of options here. If you go in thinking its speaking another language, its not, it's using the terms for diagonal lines and geometric designs (bends and bends sinisters) and such.

The free version is a Java applet, may or may not work on all systems.

A few tips: start with divisions first, then add ordinaries, then add symbols or creatures. Be sure to designate whether you want creatures/symbols to be put down all in one set or as separate ones, otherwise it's impossible to get creatures combatant, for example, or facing in opposite directions from one another. Make sure you go up to File in the top left hand corner and save when you're all finished.

I broke the rules of heraldry a bit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraldry), I think (I don't think you're supposed to put colors next to colors? Dunno, I think they're supposed to be separated by metals), but with a bit of tinkering I came up with this for my coat of arms (still worrying over what colors to make the hares, so there are three versions now):

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g57/baramosnet/coatofarms4.png

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g57/baramosnet/coatofarms5.png

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g57/baramosnet/coatofarms6.png

Also it sounds cool when you write down what the instructions for creating them are:

Fur Sable

Gyronny of 8, Gules, Or, Vert, Or, Divisio

Saltire Or, Or, Ordinar

Argent Hare, Sable Hare Combatant

OR

Two Argent Hares Combatant

OR

Two Sable Hares Combatant


You can also put a scroll with motto on there, but I can't think of a motto right now...

Go ahead and fuss about, it's actually pretty fun coming up with the geometric designs. As for creatures/symbols, try to find something that has to do with your life and history. Rabbits and hares are what the land my family has lived on for generations is named for.

[BitVyper]

Combatant? They are CLEARLY playing Patty Cake.

[CelesJessa]

But this is the first thing I thought of.

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/2674/allways2.png

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Background needs to be 20% cooler more FABULOUS!

[CelesJessa]

Part 2:

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6697/coatofawesome.png

I'll make a serious one... sometime.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/battleaxedragon.png

[Melfice]

Magus, I think your coat of arms is okay.
The ore saltire is placed on a gyronny of eight of vert and gules. (golden cross on an eight-ways division of green and red)

The red and green aren't on top of eachother, so it's cool. If the cross were azure, for example, it would have been illegal, I think.

The only thing actually illegal (again, I think) is the colouring of the hares. The argent hares are metal on metal and the sable hares are colour on colour. You could have the hares proper, meaning as they'd appear in nature. (probably a brown?)

EDIT: Also, as for the hares: While a charge can have personal meaning (as it does in your case), the hare generally stands for a person who enjoys a peaceable and retired life.

EDIT 2: I've tried, but I keep messing up, or the applet freezes on me. :(
I'll share my coat of arms another time.

[bluestarultor]

Magus, I think your coat of arms is okay.
The ore saltire is placed on a gyronny of eight of vert and gules. (golden cross on an eight-ways division of green and red)

The red and green aren't on top of eachother, so it's cool. If the cross were azure, for example, it would have been illegal, I think.

The only thing actually illegal (again, I think) is the colouring of the hares. The argent hares are metal on metal and the sable hares are colour on colour. You could have the hares proper, meaning as they'd appear in nature. (probably a brown?)

EDIT: Also, as for the hares: While a charge can have personal meaning (as it does in your case), the hare generally stands for a person who enjoys a peaceable and retired life.

EDIT 2: I've tried, but I keep messing up, or the applet freezes on me. :(
I'll share my coat of arms another time.

He could just have black and/or white hare(s) proper.


Also, it's not technically illegal to have colors on colors so long as the contrast is okay. I think it's the German royalty who have I think a sable lion rampant on a gules field.

Also, you can technically have metal on metal, but those are generally reserved for very important families and are considered coats that one should ask how they got that way.

[TDK]

What if you're not a peasant and already have a coat of arms?

http://www.araltas.com/features/sheehan/sheehan.jpg

[bluestarultor]

What if you're not a peasant and already have a coat of arms?

http://www.araltas.com/features/sheehan/sheehan.jpg

I'm in this boat. From my father's side, I've got the Irish Smiths (http://www.houseofnames.com/smith-coat-of-arms/Irish) and from my mother's side I've got the Scottish MacIntosh (http://www.scotsconnection.com/clan_crests/MacIntosh.htm, http://www.houseofnames.com/macintosh-coat-of-arms), which is what I grew up identifying with just from familiarity. Also, a motto that basically translates to "poke us and you'll get back a bloody stump" is all kinds of awesome in my book.


Edit: Technically, there's Farquharson (http://www.farquharson-clan.co.uk/content/about/coat_ofarms.htm) in there somehow, too, but I'm not fully clear on how.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

There is no hawk option available in that editor. I am severely dissapoint.

[Melfice]

There is no hawk option available in that editor. I am severely dissapoint.

Falcons can be substitutes for hawks.
And falcons are cooler anyway. (When hawks are not an option. (but seriously. Remember Prince Valiant? He had a falcon on his shield. Not a hawk.))

EDIT: I think? I recall him starting out with a horse, but then choosing a falcon... huh. (talking about the cartoon, by the way)

[Magus]

Magus, I think your coat of arms is okay.
The ore saltire is placed on a gyronny of eight of vert and gules. (golden cross on an eight-ways division of green and red)

The red and green aren't on top of eachother, so it's cool. If the cross were azure, for example, it would have been illegal, I think.

The only thing actually illegal (again, I think) is the colouring of the hares. The argent hares are metal on metal and the sable hares are colour on colour. You could have the hares proper, meaning as they'd appear in nature. (probably a brown?)

EDIT: Also, as for the hares: While a charge can have personal meaning (as it does in your case), the hare generally stands for a person who enjoys a peaceable and retired life.

EDIT 2: I've tried, but I keep messing up, or the applet freezes on me. :(
I'll share my coat of arms another time.

He could just have black and/or white hare(s) proper.


Also, it's not technically illegal to have colors on colors so long as the contrast is okay. I think it's the German royalty who have I think a sable lion rampant on a gules field.

Also, you can technically have metal on metal, but those are generally reserved for very important families and are considered coats that one should ask how they got that way.

Yeah, I meant black and white hares if that's what it takes to make it legal. As I understand it, animals can have whatever colors they have to have if they are naturally colored. This is the same with anything like a tree, or whatever, the colors don't count I believe if you have to have the tree look like a tree. In this case the only natural colors for hares in this particular editor were white and black, as there are white and black hares, and in this case I like the contrast. I was only use argent and sable for the hares because those were how the names were listed in the editor.

As for someone who enjoys a peaceable and retired life, that works for me, too! :D In battle, I could just run away and hide until my enemies got old and died. Best strategy there is.

It's cool some of you actually have coats of arms already. Us peasants have to make stuff up and invent our own heraldry.

There is no hawk option available in that editor. I am severely dissapoint

Really? I coulda swore there was...maybe it was an eagle.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/battleaxedragon.png

Man, why didn't I think to have my hares battling each other with axes?!

I prefer to think they are either 1. fighting instead of playing pattycake or 2. high-fiving instead of playing pattycake.

But then again it has to be pretty damn unique to have hares playing pattycake in your heraldry.

[bluestarultor]

Falcons can be substitutes for hawks.
And falcons are cooler anyway. (When hawks are not an option. (but seriously. Remember Prince Valiant? He had a falcon on his shield. Not a hawk.))

EDIT: I think? I recall him starting out with a horse, but then choosing a falcon... huh. (talking about the cartoon, by the way)

There was a cartoon? Maybe we're thinking of different things, but over here it's a weekly woodblock-styled newspaper comic that's been running since like the 1920s and has survived the death of the creator without losing much.

Although in the past year or two it kind of drove off a cliff in terms of being batshit insane. There was a giant komodo dragon and a few Neanderthals and now Aleta whipped witchcraft out of nowhere for the purpose of the plot. :raise:

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I have no idea what Melfice and Blues are talking about. But I will just say, Falcons are not hawks, therefore your point is invalid.

[Kerensky287]

I made some awesome heraldry depicting a bear getting smoked in the head by a comet but then the program crashed.

There were dizzy-stars and everything.

[Melfice]

There was a cartoon? Maybe we're thinking of different things, but over here it's a weekly woodblock-styled newspaper comic that's been running since like the 1920s and has survived the death of the creator without losing much.

Although in the past year or two it kind of drove off a cliff in terms of being batshit insane. There was a giant komodo dragon and a few Neanderthals and now Aleta whipped witchcraft out of nowhere for the purpose of the plot. :raise:

The cartoon was like waaaaay back in the 90's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Prince_Valiant). Also, it's intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ptWFP1kBQ).

Also, Hawk, falcons are not hawks. But they're the closest thing you've got in the program without resorting to eagles. And do you really want to use an eagle? Do you?
(and when I said that falcons can be substitutes, I meant in their meaning. Hawks and falcons share the same meaning. (depending on author, of course.))

[Magus]

There was a cartoon? Maybe we're thinking of different things, but over here it's a weekly woodblock-styled newspaper comic that's been running since like the 1920s and has survived the death of the creator without losing much.

Although in the past year or two it kind of drove off a cliff in terms of being batshit insane. There was a giant komodo dragon and a few Neanderthals and now Aleta whipped witchcraft out of nowhere for the purpose of the plot. :raise:

Pretty sure Prince Valiant has always been fighting like natives riding leviathans like five or six times throughout its run. The problem with Prince Valiant is not a person in existence has been able to actually follow the plot, though I believe somewhere along the line the guy had a son who is now his squire or whatever.

I have no idea what Melfice and Blues are talking about. But I will just say, Falcons are not hawks, therefore your point is invalid.

Yeah, it'd be nice to upload your own stuff to stick in it, but that's probably a feature in the pro version he is trying to sell. Such a program has a very narrow margin of usefulness for me so I don't see myself investing in it, though it appears to be pretty cheap.

You could do all the geometric crap and then save it, try to put a hawk into it with an art program. It's too bad the creator didn't think of hawks, seem like a pretty basic heraldic animal and there are some major differences between hawks and falcons, at least as much as between some of the other stuff (I mean the guy had hares AND rabbits, why not hawks and falcons?). But for a free program it's not too shabby...

I made some awesome heraldry depicting a bear getting smoked in the head by a comet but then the program crashed.

There were dizzy-stars and everything.

Is this to recreate the great bear-comet collision of 1271?

[bluestarultor]

The cartoon was like waaaaay back in the 90's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Prince_Valiant). Also, it's intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ptWFP1kBQ).

WTF? Bobby Benson? Tim Curry? That show has some names in it! :wtf:

Also, it looks nothing like the comic, volume off to prevent waking the family. Although the art style looks a lot like Adventures from the Book of Virtues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_from_the_Book_of_Virtues) to me for some reason, so if it's the same studio, it probably wasn't bad.

[Krylo]

What if you're not a peasant?That is why God invented guillotines.


And falcons are cooler anyway. (When hawks are not an option. (but seriously. Remember Prince Valiant? He had a falcon on his shield. Not a hawk.))

Prince Valiant doing anything is an argument for why that thing is a horrible thing, not the other way around.

[Amake]

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv324/immortalpictures/coat.png
I'm hoping that centuries from now scholars will deduce this shield contains an entirely indecipherable code with its own symbolic language. Or at least that someone will chuckle at my weaksauce attempt at being random, painfully emphasized by Monty Python quotes.

[mauve]

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv324/immortalpictures/coat.png
I'm hoping that centuries from now scholars will deduce this shield contains an entirely indecipherable code with its own symbolic languag.
Oh, it's not that indecipherable. The tower represents stability and steadfastness, and as it is in the background, being guarded by that green dragon, clearly this represents your willingness to defend what you hold dear. It may also hint at a ferocity in war. The bird flying out of... that... patch of grass or something... represents your ability to rise above when least expected. And the pink spur...um... represents a willingness to take the lead, leap forward into battle, etc.

The alternating black and grey stripes represent... uh.... security, and the smaller red and white stripes represent bloodshed and peace, respectively.

The white shapes in the center are either trees or UFO's with tractor beams. They represent a forest or a bunch of UFOs with tractor beams.

The slogan on the banner is actually a carefully devised code which reveals the exact location of a great buried treasure, amassed by your ancestors and hidden during a great battle against pirates. (It's either in a forest or being carted off by ufo's. I can't tell.)


Am I right about this or what?

[Amake]

Well, obviously I can't confirm or deny your interpretation as that would spoil the mystery, but they don't even make post cards for how wrong you are.

[mauve]

Pfft. You just don't want me to find your family's buried treasure before you do.

[Aerozord]

not sure if my family coat of arms applies to me. All my anglo-saxon ancestry is from my mothers side, and I assume this is the kind of thing passed down fathers line

[Overcast]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/Yoshaki/Infinity.png

Simple, and with bad habits I'd enjoy seeing in the family history.