The International Association of Amateur Heralds

What is the best way to learn how to draw heraldry? are there any specific books on it?

I don't know, but I desperately want to learn as well. I feel that I could serve as a much better herald if I could provide my own artwork.

See the list at http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/i ... raphy#toc2

I recommend the books by Lovett and Von Volborth, but maybe because they're the two I know best.

Although, no heraldic artist myself, I do emblazon some shields for my own benefit.

I would offer the following advice. Firstly, is Wikipedia. Everything on Wikipedia is copyright free. If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page; go to the bottom of the page and click on "Commons" , or go straight to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page this will take you to a great repository of heraldic images.

Type heraldry in the search box. The first problem now occurs - there is no rhyme nor reason nor logical categorisation for all the images. The whole thing is like Topsy - it just grew and grew! But, perseverance pays off and if you search for the right things, you will find them. Any search should be "XXXX in heraldry". If you search for Fess, you may or may not find any. But if you search for Fess (or Fesses (I know)) in heraldry, you will find 10,000.

Having found your image, click on it and get to the page for that image (each image will have a separate page. If the image is SVG, under it you will find various size options. Click on 2000X - (you can make it smaller and it still looks good; make it bigger and it looks rubbish). Save to your hard drive.

You need an image handling programme. I use Paint Shop Pro - it was free and it does the job. I work in MS Paint, but it won't handle the image you have just downloaded, by itself. I open it in P S P and then copy it and then paste it into Paint. Then you can do with it what you like. I always save as a PNG file and can edit it in Paint any time after that.

There is as well "Inkscape", open source and free to download. http://inkscape.org/ Some say that it will do as good a job as Photoshop. There are tutorials on line and forums. Give it a go.

I have used Inkscape in the past, and it is a good program. I'd rather use a Wacom tablet than a mouse to draw, but that will have to wait until I replace my current dinosaur.

if yopu want to draw/paint manually then look at the pictures of others read alot about the basics of heraldry and practice a lot. Just take a book with blasons in it and start to draw.

Chas Charles-Dunne wrote: I open it in P S P and then copy it and then paste it into Paint.

Hi Chas,
Why do yo do things that way? Once in PSP why do you not continue using that programme? I do the same as you but I stay in PSP. I have found that Paint is a very basic programme and gives nowhere the same latitude afforded by PSP. What version of PSP do you use?

GJKS wrote:

Chas Charles-Dunne wrote: I open it in P S P and then copy it and then paste it into Paint.

Hi Chas,
Why do yo do things that way? Once in PSP why do you not continue using that programme? I do the same as you but I stay in PSP. I have found that Paint is a very basic programme and gives nowhere the same latitude afforded by PSP. What version of PSP do you use?

Hi Geoff,

It is Paint Shop Pro 7 "The Millennium Edition". It was a free gift from PSP in 2000. I have found it to be a bit quirky and often doesn't do what I want it to. I have found it very good for old photographs and have retouched and refurbished many that are over a 100 years old, with great success. I also have Photoshop CS and illustrator CS, but like PSP, I find that they are just a little bit too clever for their own good.

For photos they are great, but for basic graphics MS Paint does exactly what I want it to do. I know my own limitations and that I have not got the expertise to use Photoshop and PSP to their full potential so I stick to Paint.

Ask what the armiger is thinking. How YOU (I can't draw a straight line with a ruler) draw what is blazoned depends on what the armiger tells you. We have our formal shields and such, but why can't my CoA be depicted as a wyvern holding a battered shield in one claw and the sword in an other with my famous (or infamous) slouch hat on his head ? That is how I envision my arms.

A wyvern holding a shield and wearing a hat must be blazoned as such. If it isn't in the blazon, it should not be emblazoned. I've had the same "BEAT ARMY" ball cap since I was a Plebe, but it has no place anywhere on my arms because it is not in the blazon.