My youngest brother Abel Boyd Garrison’s arms are:
Argent a star of eight points with rays in cross extended Sable and on a chief embattled Sable an Eagle Displayed Argent.
If anyone felt generous enough to render up something for that with their available clip art I would be grateful.
Also critique and thoughts (pros or cons) on these arms welcome.
An eagle displayed argent could be quite MUSHED (nope, not a technical term) on a chief embattled. I, too, would like to see an example - but from a distance (or for those of us with bad eyesight) I can see the <squint>, "What is that charge?" comment.
What significance does the eagle displayed have for the armiger?
Totally agree with you Kathy… an eagle in chief is probably going to look lonely. :(
Armiger is half-brother (we share a dad) and his mom’s father was mostly polish and I believe his mom’s mom is also some polish so he demanded to have a polish eagle in chief. I told him I didn’t like the polish eagle with crown due to 1) eagle doesn’t need to be any taller if it’s in chief, 2) Stealing polish eagle is bad form, and so I recommended just an uncrowned eagle displayed argent to allude vaguely to the Polska. He agreed.
He didn’t like the eight pointed stars in chief at all.
Anyhow, there is historical precedent for a single eagle displayed in chief so it’s not completely wrong, but yeah… definitely an artistic challenge.
Kathy McClurg;82875 wrote:
An eagle displayed argent could be quite MUSHED (nope, not a technical term) on a chief embattled.
Not if emblazoned properly. Charges should be drawn to fill the available area, as in these two examples of the capo dell’impero (chief of the [Holy Roman] Empire), which medieval Italian families used to show loyalty to the the Ghibelline or imperial faction in the Italian politics of the time.
http://www.molfetta.net/images/stemmi/de_giudice.jpg
By the way, Googling "capo dell’impero" will turn up lots of examples of the misuse of clipart in heraldic emblazonment. No real heraldic artist worth his salt would put a tiny eagle on the middle of a chief, but that’s what cutting and pasting a standard clipart ‘eagle displayed’ results in.
Mr. McMillan, thanks for making clear that not filling the whole space of the chief would be an heraldic blunder. This was my feeling as well.
EDIT: I managed to doodle an example so I could get a better idea of how this looks, and I’m not as displeased with the idea of an eagle in chief as I was before. It can be done without making the eagle look like the leading member of the Fantastic Four in order to get it to fit.
http://www.americanheraldry.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=844&d=1305324683
Also, Abel is still not sure about his motto and crest.
I think that’s a very nice drawing and can be a really nice shield as well. Good job!
Joseph McMillan;82878 wrote:
Not if emblazoned properly. Charges should be drawn to fill the available area, ...... No real heraldic artist worth his salt would put a tiny eagle on the middle of a chief, but that’s what cutting and pasting a standard clipart ‘eagle displayed’ results in.
Understood the artist will fill the field. I like the sketch.. but… given the typical hieght vs width ratio of a chief and the draw of the primary charge - it may be just a "Kathy" thing, I see "mushed" (as I do with many animal charges in chief) and I am near sighted.
See what happens when you use "technical" terms and aren’t an artist?
Thanks J, I appreciate the compliment.
Kathy, yes, I feel that sticking a critter in chief is a recipe for mush as well. :|
Why not stick it on top of the helmet? Preferably a demi-Pegasus…
Claus I think you meant to put this in No. 24’s thread.
Quite! I really shouldn’t rely on my memory regarding the whole thread…