Cool, I can’t wait to see an artists emblazonment of it. Now you can work on the crest! For what it’s worth, I really like the second one posted above. He looks like quite the imposing guard.
Michael F. McCartney;102909 wrote:
A good decision, & hopefully one acceptable to your spouse!
(You mentioned earlier the posssibility that she might want to also design her own; if so, hopefully she will consider consulting with her own siblings or cousins bearing her maiden surname to arrive at a design meaningful to her family. And of course, if she would like, I’m sure we’d enjoy the opportunity to participate…
NLP337;102915 wrote:
on a wreath of Vert and Argent
General practice for blazoning a wreath is metal then color.
NLP337;102915 wrote:
...with a spear tip Or’
Probably just being nitpicky but the spear in your illustration is Vert. Did you mean it to be Vert as illustrated or Or as stated?
My opinion only but the gamelyon affronty feels disconnected from the wreath and very small. You might possibly consider a demi-gamelyon holding the sword and pennon instead similar to the crest of Hugh Brady
mjsmith;102916 wrote:
General practice for blazoning a wreath is metal then color.
Actually, I knew that, but was so intent on whether I was using the term wreath, rather than torse properly that I forgot. If you look at the image, I have the metal first, then the color. Thanks for the reminder. 
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Probably just being nitpicky but the spear in your illustration is Vert. Did you mean it to be Vert as illustrated or Or as stated?
Or as stated. I tried it out the other night, but didn’t post the result since I’ve inundated this thread with a lot of images, as it is. I was wondering if anyone would catch that. LOL
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My opinion only but the gamelyon affronty feels disconnected from the wreath and very small. You might possibly consider a demi-gamelyon holding the sword and pennon instead similar to the crest of Hugh Brady
I’ll consider that, although I could make the gaemlyon larger. While I was working on the crest, I wasn’t sure just how big it should be. I think my first few attempts were even smaller than the one shown. I’ll experiment tonight to see what it would look like. I suspect that the pennon would work, but I’m not sure how the sword would look.
Hmmm Maybe it would be more appropriate if I tried another design, based on the fact that Hugh Brady’s crest has a lion holding a banner?
No, not at all. There are undoubtedly many crests of beasts holding banners. There’s no conflict here.
I wouldn’t abandon the beast sejant so quickly. It’s a matter of the drawing that’s awkward here, not an intrinsic problem with the design.
Here is a quick update (with the spear tip Or and a sun in its splendor on the pennon):
Here’s an example of how it works well:
I really like that you added the sun to the banner to help tie it together. Again, when you hire a heraldic artist it will bring this design to life.
Have you considered having the beast in the crest in color?
Question for the experts: If he’s blazoned as Proper, and given that it’s mythological, would that give more license to adjust colors as your taste change? Say if the wings and lion were colored a golden hue similar to a lions natural color, that could be considered Proper. But since the wings are not a part of a natural lion, you may want them black in some other emblazonment, and given that there is no natural beast to model from, it could still be considered "Proper". And maybe later you feel that this beast should have a mane that matches his wings. Is that fair use of proper, or would you consider that to be a bastardization? Would the omission of tincture in the crest blazon accomplish the same thing, or would that be in bad form?
QuiQuog;102922 wrote:
I really like that you added the sun to the banner to help tie it together. Again, when you hire a heraldic artist it will bring this design to life.
Have you considered having the beast in the crest in color?
I think I’d actually prefer it in color, now that I think about it.
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Question for the experts: If he’s blazoned as Proper, and given that it’s mythological, would that give more license to adjust colors as your taste change? Say if the wings and lion were colored a golden hue similar to a lions natural color, that could be considered Proper. But since the wings are not a part of a natural lion, you may want them black in some other emblazonment, and given that there is no natural beast to model from, it could still be considered "Proper". And maybe later you feel that this beast should have a mane that matches his wings. Is that fair use of proper, or would you consider that to be a bastardization? Would the omission of tincture in the crest blazon accomplish the same thing, or would that be in bad form?
I don’t want to distract away from your other questions, so I’ll duck my head and await input from the experts.
The crest has to be of some tincture or another, so omitting the tincture from the blazon just causes confusion.
It’s a matter of taste, but I would refrain from introducing a bunch of new tinctures in the crest. Granted, my own crest is predominantly red, which appears nowhere else in my arms, but that’s because Creek Indian war clubs actually were painted red. You have your choice, and if I were you I would either make him silver like the one on the shield or green like the shield. You could make the wings a different tincture than the body, but I wouldn’t co any further than that.
By the way, you may be interested in the following from Rodney Dennys’s The Heraldic Imagination (1975). Dennys was Somerset Herald.
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This odd creature makes but one appearance in armory and was evidently conjured up in the mind of Sir William Dethick, Garter King of Arms, who granted to Thomas Gardner of South Brent in Somerset, in July 1557, the following arms: Quarterly gules and azure on a Bend cotised or between two Gamelyons rampant and volant supporting in their forefoote a Ring or with a Garnett proper or a Lion’s-head caboshed of the first with a Buckle in his mouth silver between two Fleur de Lys sable. In the Queen’s College version [of Dethick’s grants] the beasts are depicted in trick with a lion’s body, legs, feet and tail, indeterminate head with slightly turned up snout, and Dragon’s wings. In two College of Arms manuscripts they are depicted like Dragons rampant, while another depicts them like Griffins segreant. Clearly Sir William Dethick had his contemporaries guessing; but as he was considered the most skilful herald of his day, and a member of the original Society of Antiquaries, it is likely that he had some reason for creating this creature.
If you do decide to have the creature in multiple tinctures, you need to specify each, e.g., "a gamelyon sejant Or winged and crined [the color of the mane] Sable," or whatever.
Joseph McMillan;102924 wrote:
The crest has to be of some tincture or another, so omitting the tincture from the blazon just causes confusion.
It’s a matter of taste, but I would refrain from introducing a bunch of new tinctures in the crest. Granted, my own crest is predominantly red, which appears nowhere else in my arms, but that’s because Creek Indian war clubs actually were painted red. You have your choice, and if I were you I would either make him silver like the one on the shield or green like the shield. You could make the wings a different tincture than the body, but I wouldn’t co any further than that.
By the way, you may be interested in the following from Rodney Dennys’s The Heraldic Imagination (1975). Dennys was Somerset Herald.
If you do decide to have the creature in multiple tinctures, you need to specify each, e.g., "a gamelyon sejant Or winged and crined [the color of the mane] Sable," or whatever.
I figured ‘The Heraldic Imagination’ had been perused since there weren’t :siren: along with shouts of ‘What the heck is that!?!’ when I first posted the image and used the name. It’s interesting that the gamelyon is also associated with Sir Gawain and his cousin Prince Ilinot, King Arthur’s son, according to some versions/authors of the Arthurian epic (‘The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New Edition’, page 231). I’ll undoubtedly include some of this information along with the blazon when I communicate with the artist.
I’ll experiment with ‘winged and crined Sable and maybe Vert later this afternoon. I’m definitely not happy with the clipart I’ve been relegated to using. I’m sure the artist will bring even the full Argent version to life as QuiQuog has said.
You might also try the beastie Argent winged (etc.) Or, for better visual contrast with the banner.
My guess is that if the wings are Vert (or Argent for that matter) the green & white banner won’t "pop" visually as much as you might want; but a colored illustration should confirm or moot my mind’s eye impression.
It’s possible the gold wings might tend to diminish the visual impact of the yellow sun on the banner - I don’t think so but without seeing a colored image, can’t be sure.
Here’s an updated version. I know the old version would be adjusted by the artist, but the clipart was driving me crazy. This is a little better on the eyes, with only minor changes. I know it’s the blazon that counts. I tried vert wings, sable wings, sable wings with a sable mane, and a sable mane alone. None of them spoke to me. Oh, I also tried the wings Or, and it looked okay, but it also looked shaky depending on how the mane was situated. Argent wings tend to be better balanced than the Or.
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Taking into consideration any small corrections to the blazon, this is now my crest. My motto is:- However long the night, the dawn will break -
‘on a wreath Argent, Vert and Or a gamelyon sejant affronty extendant grasping in the dexter paw a sword pointed down Argent, hilted Or with an eagle’s head pommel Or, grasping in the sinister paw a pennon and pole (per fesse) Vert and Argent with a sun radiant countercharged with a spear tip Or’
Looks good! - will be interesting to see what different artist’s renditions might look like.
Two technical points:
—in the blazon, simply refer to the sun as "counterchanged" rather than "per fess Argent and Vert" - it’s only necessary to specify the colors if they are different from the underlying parted field (e.g. if the sun was red & gold).
—the three-color wreath is blazoned as Argent, Vert and Or but isn’t shown that way. There should be six twists, not seven, and they should be colored white, green, yellow, white, green, yellow.
The most common pattern for the wreath or torse (synonyms) is only two alternating colors, e.g. Argent and Vert shown as white, green, white, green, white, green; but three colors is also OK - for example mine is Or, Gules and Azure shown as yellow, red, blue, yellow, red, blue, as shown in our Members Arms roll. In your case, it’s "on a wreath Argent, Vert and Or…" [no "of"] with the colors alternating white, green, yellow etc. as noted above.
The six-twist wreath is standard everywhere except IIRC Italy where there are equally more twists. Of course, like the points of the coronet in your first proposed version of your crest, the six twists are only what shows in a two-dimensional illustration from the side view - in a carved three-dimentional statue there would be twelve twists looking from above - but six visible twists is the standard convention in a two-dimensional drawing. Sorry if TMO
