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You may not have given a coat of arms any thought before this blog post, but you’re going to want to whip one up after you read it. These cool designs are gaining popularity as modern family logos — which you can put on stationery, use as a stamp, paint a large-scale replica of on…
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how to make a coat of arms — and surely the thought has crossed your mind if you’ve ever seen television shows like Game of Thrones — today is your lucky day. Historically, coat of arms were ye logos of olde; that is to say, they identified families and individuals. That identification was helpful if you were all suited up in your knight gear. Nowadays, family coat of arms are essentially just cool family logos to print on custom stationery, frame in your house, have printed on a shirt for a family reunion … whatever.
The first thing you are going to do in designing your own {or someone else’s} coat of arms is choose the shape. There are three general shapes that I like to use for coat of arms:
{If you want to trace one of these shapes, you can download this graphic as a printable by clicking here.} For the coat of arms I am creating today, I have chosen the shield, which I drew in pencil. You really should make a pencil draft of your coat of arms before you move on to the “real deal”. I mean, it’s your family logo, after all, and a pencil draft will ensure that the final version looks polished.
You’ll notice that near the bottom of the shield, I drew a banner {to write the family name in}. You can skip a banner, if you’d like, and simply write the family name under the coat of arms at a later stage. The next stage is to prepare the banner for writing by drawing guidelines. As you can see below, I free-handed some light guidelines parallel to the top and the bottom of the banner, and I marked the middle of the banner. I recommend doing this so you can know where the tops and bottoms of your letters need to be, as well as get a good idea of spacing.
This coat of arms is being made for Rodger Mayeda and his wife, Dianne. Rodger deserves this surprise because he has helped me tremendously with ensuring I am giving you good-quality calligraphy knowledge in posts, and Dianne deserves it because she tolerates Rodger’s Pen Box keeping Rodger very busy {he has had to shut down his store for the remainder of the month to catch up on orders!}. To determine the spacing for Dianne and Rodger’s last name, I first wrote out the name {“MAYEDA”} on a scrap piece of paper. Since “Mayeda” has six letters, I know that the middle of the word comes between the “y” {the third letter} and the “e” {the fourth letter}. A great hand-lettering trick for centered words is to start by writing the middle of the word and working your way out, like I did in the photo below.
I used Roman style from the hot-off-the-press Learn Hand-Lettering for a Latté worksheet set to draw “MAYEDA”. I like this style because it’s bold and strong with a touch of whimsical personality. You can use hand-lettering like this, or, of course, you can use calligraphy! Don’t be afraid to get creative.
Modern family coat of arms tend to have initials in the center. You can do something like, you know, jDj for “John and Jane Doe”, or just draw the first initials of the people in the family as I have done here.
At this point, you’ll want to brainstorm about what to include on the family crest. To this end, I made a list of six things I know represent the Mayedas:
It’s a good idea to make this type of list, especially if you’re creating a coat of arms for your own family. For some reason, it’s always harder to come up with things for yourself! Once I made my list, I was able to start creating elements from it. I started with aikido swords behind the crest.
Next came an Eiffel tower. When that looked a little bare all by itself, I added some cherry blossoms as a nod to Rodger’s Japanese heritage. Botanical elements {flowers, leaves, fruits, vegetables} are always a safe bet if you need a space-filler!
Next came some gears {for engineering}, some aloe vera {New Mexico}, calligraphy pens {woodworking}, and a few lines around the “&” to reference the New Mexico state flag.
Remember what I said about botanicals being great for filling up negative space? The vine below doesn’t represent anything, but it does add a lot of juicy visual interest!
Once you’re satisfied with the pencil sketch of your coat of arms, it’s time to start painting or drawing over it. You can either draw directly over the pencil drawing {and then erase the pencil lines}, or you can trace over it. Since I want a clean, all-watercolor {no black ink} piece, I have opted for tracing. To trace, you’ll either need to put a transparent-ish piece of paper over your pencil sketch, or you’ll need to use a light box. Remember — your window makes for a perfectly good DIY light box!
Now, you really can use any medium you want in creating your coat of arms. Colored pencils, crayons, acrylic paint, walnut ink, India ink … seriously, whatever. My medium of choice {more often than not, as you may have noticed} is watercolor. I got out the little color chart that came with my Greenleaf & Blueberry set, and I drew a little “x” by colors I thought would go together well.
Then, I took some thin paintbrushes, and I painted all the details I could with them.
If you’re using watercolors, you’ll need to know how to use watercolors with a calligraphy pen to execute the really tiny details. To learn how to do that, visit this tutorial.
Finish drawing in all the elements of the piece, and you’re done!
Cool or what?
If you’re still iffy on how to make a coat of arms (or you’re just going “I don’t have time for that!!”), I’d like to lay out another design for you: an embellished initial.
The process at the beginning is the same; you’ll pick out a shape you’d like to surround your initial with. I have chosen a circle.
Inside the circle, draw an embellished initial. I have drawn an “M” using Flytrap style {you can learn how to make this letter in Learn Hand-Lettering for a Latté}. Another option would be to use calligraphy, or just make up a font.
Next, draw some roses or another botanical element. {You can learn to make super-easy poppies in my last tutorial, DIY Bookmarks.} Alternatively, you can defer to using one of the designs outlined in 10 Ways to Draw Laurel Wreaths.
I drew some Art Deco-y leaves to go with the roses because this initial is destined for a friend who loves Art Deco.
Again, I chose a simple watercolor color scheme.
And — yes, again — I’ll remind you that you don’t need to be married to watercolor to make this. Please, use whatever you are comfortable with! I just like watercolor because it’s pretty and quick.
Once you’re finished coloring in your initial and illustrated elements, it’s time to whip out a regular old pen. I am using a Pilot G2, but you can use whatever is at hand.
Use your pen to trace around your initial.
Once you have drawn over your outlines with the pen, wait a few minutes for the ink to dry, then erase.
And, voilà! This initial will take you all of ten minutes to make, and it, too, makes a great graphic for stationery, stickers, or just something to send to a friend {as I did}.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make a coat of arms today, and I also hope you like the newly-released worksheet! I used some of the techniques outlined in this tutorial {in particular, drawing on a banner} to make the logo for this new set, as well as the lettering styles.
If you want more examples of coat of arms for inspiration, just Google “watercolor family heraldry” — there are lots of really great graphics there, even if you’re not planning on using watercolor!
Thanks again for reading; I really appreciate it!
Warmly,
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