OpenGeofiction
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Hey everyone,
I’ve been working on a new version of the coat of arms for Reeland. This is what the old one looks like:
Now that I have more experience and knowledge about heraldry, I came up with two more realistic ones. The only difference is the crown.
So what do you think, are they good? Should I keep the crown or not?
Best regards
Discussion
Comment from Pawl on 1 July 2019 at 05:38
I would either forget the crown or reduce it in size so that it fits within the top quarter. You wouldn’t normally have a charge spreading over a bordure.
I would also darken the green a bit, for better contrast.
Something ike this:
Comment from Pawl on 1 July 2019 at 10:58
I forgot to answer your first question: Yes, the new ones are much better than the old one! :-)
Comment from UmgangsCool on 1 July 2019 at 11:29
I think actually having the green as bright in the original is a great idea. And yes the crown should definitely be in the triangle without cross any borders.
Comment from tule00 on 1 July 2019 at 14:08
As for the colours, I looked at Wikipedia for Dutch and German heraldry, and they precisely used these colours (in hexadecimal RGB):
#0000FF(full blue)#FF0000(full red)#00C000(slightly weaker than full green)#89395E(mostly red, weaker blue, and even weaker green)#000000(pitch black)#FFEF00(full red and slightly weaker green)#E0E0E0and#FAFAFA(note: Or and Argent have some gradients in brightness because… well, they’re metals)
Comment from tule00 on 1 July 2019 at 14:23
As for the crown, I have two new ideas, on which I would like to get feedback as well
Make the “spikes” of the crown smaller — now that I look at them, they seem too big
Make the crown above the entire “shield”. I think that would make sense, because maybe it’s too small when it’s inside, and the current compromise (crown over the bordure) is obviously not the best solution
Comment from Pawl on 1 July 2019 at 18:30
You cite the colours Wikipedia chose to use in their example shields, but they are not mandatory (in fact, other examples in the same Wikipedia articles use slightly different colours - e.g. the red in the arms of Amsterdam is #DB0000). As Wikipedia explains here, it is up to the artist to choose the precise hue and shade he/she wants to use. Personally, I think a slightly darker green works better in your Reeland arms, but there is no right or wrong answer (as long as it is green!).
Placing the crown above the shield as an indication of sovereignty makes sense. It used to seem odd to me that a republic would use a crown, but quite a few do, especially since the fall of Communism in Europe, e.g. Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, San Marino.
The simple spiked crown (or “eastern crown”) is fairly unusual as a national symbol, compared to crowns with leaves, fleurs-de-lys, crosses etc. Something uniquely Reelandian would be nice.
Comment from tule00 on 1 July 2019 at 19:29
Actually, I used a darker green in the old one, but I thought it was not “allowed”.
My reason for the crown was that perhaps the old Ree island was a monarchy and that Reeland inherited the same coat of arms. But your idea about sovereignty makes even more sense, since I imagined the Ree island as a republic.
For now, I don’t imagine Reeland to have ever been Marxist, but it always had leftist tendencies, just not as extreme (similar to modern–day Sweden/Norway/Iceland).
I agree, but I am quite bad at designing things in detail. However I am acquainted with Inkscape, so perhaps I could make up something.
If it’s not a hassle, PM me some ideas.