Didn’t imagine I would ever see a “LEGO” version of my shield, but “abf-art” on the Discord Roll of Arms – who also produced some nice “regular” emblazonments – has a true talent with 3D imaging. I am chartreuse with envy…

Addriano Divino is a genius digital artist, “converting” elements of my heraldic shield, crest, and badge into a Digimon-esque character. Be sure to check out his work! https://www.instagram.com/addrianodivino/, https://www.patreon.com/addrianodivino, https://x.com/addrianodivino. BTW, he also did the same technique on all Officers of the Court of the Lord Lyon, as recounted in the pages of a recent issue of The Armiger’s News, the quarterly journal available exclusively to active members of The American College of Heraldry.

More “reciprocity” by Reddit user “André” for work on his own arms by DrFrankenClipper (my alter ego) on the Discord Roll of Arms.

I commissioned Andrew Stewart Jamieson to produce a rendering of my arms. Born in 1961, Andrew studied Heraldry, Calligraphy, and Manuscript Illumination for three years under one of the great heraldic artists of the 20th century, Anthony Wood. In 1983 Andrew graduated with a First with Honours. Since that time he has worked as a freelance heraldic artist and designer accepting commissions from the College of Arms, The Catholic Church, the Order of Malta, the Military, the City of London, the House of Lords and many corporate and private clients. His work has been published in many books and he also wrote and illustrated the very successful Pitkin Guide, Coats of Arms. As well as producing the traditional work for which he is best known Andrew has been experimenting with more contemporary styles which although look to the mediaeval period for inspiration are also more in tune with 21st Century tastes. In heraldic art as in any art, Andrew believes that the artist should explore and extend the boundaries of their work to avoid rigidity, self repetition, and stagnation.

And still one more “reciprocal” emblazonment of my achievement by artist “Arky” on the r/heraldry Discord Roll of Arms group. Yet another example of new heraldic artists flexing their emblazonment muscles by trading with other artists..

Artur Gomes is a brilliant heraldist, experienced in traditional and digital media, mostly pen & ink drawings and digital painting. Currently focused on digital emblazonments of Heraldic Achievements. Open for commissions. His extensive portfolio is available at his ArtStation website at https://www.artstation.com/a_o_g/

Australian heraldist Barrie Burr is known internationally for his skillful renditions (emblazons) of armorial bearings using digital technology. He has developed this art to a high level while continually expanding his knowledge of heraldry. He is an active contributor to various international forums and a member of international heraldic bodies, including acting as Principal Heraldic Artist for the Royal College of Heraldry of the Principality of Hutt-River (near Perth, Western Australia). Mr. Burr’s methods parallel my own previous work with Heraldry Embellished, utilizing both existing armorial clipart along with self-created elements/augmentations to produce “homogenous” digital renderings of achievements.

I have admired Baz Manning’s work for years, being fellow members of The Society of Heraldic Arts. Some years back I offered to update his website, which may be seen HERE. His artistic formats include Shield Maker, Heraldic Arts, Heraldic Researcher, Recording, and Photography. The initial talent – that of Shield Maker – separates him from the bulk of heraldists working today, as he is one of only a tiny handful worldwide who have mastered the art of working with, and painting on, wood and other media. Quite by surprise, Baz rewarded me with a tabletop shield of my own armorial achievement, the shield painted on the obverse, the crest on the reverse. The shield itself is 3.75″ wide and 4.5″ tall, standing on a brass post mounted to a wooden base, the overall height being 9″. I included herewith Baz’s explanation of the logic behind the unique rendering of the crest:

     “I am a great one for literal interpretation of blazons. I would normally apply accuracy first and foremost, but your crest has taken me on a voyage of discovery which altered my attitude this time. I was taught at college that the blazon should always be referred to so as to avoid mistakes that can grow over the years like Chinese whispers. But I was also told by the late John Brooke-Little that he considered this at great length during his career as a herald and came to the conclusion that the painting on the patent is as relevant and will sometimes be what the herald had intended if the blazon is ambiguous. In your case, of course, I had to substitute your various on-line images for a patent but the blazon was still quite specific: your crest is blazoned as a satyr, not just a satyr’s head as everyone depicts it. This is why Daniel drew a full satyr on your bookplate; he was not giving you a token supporter but simply placing your crest as blazoned to the side of the achievement. However, there is the consideration to be made that the depictions you use all show a head and not the full body. This has to be what was intended or you would have changed it long ago. So for once I went with common usage and fell into line with your other artists, so started thinking about a head.

     “The colouring was a problem for me. I was not comfortable with the red of sanguine and wonder even now why so few of your artists have got it right? I could have discussed all this with you and you will remember that I did approach you for your definition of sanguine, which made me think deeply about it again, but now maybe you can tell me your thoughts about the satyr – full body or head? Anyway, the final issue was bats wings which means just that to me: bats, not dragons’ wings.

     “My studies and thoughts led me to the conclusion that I should revert to the origins of heraldry on the battlefield and create a monster to strike terror into the hearts of your enemies. A satyr is not a tame friendly creature but a spirit which could once have been human, altered by its own innate corruption and dwelling in the lower energies of lust and base desire, unpurified by love. Whether once human or the spawn of the devil its purpose is to corrupt the lives of those around it. He has a certain magnetic appeal which stimulates the earthy, baser side of human nature and if we are drawn into his sphere we will be in serious trouble. Bunyon said that the road to hell is easily travelled but the road back long and arduous. The satyr may be one of the first creatures to tempt souls onto this path but his true nature will only become apparent when they are lost. The laurel wreath signifies to me his connection with the earth while the bat’s wings make it a creature of the night, which is why I painted them with a dark blue, as well as for the colour balance this achieved. My interpretation of sanguine is darker than maybe it should be as I saw his complexion burned from his time in the fiery pits of hell. His red eyes are inhuman and show he can seek you out in the darkest of nights. This is one unpleasant dude, a fearsome creature which, like all good heraldic beasts, is best avoided!”

     I strongly encourage armigers to visit Baz’s website and commission their own tabletop shield while he is still accepting commissions.

Brian Abshier is a brilliant heraldic artist who probably has absolutely no time on his hands owing to constant commissions (deservedly so). That being said, I still quote from his website (wherein you will find a much more detailed explanation of his style and process): “In my heraldic artwork, I adhere to the original principles of heraldry. One of the most important to me is the full use of the space. This means that charges can sometimes be contorted to fit within the confines created by the divisions and ordinaries on the field. It also means that a field with no divisions or ordinaries may be filled entirely with a single charge. Another aspect of my artwork is that all charges are heavily influenced by medieval artwork. So you will not be finding any anatomically correct lions or dolphins in my artwork. Instead, charges will all be drawn from various armorials, bestiaries, manuscripts and other original sources. If the charge is a modern charge, I will do my best to create a medieval looking version of the charge.” His website may be found at http://art.abshier.us

Camila S. C. is a multi-disciplinary artist from Caracas, Venezuela, and her emblazonment/interpretation of my achievement is by far the most unique to date. We started out aiming for an Art Nouveau theme, and it transformed into this beautiful piece now seen – after working through numerous possible iterations to the artist’s extreme graciousness. She started doing Heraldry in 2018. Her other works can be found on her website (https://camilasc.com/heraldry.html). When not drawing, she enjoys studying, watching telenovelas and getting lost around the city.

Another fellow Discord Heraldry server member – “CaptainWowUK” – emblazoned my arms in a very unique manner, in response to DrFrankenClipper (my Discord alter ego that produces a tenplated rendering of members’ arms using clipart, almost exclusively) rendering of their own achievement. As usual, I asked them to write a description of their work, etc. and this was the somewhat tongue-in-cheek response: As an Englishman Nathan Rhodes believes in good manners and that a kindness deserves a good turn. In this spirit after receiving an unsolicited emblazonment of his arms, furious that he was now obligated to uphold his principles, he stopped staring into the long cold dark of the abyss, fired up a free Pixel Brush app on his long-suffering Galaxy Android Note 8 and deployed the seldom used stylus pen. After some time, and the liberal use of colourful language, he produced an attempt at a emblazonment of Mr Wooten’s arms in a style which he [Nathan] has taken to calling “Pixie Arms” for some reason. Why pixel art? Well, he is not actually very good at drawing, but pixel art being a form of impressionism allows him a fair amount of leeway as long as it looks close enough to what he is trying to draw!

On registration of the armiger’s armorial bearings with the Collegium Heraldicum Russiae, this rendering was created for that document. You will note that this rendering includes the baronial coronet of a Lord of Munster, as granted by The MacCarthy Mór, Prince of Desmond (ultimately proved one of the greatest international scam artists around). Now defunct, this organization was headed by His Excellency Commander Chevalier Baron Valery Yegorov, Saint Andrew Principal Herald Master.

The arms have also been registered with the Cronista Rey de Armas in the Kingdom of Spain. However, the rendering produced for such grants are commonly of simpler design and thus not meant for “framing” or artistic quality. They are usually meant only for reference to the Grant of Arms itself.

Daniel de Bruin was one of the least known (at least in the States) but most creative and unique heraldic craftsman of this century. Based in Holland, Mr. de Bruin’s work may be seen in Von Volborth’s The Art of Heraldry, which is where I first encountered his work. In fact, I had attempted for months through numerous contacts to locate him for a commission, and only came into contact with him when he contacted me with regard to our mutual membership in The Bookplate Society. We then happily struck up a mutual postal (and later email) correspondence, and I commissioned him to initially produce a simple black & white rendering of my arms, which may be seen hereabove. However, his main expertise lies in creating one-of-a-kind color bookplates (among other things) in a style which is instantly recognizable as his own. Mr. de Bruin passed away in late 2010, and his website (which may be seen by clicking HERE) showcases a wide variety of his color and black & white work.

Why did you click THIS one? The whole site is about me… Oh well, I do a couple of the emblazonments, and they may need explanation.

The somewhat crude emblazonment of the helm next to the crest with my name on it are my first attempt at visualizing my own design. The shield recognizes the unrelated arms of the Broadhurst name (from the armiger’s maternal line family name) and represents to me complexity-in-simplicity – a fairly “simple” geometric design “complicated” by the raguly nature of the fretted bars. The crest gives a nod to the Wooton line of Kent which died out in the late 1600s (those original unrelated arms featuring a cross engrailed with the Satyr’s head as the crest – sometimes listed as a Saracen’s head or Savage’s head), which is unfortunately commonly used in illustrating the covers of some minor Wooten/Wootten/Wooton genealogies, when in fact they are entirely unrelated. The motto is of the armiger’s own creation – “I am better than no man, but no man is my better,” and is of course shown translated to the Latin.

Those who have always wondered why black and white emblazonments of some heraldic achievements have straight lines, vertical lines, dots, etc, these are part of the Petra Sancta system. As per Brittanica.com’s website: “Known as the system of Sylvester Petra-Sancta, an Italian herald, it makes use of the following equivalents (illustration below): argent is denoted by a plain field, or by dots or points, gules by perpendicular lines, azure by horizontal lines, vert by lines from dexter chief to sinister base, purpure by lines from sinister chief to dexter base, and sable by crossed lines horizontal and perpendicular. Furs are depicted with black or white spots on the appropriate ground; vair and countervair are shown by alternate lines and plain surfaces.” Illustration by the armiger.

Then there’s my personal badge.

It took decades for me to develop a personal badge/seal, trying to determine whether or not to select an element from the achievement itself, or create something from scratch – but I didn’t want something overused and “clichéd.” It finally struck me that I should base the badge off the most important cause I have followed for decades – the plight of the pangolin. Pangolins have been a passion of mine for over 50 years – ever since I saw the first one in a school natural sciences book. I do all I can, in my limited capacities, to support the protection of the harmless creatures. What are pangolins? If you’ve never heard of the pangolin, you’re not alone. This shy creature, as big as your cat or dog, is the world’s most trafficked mammal, with more than one million pangolins poached in the past decade, primarily for Chinese (superstituous) “medicine” for everything for sickness cures to virility boosts (just like Rhino horn, Tiger penis, Bear gall bladders, etc). Learn more about the pangolin, why all eight pangolin species are at risk of extinction – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/pangolins-how-you-can-help – and watch a good video on the subject – https://youtu.be/DqC3ieJJlFM. Artwork of the pangolin rendered by Terrie Smith, while the remainder plus all coloring, etc. produced by me.

The kind of fun you can have with CorelDRAW and the right clipart (by me). And then, after I pieced together the crest, it was eating away at me to “finish” the achievement, which I did (primarily ~ 85% – plus a lot of stretching, twisting, tweaking, etc). Plus, after creating my armoji for the Discord heraldry server, I realized that – although it’s not necessarily an historical shield shape – I loved the “fat” armoji shield, and so incorporated it into the emblazonment. Again, nothing replaces “pure” hand-drawn/painted work, or 100%-from-scratch digital vector work like some of the geniuses on here produce, but I was rather chuffed with the end result of this one. PS, I readily cop to using the fretty raguly Dimitri Prica produced for his emblazonment of my achievement, as I absolutely love the “blocky” look it has.

Denis Sirotinin lives in Russia, in the southern city of Krasnodar. He has been drawing since childhood, a self-taught artist. From 1998 to 2001 he received a higher education as a manager. He has technically never worked in his specialty but has been doing branding and web design for a long time. From time to time he drew simple illustrations and strip-comics for print media. He works in Adobe Photoshop (raster graphics), Adobe Illustrator (vector graphics), Spine (animations), Blender (3D graphics). His website is www.inshader.ru

To my mind, Dennis Endean Ivall was the preeminent heraldic artist of his time, being a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd. His work is unparalleled in style and expertise. His work on Cornish Heraldry and Symbolism is the textbook on the subject.

Dennis produced several emblazonments and illustrations for me. Coming full circle, I found the need for a re-rendering of my original “traditional” armorial bearings, in the “classic” style, for use in Established Families News, the bi-annual publication of Established Families in America (later The Ermine Society). Once again, I turned to him.

Dimitri Prica developed an interest in graphic design from boyhood but never pursued studies therein past his week-long stint as an intern in a web-design company, where he was first introduced to Inkscape. At the start of 2019, with a resurgence of free time, he immersed himself in the creation of logos based on various orthographies of the world, from Mongolian ʼPhags-pa to the Ditema syllabary. His residing in Japan at the time then led to a keen interest in Monshō-gaku, the monochromatic heraldic devices of the Samurai. Finally, he was reminded of his fondness for all things knightly and dove headlong in the world of heraldic design and artistry, equipped now with the expertise he had acquired in vector graphics. A little over a year later, he began offering art in three different styles: a 12th century manuscript style, modelled after the Zürcher Wappenrolle; a (mostly) flat shaded style most adapted for ex-libris; and a more complex, highly-detailed style with lighting effects, diapering, and the works! He can be found on Instagram – www.instagram.com/aemdal  

Ricardo Escobar Espiniella graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca and is a great fan of history and ethnography, especially the world of popular magical beliefs, themes around which his work revolves. He currently combines editorial illustration and the production of graphic work in his engraving workshop with a modest YouTube channel where he publishes illustrated educational videos. On social networks his work can be found published under the pseudonym Don Recaredo. His primary website is https://donrecaredo.bigcartel.com

On the recommendation of several acquaintances, as well as some glowing reviews, I contacted the late Don Smith of Heraldic Graphics about rendering his own version of my armorial bearings. His artistic expertise was self-evident, and in concert with an excellent grasp of computer graphics, his work easily transitioned into the 21st century realm of heraldry. His pricing was a mere £28 for the work and was MORE than worth the price – this is not merely some “canned” computer program into which stock graphics are pasted – it is quality artwork.

DrFrankenClipper is my alter ego (the Mr Hyde to my Dr Jekyll, if you will), and the former is semi-adept at using digital clipart, blunt scissors, and glue to piece together his best attempts at emblazonments. He has never charged for his work (he has produced hundreds – well over 1,000 – of these “templated” pieces, using clipart and some CorelDraw/Photoshop magic), but rather keeps his feeble mind and numble (not nimble) fingers busy in between working on “sketches” put together as working designs for applicants to register arms with The American College of Heraldry, of which the aforementioned me is currently Executive Director.

Dudley Bateman began painting armorial achievements in 1981 following his retirement at the age of 51 from the Royal Air Force after nearly 35 years service. Unable to find suitable employment due mainly to few if any jobs and rampant ageism rife at that time, he was obliged to put to use his natural artistic abilities in order to supplement his meager service pension. An interest in history coupled with an eye for line and colour set him on the road to painting armorial bearings following a visit to Norwich Cathedral with its wealth of armorial achievements. From small beginnings working in a spare bedroom, Dudley now works from home in a custom-built studio from where he sends his work all over the world. He is well known in heraldic circles, especially in East Anglia where he resides with his wife Margaret, and carries out work for local councils, university colleges, businesses, clubs etc, as well as for individuals. His work has been featured on three different television stations as well as local and regional newspapers. His website may be seen HERE.

Edward Teather produced both a stamp, as well as a series of variations on an Art Deco theme of my achievement. He even followed that up with an Art Deco “interpretation” of my personal badge. Edward is an heraldic artist based in the UK working in both digital and traditional mediums. He began taking commissions on the online heraldry community Discord in imitations of historical styles such as A.C. Fox Davies’ Book of Public Arms and a number of different medieval armorials. He has since branched out to offer a wide range of emblazonment styles. He is currently at university studying philosophy and politics. His Instagram is @edwardteatherart, and he is on the Discord Heraldry Roll of Arms as End_of_my_Teather. If you are keenly interested in digital – and non-digital – heraldic innovations and artwork, here’s a direct invite link – https://discord.gg/ZmkTh3RK.

The Discord Roll of Arms just keeps coming! And in this case, the artist – @Escudo – had similar “math” issues to my own when trying to figure out the vector geometry of my shield – so he just went with hand-drawing it. Quite a nice job!

And yet ANOTHER very kind “trade” of emblazonments from @fbrasseur on the Discord r/heraldry server. Once again, another resource for the wide variety of emblazonments that can be done with the same blazon. Thus the primary reason for this page of my own.

Fray Rafael Nieto is a priest who graduated in Theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca. He studied two more years of specialization in Pastoral Theology in Madrid, focusing his final degree research on the work entitled “Image of the cross and the crucified. Iconological reading and pastoral use. Exhibition The Ages of Man.” Interested in everything that has to do with the use of images throughout history, he combines his work with design, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography… He specializes in religious art. He collaborates with the design and edition of several printed magazines and web pages in Spain, Venezuela, Peru, and Italy. Father Rafael is an enthusiast of heraldry, both civil and ecclesiastical. His training includes an Icon painting course from Chordiortes Academy. Madrid, and he is a Professional Master in Graphic Design and Web Animation with a Specialization in Art Direction (Cortes Academy. Madrid, and he is a Professional Master in Graphic Design and Web Animation with a Specialization in Art Direction (MDCE), Professional School of New Technologies,), Professional School of New Technologies, CIC, Madrid. His beautiful website (in Spanish) may be seen here:, Madrid. His beautiful website (in Spanish) may be seen here:, Madrid. His beautiful website (in Spanish) may be seen here: https://rafanieto.com//

Several Discord Roll of Arms Server “contributions,” these by the user @Gecktron, based in Brandenburg, Germany. Continuing examples of how heraldry remains alive in younger artists developing their styles and keeping the art alive!

Gordon Napier is an artist and illustrator, based in Buckinghamshire, UK, and working in both traditional and digital media. He has provided artwork for book covers, games videos and other publications, mainly having fantasy, sci-fi or historical subject matter. He has often been commissioned for heraldic designs and medieval manuscript style borders. He has also studied medieval history, with an MA in crusader studies and published non-fiction on the subjects of the Knights Templar and of witchcraft. His illustration work can be found at dashinvaine.deviantart.com and his paintings on instagram.com/dashinvaine.

From clean pencil sketch to black-and-white finished lineart to color emblazonment to finished vector full-color emblazonment, I am delighted with the results of Heikki J. Halkosaari’s (whose work I first came across on Reddit) interpretation of the blazon of my arms. Quite obviously, his version of the crest is unique amongst all the others, and I am delighted with the results! The two images on the right of this section come from the Aspilogia Discordia on the Reddit Heraldry server, the artist voluntarily creating emblazonments of all achievements of members on the roll of said server. Heikki is a Finnish heraldic artist, doing heraldry as a hobby as a balance to his profession in another field. He has done graphic design and illustrations sporadically for many years and started taking heraldic commissions in 2019. He works mainly digitally, doing hand-sketched digitally illustrated work as well as vector graphics. In addition to basic emblazonments of armorial bearings he likes to occasionally do more variable commissions like illustrations of knights in their coats of arms or seal designs. He adores the simplicity of medieval and modern Nordic heraldry and tries to focus on the heraldic design and stylization with field filling. He does not currently have a website, but his Instagram address is www.instagram.com/loggail

Yet another Discord “contribution,” this one by the user @XmanABQ, who creates “hieroglyphic blazons” for a given shield. While these are obviously not meant to be worded in proper heraldic blazon, the symbols do describe the escutcheon as literally as possible, to wit: “DAWD bears the insignia which is blue linen with woven strips of golden cloth in the shape of stripped branches.” Presented here for its uniqueness alone.