Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Alchemical Symbols: Signs ranged evenly as a table, glosses gathered underneath
- Type
- Set in Alchemical Symbols's manner (Chosen from existing tables, unified as circle, triangle and cross), and let Heraldry's lettering (Motto lettering sits outside the arms, never on the shield itself) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Alchemical Symbols's material (Engraved hairlines on yellowed paper, no metallic sheen); bring in exactly one thing from Heraldry (Metals and a short list of colors, color never laid on color).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Symbol Systems, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Alchemical Symbols Signs invented for atmosphere read as false to anyone who knows which substance each one names, and the work sinks to decoration.
- Heraldry Choosing tinctures by eye breaks the rule about metal on color, and the result can no longer be described as arms at all.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Alchemical Symbols (Style, medieval–18th century) and its accent from Heraldry (Style, 12th century–). Structural cues: Planet-metal correspondences; Geometry composed with crosses; Cipher-like secrecy; Tables handed down. Accent cues, used sparingly: Limited tincture colors; The grammar of shield divisions; Describability in blazon; Stylized animal poses. Composition: Signs ranged evenly as a table, glosses gathered underneath. Type and lettering: Chosen from existing tables, unified as circle, triangle and cross. Let one material quality come from the second style: Metals and a short list of colors, color never laid on color. Mood: Luxury, Rebellion, Nostalgia, Trust. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Alchemical Symbols medieval–18th century / Style / Symbol Systems
The signs that recorded substances and operations between secrecy and sharing. The system binding planets to metals vanished into chemical notation, but survives as the graphics of mystery, quoted to this day.
- Heraldry 12th century– / Style / Symbol Systems
Europe's armorial system, born from the need to tell one man from another on the battlefield. Exact description in the language of blazon, the rule of a limited set of tinctures and a grammar of division and combination add up to a design system that has run for 800 years.
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