Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, 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 #f2eed1, #8d856d, #261c10 and admit one accent from #e1d7d3, #d5971f, #1d1b1d.
Where they fight
- Alchemical Symbols and Heraldry both belong to Symbol Systems, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Alchemical Symbols and Heraldry stand roughly 150 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
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
Produce four original images that take their structure from Alchemical Symbols (style, medieval–18th century) and their accent from Heraldry (style, 12th century–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Alchemical Symbols exists for: building signs for a binding or package on themes of secrecy, or designing props for a fantasy story from images with real lineage. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Alchemical Symbols - Planet-metal correspondences - Geometry composed with crosses - Cipher-like secrecy - Tables handed down Composition: Signs ranged evenly as a table, glosses gathered underneath. Type and lettering: Chosen from existing tables, unified as circle, triangle and cross. ## Accent comes from Heraldry, used sparingly - Limited tincture colors - The grammar of shield divisions - Describability in blazon - Stylized animal poses Let one material quality come from it: Metals and a short list of colors, color never laid on color. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f2eed1, carry the structure in #8d856d and #261c10, and let a single accent come from #d5971f. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, rebellion, nostalgia, trust. ## Where they fight - Alchemical Symbols and Heraldry both belong to Symbol Systems, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Alchemical Symbols and Heraldry stand roughly 150 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - 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. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions 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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