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 Ex Libris (Bookplate): One scene in a small upright field, lettering pushed to top or foot
- Type
- Set in Ex Libris (Bookplate)'s manner (The formula and name in fixed places, weight matched to the image), 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 Ex Libris (Bookplate)'s material (Fine intaglio or wood engraving, printed in a single color); 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
These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Ex Libris (Bookplate) Packing in favorite imagery leaves the lines clogged and unreadable once the plate is seen at the size it is actually pasted.
- 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 Ex Libris (Bookplate) (Style, 15th century–) and its accent from Heraldry (Style, 12th century–). Structural cues: The EX LIBRIS formula; Heraldry and allegory; Precise miniature engraving; The owner's self-image. Accent cues, used sparingly: Limited tincture colors; The grammar of shield divisions; Describability in blazon; Stylized animal poses. Composition: One scene in a small upright field, lettering pushed to top or foot. Type and lettering: The formula and name in fixed places, weight matched to the image. Let one material quality come from the second style: Metals and a short list of colors, color never laid on color. Mood: Luxury, Intimacy, 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
- Ex Libris (Bookplate) 15th century– / Style / Publishing and Editing
A small print of ownership pasted to a book's endpaper. Since Dürer, engravers have cut heraldry, allegory and the collector's own exact self-image into a few centimeters, making a private graphic where book culture meets printmaking.
- 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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