The History of the Kingdom of The West
Scrolls

Beginning the Mantling

Photo and Contribution
by Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

Beginning the Mantling
Decisions, decisions. Mantling in a heraldic achievement is supposed to be the color of the field, lined with a metal (silver/white or gold/yellow). Royal peers get ermine spots on the lining. Problems arise when the recipient has more than one color or more than one metal on their Arms.

In this case, Eric's Arms have a sable field, so the mantling is going to be black. This was part of the reason for placing the achievment at the top of the composition -- people looking at the layout wondered if it was going to be too overpowering, but most of the mantling was going to be rendered in a very dark color, so it didn't worry me as it would merge better with the dark sky background below. But what to line the mantling with? White, or yellow? And would the black mantling become totally invisible against the black paper, or worse, would the light lining of the mantling pop forward and be distracting? I noted that the black field of the Arms had a definite disappearing tendency against the black paper, so decided to outline the mantling. But should it be white lining outlined with yellow, or yellow lining outlined with white?

As it all had to be under painted with white first, that would give me a preview of what it would like like using white, so the lining and the outlining was done with the Permanent White. One look told me that was going to be too stark; also, using yellow would pick up the yellow compass-star and griffin. The white living was painted first with more Permanent White shaded with some Payne's Gray with a touch of Spectrum Violet added. The hint of purple kept things from getting too dull and sparks off the yellow, which is the complement of violet.

In the above picture the rendering of the mantling is underway; all of the "light" parts are finished on the left and the right side is being worked on. The yellow was laid down first, then the white areas were worked. Note that the yellow edging isn't the same width all around the edges; as each flap of the mantling curves or twists, the yellow border may be lost to view, increasing the feel of realism. -- Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).