Shield Hints

Background

By default Drawshield draws the shield as large as it can within the space available, taking into account any parts of the achievement that are present.

Sometimes however this does not quite work out; we want to adjust the shield for an artistic effect, or to invert it to show that the holder is deceased. In these cases we can use the the shield shown... construction to provide hints as to how we want the shield to be drawn.

Note that this is not strictly heraldic, hence its inclusion as an extension, rather than a core part of the blazon.

Available Adjustments

To make the shield smaller:

• slightly smaller - the shield will be shown about 90% of the normal size
• smaller - the shield will be shown about 80% of the normal size
• much smaller - the shield will be shown about 60% of the normal size
• very much smaller - the shield will be shown about 40% of the normal size

To make the shield larger:

• slightly larger - the shield will be shown about 10% larger than usual
• larger - the shield will be shown about 20% larger than usual
• much larger - the shield will be shown about 40% larger than usual
• very much larger - the shield will be shown about 60% larger than usual

To rotate the shield:

• rotated to the dexter - The shield will be rotated anti-clockwise (i.e. towards the top left).
• slightly rotated to the dexter - The shield will be rotated anti-clockwise, but not quite as much .
• much rotated to the dexter - The shield will be rotated anti-clockwise, but a bit further round.
• very much rotated to the dexter - The shield will be rotated anti-clockwise, but a quite a bit further round.

You can also use the terms clockwise / anti-clockwise / counter-clockwise if this clearer to you.

Obviously you can also use sinister in place of dexter to rotate in the opposite direction. You can also use constructions like turned towards the sinister if that reads better.

The rotations are in steps of 9 degrees, so slightly rotated is 9 degrees, and very much rotated is 36 degrees.

To move the shield around:

• slightly raised - the shield will be moved about 1/40th of its height upwards
• raised - the shield will be moved about 1/20th of its height upwards
• much raised - the shield will be moved about 1/10th of its height upwards
• very much raised - the shield will be moved about 1/5th of its height upwards
• slightly lowered - the shield will be moved about 1/40th of its height downwards
• lowered - the shield will be moved about 1/20th of its height downwards
• much lowered - the shield will be moved about 1/10th of its height downwards
• very much lowered - the shield will be moved about 1/5th of its height downwards
• slightly to the sinister - the shield will be moved about 1/40th of its weight to the sinister
• to the sinister - the shield will be moved about 1/20th of its width to the sinister
• much to the sinister - the shield will be moved about 1/10th of its width to the sinister
• very much to the sinister - the shield will be moved about 1/5th of its width to the sinister
• slightly to the dexter - the shield will be moved about 1/40th of its width to the dexter
• to the dexter - the shield will be moved about 1/20th of its width to the dexter
• much to the dexter - the shield will be moved about 1/10th of its width to the dexter
• very much to the dexter - the shield will be moved about 1/5th of its width to the dexter

To invert the shield

• inverted
• as deceased

When the hints are applied

The word "shield" is slightly misleading in this context but I can't think of a better one - it actually means "everything that has been described in the blazon so far". So if you have a blazon like:

    azure a bend or the shield rotated to sinister achievement helmet vert

The shield is rotated but the helmet remains as normal at the top of the image. In comparison, the blazon:

    azure a bend or achievement helmet vert the shield rotated to sinister 

will rotate the entire image, including the helmet.

For further nuances of how the hints work see page on the artist hints