One of the most iconic elements of the classic LEGO castle sets (1978-1997) would have to be the shields with their pad printed coat of arms designs, and whilst they are all pretty iconic designs, my first castle was 6073 Knight’s Castle so the original Black Falcons shield design is the OG as far as I am concerned.
As you might have seen in my previous posts I am currently working on a large display (hopefully for Brickvention 2021 if it is accepted) exploring everything I love about the castle theme, and as part of that I am hoping to refresh and update the designs of the Black Falcons. So far I have shown my revised name and emblem and my torso designs and today I am going to post my shield designs.
I started off my design process with the iconic ‘triangle’ shaped shields, creating the three versions that I have already shown in my Knights of the Black Falcon post (designs a-c) and from there I looked at other ways to explore the shield shape but perhaps indicate some different sub-factions or units (designs d-h).
I want my units to feel related and yet have a variety of designs to feel more like a realistic army, rather than all units just carrying exactly the same shield.
Below you can see various shield variations that might be used to flesh out my units, I am envisaging that the tall (norman style) shields (I-P) will be used for different knights and that at least one of the round shields (Q-T) will be used by my crossbowmen.
So what do you think? Do the varied shield designs read enough like Black Falcons? Let me know what you think by commenting below.
My next post will be about the second faction that will feature in my display, the Forestmen.
All of the bottom row designs look awesome!!
Fantastic work on them all
Thanks, glad you like them!
The Rule of tincture for herald is that silver and gold, as both are metal should not put on metal, Jerusalem Crosses was given an exception by the Pope. Colour should not be put on colour.
Black is “sable” which is allow to behave like a metal or colour in Eastern European countries which is why Flag of Albania is not considered violation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_tincture
With that in mind, you can see how A B C works. E and G also works beautifully. D and H unfortunately violate too much, because you can see black on black which is a no no, and metal on metal (gold on silver) is a no either. F doesn’t work as well, although if the 3 falcons were silver, that would work, but I guess you want falcons to be black.
When you think about it, the point of the shields is to identify the faction from afar, even though mud etc when fighting. The Black falcons on blue background would make this identification difficult .
While G works beautifully, it doesn’t make me think of Black Falcons but Germany though.
IJKMO works. L works too but imo I think the bird should be smaller, not touching the edge. QS works, R same issue as L, and P, T no no :) N a no too for same reasons as F.
Some serious stuff to consider here Anton, thanks for taking the time to respond!
[…] will notice there is a lot less variation than with my Knights of the Black Falcon shield designs, this is because unlike with the Black Falcons where I aim to have multiple units and knights with […]
I am fascinated by this concept – I really like what you’ve come up with so far.
Part of the reason I am intrigued is that for a while now I have been trying to design some more ‘Coats’ factions like those from LEGO Pirates using official LEGO parts(eg. Whitecoats for Austria).
Obviously since I started the project, I have found this self-imposed rule quite limiting, so I want to explore what other LEGO fans are coming up with.
What excites me about your work is – do you have any plans for custom flags for the Black Falcons?
I would be very interested in purchasing some if you are, as I am planning on a ‘Blackcoat’ Faction for Prussia, and I think something like this would be ideal.
Look forward to seeing what else you come up with.
Regards,
Ereldor
Hi Ereldor, thanks for getting in touch, I would love to see your designs! I do plan on designing custom flags and will definitely post about the designs here when I have them ready!
Hi there, today I saw your designs for the shields of the Black Falcons. And I like them a lot! Your small alteration with a crown upon de falcons (eagle) head. And particularly the yellow shield with the black falcon. This one looks a lot like the historic crest of the ’emperor of the Western Roman Empire’ although that eagle looked to the other side.
How nice would it be if they were available as stickers to replace some crests on some shields.
Thanks Joost, I am seriously thinking about stickers!
Hi Dale! they look great. Just wondering you sell them somewhere ? or somehow i can pay for one of these designs (especially K loos impressive..)
Thank you
There isn’t at the moment, but I do plan to make them available!
Please can you consider making those available to purchase ? Maybe also a Lion Crusader version ? And if you do, be sure you have my money on both :) !! I definitly love this variety and those designs, it seems it will make a Black Falcon army much more alive and realistic.
It is a great idea, and something I am thinking about!
Thanks for taking the time to answer me so quickly ! Maybe you could also consider adding a red variation to be use with regular black falcon or the new “red torso” black falcon that emerged through LEGO stores ?
Absolutely LOVE these Black Falcon redesigns as a LEGO fan and as a graphic designer! Top notch!!
Thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know!