Reply To: Paul´s Art Corner
Best thing is there are thousands of possible combinations
The charges (here the white lion) can be colored as well of course.
Well, a few less perhaps, since there is one firm limitation in heraldry. Since the goal back then was to make things easily recognisable at a distance, the basic rule was, if the tincture is “metal” (white stands for silver, yellow stands for gold) then the pattern on it may only be colour. And the other way around, if the tincture is colour, then the pattern should be “metal”. So you can get white and blue checkers or quarters, but purple and blue checkers wouldn’t really work.
From Wiki:
“The first rule of heraldic design is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour (Humphrey Llwyd, 1568). This means that Or and argent (gold and silver, which are represented by yellow and white) may not be placed on each other; nor may any of the colours (i.e. azure, gules, sable, vert and purpure) be placed on another colour. Heraldic furs (i.e. ermine, vair and their variants) as well as “proper” (a charge coloured as it normally is in nature) are exceptions to the rule of tincture.”
Exceptions to this rule can probably be found, but in general maybe disable colours that really shouldn’t be placed on top of others too much.