awanderingbard | This is why I shouldn't be allowed access to graphics programmes...

I've got me a new graphics programme (well, a newer version of my old one, which hated Windows 8 and expressed this in its refusal to do anything), and I've been messing about with different tutorials. So, I have a couple of weird things I've accomplished, which I'm quite pleased with.

The first is a manip of Sherlock and Tzophiya from my daemons' verse:

I put a watercolour/sketch effect to it, because it helps hide the seams a little. The Grey Lourie pic is from here. Tzo should probably be a bit more grey, but she went a little funny in the processing.

The other thing I did was a Holmes family crest, which was inspired, as most things are, by a chat with

joonscribble. We were joking about the motto of the Holmes family crest being 'for science!', and that made me want to actually decide what it might be like, as I'm a bit of a heraldry geek. Here is my interpretation:

So, heraldry is frickin' complicated and I'm a bit of a layman, and I don't know all the terms, but here's a rough summary of what's what:

Colours:
Azure (blue) represents loyalty and truth (for Sherlock, who doesn't prize loyalty but is loyal and loves truth)
Tenne (orangey-brown) represents worthy ambition (for Mycroft)
Murray (red) represents 'not hasty in battle and yet a victor' (for Q)

The field is blue, the flaques are tenne and the chief is murray. Flaques are given by a king in recognition of great acts of scholar, especially politically related. The chief is an invected line, which represents fire, which means 'zeal'.

The charge is a fox courant, foxes represent 'One who will use all that he may posses of sagacity, wit or wisdom in his own defense.' I have him running to represent Sherlock's enjoyment of the chase.

This is Sherlock's crest, so it has a crescent ordinary on it, to distinguish him as second son. Mycroft would use a plain crest, as Siger is dead, so he would have inherited the right to use the original one, and Q would have a five-pointed star on his.

The motto is 'Facts not words'. Other choices I liked but rejected: 'Danger is sweet' and 'I will either find a path or make one'.

And that's all for my random art projects for today. I did so a manip of John and Subira, but I'm not happy with it, so I'm going to give it another go. For science.