Category: Traceable Art

Frequent visitors to the Traceable Heraldic Art website may have encountered some error messages during recent visits that left the site unusable, for which I apologize.

For the last three weeks, a badly-programmed scraper bot collecting content for “AI” models has gotten itself confused, and has been making an infinite series of requests to non-existent pages on the Traceable Heraldic Art website — typically it’s been averaging about thirty requests per second, but there have been some periods when it’s spiked up to double that, which is enough to overload the server and prevent people from accessing the pages I host for other projects.

Continue reading “Traceable Art Downtime”

The arrival of frigid weather here in Østgarðr seems like a good opportunity to spend some time huddled around the warm glow of my computer screen, summarizing the updates to the Traceable Heraldic Art over the course of the last six months. Thanks to the generosity of the heraldic and scribal community — and to the plethora of eye-catching period illustrations being shared on various Discord servers — there have been 265 images added to the collection since June, including 35 brand-new headings for varieties of plants and animals and artifacts that are depicted here for the first time.

Significant portions of the new art were provided by Máel Brigte and Waḫriia̯ of St Christina the Astonishing, both of whom were new to the project but started off with a bang, sending a mix of original illustrations and items carefully traced from period exemplars. Also contributing art for the first time in this batch were Fenneke Jans, Hamelin L’Archier, Maggie Wryght, and Tibor the Indecisive; I can’t wait to see what you draw next!

Continue reading “Traceable Art at the Coming of the Frost”

I’ve been remiss in not posting updates about the Traceable Heraldic Art collection lately, with the last announcement having been almost nine months ago, but new material has been quietly added in fits and starts throughout that period, with over 250 new images uploaded since September.

That pace wouldn’t be possible without the kind contributors who agree to share their lovely illustrations with the heraldic community. The biggest single batch arrived from Iago ab Adam, who created vector versions of two dozen images from John Guillim’s original 1610 manuscript for A Display of Heraldry. I am also grateful to Malyss Makneile, who traced images from multiple sources to create a portfolio that I am still working through.

Continue reading “Traceable Art Summer Update”

As noted prominently on the heraldicart.org website, the Book of Traceable Heraldic Art is not an authoritative source; in particular, despite the inclusion of art by a large number of contributors, the text is nearly all the work of one person, and indubitably contains numerous errors.

In hopes of saving the community from picking up any accidental misinformation, I’d love to have some help correcting those mistakes, and if you’re reading this, you’re invited to help out!

Continue reading “Corrections Wanted!”

My thanks to the many talented artists who have contributed their original illustrations or adapted images from historical documents for inclusion in the Traceable Art collection:

Aine ingen Gilla Crist, Ajir Tsagaan, Alessandra Sartor, Alexandre Saint Pierre, Aliyah bat Azriel, Amy Eliot, Aurora Faw, Bahja al-Azraq, Bróccín MacIvyr, Choi Min, Daya Speyerin, Di Amador, Elionora inghean Ui Cheallaigh, Elizabeth Turner de Carlisle, Elspeth Farre, Estelle de la Mer, Forveleth Dunde, Frans Franken the Younger, Gian Antonio da Tradate, Gunnvôr silfrahárr, Gwenyvere Rose Foxe, Helena De Argentoune, Hu Zhen, Iago ab Adam, Jessimond of Emerickeskepe, Jon Chesey, Kitta Refr, Kolosvari Arpadne Julia, Kryss Kostarev, Li Xia, Lily Morgaine, Malyss Makneile, Maryan Hoskyns, Muirenn ingen Dunadaig, Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon, Nest verch Gwilim, Niccolo da Palermo, Owen Tegg, Poznaniak, Ræv Kolfinnsson, Ragna stórráða Úlfsdóttir, Rhian C. Preston, Roana d’Evreux, Sadhbh Bheag, Saewynn aet Cnolle, Stephanie Fahey, Séamus Uí Chonchobhair, Tancorix inigena Bivaidonas, Thomas Eynsham, Thomas Ouswood, Thora Brandsdottir, Þórý Veðardóttir, Torric inn Björn, Ursula Messerschmitt, Volusia Zoe, Vémundr Syvursson, Wylet Fraser, and Zubeydah al-Badawiyyah.

This project would have been dramatically smaller and less useful without your efforts and I am in your debt.

It’s been six months since my last roundup of changes to the Traceable Heraldic Art collection, during which time more than a hundred and eighty new illustrations have been added, bringing the total to well over six thousand.

As always, I am indebted to the generous contributors who choose to share their illustrations with the community through this collection. My thanks in particular to first-time contributors Gwenyvere Rose Foxe, Wylet Fraser, and Rhian Preston.

My appreciation also goes out to returning artists Malyss Makneile, Vémundr Syvursson, Volusia Zoe, Nest verch Gwilim, Iago ab Adam, Aurora Faw, and Ragna stórráða Úlfsdóttir — and to Joakim Spuller, from whose WappenWiki collection I pulled more than three dozen images in this round.

Continue reading “Third Quarter Update”

The seasons are starting to turn here and I figured that was as good reason as any to review the changes that’ve been made to the Traceable Heraldic Art collection over the last three months, including over two hundred and sixty new entries.

Eighty of those new images are drawn from Joakim Spuller’s WappenWiki collection, for which he has my continuing thanks. My appreciation also goes out to returning artists Volusia Zoe, Aurora Faw, and Lily Morgaine, as well as first-time contributor Tancorix inigena Bivaidonas — welcome to the team!

Other images in this update were drawn from period manuscripts, including for the first time Jean Faucket’s Commonplace Book of Heraldry, Des Kaiserlichen Kammergerichts zu Speier Kammerrichter, Wapenboek van Gent, and Queens College MS 72. My thanks to Iago ab Adam for continuing to bring new sources such as these to the attention of our community. Continue reading “A Winter’s Worth of Traceable Art”

With the cold weather setting in, I thought the time was right for another periodic summary of updates to the Traceable Heraldic Art collection. Since this summer’s announcement, more than two hundred additional images have been added, bringing the total to over 5,500 charges, fields, and assorted accessories.

This project would not be possible without the many contributors who’ve shared their illustrations with the community. Of particular note is Volusia Zoe, who provided more than fifty lovely new images, including many beasts’ legs, claws, and tails that may be used both as independent charges and to assemble hybrid heraldic monsters. I would also like to thank returning artists Jessimond of Emerickeskepe, Vémundr Syvursson, and Li Xia, as well as first-time conributor Nest verch Gwilim.

Another tranche of sixty images was drawn from WappenWiki, a wonderful site full of very-well drawn armorial imagery with a very consistent and sophisticated style, all released under a Creative Commons license. My sincere thanks to site editor Joakim Spuller for making this material available under terms that facilitate its use by the historical recreation community, and I look forward to incorporating additional images in the coming year.
Continue reading “Traceable Art Autumnal Wrapup”

Like Pennsic 49, this round of updates to the Book of Traceable Art has been somewhat delayed and is a bit smaller than usual; it has been six months since the last time I posted one of these announcements, and in that time I’ve only added a bit over a hundred new images. (My father passed away earlier this year and it’s taking me a while to get back into gear.)

As always, I am excited to welcome our first-time contributors: Choi Min (nice qilins!), Aurora Faw, Fred Siler, and especially Volusia Zoe, who filled a gap in the collection by supplying a handful of pantheons in various postures, as well as a pair of fearsome rats.

And I am thankful for the continuing support of returning artists Di Amador, Sadhbh Bheag, Séamus Uí Chonchobhair, and Drystan ap Ercwlff; this project would be a lot poorer without your ongoing efforts.

I particularly want to call out three tireless illustrators — Jessimond of Emerickeskepe, Iago ab Adam, and Vémundr Syvursson — who have now each drawn a hundred or more images for this collection, a mark of true dedication; I am in their debt. Continue reading “Traceable Art for Pennsic 49”

Given the years of effort that have gone into building the Traceable Heraldic Art collection, it’s very gratifying to know that it’s actually being used by other people, and aside from anecdotal reports, the clearest feedback I get on this front is Google Analytics, which I enabled shortly after creating the site in December 2016.

Traffic has grown slowly over the last five and a half years, but over time persistence has paid off in increasing visibility. On a typical day in the last year the site was visited by between one hundred and two hundred people. Many of these folks are coming from search engine results, and about half of them take one look around and immediately leave after deciding that this site isn’t going to answer their questions about how to use a crancelin or give them the style of dolphin art they searched for. But others stay and browse through dozens of pages, so the number of  page views is usually between one and two thousand per day.

Presumably that growth won’t continue forever, and it will be interesting to see where things level off.