I was struck one day by the inspiration to create a piece of very bold heraldry that reflected symbolic elements of my mundane life. The device I chose was a unicorn, but no dull traditional heraldic beast for me, no. It would be a terribly cute unicorn rampant, and to that end I copied the body design of the popular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic art. The purple mane reflects my own love of recently having purple hair, and the “cutie mark” on the hip is a symbol widely used to represent polyamory: the infinity heart.
I asked myself how I could make this even more flamboyant, and flames was the obvious answer, linking loosely to my fire performances. I chose a sky blue oval field because I rarely see oval fields compared to more common heraldic shapes, sky blue for aesthetic contrast.
Since I’m not entirely open in my personal life, the idea of incorporating such symbolism into very flashy heraldry that would be displayed prominently with the meanings hidden less overtly was very appealing. Imagine these brilliant colors emblazoned on a large shield cover—it’s not a device you’ll soon forget.
I sketched the piece in pencil, viewing the MLP art nearby for reference for the unicorn. I used a light box to transfer the design in ink to watercolor paper and then used watercolor pencils to line and shade everything. I drew a wet paintbrush across each section to smooth and blend the colors and draw pigments into the center. I printed and oval from a computer and used the light box to trace it onto the final piece, cut it out, and repeated the same process to color the field. I cut the backboard to fit the frame and glued the oval to the board.
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