Heraldic Beast

Heraldic Fuckery by Seb Lester Charting My Progress Learning Heraldic Art

[heraldicbeast]

Which playing card back do you prefer?

First - Lion Head

Second - Coat of Arms

No Preference

Voting ended onJan 23

[heraldicbeast]

I recently won this in an auction! It's an extremely rare original painting by one of my heraldic heroes, Otto Hupp, a prolific Heraldic genius of the Art Nouveau period.

Research indicates that this heraldic panel would have been painted around 1917 and celebrates the marriage of Freiherr Ludwig von Heyl zu Herrnsheim and Eva Maria von der Marwitz. The Heyl arms (left) show a golden key between silver lilies; the Marwitz arms (right) depict a tree stump with new growth and a winged maiden crest.

[heraldicbeast]

And I know I'm officially a Heraldic Artist, because I made it into The Heraldry Gazette. Finally famous after all these years! The Heraldry Gazette is the official magazine of The Heraldry Society.

[heraldicbeast]

Heraldic Artists need Heraldic Door Knockers, and so I bought one. And I like big knockers, so this was perfect. Weighs more than the fucking door, and must be about 150 years old.

[heraldicbeast]

Playing card tuck box 🤔 #wip

[heraldicbeast]

For those of you who have been following my 'Transcendent' playing card project, do you prefer the 'antique' aesthetic or the 'clean' aesthetic shown here?

[heraldicbeast]

Reversible Jokers for my playing card project? So, two characters per drawing:

Yes, fun, good idea.

Maybe rethink

Voting ended onDec 19, 2025

[heraldicbeast]

Surely Jokers should be fun? Nobleman + Country Bumpkin.

[seblester]

Words by Hafez, Calligraphy by some guy called Seb Lester, for London Mural Festival. Photo: Look Up London

[heraldicbeast]

My work is featured in the new edition of The Heraldry Gazette, a quarterly publication produced by The Heraldry Society. Fame at last, after all these years.

[heraldicbeast]

My Ex Libris bookplate was delivered, so that's nice.

[heraldicbeast]

Who would you rather go on a picnic with?

[heraldicbeast]

The back of a playing card is sometimes described as the soul of the pack. Potential card back sketch here, I’ll design one more, then choose.🤔 The design shows the heraldic badges and flowers for the four noble families. References to Norman architecture. Maybe too intricate. The central monogram is for ‘Virtue & Vice’, the strapline for the card deck.

[heraldicbeast]

A little update on this Heraldry-inspired playing card project. ‘Transcendent’ is a luxury playing card deck based on the Transcendentals, the fundamental, universal properties of being that hark back to antiquity. The project reimagines the four suits as noble houses. Each family, Bellrose (Hearts - Goodness), Clarion (Clubs - Truth), Aureline (Diamonds - Beauty), and Nocturne (Spades - Evil), draw from the English Heraldic tradition. Welcome any feedback, I'd like this to be as good as possible.

[heraldicbeast]

The King of Diamonds, this family symbolises Beauty. Heraldic badge is a Butterfly. Family flower is a Lily.

[heraldicbeast]

I think I'm going to flesh out all the kings for this deck first, as they set the aesthetic tone for the whole set. This is The King of Spades who represents the concept of 'Evil'. The flower is Deadly Nightshade and the heraldic badge for the family will be either the snake or skull and crossbones shown here. I do need to speak to a card printing company at some point and see how feasible it is to print cards like this as well, and how colour impacts the cost. I'd like the suit representing 'Beauty', Diamonds, to have a green and gold colour scheme.

[heraldicbeast]

Completing the Face Cards for Hearts, which represent ‘Goodness’ in my ‘Transcendent’ playing card deck project. Still tweaking the design, the Jack is holding an olive branch, a symbol of peace. The challenge will be to have a nice unified contrast for the other suits, Clubs representing Truth, Diamonds representing Beauty and Spades representing ‘Evil’.