Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So recent events mean I probably won't be able to get one of the new Imperial Knights for a fair wee while at least, but to tide me over I've been working on the background and themes for my Household, and I've decided to take a slightly different tack to the European Chivalry/Bretonnians In Spaaaace angle we're likely to see in the official GW material. I've been enjoying myself crudely mashing together various Ottoman and Arab ranks, titles etc and the fluff is coming along fairly well, but I've hit something of a wall when it comes to the aesthetic aspect, in that I want to emphasise the middle eastern flavour by using geometric designs and calligrams instead of the normal heraldic devices, the hitch being I've no idea how to pull them off.

Anyone know much about the subject, or know of online resources I could access?

Your flag says UK, you guys have Muslims running all over the place. Ask one of them!

I would be very careful about replicating something you might find on the net as it's very offensive to Muslims for people copy parts of the Koran.
I might (& I'm not saying this glibbly) consult an Imam before starting, to find some script you can use.

Personally i would google translate simple words into arabic like "battle", "warrior" etc, find a pleasing looking set of words and numbers, then combine them into a cool looking design. The problem with using historical designs is most of them refer to god... and unfortunately that is an issue for some people.

Good ideas for basing your designs on might come from looking at crusade era battle and household standards of the islamic participants.

In terms of geometric desigs - google images of famous mosques - a lot of them are covered in patterns it would be easy to replicate.

 Vladsimpaler wrote:
Your flag says UK, you guys have Muslims running all over the place. Ask one of them!

Most of the Muslims I know are about as observant as your average Christian over here; I seriously doubt Barry from the local corner shop is going to put aside his customary triple-bacon-roll breakfast to help me understand a complex artistic tradition in a language he doesn't speak or write.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
Personally i would google translate simple words into arabic like "battle", "warrior" etc, find a pleasing looking set of words and numbers, then combine them into a cool looking design. The problem with using historical designs is most of them refer to god... and unfortunately that is an issue for some people.

Good ideas for basing your designs on might come from looking at crusade era battle and household standards of the islamic participants.

In terms of geometric desigs - google images of famous mosques - a lot of them are covered in patterns it would be easy to replicate.

Oooh thanks, that battle standards idea is top notch, I'll see what I can find.

Hello, Yodhrin.

The first place I'd start is a youtube search for "Khurshid Gohar Qalam" He is a world famous calligraphy artist.

A second stop would be 'CalligraphyQalam.com' and check the resources tab.

After seeing how much work goes into the art; and assuming you still want to pursue calligraphy, then I'd then seek out either the local mosque or Islamic Relations site and ask around. You would probably find yourself overwhelmed by the amount of people interested in helping you.

Aniconism in Muslim culture has led to a very strong calligraphic tradition. While the younger generations don't take much pride in the art you should have no problem finding older/more traditional people who do.

'Qalam' literally translates to 'pen' it suggests 'learning and teaching'. Anybody who has learned to do Arabic calligraphy would love to teach it!

Download the font into MS Word and make your own decals.

Re what I said - I assume at sometime you might post some pictures up on the site. This is where trouble may come from if you mistakenly use some religious text by accident. I just want you to keep safe!