Choose a background color for your shield. Heraldry traditionally used background colors of gold or silver, black, bright red, royal purple, royal blue or sky blue, and emerald green. Use light yellow instead of gold and white in place of silver if you do not have metallic markers or pencils. Traditionally, the background should be either a metal or a color. Make the main object or objects on your shield a color if your background is a metal, or metal if you have a colored background.
Cut out a shield pattern the size of a standard 8.5x11-inch sheet of computer printer paper. For larger shields, glue or tape four pieces of printer paper together. Use colored paper if desired.
Back your paper for the shield with cardboard or poster board for support and strength. Paste the shield directly on the poster board larger than your shield, and then cut out the shield. Use poster board or cardboard in the color you want for your shield.
Divide your shield into fields, if desired, by using a ruler and pencil. During the Middle Ages, shields were sometimes divided into parts. Some shields had "ordinaries," basic shapes like diamonds or stripes, for example, on them.
Draw or select a "charge" for your shield background. Warriors many times chose fierce-looking animals to represent the main charge. Find public domain, copyright-free pictures of charges on the Internet to place on your shield. These could be of anything you want to represent you or your family in your coat of arms. Based on examples, they do not need to look realistic. It's what you want them to symbolize that matters. For example, one might choose a lion or a dolphin as a symbol. These were once seen as the "king of fish" because of their intelligence. Christians also used the dolphin as a symbol of Christ. The dragon symbol originates from the Greek language and a word meaning "to see clearly," which implies prophecy. Some cultures see the dragon as a symbol of good fortune. Other common charges include horses, bears and eagles.
Describe your coat of arms shield in words, called "blazoning." For example, if you have a basic shield with one main charge, such as bright red background with a dragon, your description can be written as "a dragon" on your shield.
Draw the design or designs you want to place onto your shield in any size, but make the largest design for the center of the shield. Use multiple designs on your shield with the smaller sizes. Good examples are the heraldic designs, such as three roses or a depiction of the sun, a few stars, a crescent moon, or birds. You can also make up your own designs.