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Plate 119:  Adding a souvenir mug to the collection, Part 5: making a drawing of the unicorn rampant for a presentation box
(This plate added SEP 2004)

The drawing of the Lion Rampant Guardant, shown in three stages of development in Plate 118, will now be balanced by a drawing of the Unicorn Rampant. The Unicorn Rampant must be the same height, from tip of horn to bottom of hoof, as the Lion Rampant Guardant.

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SUBJECT: Lion Rampant Guardant, details inked over pencil drawing SCANNER: Hewlett-Packard HP-4100C FILE: JPEG from HP PrecisionScan LT EDITING: Adobe Photoshop SUBJECT: Unicorn Rampant, pencil drawing blocking in proportions SCANNER: Hewlett-Packard HP-4100C FILE: JPEG from HP PrecisionScan LT EDITING: Adobe Photoshop
Lion Rampant Guardant, details inked over pencil drawing. Unicorn Rampant, preliminary pencil sketch on 3-by-5 inch white index card.
In order to assist the artist (in this case, the collector himself) with the task of ensuring that the Unicorn Rampant is the same height as the Lion Rampant Guardant, a simple device is employed:

  1. The 3-inch by 5-inch index card with the drawing of the Lion Rampant Guardant is placed alongside a blank white index card.

  2. A ruler, or any straightedge, is placed horizontally at the top of the highest point of the Lion Rampant Guardant (this would be the top of the cross on Saint Edward's Crown). After this is done, a dashed line is pencilled along the ruler upon the blank white index card.

  3. Similarly, a dashed line is ruled upon the blank card at the lowest point of the Lion Rampant Guardant (this would be lowest claw of his right hind leg).
The Unicorn Rampant must now be sketched within the two dashed lines on the blank index card. The tip of the Unicorn's horn must touch the top dashed line, and the hoof of the Unicorn's left hind leg must touch the bottom dashed line. The Unicorn Rampant will now be no taller nor shorter than the Lion Rampant Guardant . This is essential, because two animals which act as supporters should be the same height.  Why?

In the opinion of the Collector, if the Unicorn Rampant were shorter than the Lion Rampant Guardant, this might be taken as an insult to Scotland, the Unicorn being the symbol of Scotland. Likewise, England, represented by the Lion, might suffer an insult if the Lion Rampant Guardant appeared to be shorter than the Unicorn Rampant.
Note:  The spelling gardant at the top of the drawing of the lion shown above is from the old French. In the main text, we use the modern English spelling: guardant.


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