Royal Canadian Air Force Badge

[Edited on Aug. 28, 2011] The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was the air force of Canada from 1924 until 1968 when the three branches of the Canadian military were merged into the Canadian Forces Since 1975 it became known as Canadian Forces Air Command (AIRCOM). In 2011, Royal Canadian Air Force has gotten its historical name and its insignia back, along with the Royal Canadian Navy.

The badge of the RCAF was similar to that used by the RAF, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It consists of the Imperial Crown, an "eagle volant", a circle inscribed with the RCAF's motto “Per ardua ad astra” (which is usually translated as "Through Adversity to the Stars"), and a scroll inscribed with "Royal Canadian Air Force".

[Edited on May 4ht, 2017 to add the new RCAF badge] At the time I was working on this image, the badge was considered obsolete in Canada, and it made working on it particularly interesting and important. One of the main goals of this project was to restore and preserve as many legacy military insignia as possible. Who would have known at that time, that this insignia will have a second life! hopefully this time it is here to stay.


A centerpiece of the design is a gold-colored eagle. I’ve used various textures of gold, copper and bronze to achieve a nice multi-layered three-dimensional look. here I had a perfect chance of experimenting with nice blue enamels and various silks for the scroll.

As always, the above artworks are available  via my “Military Insignia” galleries from FineArt America and RedBubble. You can just follow the links in the article to get to the corresponding galleries.


To active duty or reserve military personnel, veterans and their family members: I grant an explicit permission to download the above images to be used for non-profit/non-commercial and charitable causes, benefiting troops and their families, as well as for non-commercial internal duty-specific purposes, such as unit website design, training materials and presentations. 

Royal Canadian Navy Badge

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) was the navy of Canada from 1911 until 1968 when the three Canadian services were unified to form the Canadian Forces.

The modern Canadian navy was officially known as Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM), however, unofficially MARCOM is represented as the "Canadian Navy" and maintains many traditions of its predecessor. It was not correct to use the name "Royal Canadian Navy" or its abbreviation "RCN" in references to Canada's naval forces after February 1, 1968. In 1968, the Royal Canadian Navy Badge was replaced by the Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM) badge, however it was not written off.

Since 1968, this badge was re-assigned to Canadian Forces Naval Operations branch, a personnel branch of the Canadian Forces. Variations if the badge are also used as cap badges of the Canadian Navy. However, the situation was reversed in 2011, and Canadian Navy was reestablished as the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) once again. At the time this article was edited, the fate of the old RCN badge was not yet clear. Stay tuned.

This is another example of impressive Canadian military heraldry, which was a true pleasure to work with. A centerpiece of the design is a gold-colored anchor, on which I used various textures of gold, copper and bronze to achieve a slightly worn out and stressed look. I also added a nice 3D volume, to make the anchor pop. As it always happens with Canadian military heraldry, the most challenging part was the King Edward’s crown. It is also the most fun part to work on, because you can go nuts with textures of gold, precious stones and silks. The result speaks for itself.
[Edited on May 4th, 2017 to add the new RCN badge] Several years later, I had to re-visit this topic, since the new RCN badge design was approved.

As always, the above artworks are available  via my “Military Insignia” galleries from FineArt America and RedBubble. You can just follow the links in the article to get to the corresponding galleries.


To active duty or reserve military personnel, veterans and their family members: I grant an explicit permission to download the above images to be used for non-profit/non-commercial and charitable causes, benefiting troops and their families, as well as for non-commercial internal duty-specific purposes, such as unit website design, training materials and presentations. 

Canadian Armed Forces Badge

The Canadian Forces (CF) (French: Forces canadiennes; FC), officially the Canadian Armed Forces (French: Forces armées canadiennes), are the unified armed forces of Canada. according to the National Defence Act: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces." The CAF consist of three main branches: Maritime Command (MARCOM), Land Force Command (LFC), and Air Command (AIRCOM). At the pinnacle of the command structure is the Commander-in-Chief, who is the reigning Canadian monarch, Elizabeth II, represented by the Governor General.

The Canadian Armed Forces badge was approved in August, 1967, to represent the Canadian Forces. It combines symbols from the three services – Army, Navy and Air Force.

About the “Canadian Armed Forces Badge” artwork: The complexity of this striking image was certainly a challenge, but the beauty of it was a true inspiration. As usually, I started by recreating a vector image of the badge in Adobe Illustrator CS4. After that, I used my unique multi-layer process in Adobe Photoshop CS4, layer by layer, element by element, detail by detail, giving the image it’s current look, feel and textures.

As with all “Military Insignia” series, my aim was to retain all the official colors and elements , at the same time applying realistic textures, and 3d-effects, brining life into the flat and plain two-dimensional image.

I had to play with multiple textures of gold, silk, precious gems and pearls for the crown. Various shades of gold were also applied to give dimensions and striking appearance to the eagle. The swords have received shiny steel blades. I also decided to give a vintage, weathered and somewhat corroded look to the anchor, and applied multiple textures to its components. And of course, as a final touch, I've used some nice enamels effects on the background platter and maple leaves.

As always, the above artworks are available  via my “Military Insignia” galleries from FineArt America and RedBubble. You can just follow the links in the article to get to the corresponding galleries.

To active duty or reserve military personnel, veterans and their family members: I grant an explicit permission to download the above images to be used for non-profit/non-commercial and charitable causes, benefiting troops and their families, as well as for non-commercial internal duty-specific purposes, such as unit website design, training materials and presentations.