PuckDrawn

Totally 80's - Phoenix Coyotes Unveiling

This Phoenix Coyotes unveiling for the Totally 80's project was long overdue, eh?

I held off on designing something for the Coyotes because I wasn't sure if they were going to be playing in Phoenix or in Hamilton.

Lets hope that, for the sake of Coyotes fans in Phoenix, they stick around for awhile. As much as I'd like to see Hamilton get a team, it would suck to have the 'Yotes ripped away from you like that. Messy messy.

Anyway, here are your Totally 80's jerseys and crest for the Phoenix Coyotes.

I'm happy with the final crest for this project. However, it was a pain in the ASS to finally get to this result. I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't get what I wanted with my first design. Originally, I wanted to have a running coyote, but I wanted it to be different than what the Coyotes are currently using on their alternate jersey. So instead of the legs out-stretched in mid-run, I had the legs in a different position—more underneath the coyote. Just a different snapshot, if you will.

No matter how I tried to illustrate the shade elements of the coyote, I was just not happy with those damn legs. And when I experimented with how the coyote would look on the jersey, it just added to my frustration. I knew a new approach was necessary.

As for the crest itself, I wanted to somehow utilize the Arizona state flag in the design without actually looking like the flag. And you would think that the colors of the Arizona flag would fit perfectly for this Totally 80's project, but when put into use, they were terrible, especially when coloring the coyote. They were a bit too bright, so I opted for deeper tones.

Right now I think the Coyotes have a decent color palette, but they just can't seem to pull off how to use them on their jersey in my opinion. I think they need to add some blue ... So I did it for them in this 80's concept.

Here you can see some of my early attempts at the running coyote. Not terrible, but certainly not a winner. 

You'll notice that the first coyote had an open snout. I did this so I could illustrate some teeth, but they just looked odd, so I did away with them. After looking at it over and over, I decided it was best to just have him shut his mouth. It looked a little bit more streamlined anyway.

When I placed the running coyote on the jersey is when I realized that I needed to do something that more resembled a crest.

So that's it. With the posting of this Coyotes concept, the Totally 80's project is FINALLY finished. I had a lot of fun with this project and it helped me bone up a little in Adobe Illustrator.

Ok Bye.

Totally 80's - Anaheim Ducks Unveiling

Well, I have to admit, this has been a very hard project considering I naturally want to make everything look 70's or modern-style instead of 80's. But, anyway, here's my Totally 80's Anaheim Ducks concept.

 

The logo:
I think I looked at a million duck photographs on Google and did not see ONE that would pass as cool or tough looking. A duck is just not as badass as, say, an eagle or a hawk. I can see not selecting a hawk as a team name since it would be too similar to the BlackHawks, but why not Eagles? Wouldn't you rather play for the Eagles than the Ducks?

I sketched about ten duck heads - at first trying to be very literal in my interpretation. None of them worked for me - not for a hockey logo. This sketch was my final attempt and my quickest. I think i spent about ten seconds on it when I realized it was easily the best form of the bunch.

It's rare that I'll stick to a sketch once I'm inside Illustrator. You can see that I ditched the wings and replaced the bottom wing for a river/water element.

The color scheme was rather simple to nail down for this logo. And luckily the colors matched those of my previous Ducks redesign illustration. Since that jersey was ready to go, I could spend more time on the duck.

I wanted a color scheme that was kind of "outdoorsy". Something that matched the tones of most of the photographs I used as inspiration. (And if I was actually getting paid to design this, I probably would have researched the ducks that are indigenous to California, rather than just arbitrarily designing any old duck, thinking they are all the same! Ha!)

The orange beveled ring that the duck head is flying out of represents the "O" for Orange County, which is where Anaheim resides, of course.

 

The jersey
There's not much to say about this jersey that I haven't said already. By far, the '87 L.A. Kings jersey is my favorite as far as cut and design. And the green/orange/white color scheme is something I've always wanted to try. This jersey and the Totally 80's Ducks concept logo really fit well together in my opinion.

All in all, I'm happy the way this concept turned out.

(UPDATE: Green alternates - view here)

Last team up for the Totally 80's concept is the Phoenix/Hamilton Coyotes. Stay tuned.

Totally 80's - Anaheim Ducks

The Phoenix Coyotes were due up next for the Totally 80's redesign, but since they are in limbo right now, I figured I'd hop over them and work on the Ducks concept.

I'm finished with the crest illustration and I'm pretty happy with the results. Now I just have to decide if I want to use the previous Ducks/Roadrunners jersey concept that I created or design a new version. I really like the other one, so I will probably use it. It's modeled after the 1987 Kings jersey, so it fits into the theme. Ok, I just made up my mind - I'm using it!

Here's a little teaser sketch...

I'll work on the final design tonight and have a post ready by Thursday.

Totally 80's - Carolina Hurricanes Unveiling

I had no intentions of creating a black jersey—considering how much I hate the black jersey craze—but I feel that I've added enough color for it to squeak by my harsh criticism.

Click here for larger view.

The reason I needed to add black as a primary is because of the red of the logo. I knew placing a red logo on top of a red jersey was going to be an issue early on, but I was holding out hope as I illustrated the jersey.

You can see by the illustration above that the red on red does not stand out as much as the red on black. That's just my opinion.

As for the jersey, I modeled it after a Mark Messier Oilers jersey from the 80's, but I modified the stripes a little bit. Instead of three evenly sized stripes, I went with one large and two small stripes. I didn't want to totally rip off the Oilers look.

Naming a team after a damn weather pattern is such a pain in the ass to design around, and for this Totally 80's project, I've had the joy of doing it twice!

I think that, for the Lightning, you are pretty much stuck with a lightning bolt (which is not a bad thing). But for the Hurricanes you have some wiggle room. My logo may not win any Hurricanes crest redesign contests, but at least it's not a poorly conceived hurricane image that looks more like a toilet bowl (No offense 'Canes fans, I just hate your team's logo).

But I think overall—even with the black primary—it still looks like an 80's jersey. I'm happy with how the crest design turned out, even though some have said that the shading is not particularly an "80's" design element. But without it, it's a bit too flat for my tastes.

And look, it says "HO".

Totally 80's - Tampa Bay Lightning "Unveiling"

This is not so much of an unveiling as it is a final poll results announcement.

I wasn't happy with the first round of designs for the Totally 80's Lightning concept, so I went ahead and created a few more illustrations and put them up for a vote. The #2 design won with 48% of the vote. Congratulations #2.

The original concept I came up with was way too cartoonish and thought I'd take a little more time than the five hours I gave myself to design something better. (Although, I'll never please the haters and Lightning fans. Ha!)

You can see the other entries below.
(Click the image for larger view)