Working on a new baseball player template

[DAHOF]

This is my first time starting a topic, but I am a long time lurker.

Most of the time I just sit in dumb-struck awe at the work presented here.

Needless to say, I am a little intimidated by how talented many of you are, but I want to learn & get better and would love some feedback.

OK, here it goes... I started my first uniform concept project on my blog earlier this week. I am enjoying working with and getting very familar with the great templates provided by JayJaxon. I started wondering if I could create one of these on my own. I am a serious baseball photographer, so I have a lot of high resolution images in my archives to choose from. I wanted to select one that was unique and showed the key elements of a uniform.

Here is what I started with. I took this picture last summer at the College World Series:

I spent a couple of hours in photoshop creating the layers and trying to duplicate the detail in the style of JayJaxon.

Here is the v1.0. Honestly, I am not very pleased with the face and hand details. I know I have a lot of work to do on them. I am also planning on attempting to add a pinstripe layer, a vest option, and a longer pants option. Any other suggestions or ideas would be great.

Finally, I decided to combine my new player template with the hat and uni-back from JayJaxon's templates. I probably should have attempted something less bold than a solid dark colored concept, but I just love the 1979 Phillies one hit wonder Saturday Night Specials.

Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[JayJaxon]

First I want you to know that I really appreciate you using my templates and I hope they have been a big help to you. I think you are going in the right direction with yours. It does need refinement and some of the shadowing is off. I think you have several hours of work left though. I never added pinstripes to mine and eventually I will.

I will be happy to help you in any way I can. I can even help you pick through pictures unless you are dead set on the one you have chosen already.

[DAHOF]

Thanks! I agree, I have more work to do. I need to pace myself and try not to do too much at any one sitting.

I am not dead set on that picture, it just happened to be one of the first I saw that met my needs.

Feel free to browse thru my pics. Warning: there are A LOT of images on my site.

Let me know if any of them inspire you. I will be happy to share a full resolution copy with you.

[DAHOF]

I spent some time yesterday and today refining the template.

I changed the helmet, worked on the face/eyes, the shadowing on the jersey, and added batting gloves (rather than drive myself crazy on the hands).

I am having trouble getting "crisp" lines and shapes as a draw/trace in photoshop. Any suggestions?

[DAHOF]

After a couple more "tweeks" I decided to take another stab at another design.

If there is any interest, I can make the .PSD file available for people to play around with.

[tBBP]

I gotta say that I really like this...a lot. The funny thing is, with all the concepts I've produced around these parts over the years, ain't no way in hell I could ever put out a .PSD template like that--I wouldn't even know where to start. You and Jay (who I see chimed in above, and figured would've probably been the first to do so) seem to be spearheading that movement, so to the both of yous, I say keep up the good work!

[Cola]

Wow man, thanks for your link- I'm going to enjoy viewing those pics of us in Omaha last year!

[DAHOF]

Wow man, thanks for your link- I'm going to enjoy viewing those pics of us in Omaha last year!

Thanks, I hope you will enjoy them.

It was a magical run for the Gamecocks.

I'd love to see my Phillies draft Jackie Bradley Jr. in a couple of weeks, but I doubt he will be around when they get to pick at #39.

[BrandMooreArt]

the guys face looks scary. i would just keep the skin and shoes "real". dont try to illustrate them. like Davidsons templates

[DAHOF]

the guys face looks scary. i would just keep the skin and shoes "real". dont try to illustrate them. like Davidsons templates

Thanks for the suggestion.

When I took away all the facial features, the distracting "mutant" looking ball-player was fixed. However, I was not happy with how bland the template looked. The faceless body reminded me of the old template used by MLB and the Baseball Hall of Fame to display uniform histories. Not what I am looking for.

Instead I decided to keep working and editiing in an effort to make it better. I elongated the face, moved the eyes and other facial features around to get a better match to the angle and perspective of the helmet. In addition, I added the option of glasses to eliminate the eyes althogether. I also added some additional features such as vest (and vest piping) and long pants. On the template, everything is selectable and color overlayed for easy changes.

I am still looking for more feedback. Here is where I am now:

[Perfect Zero]

I really like what you have going here because you can see the striping on the pants as well as the design on the jersey. I would say that leaving the drawn face off of the final version would be the best bet (the current face is kinda scary ) Once you smooth some of the edges, it will be a great template.

[DAHOF]

I added the option of vertical shoulder and side stripes today and pulled it all together to show another example.

Does the inclusion of glasses make the face less distracting?

[tvko]

The face looks awful either way. Template, though, is cool.

[missouri tigers]

With all the updates, the actual uniform looks great, however the person's face is very creepy. If I was using this template I would prefer to just use the one without facial details.

[bigmike]

I think the face shadowing is what makes the face look so strange, it almost looks like he is on crystal meth or something. Maybe you make his eyes look centered and his nose pop out a little more to where it doesn't look so flat. It is a great template though, it just needs a few more tweaks!

[ESTONES6]

I think you did a nice job... but I think you have a poor model to work off of. I guess it depends on the style of uniform you are going for. Are you going for a tighter fit or a baggy fit? From experience, it tighter fitting uniforms look better. On your model, it appears to have tight pants, but a baggy jersey. It causes the template to look out of wack. Also, it is in an awkward position, so the arms, entire upper body, and parts of the legs look out of proportion and or just... not in the picture.

I would try finding another model that has a bit better limb positioning, as well as cutting down on the number and size of shadows you have. The more shadows, the more distracting it is. It takes away from the actual design on the uniform.

[oddball]

It's a great start, but I agree with the finding a picture with better limb position. You're having trouble with the face because, doing faces is difficult and you're trying to create every detail of the face. I know faces are difficult, because that's what I struggle with, but I noticed in your first attempt which is your best, you leave out some key feature such as the tongue which would help it, but you also cut off the line of the nose that goes to the right eye and that's making it awkward looking. Shading will help you in the face, but that's the other big issue you have, is that you're creating shading where there's light hitting and so you're losing the 3D effect that you are looking for and it looks flat overall. I disagree with the people who say leave the face off, that always looks horrible and creepy. Just keep working on the face.

[gatek99]

that is one scary looking dude

[DAHOF]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I have been learning a lot during the process. This is a lot different to photography, but I still find it fun and challenging.

FYI, Hopefully soon I am going to be working with JayJaxon to pick a new model.

If anyone is interested in getting the template I have been showing above, shoot me a message.

[cityofphilly1991]

I added the option of vertical shoulder and side stripes today and pulled it all together to show another example.

Does the inclusion of glasses make the face less distracting?

Wow this looks excellent, as a phillies fan myself ive been thinking of ways to work the current P with the powder blues and you nailed one of my ideas, looks awesome, I really want a jersey with just the current "p" on it as you did or a jersey with the old 70-91 script written across. Now I'll have to come up with some others lol