Hartford Hockey Concept

[cyandlux]

Heres something I worked on for a hockey team for the past day or so... I think its okay...

[KCScout76]

Wow - very nice. The lower antlers seem a bit too much. However, pretty nice design.

[youcan'tseeme]

The WHA has style!

[js °]

very nice ... i agree with KCScout though .. the lower antlers seem to be a bit erratic ... with a bit of simplification and smoothing they'd be perfect. also the cutoff off the elks right side doesnt seem to have a natural flow to it ... other than that though ... very very nice.

[Sterling84]

I tend to come into these topics with crit based off of my affection for animals and perhaps.....sometimes that is misplaced.

But my friend, you need to reference some actual elk photographs and understand the structure that elk antlers grow in. Without understanding that, this ends up looking like Medussa.

Thats one of the things that just (irrationally) really frustrates me. Particularly in cases that actually get used like the Laredo Bucks (who also have random antler structure featuring tines that hang downward)

As everyone has said, this is really quite nice overrall. But you've basically got is a creature with eight long antler "beams" growing out of its scalp. In reality, elk have two main large beams which jut backward and up and are lined with smaller spikes or "tines".

I can only imagine the shortness and blandness of the word "Elk" itself is why more teams don't use the moniker....because the creatures themselves are stunning and worthy.

Maybe you could use the fact that they bugle as the basis for a logo idea. Either way, the antlers need lots of work.

awesome elk photo

Great start. Good job.

[cyandlux]

Actually I pretty much straight up traced those antlers from a pic of an elk....I added the middle two...maybe elimanating those would help.

[Sterling84]

Can you post it? The reference photo?

[kingssss]

I like it a lot . I like the lower antlers, they add something, i dunno what, to the logo that i really like. however i do agree that how you cut off the body does look a little off. very nice, though. good job.

[cyandlux]

Well I think part of the problem is that i used an elk with its head up for the antlers and replaced its head with one looking dead on......and for the body I was trying to go for something like the Sabres.

[ZBoyer]

I don't know. I mean, the logo seems fine and all - maybe the antlers are a bit too "haywire", which makes it look distracting - but I think my main problem is just the identity. Living right outside Hartford, truthfully, the only real strong connection is between the mascot of The Hartford insurance firm (which is, of course, based here) and the team you're proposing. Although some deer are found around here, elk don't usually live in Connecticut, either.

The secondary logo is pretty neat, with the antlers coming out of the "H", and the concept is solid; I just don't think the identity fits. Not to say that it's not a good idea, since it is just a concept and all, but it's just a bit outside.

....Anyways, anyone who supports the return of hockey to Hartford has to be right in some way.

[ltravisjr]

Fantastic start. The only thing I have reservations with is the secondary. It looks a bit forced to me. To give it some character, I would curve the H like you did with the "L" in "ELK". That would at least tie it in with the primary.

LT

Edit: I see you just added some more to the secondary already. I am liking it!

[cyandlux]

I couldnt think of anything, and as a joke I started doing the Elk becasue it sits on the Hartford building which I lived near...but who cares theres no Huskies, see any wolf packs lately? how bout a RockCat? A NaviGATOR? Sound Tiger? No? hmmmm

Good suggestions keep em coming.....

[ltravisjr]

I couldnt think of anything, and as a joke I started doing the Elk becasue it sits on the Hartford building which I lived near...but who cares theres no Huskies, see any wolf packs lately? how bout a RockCat? A NaviGATOR? Sound Tiger? No? hmmmm

Good suggestions keep em coming.....

Yep, I don't see parents in Detroit and Chicago keeping their kids in at night so they don't get attacked by those wild Lions and Bears!

LT

[ZBoyer]

I couldnt think of anything, and as a joke I started doing the Elk becasue it sits on the Hartford building which I lived near...but who cares theres no Huskies, see any wolf packs lately? how bout a RockCat? A NaviGATOR? Sound Tiger? No? hmmmm

Oh, I'm not saying that it's not a good concept because it's not relevant - there are tons of teams that don't work out there for one person but everyone else seems to like them (just looking at the board, most people don't like the Utah Jazz name, for example, but I think it's just fine). That's all, not a big deal.

And, by the way - the name Huskies came from the name UConn, which, when adopted back in the 1950s, was the first thing that came to mind for people when they thought of the Yukon territory. The Wolf Pack name comes from our naval base, the largest home of submarines in the country, which are part of the Sea Wolf fleet (check out the old Arena Football New England Seawolves). The Rock Cats came from the miserable Hardware City Rock Cats, where New Britain is the home of super manufacturer Stanley, while the Navigators are based in Norwich, which is on the Thames River and the Sound Tigers are out of Bridgeport, on the Long Island Sound.

So, there is an explanation for everything. Connecticut typically has thoughtful names with its teams (except for the New Haven Ninjas - I can't explain that one), and even so, the concept is solid anyway.

[buster04]

FYI the Hartford Insurance Co logo is a Stag, named Larry. I know this cause I work there.

[Sterling84]

Well I think part of the problem is that i used an elk with its head up for the antlers and replaced its head with one looking dead on

Ya think?!?

Not to be mean, but I knew that absolutely HAD to be what happened which is why I asked to see your reference. And a picture of a man, lion, Oldsmobile or fish wouldn't look right if you pasted a different angled image on the front either. You can pose your subject, tweak it, and bend the rules to fit your idea. THere's probably a lesson to be learned here if one looks hard enough.

The two lowest "beams" or antlers on that photo are the ones that extend back and up (also outward a bit...forgot to mention that). But as you said, with the neck at that angle, they actually are headed downward and forshortening confuses the viewer as to where the rest come from. A closer inspection will show that every other spike on that elk originates from those two main beams.

[RedEye]

I think a real lesson here for all to learn from is to know your subject inside and out and, if necessary, take some artistic license, but ALWAYS be sure your depiction is as true to form as possible.

If you don't want to spend the time sketching multiple angles of the chosen subject before laying anything down in Illustrator or whatever you need to duplicate your source photo as close as possible.

Since this isn't always desired, since most photos don't have said subject in the best pose for a logo, it is wise to start with pencil and paper. One thing I see people doing "wrong" is they immediately "sketch" on the computer and do very little thumbnail work in preparation.

Excitement to finish an idea can lead to rushed concepts or illustrations which hurts what would otherwise be a good idea.

I also grimace everytime I see the Laredo Bucks logo.

[Sterling84]

Exactly Redeye. For me (and this may not work for everyone) but I have to visualize myself SCULPTING whatever I am drawing. You have to dance back and forth between the 2-D plane of the monitor/paper and the 3-D plane in your mind.

Why am I putting this darker tone here? Is it a hollow, shadow or neither? Why does this line get thinner here? Is it getting narrower? Or going further back in space? I need to physically understand what I'm drawing.....to be able to pretend to touch it.......which is why I used the term sculpt......

2-Dimensional sculpture. If you completely KNOW your subject matter, then and only then can you stylize it and bend the rules to fit your needs.

[cyandlux]

heres a cleaned up version...hope its working beter.....

....actually I cant draw....weird huh? been using Illustrator for so long that anything I do on paper isnt worth anything....as a sketch to follow theyre ok, but im MORE comfortable in Illustrator.

[wheateater]

I must say that this second draft makes the antlers look even more like snakes...the black shading comes off looking like a diamondback or something...at least to me.

Maybe try shrinking the overall size of the antlers. The tines are a bit too long it seems, and the main branch is prolly too thick. I don't know exactly how to fix it, but keep working on it...you'll get there.

EDIT -- Maybe try something like this: