Bigmike's NFL Series 2016 (32/32) *MFL leaked logos

[bigmike]

Teams Posted (32/32): Links Included

NFC SOUTH (4/4)
AFC SOUTH (4/4)
NFC EAST (4/4)

AFC EAST (4/4)

NFC WEST (4/4)

AFC WEST (4/4)

NFC NORTH (4/4)

AFC NORTH (4/4)
PRO BOWL

 

What's up guys, I just want to preface this real quick. The last time I made concepts was two football seasons ago. I just completed my second year at the University of Alabama and after a rocky start to my collegiate career here (with a major change), I have finally started to organize all of my time for school, social life and my hobbies. I just recently made the switch to a MacBook Pro after my Dell crashed. It had all of my artwork on it so I lost it when the computer crashed. About a month ago, I decided to just go ahead and start from scratch and downloaded GIMP, fonts and templates so that I could pick this back up. Anyways, I decided to do a legitimate NFL series for the first time. I've posted a few NFL concepts before but I've always been a bigger fan of College so it has been fun to do something different.

 

I have already completed every team for the series (first time ever to complete a series) but I am only going to post one division at a time starting out with the NFC. I will alternate between conferences and I will try to post a division every week. I would like to post the entire NFC South today but it will take multiple post for each team so I'm just going to start with one and if I have some time later I will at least post one more, I'll try to get the whole division up over the weekend and let it sit for a while before I move on to the AFC South.

Before I get into the uniform rules for each team, I want to give credit to some people, Conrad for his amazing font packs, mattwilcox for the template and gridiron-uniforms.com's uniform database.

Alright, without further adieu here is my NFL Concept series. The rest of the post will serve as my guidelines (most will probably skip this, which is fine) but I wanted to include this just so I can explain the thought process that went behind designing all of the different sets for each team.

 

 

(MY) NFL UNIFORM GUIDELINES

Helmets: Each team is required to have at least TWO helmets (Primary, Throwback), and each team has the option to add a THIRD (Alternate), I'll get to the Alternate rule a little bit later.

Jerseys: Each team is required to have FOUR jerseys (Home, Away, Alternate, Throwback). No more color rush uniforms, the Throwback does not count as the Alternate and I'll get to that in a little bit as well.  

Pants: Every team has to have at least TWO pants (Primary, Throwback). I think I have at least one Secondary set of pants for every team though, they are allowed up to four total but some teams do not take advantage of that rule. Teams can mix and match any of their pants as they'd like except for their throwback set.

Alternate Helmet Rule: With this new set of Guidelines, some teams will have an Alternate helmet that is automatically paired with their Alternate jersey, They would be allowed to wear the Alternate helmet up to THREE times a year, basically this could happen one of two ways. Either the team would be allowed to wear the Alternate helmet with their Primary Home and Away jersey once each and with their Alternate uniform once or if they choose to wear their Alternate jersey twice during the season, that would allow them to wear their Alternate helmet only one more time with either their Primary Home or Away. 

Alternate Jersey Rule: Each team is only allowed to wear their Alternate jerseys TWICE a year. They do not have to choose to do so and if this were reality, it would not be a requirement to even wear the jersey once every season. The Alternate jersey is a requirement mainly for reasons to allow teams to have a different option and use it as a merchandise tool instead of the NFL's current Color Rush.

 

THROWBACK WEEK (THANKSGIVING): Throwbacks get separated from the rest of the bunch, this is my personal favorite rule. I used to love watching teams wear throwbacks on Thanksgiving week so I decided to make it a rule that every team will wear a retro-inspired uniform during the week/weekend of 11/24/16-11/27/16. Each uniform takes inspiration from various eras in each team's history, some will be based on one retro set more than others, while some teams actually piece together more of a Fauxback uniform (Expansion teams especially).

 

Okay so that covers it all. Sorry for all of the writing, if you made it this far please don't get bored. I'm going to keep the uniform post short and sweet but I've put a lot of thought into this project so I wanted to try and avoid questions about things such as Alternates and Throwbacks.

 

[bigmike]

NFC SOUTH

 

Atlanta Falcons (Posted 5/6/16): Home, Away, Alternate, Throwback

Carolina Panthers (Posted 5/7/16): Home, Away, Alternate, Throwback

New Orleans Saints (Posted 5/7/16): Home, Away, Alternate, Throwback

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (COMING SOON): Home, Away, Alternate, Throwback

 

THROWBACK WEEK MATCH-UPS: (Jersey/Pants Colors)

Atlanta Falcons (HOME-Black/Silver) vs Cardinals

Carolina Panthers (AWAY-White/White) @ Raiders

New Orleans Saints (HOME-White/White) vs Rams *White at Home

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (HOME-Creamsicle/White) vs Seahawks *Color vs Color 

 

[bigmike]

ATLANTA FALCONS

Primary/Alternate Uniforms: For the Falcons, who I would say are my favorite NFL team, I decided to emphasize red in the primary sets, simplify the logo and took a little inspiration from the throwback helmets, adding the bronze/gold color for trim. ATL logo is used on the chest, new number font to match the wordmark, logo and stripe colors change depending on the background color. Added a black out set for their alternate uniform. Stylized striping takes some inspiration from Primary logo.

 

Home Uniform

Away Uniform

 

Alternate Uniform (Alternate Helmet included)

 

Throwback Set: The Falcons are matched up with the Cardinals in Throwback week. This uniform is mostly inspired by their 90's set, replicating the black helmet and silver pants from that exact set. The jersey is mostly inspired by the 90's look as well but also takes inspiration from the sleeve stripe/logo look they had in 1987. However, I decided to streamline the striping from the pants onto the jersey instead of using the northwestern stripes.

 

Okay guys, so let me know what you think, Carolina will be next.

[JosiahWVU]

This is awesome!!!!!!!! Really like Atlanta!

[raysox]

Nice! Good to hear from you Mike.

 

I like that addition of gold for the Falcons, especially as a replacement of the grey. I guess my only critique would be the red falcon on the black helmet!

[MJWalker45]

21 minutes ago, raysox said:

Nice! Good to hear from you Mike.

 

I like that addition of gold for the Falcons, especially as a replacement of the grey. I guess my only critique would be the red falcon on the black helmet!

Agreed. A thicker outline ould allow the logo to still be seen clearly. I'd probably take the sleece stripes off the throwback as well.

[ahowe6464]

Very strong first set, I agree with @raysox the gold is a nice touch. Can't wait for the rest of this series.

[Guest darkpiranha]

Agree with everyone that the gold looks great with Atlanta.  Looking forward to the rest of this series. 

[bigmike]

CAROLINA PANTHERS

Primary/Alternate Uniforms: Time for a refresh for the Panthers. The thing I hate about their set now is some guys have shoulder loops while some guys have sleeve stripes, drives me crazy. Changes: emphasized blue, custom font to match wordmark, modernized "claw-like" take on classical striping style, striping style used throughout the uniform. 

 

Home Uniform

 

Away Uniform

 

Alternate Uniform

 

Throwback Set: In all honesty, this was probably the toughest team to do a throwback for in the entire NFL. I started with the set they currently wear but I find that idea silly since they currently wear them. I basically tried creating a more 70's/80's type of feel to the uniform. One of their old secondary logos is used and I simplified it while giving it a more cartoony face (don't know if it really works or not, skeptical about the helmet logo). Anyways, for the uniforms I tried creating a set that looks similar to what they have but with a "retro" feel.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, I really appreciate it! If I ever post updates, I will likely do it after I get done posting the whole division but I am always welcome to different ideas and checking out what adjustments can be made. (Also, good to hear from you too @raysox, I stumbled across the MLF site the other day and looked through a bunch of old post, I can't believe how long ago that was.)

[JosiahWVU]

Beautiful.

[C-Squared]

Can already tell this is gonna be a great set!

[ahowe6464]

No complaints whatsoever, but why no black helmet?

[ThePastor]

These are fantastic, I love the white aways the most. Starting off strong Mike!

[bigmike]

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Primary/Alternate Uniforms: If I had to pick a favorite set in this division it would be this one. I designed a new wordmark which uses a Clarendon font for the base and the NOLA font (from NBA's 2014 All-Star Game) for the New Orleans part. I thought it turned out nicely and fits well for the Saints. The uniform set is basically a modernization of this uniform. Name and number fonts match the word mark, consistent "shiny" gold used throughout the entire uniform. Re-touched State of Louisana logo used on top of sleeve stripes and gloves. Alternate set includes a black helmet (which is something they had in the 60's), Gold jersey and black pants

 

Home Uniform

 

Away Uniform

 

Alternate Uniform (Alternate Helmet included)

 

Throwback Set: Okay so considering the normal set is somewhat influenced by their normal throwbacks, I decided to see if I could come up with a new one. The uniform itself is essentially the same as the uniforms worn in 1975. Only difference is no outlines on the numbers, which is actually something they did for the same jersey in 1969 but they only wore that jersey in the preseason that year. The socks are also influenced more-so by the 60's uniforms instead of the 75 set. 

*Side not here: Their match-up is with the Los Angeles Rams, the Saints are the home team but I chose to have them wear all-white (they wear white at home now sometimes, also kind of a homage to LSU). This means the Rams get a all-color set for their throwbacks.

 

@ahowe6464 I decided against a black helmet for the Panthers for a couple of reasons, I think the blue color is just much more unique and ties the uniforms together nicely. I also decided against it as an alternate basically because I already have two teams in this division who have black alternate helmets and I didn't want black alternate helmet overload. It could be something I end up adding as an option though!

[ahowe6464]

@bigmike I feel that, thanks for the response.

 

Also, uh... you may have uploaded the home set twice.

[dont care]

Wow these are absolutely amazing. Keep up the great work

[BenD]

These are some great sets. I'd suggest using a color other than gold for the Louisiana logo so it doesn't get lost in the stripes, like black on the black jersey. Those Panthers unis are a thing of beauty, and despite the use of gold the Falcons look pretty solid. Keep up the good work I look forward to the Bucs!

[JosiahWVU]

Awesome, love the striping!

[Ted Cunningham]

These are fun! I really like that fauxback you did for Carolina. 

 

I understand that you've completed the series already, but for future reference/suggestions: the lines on your template are a little distracting since they're so dark.

 

Nice work, Mike.

[bigmike]

30 minutes ago, Ted Cunningham said:

These are fun! I really like that fauxback you did for Carolina. 

 

I understand that you've completed the series already, but for future reference/suggestions: the lines on your template are a little distracting since they're so dark.

 

Nice work, Mike.

 

Thank you! That is actually something I've thought as well, I normally try to make the lines a darker shade of the actually material it is outlining, I think I can maybe go in and fix it to be that way but it may take some fine tuning and I'd have to apply to all of the teams but I may give that a shot before I post the next division. If the lines on the template I had weren't so thick I don't think it would have been a problem but now it does stick out a little bit, thanks for the input though, I'll see if I can try to fix it without it being too much of a hassle!