Big Ten in Paint

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Well All, I am having fun working the templates in Paint and PowerPoint.

 

They are no where near professional, so I will call them "Drafts."

 

But I will be posting up schools as I progress with my justification/descriptions.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

The Indiana Hoosiers tried something similar to this design this year. They had the candy stripes on their shoulders of their jerseys and I thought it looked pretty sharp.

They have played around with several helmet designs, but I am all for them keeping it simple. They have a nice monogram logo and with or without center stripes, the crimson helmet looks sharp with the white icon.

 

The PowerPoint did not space the candy stripes very well with this template and it looks a little goofy.  I think if this were actually to be made into a uniform, it could look cool.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

The Iowa Hawkeyes did something similar to this look for their "Blackout" game. The only real change to those uniforms would be the gold stripe up either side of the pants and trunk of the jersey here.

I think the removal of the center stripe on this helmet made them look really sharp, I thought it looked like an entirely different helmet.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

The Illinois fighting Illini have been under scrutiny for their name/mascot for a while now.  Just about everyone who drafts a concept uniform for them includes the "Aztec-style" triangles. I am no different, in that I think it would look very sharp with their color scheme.  I like them in an orange jersey and white helmet. I do not like their current Block "I" helmet logo though as it seems blah.  A few years ago, they had award stickers on their helmet in the shape of the state and I thought it was unique and a nice homage.

 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

For my Alma Mater, Purdue University. I tried to do something that people have been talking about for a while. I wanted to make it look like the numerals had been riveted on.

I tried to trace their current "CowCatcher" design on the upper shoulder portion of the jersey.  I also think that incorporating railroad tracks on the side trunk of the jersey and pants would look cool.  Their current black alternate helmet has railroad tracks up the center that fade to a point. The white helmet that I have here would keep the thickness consistent entirely.  I added the center logo of the statue of the Boilermaker outside of the stadium, mainly because it looks cool, yet is subtle. Award stickers would be sledgehammers.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

For the Northwestern Wildcats I went Retro.  Keeping things simple, and back to their roots of the "Northwestern Stripe" as they were the first to put a stripe on their football uniform.

 

They have been using black as an alternate color (or mainly as a primary color) a lot in the past 10-20 years. I minimized the black and kept the purple as the primary.

 

I am a fan of white helmets lately, I think they are much more versatile in the neo-retro designs.

 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

I'd like to add that there are some folks on this site with God-Given talent and artistic abilities.

 

I AM NOT ONE OF THEM!

 

However, if any of you feel generous enough to shoot me a private message with constructive criticism or, better yet, tutorials on how to better use my software (I have Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator also) I am MORE THAN HAPPY TO ACCEPT YOUR ADVICE!

 

I am not a professional designer, I do this to pass the time and it is something that I find to be very fun. I have 8 more years until I can retire from the Army, and I would like to build on my skills in that time to hopefully do some designing for local municipal teams/high schools etc. down the road.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

The Wisconsin Badgers uniforms have always been fairly simple.

Today it id difficult to identify Wisconsin's uniforms from Nebraska's on any normal game.

I wanted to incorporate the look of Badger Fur here, hence the white black and grey. I also tried to make the Black Stripes look as if they were forming a "W"

 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

For Michigan State I tried to keep it simple, and do away with the dreaded block "S"

I incorporated the chevron from the spartan shield on the shoulders and inlets, and I incorporated a primitive sword to the helmet and pant striping.

[panthers_2012]

Here's a tip, wait to post other concepts till someone else comments on your topic. So, on to mine comments... 

 Indiana - no, big no to the pants. If makes it look slopey and very unpleasant to the eyes. 

Iowa- not a big fan of the stripe on the jersey, maybe do a sleeve stripe instead.

Illinois- don't do the arching Illini logo, it makes to helmet too busy. 

Purdue- you can simplify the train stripe. Too much detail, for me, and I understand what you're going for in the front of the jersey making it look like a train, but it looks weird to me. Not a big fan of the bolyed numbers. You can still do that, just make the bolts smaller and in the "corner" of the numbers. 

Northwestern- move the stripe to the sleeve, it'll look better

Wisconsin-keep the W white. Good idea for the badger fur, but I would remove it from the helmet, on the uniform it looks fine, the helmet version looks squished

Michigan State- the colors of the logo and the actual uniform are different. Make the numbers slightly bigger and get rid of the side grey panels. 

I think that's all for me. I understand you're doing them in Paint and I use that too, but if you keep practicing you'll get better!! 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

I will get to work - Thank you much!

[Mikey_Meatballs]

I made the recommended Changes to the Northwestern Uniform:

[Mikey_Meatballs]

I had a little fun with the Michigan Uniform.  I did nothing to the helmet, because it is pretty much universally agreed upon as perfect.  I tried to incorporate that look into the shoulder sleeves.  I did several alternates, to include the "Harbaugh All White" uniform...And I had some fun with the Maize coloring.

 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Wisconsin with Recommended changes

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Michigan State with recommended Changes. I blended the logo as best I could. I think the issue with it is that it doesn't have the black outline, so it looks like it is a different shade.

 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Indiana with recommended changes:

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Iowa with recommended changes. I took off the TV numbers and added their signature "America Needs Farmers" icon.  This icon is typically used as a helmet sticker, but here I thought it would look better as a patch on the left sleeve.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Illinois with recommended changes.  I'm not sure how I feel about this. I left the side of the helmets blank, ideally for the small state map award stickers to eventually populate.

The other attached image is a concept that I found online that I REALLY like. I tried my best to emulate that concept with my own flair when drafting this.

[Mikey_Meatballs]

While making suggested improvements, I decided to toy with the idea of Nike ProCombat making a rivalry series of uniforms. Something that would be unique to a rivalry, but similar/close enough in style that it would look cool to see the teams play against one another.

Purdue and Indiana play their rivalry game for a trophy called the "Old Oaken Bucket" ...and It is really an old bucket made of wood. The winner of each game adds a link to the chain attached to the bucket. The links in the chains are metal forages of the initials of the Victors school "I" links for Indiana wins, and "P" links for Purdue wins. I incorporated the bucket on the shoulders of each jersey and the victory chain links. I added the phrase "Our State" to the nameplate on the back of the jersey and incorporated the state of Indiana in each team's helmets.

 

[Mikey_Meatballs]

Another Rivalry, Northwestern-Illinois. These two teams play for the "Land of Lincoln Trophy" - formerly the Sweet Sioux tomahawk. In the theme of my rivalry concept I kept the format the same for each teams, but added their own colors and flair. I understand that the Chief Illiniwek logo is no longer in use, but it is a cool logo nonethesame. I incorporated a map of the state at the back of each helmet and a line art portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the sides.