Arena Football Project

[BengalErnst]

You’re so dang good at what you do. These are awesome. Can’t wait to see the rest of them. To me they don’t look like 2020 logos but they don’t have to be. These teams came out in 1988 and if they’re successful teams maybe they do only make minor tweaks to them over the years. A lot of MLB NBA or NFL logos aren’t 2020 logos either 

[walkerws]

10 hours ago, WideRight said:

Yet another 1988 team, one of my all time favorites, the New England Steamrollers.  With this team I decided to do the following:

 

1. Retain the main logo but add some grey to the orange & black and modify a few details. 

2. Change the helmet to grey (and the pants as well).  I have always loved orange, black and grey (old BC Lions uni turned me on to it.)

3. Retain the black asphalt line to the back of the helmet, but incorporate an orange line and then link to a standard central helmet stripe. 

4. Use the very tiny secondary NE shape logo as the sleeve logo (see it below the main logo).

5. Use a relatively simple stripe pattern on the orange jersey, but use a sleeve top orange block to add something a bit newer to the white. 

 

Eventually I may add wilder alternate uniforms, in which case a black helmet may happen. 

 

But for now, a standard home/away uni for the Steamrollers. 

 

That’s a gorgeous uniform. The helmet strip would be difficult, but it’s easy to match that ridge stripe with the steam rollers. 

[WideRight]

Adding the New York Knights.  They only lasted one season, but the thought of having the Knights as a 30+ year franchise in MSG and then adding the Dragons as an expansion team on Long Island/Brooklyn later makes such a perfect combo (Knights v. Dragons) that I had to.  You will see that I completely revamped the Knights logo, using one I designed a while back for a different project.  I like the rampart theme as a uniform element and decided to go with a Black and silver combo with a moderate amount of pale sky blue as a 3rd color.  

 

[WideRight]

And the Orlando Predators.  I really like both the cat's eye "P" logo and the original cat-scratch logo, so I tried to blend the two and then use the scratch motif in other areas. 

While I made white pants for the Preds, I suspect they would wear black over black far more often than wearing the white.  

 

[BengalErnst]

Those are my two favorites ones yet. Both beautiful. Can’t wait to see the Toronto phantoms and New Orleans voodoo. Two of my other favorite arena football teams of all time. Arizona rattlers 

[WideRight]

Last one for the day:  Tampa Bay Storm.    I decided to focus on the glory years when they wore navy and gold.  The main logo is one I found on a basic search for clip art of hurricane logos.  It is from Dreamstime.com.  With Tampa I decided to...

 

1. Go with the oversized logo trend.

2. Use stripeless pants.

3. Create a secondary TB logo.

4. I used a very basic font.  Not sure why.  

5. Overall, it looks a bit St. Louis Ramsish, but  that is mostly the colors. 

 

 

I have the Firebirds and Rattlers in the works.  Those should be up tomorrow. 

[Josef_Bretones]

4 minutes ago, WideRight said:

Last one for the day:  Tampa Bay Storm.    I decided to focus on the glory years when they wore navy and gold.  The main logo is one I found on a basic search for clip art of hurricane logos.  It is from Dreamstime.com.  With Tampa I decided to...

 

1. Go with the oversized logo trend.

2. Use stripeless pants.

3. Create a secondary TB logo.

4. I used a very basic font.  Not sure why.  

5. Overall, it looks a bit St. Louis Ramsish, but  that is mostly the colors. 

 

 

I have the Firebirds and Rattlers in the works.  Those should be up tomorrow. 

Really good. I like it. 

[ClevelandBaronsNHLfan]

Will you do any of the teams that were in Cleveland?

[Brian in Boston]

5 hours ago, WideRight said:

Adding the New York Knights.  They only lasted one season, but the thought of having the Knights as a 30+ year franchise in MSG and then adding the Dragons as an expansion team on Long Island/Brooklyn later makes such a perfect combo (Knights v. Dragons) that I had to.  You will see that I completely revamped the Knights logo, using one I designed a while back for a different project.  I like the rampart theme as a uniform element and decided to go with a Black and silver combo with a moderate amount of pale sky blue as a 3rd color.  

 

This is a terrific update for the New York Knights. Amongst the finest identities you've ever created.

[MilSox]

I am thoroughly enjoying this series.  Hoping to see the Milwaukee Mustangs, Iowa Barnstormers, and New Orleans Night.

[BengalErnst]

18 minutes ago, NicDB said:

I am thoroughly enjoying this series.  Hoping to see the Milwaukee Mustangs, Iowa Barnstormers, and New Orleans Night.

No. New Orleans VooDoo! Haha 

[raz]

LA Avengers! Memphis Pharaohs! Portland Forest Dragons! Sacramento Attack! San Antonio Force! 

[WideRight]

I did not do the LA Cobras (a logo I like quite a bit) so the Avengers are likely.  Iowa is in, Milwaukee is coming soon, and if I am doing New Orleans it is going to be the VooDoo rather than the Night. Memphis may have to happen just so I can recreate those wild helmets of theirs. 

[WideRight]

4 hours ago, ClevelandBaronsNHLfan said:

Will you do any of the teams that were in Cleveland?

 

Cleveland may be out of luck, because by keeping the Pittsburgh Gladiators, it rules out either LV or Cleveland for that name.  The only other Cleveland team were the ThunderBolts and they were not that impressive.  Why the Rockers were in Cincy instead of Cleveland I will never understand.  Seems a perfect Cleveland name. 

[WideRight]

And a quick teaser for what is on tap tomorrow. Pretty easy guesses for those who know their Arena football. 

 

     

 

 

[Seadragon76]

Arizona, Albany and Milwaukee?

[BengalErnst]

15 minutes ago, WideRight said:

And a quick teaser for what is on tap tomorrow. Pretty easy guesses for those who know their Arena football. 

 

     

 

 

Rattlers, FireBirds and VooDoo

[MilSox]

Three of the best!

[qckgnc]

6 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

Arizona, Albany and Milwaukee?

This. Rattlers, Firebirds, Mustangs.

[WideRight]

First of 3 for the day.   Indiana Firebirds.  Why Indiana?  Well, Albany is just not a large city, and while I like the look of the team when they were in Albany, in this imagined league, they would have sought out a larger market once the league hit bigger TV money.  So, they move to Indianapolis but retain much of the look of their time in Albany.  I also decided to mix up the colors just a bit.  There is a lot of black in the AFL, so I went with a dark grey, sort of a soot or ember color, rather than black.  I have not mucked about with too many teams' color schemes, but might as we move forward.

 

And yes, I am aware that by using most of the body but not the head on the sleeves, and then having the head and the state silhouette on the pants, it could be interpreted as the bird being decapitated like a chicken at slaughter.  Not my intention, and hopefully not too obvious.  I just wanted flames alone on the sleeve and I thought the head could stand alone as part of a secondary logo.

 

And, one final note, just to show where I am thinking of going.  Here is my vision for a 20 team AFL:

 

EAST:

New England Steamrollers

New York Knights

New York Dragons

Philadelphia Soul

Washington Valor

 

NORTH:

Chicago Bruisers

Detroit Drive

Indiana Firebirds

Iowa Barnstormers

Pittsburgh Gladiators

 

SOUTH

Carolina Cobras

Memphis Pharaohs

New Orleans VooDoo

Orlando Predators

Tampa Bay Storm

 

WEST

Arizona Rattlers

Dallas Desperados

Denver Dynamite

LA Avengers

San Jose SaberCats

 

I could bump the league up top 24, but 20 seems good for now.  I am just not sold on some of the other teams (logo-wise) that were longstanding AFL teams (Kats, Force, any Portland identity).