Wildcomet Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 Hey everyone, I decided to get going with another series and look at the defunct Arena Football League which, especially back in the 90s had some really fun team identities to play with. I actually intended to do this prior to my Milwaukee Expansions Teams series but saw Wideright do his own awesome version of this idea and wanted to give that some space before bringing mine up. Some logos I had already done before seeing his work, but decided to still show my takes. To help this one stand apart despite doing a similar concept of trying to modernize older Arena Football League logos and branding, I am focusing on teams not done there (aside from those already done). I don't have a particular number of teams in mind, this could be sometime I come back to while also working on another bigger project I have in mind. I have several in the can and ready to present, but here I will start off with my take on an update for the Chicago Bruisers. On the logo I focused on thickening the lines, adding a more aggressive edge, and simplifying the color pallette while also making it pop more. The lighter blue from the Chicago flag really stands out, and in general I have it down to 3 colors + white, rather than the 5 + white in the old one. For the helmet my big thing to help this one stand out was the diagonal stripe meant to emulate the dog collar going around the player's neck. I also put the trademark Chicago flag star in the center of the helmet to help fill the negative space there. I hope you all enjoy this take! Further posts have included (in order): Chicago Bruisers Revision Toronto Phantoms + revisions Portland Forest Dragons + revisions Minnesota Fighting Pike Grand Rapids Rampage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Section30 Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 It's a good start. One thing that really stands out to me though are the eyes, right now it looks like the Bulldog is looking straight up rather than straight ahead. Minnesota Amateur Hockey League MAHL Wiki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 On 5/30/2020 at 4:53 PM, Section30 said: It's a good start. One thing that really stands out to me though are the eyes, right now it looks like the Bulldog is looking straight up rather than straight ahead. Appreciate the feedback, that was a good tip! I extended the pupils of the eyes down to get their gaze more centerted. How's this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Section30 Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 Much better Minnesota Amateur Hockey League MAHL Wiki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 2, 2020 Author Share Posted June 2, 2020 Time for the 2nd entry on this list, an update of the Toronto Phantoms! This was one of my favorite logos when I was younger, so I hope I did it justice with the update. The biggest change was separating the text from the logo itself; having all that grey on top with all the blue on the bottom felt unbalanced for me and nowadays I feel the trend is to keep them more separate. I made the colors bolder shades that would stand out more, and I reduced the streaks in the phantom and also made what remains flow in the same direction. I considered doing the white skull face like the original, but I found I personally liked the look better this way with the facial features popping out from the blackness of the phantom. For the helmet, it felt like a natural fit to go with the oversized logo to let the scythe come up into the front of the helmet and then wrap around over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krz Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 I don’t think the face works, also I feel like the logo would look better on a shield, so that the amount of black around the logo would be even. Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 I agree, and think the blue logo gets a little lost on the blue helmet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 Thanks for the ideas about the Phantoms logo. I took another shot at the white face and I think I got it to a good place. I'm not sure about making the logo more of a true shield like what suggested. I made versions with a uniform edge on the left to give it a more shield-like design and one that's unchanged to compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb105 Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 I think it might look better if you just connect and fill in the area between the tip of the scythe and the tip of the hood to suggest the shield shape while maintaining the character of the robe’s fringes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 Good suggestion! I think this is the best yet. Unless I get feedback saying a major tweak is still needed I think I'll mock this up on the helmet and make the full display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Here is the full revised display of the logo and helmet for the Toronto Phantoms. I'll have the next team up tomorrow, and I'm thinking we'll be taking a trip to the West Coast for the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Today we travel straight west, as we check out an update to the Portland.... Forest Dragons! The Forest Dragons was a fun challenge for me but I'm feeling pretty good with it right now. I like the creativity of the name, but nothing about the logo screamed FOREST dragon to me. I also wanted to simplify the color pallette. I took inspiration from a Forest Dragon D&D figure I have, while also incorporating some elements from the original logo, including two of the colors (the really dark aqua and yellow), the lower jaw, tail and general positioning of the dragon. I replaced the other colors with green and tan shades more fitting of a forest motif. I also tried to shape the spikes on the dragon to take a more branch-like appearance, as well as give it an appearance of vines growing off it. I tried to be careful to give it that viney look without getting too busy, and I think I did pretty ok there. The hand is shaped the same as the leaf in the center. PDX is the airport code for Portland, and something I have seen incorporated into other Portland logos recently (such as the AFL's Portland Thunder). I toyed with trying to have the branch antlers come off the front of the helmet but it just wasn't looking quite right to me, so I went with a straight-forward Dragon Head logo. Overall I feel like I was able to take this update in a new direction without totally throwing out the old, and I feel I highlighted the forest aspect which I felt was really lacking. I hope you all enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 I'd probably find a different font for PDX in the middle so it's a little cleaner and easier to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 On 6/9/2020 at 10:24 AM, MJWalker45 said: I'd probably find a different font for PDX in the middle so it's a little cleaner and easier to read. How's this you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb105 Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 The dragon seems too detailed and it causes the colors to bleed when smaller/farther away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 8 hours ago, in_a_rush said: How's this you think? It's better because they aren't overlapping. Nice improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I'm not sure that's identifiable as a dragon. It looks like a possessed tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavybass Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 It's a FOREST dragon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 32 minutes ago, heavybass said: It's a FOREST dragon Gotcha. It looks like a possessed tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcomet Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 I made some more revisions to the Portland logo to try and simplify it a little bit. Next one up should come soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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