Idaho Cutthroats

[Stampman]

I'm still working on ideas for the secondary logo, wordmarks, and uniforms for my World American Football League tem, the Idaho Cutthroats. (The Cutthroat Trout is Idaho's state fish.) I currently have several variations on the uniform, and haven't decided which variation to use, or to try a new one.

But in the meantime, I posted this logo on the league's board, and am sharing it here as well for C&C.

Thanks.

[leggman01]

this is a solid start, but here are a few critiques:

it looks like you've done this in paint, which can be very limiting, but there is a long, straight line as you transition from the body to the tail...this area needs to be shorter and curved

i haven't ever seen a cutthroat trout, but the mouth looks very salmon like, not much at all like most trout i've seen

is the black pattern legit? most trout are speckled in some way...can't recall ever seeing one with this type of pattern

good start...keep working it!

[edit]

i did a quick google search, and i think you're further off than i first thought

i didn't see any photo's that didn't have spots...some were less noticeable than others, but they were always there...that's a key id point for any trout, so i'd encourage you to work them in

there is a red "slash" on the bottom jaw that is one of the key identifying characteristics of the cutthroat trout (and i suspect the reason for the name)...this is a MUST HAVE item, in my opinion

you're missing some fins...there is a small fin between the dorsal and caudal (tail) fin that i saw in most of the photo's (it's called the adipose fin) - you have the pectoral and (i assume) anal fin on the lower half of the body, but there should be a pair of pelvic fins between the two based on the photo's i saw

i think you're missing the boat with the color scheme...some of the photo's that i found had a beautiful mix of red and green in the color scheme (like this one http://www.whitefishstudio.com/images/Cutthroat_Trout.jpg )

i hope you take this for what it's worth - i think you have chosen a very unique fish with a very unique name, but the way you've portrayed it, the cutthroat looks like any ordinary fish

[AHcreative]

I like it, but I see something. Does anyone else see that the fish looks like its gasping for air (or water)?

[Stampman]

First thanks--there are some things to consider based on these comments.

I did model the logo after some actual photos of cutthroats--and the black spots on the logo are from that--I did try a few variations, and liked this best.

As for spots over the rest of the fish--well they detracted from the overall look--so I left them out.

I do have slashes under the throat on my logo--except they're black--I may make them thicker. The ones I saw must have ahd the missing fin bent or something so it appeared to work itself into the boody--I may try to add that.

As for colours--I found a lot of variation in the pictures I checked out--including this combination--thus setting the shades I used. That said, there are many animal logos that don't match up with the colours of the real animal--and that doesn't hurt them.

I did do this in paint, with some use of Publisher--yes Publisher.

The line you mention is what I think is the weakest part of the logo--and I have improved it greatly from how it first looked--it was quite jarring originally. I did use the curved line tool in Paint to get it bettr--and I did it free hand--but the line didn't want to curve more and look better at the same time.

So far--I'll try adding the missing fin, make the slashes thicker, and try working on the transition line.

[leggman01]

i'm anxious to see how you tweak this...one suggestion - try drawing it freehand, not in paint, then scanning the drawing - you may want to trace the image with a sharpie to give yourself some good, thick lines, and scan it at a relatively high resolution (maybe 300 dpi) and save it as a .png - and THEN manipulate that drawing in paint, i think you'll be able to get the lines you're looking for much more effectively with this method

ok, another suggestion - if you aren't going to add speckles, lose the large boxy blocks of black...they just don't say trout

again, i think your concept has potential, it just needs some work and attention

[Stampman]

i'm anxious to see how you tweak this...one suggestion - try drawing it freehand, not in paint, then scanning the drawing - you may want to trace the image with a sharpie to give yourself some good, thick lines, and scan it at a relatively high resolution (maybe 300 dpi) and save it as a .png - and THEN manipulate that drawing in paint, i think you'll be able to get the lines you're looking for much more effectively with this method

ok, another suggestion - if you aren't going to add speckles, lose the large boxy blocks of black...they just don't say trout

again, i think your concept has potential, it just needs some work and attention

I always save logos as pngs--I sued to use gif and jpeg--but they distort the images too much.

As far as the unis go I've tried both paint & freehand to design them.

Some of my "fancier" ideas don't ranslate so well, but I haven't made any decisions on what to go with that get it close enough to where I'd post them.

Thanks for the comments.

[Epiphanic]

I am always a fan of unique names for sports teams (fantasy or otherwise) and yours certainly fits that bill. If I my venture my opinion on a few things.

1. Like ramsfan said, the fish looks like it's gasping for air. How intimidating can a fish be if it's flopping around on the ground right? I suggest making the eye meaner. Don't be completely limited with the exact anatomy. It's a logo, it should be stylized somewhat.

2. The positioning doesn't grab me. It's fine and it would work (a la Florida Marlins). But what if you "flipped" it in a sense so that the head is lower to make it look like it's attacking something. It might make the logo sleeker.

3. If you wanted to go a more "cartoon-y" route, I would suggest have the trout stand on it's caudil fins (maybe positioned like it's running), holding a football. (Heisman pose?) That's just a thought and you may not like that idea at all.

My main suggestion for the logo is make the eye (face) meaner. Do that and I think it will look ten times better.

P.S. If you are looking for a better program to draw your logos in I suggest Inkscape. There you can draw your logo freehand and the scan the drawing in (like leggman said) and trace over the lines with vectors. There you can modify the lines you already have in place without adjusting pixel by pixel. It's a decent alternative to the expensive Photoshop-type programs.

[Stampman]

Thanks for the comments.

I don't see it as gasping for air, but others do, so maybe there's soemthing to that.

As for the angle of the fish--I have been experimenting with that in some of my helmet ideas, so that could change things with the logo as well.

Don't be completely limited with the exact anatomy. It's a logo, it should be stylized somewhat.

That's why I'm not changing some of the things that have been suggested.

But keep the C&C coming.

[Stampman]

Scroll down and see Nick's version.

I like it.

It will be the official version.

And yes, I did thank him.

[leggman01]

WOW...now that's some nice work there, nick...it's pretty darn close to perfect, actually