Detroit Lions logo concept

[maz]

Thats a shame, you are real good at this to. Oh well, maybe one day youll get to use it for real purposes. Youre very talented. The price is also just about the only thing holding me back from buying illustrator.

[Power_Play]

Do either of you work for a company that owns Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop? If so you should read Adobe's license agreement. They allow the primary user of software to install another copy of the program on a home computer or laptop as long as the two copies aren't running at the same time.

Adobe License Agreement

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2.4 Portable or Home Computer Use. The primary user of the computer on which the Software is installed may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exlusive use on either a portable Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided the Software on the portable or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer.

It pays to be in the design industry.

[maz]

Do either of you work for a company that owns Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop?

Nope {im 13}

[-(dp)-]

Yup, that is right, I am bringing back the chihuahua wearing a fur coat thread. My first logo concept done on anything other than paper. You guys gave me a lot of criticism that helped me turn it into an O.K. logo, but it still isn't great. I did it in a free trial of illustrator CS2, so I couldn't edit it anymore. I decided to finally re-do it in inkscape, and I have made a few changes, but it could still be much better. As always, your comments and criticism will be greatly appreciated. Also, here is another one I did, more of a modernization of the current. I posted it in another thread, but I thought I would get more C+C if I posted it here.

[Brendan]

the first logo is good, it is just on a really weird angle, i think it would way better if logo is facing foward. the second one is a cool modenrazation, but the lion isnt fierce enough, add some claws or more teeth

[josh_cat_eyes]

My brother and I just went halves on adobe illustrator CS2 but I have no clue how to use it. Would someone give me some tips? And about your logo. I love it. Your really talented.

Cat Eyes - Josh

[Vicious]

ive seen the progression of this logo, and i like where it is going. i think that due to the perspetctive of the lion's face, you could eliminate the whole right side of the mane completely, maybe having it dissapear completely behind the nose, and have just a little pop out from behind the mouth like this:

hope this helped

[otero1]

Here is the logo with some changes, which I think are definitely improvements.

Thanks to those of you who actually made suggestions of how to make it better, and not just saying it looked like a kitty or a chihuahua. I couldn't get what officeglenn said to look right. Please tell me what you think now. Again, I will accept and take into consideration any suggestions you guys have about the concept.

The face is too round.. I think that is your problem.

[Armadillo19]

Hey everyone, long time lurker, first time poster.

First off I'd like to say how awesome this site is...

Anyway, that being said, this concept is great. The one thing that seems to stand out as missing on the lion's face is a cheek bone, a type of jaw structure thing. It's face seems a bit too round, and needs some sort of thiner angular look to it or something...

Anyway awesome job, it's been fun watching this concept.

[Milo Meningocele]

Here is the logo with some changes, which I think are definitely improvements.

Thanks to those of you who actually made suggestions of how to make it better, and not just saying it looked like a kitty or a chihuahua. I couldn't get what officeglenn said to look right. Please tell me what you think now. Again, I will accept and take into consideration any suggestions you guys have about the concept.

The face is too round.. I think that is your problem.

Welcome to seven months ago.

[andrewharrington]

It's of my personal opinion that when creating a logo like this, an aggressive-looking animal or something of the sort, the stroke effect is your worst enemy. It gives you a boring, equal thickness outline around your shape. BFD. It's not interesting, you get those flat corners. It looks cheap. what you want to do is draw the outlines by hand. For example, you draw a large black shape, then draw your blue shape over the black shape. Your outlines aren't actually 'lines' but rather, they are the background showing through. It's easier to work with, more versatile when adjustments to the line weight are needed, and it's certainly more interesting. It gives your image a style, something your lion here, is lacking. This way, you can adjust the thickness of your 'lines' and you can control where the 'lines' end, whether they end in a point, or a round, or a curl, by altering the other shapes of your logo.

Finding high quality images of existing logos and tracing them is a really good way to learn how things are constructed in Illustrator. I've never used a stroke in a final version of a logo, and I tend to think they're all right. Either way, you should be able to create every logo without ever using the stroke command. There are roughly three schools of sports logo design: The Cartoony, the Aggressive and the Iconic. There are subdivisions, but those are the big three. Your lion is kinda chillin' on the fence between the Cartoony and the Aggressive. Define it more. Bridging styles rarely works. It happens, and people do it well, but More often than not, one style is all that's needed. Here are some logos in each of the three styles. Notice how the 'outlines' are never the same thickness all the way around, they terminate in different places and styles, and all that jazz, with the possible exception of some old style cartoon logos. The logos are shapes layered on top of each other; no real outlines.

[-(dp)-]

Good idea Tempest, I am not sure if I executed it right, though.

C+C please

[Vicious]

i would add some cheek structure, i think you could make this logo look really tight.

[andrewharrington]

It's already better, but use that black to your advantage. make some shadows in the mane, vary the line weight a little bit. Check the Oregon State logo. See how the line weight is thicker along the back of the head, and the artist basically used the black to create some detail, depth and interest in the fur back there, around the mouth, and on the nose area? I like to do a lot of that. Here's a lion that I did, for some reference, both artistically and anatomically. There are many ways to draw a lion, so check out some examples.

[scottysprings]

This is looking awesome. It's great to see your persistence through this whole project, it's definitely something I have to work on. I think if you use the tips tempest is giving, you are gonna wind up with an amazing logo.

[nwtrailtrekker]

This is my first posted concept, and one of my first ones made. I am no graphics designer or anything, as you can probably tell, just a kid with free time and nothing better to do. I live in Michigan and have always been a lions fan. I do not really think they need a change, well not logo wise, but I just did this for fun. I am new to illustrator and I am trying to get used to it. Please tell me what you think. C+C appreciated.

kindof reminds me of that cat on Sabrina

but your current redesign is amazing

[-(dp)-]

OK, I am not sure if this is better or worse. I tried to make it look like shadows by making the outline uneven, which I don't think is what tempest meant, but I wasn't exactly sure. I also made the shadows that were already in the mane black. Tell me what you think.

[ColeJ]

it's amazing how far this logo has come along. it just keeps getting better and better.

my only real complaint is that the eye looks too human. i have no idea how to fix that, either... but it doesn't look like a cat's eye. it's a human eye.

[Phil]

Agreed... this has really come a long way.

One thing I'd add is that you want to highlight key features. Right now, the mane is the most highlit part of this design, and that's not the feature you want to draw the most attention to. Work on the face. Put more weight on the eye.

Oh, and be careful... it's starting to look a lot like the Jacksonville logo (head position and the muzzle/teeth), and while that might fly in a minor league or in a different sport, it's something that wouldn't work as well in the NFL.

[andrewharrington]

You have the right idea. You get better at it with time. I'd use the black for the shadows on the face as well. It'll give you more contrast and get rid of a color at the same time. The key to this whole deal is keeping a line quality that flows throughout the image. right now, your eye has a skinny little line weight, and your mane a nice thick line. The eye is really human, and there's really more information in it than you need. All you really need is a shape (black) and probably the iris (blue) to get the idea of 'eye' across. Many logos have really simple eyes. Again, look at examples. The nose is too small for a lion, really. Check some reference photos to get that 'big cat' nose right. I don't know that you need to really show any teeth except the canines. Also unneeded info. Same with whiskers. They don't have to actually be whiskers. Maybe it's a few lines that suggest where they are, or something, but the way you have them drawn is really photographic, and that's not what you need in a logo like this.