Logo Design Tutorials

[Darth Brooks]

I'd like in too, if it's not too late.

[CDixonDesign]

I'd like in too, if it's not too late.

Davidson is putting it together this week, make sure to check in on Friday when it should be posted...

[Davidson]

This sounds great for alot of people. Might I make a suggestion though. The logo itself is only one part, the other half being where I think alot of people have trouble also is wordmarks.

Whats style letters to choose, where to start etc. if you included a fourth tutorial that would really bring it together. Maybe doing the wordmarks for your three logos etc.

Just an idea.

the thing is that there is very little i can teach about type that wouldnt be covered in some tutorial that expressly deals with the technology. the type of thing that gives you a type treatment, then gives you the ai settings so let you warp your text in the same way. i have two issues with this: 1. some people wont be using illustrator so they wont have access to the types of tools i tend to use when dealing with type, and 2: it relies upon plain old taste and aesthetics. nobody can really teach that.

i just want to give people some techniques with which they can achieve better likenesses. in that respect, its really just going to focus on drawing and the way you can use vector programs to do this.

however, if you think this is something you could run a decent tutorial on, im pretty sure people would be keen on this too.

[Davidson]

Tutorial 1: Face Illustration & Logos

okay, sor here goes.

this is really a 2 parter. hopefully it will help people establish a means of getting a particular likeness of a person. and on top of that, give you some ideas and tips to help generate faces using the basic methods and shapes created from your initial sketches.

for this tutorial i have used an image of brett favre, but you can use any images really. i would advise trying to find a picture that has been either shot in good light and isnt lit primarily by the flash bulb. its also useful for the purposes of this tutorial to use a 3/4 pose. of course the same process can be used on any images, but it may be easiest to follow using a similar image.

note: everything drawn here, is done in illustrator on screen. no pencil required altho, this is effectively sketching in ai. inkscape is should work in exactly the same way.

------------------------

1. take your original image. here we have the silver fox, resplendent in all of his 40 odd years. i have chosen this picture as its shot from below which makes the image seem more dynamic, and the subject seem bigger.

2. i initially start by drawing very simple shapes over the face. the skull is near enough circular, the jaw and middle face extends downward meeting by the jaw and the ear. its important to get the angle of the face correct which is done by marking a line roughly down the centre of the face.

3. when you are done you should have an image that looks roughly like the image here. fill in the eye line and perhaps mark some key features positions with simple shapes. you should have something that looks like a crash test dummy.

4. next we are working in some extra lines over the top of our vector sketch. nostrils, lips eyes, hair line etc. here you can put the image back under your drawing to help make sure you are getting features at the right proportion and spacing.

5. here is the fun bit. now you are using those basic lines and thickening them up. strong edges and features in shadow should use thicker lines. less prominent features, thinner lines. some areas like eyes you can start blocking in. the line here are too thick to pick out the detail in the eyes, so its best to work with blocks. all lines are hand drawn, no line tools used.

6. at stage 6 we start to fill in the shadowed areas. again, its probably best to use the image underneath here. as you can see, i have picked out the areas that are slightly darker in the photo, under the chin, side of the face under the cheek bones and on the temple.

7. when you are done here, you should have a very rough looking drawing of your picture. they tend to look a little like the gta characters. youll notice that the image has lots of detail and scraggy lines still. logo design tends to use sweeping curves and similar line widths so we need to simplify the design.

8. here you can see i have thickened up the lines on the face and simplified the shapes in the hair to form less complex but more dynamic bolt shapes.

9. whe you are done and have simplified it to your satisfaction you should have a monochrome design like this.

10. here is an example of the type of thing you might wish to make out of your logo. you can see how i have added highlights to the face and hair with secondary colours.

this is just a quick play around example. please post what you come up with or work in progress steps you are having issues with below.

the rest of this tutorial will be up shortly. hopefully it will give the skills you acquire here a bit more context and allow you to quickly sketch up faces from scratch.

[Davidson]

Tutorial 1: Face Illustration & Logos Part 2

now thats all well and good, you might rightly say. but thats f all good for what i want to design. and youd be right to do so.

so what we do now is use the basic design of brett to but back our level of detail further and distill the features to the essence of a face.

----------------------------

1. so here we are with bretts face, there are lots of complex strokes in here that make up the particulars of one individuals face.

2. but by following the processes of simplification outlined in the first half of the tutorial we can cut the amount of line work down to where we have a more generic looking character. here i have added a hat to and you can see that this no longer really even looks like farve.

3. same process as before, you can see how we dramatically cut down the detail in shapes to leave some core lines.

4. about as simple as i tend to go. the face is still recognizable just by use of cheekbones, chin nose, forehead with a few marks to make up the mouth and lips.

----------------------------

using these key features, it is now quite simple to almost overlay them on any crash test head shape created from scratch. here are three examples i have created of standard face models just by sketching up a wireframe head and overlaying our core feature model onto it.

A. sketch up head

B. add some rough lines to indicate features.

C. add line work and shadows,

D. and youre done. you now have a method to quickly develop a rough facial design using a very simple model.

here are some examples of my work that use the process i have outlined:

please post any work in progress or questions below and i will endeavor to answer them.

fraser

[rentz]

This is really great. Thank you. I'll definitely try this out.

What do you use to hand draw your lines? Do you do it on paper and scan, or use a tablet?

[Davidson]

This is really great. Thank you. I'll definitely try this out.

What do you use to hand draw your lines? Do you do it on paper and scan, or use a tablet?

sorry, have updated the post. everything is done on screen in illustrator using a mouse. there is no exotic equipment required beyond the program itself.

when i say 'hand drawn' i mean that the line is illustrated as a shape and is not a single stroke object.

[undead]

This is really great! Thank you for sharing. Any other tips would be welcomed by all of us.

[jaha32]

Thanks Davidson for putting in the time and effort to inform us of your techniques. One thing I was going to ask you is if you normally go from tracing an actual picture or one from scratch? as you have two versions here. at least for animals (and i may be getting a little ahead of things here so you can wait to answer this til the animal portion of the tutorial) I usually have to go from scratch since i cannot not always find a picture that satisfies all the angles and such to fit into my idea just right and have to eyeball a series of pictures. what do you do normally

[Davidson]

Thanks Davidson for putting in the time and effort to inform us of your techniques. One thing I was going to ask you is if you normally go from tracing an actual picture or one from scratch? as you have two versions here. at least for animals (and i may be getting a little ahead of things here so you can wait to answer this til the animal portion of the tutorial) I usually have to go from scratch since i cannot not always find a picture that satisfies all the angles and such to fit into my idea just right and have to eyeball a series of pictures. what do you do normally

it depends mate. the point of the tutorial is to show you that you can use images that are effectively traced to inform your other drawings. often their will be something you will take from a photo (say a head) and then use other reference to help you draw the rest freehand. like you say, it just depends upon what you have as source material.

[kaycardoso]

Very nice idea. I'm in too.

[johnnygriswold]

Davidson, this is fantastic. I seem to do ok with the first step, which is the basic design outline. (In this example, it's your black and purple fills)

Where I struggle is the second step, which shown here, is the yellow fills of the Favre logo. No matter how much I squint, I can never see how the shades should work and be drawn out. I always feel that if I stare at how YOU or someone else did it, I'll just be mimicking a style. It's frustrating! haha. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

[Davidson]

Davidson, this is fantastic. I seem to do ok with the first step, which is the basic design outline. (In this example, it's your black and purple fills)

Where I struggle is the second step, which shown here, is the yellow fills of the Favre logo. No matter how much I squint, I can never see how the shades should work and be drawn out. I always feel that if I stare at how YOU or someone else did it, I'll just be mimicking a style. It's frustrating! haha. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

if you post what youre doing, i might be able to help you out?

fd

[johnnygriswold]

Davidson, this is fantastic. I seem to do ok with the first step, which is the basic design outline. (In this example, it's your black and purple fills)

Where I struggle is the second step, which shown here, is the yellow fills of the Favre logo. No matter how much I squint, I can never see how the shades should work and be drawn out. I always feel that if I stare at how YOU or someone else did it, I'll just be mimicking a style. It's frustrating! haha. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

if you post what youre doing, i might be able to help you out?

fd

I was speaking in general terms. I haven't started this tutorial yet - just saw that it was posted.

Again, fantastic insight.

[Davidson]

Davidson, this is fantastic. I seem to do ok with the first step, which is the basic design outline. (In this example, it's your black and purple fills)

Where I struggle is the second step, which shown here, is the yellow fills of the Favre logo. No matter how much I squint, I can never see how the shades should work and be drawn out. I always feel that if I stare at how YOU or someone else did it, I'll just be mimicking a style. It's frustrating! haha. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

if you post what youre doing, i might be able to help you out?

fd

I was speaking in general terms. I haven't started this tutorial yet - just saw that it was posted.

Again, fantastic insight.

perhaps try the other way round. i actually made the whole background yellow, then applied the white. once you have picked out all the shadows and lines, its much easier to do the opposite and pick out the highlights than it is to pick out the middle tones, if you see what i mean. i havnt done it particularly well in that particular instance. but yeah, you get better with practice. and i certainly wouldnt guarantee results on the first go, it will require a touch of t and e.

[chuckymack]

I'm definitely following this. I like the new iteration of the logo by the way, Fraser. I'm just a sucker for Paul Rand-esque simplicity, and you've definitely hit the mark.

[johnnygriswold]

Davidson, this is fantastic. I seem to do ok with the first step, which is the basic design outline. (In this example, it's your black and purple fills)

Where I struggle is the second step, which shown here, is the yellow fills of the Favre logo. No matter how much I squint, I can never see how the shades should work and be drawn out. I always feel that if I stare at how YOU or someone else did it, I'll just be mimicking a style. It's frustrating! haha. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

if you post what youre doing, i might be able to help you out?

fd

I was speaking in general terms. I haven't started this tutorial yet - just saw that it was posted.

Again, fantastic insight.

perhaps try the other way round. i actually made the whole background yellow, then applied the white. once you have picked out all the shadows and lines, its much easier to do the opposite and pick out the highlights than it is to pick out the middle tones, if you see what i mean. i havnt done it particularly well in that particular instance. but yeah, you get better with practice. and i certainly wouldnt guarantee results on the first go, it will require a touch of t and e.

That's a good tip. I will try that!

[chestnutz]

Amazing work, definitely trying this out soon and will post my result.

[mcrosby]

Davidson-I look to your work quite a bit when doing my own. You are a great designer and have been very helpful to everyone on the board, so thanks for that. I'll be trying to find time to go step by step through your tutorials if I can find some time between class and work.

[The Fixer]

Wow can't wait to start this.

May I suggest another thread to post results and critiques? Not sure if we need one but it could keep this clean and less time too load ( already pretty big)