Estes Park Elk

[CAB]

Okay I don't think I have much time, so I'll try to sum this up fairly quickly, and explain it some more later. To make a long story short, Estes Park is a city (not sure if you would even call it that?) in Colorado just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. I've been there pretty much every summer that I can remember so I thought it'd be neat to try a concept for them. The first name that came to mind was the elk. Why? Because they're pretty much everywhere in Estes. Some can be seen roaming the streets or in people's front yards. I myself have had a rather close encounter with an elk (that's another story). I may explain the logos some more later, but here they are. Criticism much appreciated!

Primary--

Secondary--

Edit: also, if anyone feels like vectoring these, please do!

[chickenfish13]

Its not bad, but I think you need a different color in there, the current colors kind of melt together.

[DelayedPenalty]

Not related to the concept, but, been there! Last October. Got up close and personal with the elk in town, yet didn't see any driving through the national park.

Now, concept related. They're a little rough, but I think if you cleaned them up a bit they would be very workable. The head doesn't seem large enough, it's too dainty IMO. A big bull elk is a scary beast!

Photo from my trip: Standing on one side of the path, elk on the other, no zoom or crop. Right in the middle of town beside the fire station.

[hettinger_rl]

I agree with all above comments. To add; the crest is a nice idea, however the EP looks a bit like LP. Maybe make the middle prong of the E stronger looking. Also the Antlers on the crest look like two shed antlers crossed. Try making them look like antlers still on the head. Or to tie things all together, make the primary a forward facing elk and use the antlers of that logo for the crest.

Try finding so reference photos here:

NPS Elk Photos

These are all public domain photos from the National Parks Service.

Finally: What sort of team is this for?

[Varsity Blue]

The monogram in the crest looks like bP and needs to be redone.

I would also change the colors, maybe a nice green and blue?

Estes Park is a nice place, it deserves a nice logo.

[CAB]

Bumping this for a few more comments before I update.

Its not bad, but I think you need a different color in there, the current colors kind of melt together.

I had tried many different colors in there, but I thought these look best. I'll admit they do sort of run together in some spots, but I just really liked this color scheme and I think I'll keep it (or something similar). If anyone has some other ideas though, I'm definitely open to suggestions.

They're a little rough, but I think if you cleaned them up a bit they would be very workable. The head doesn't seem large enough, it's too dainty IMO. A big bull elk is a scary beast!

About the head: I actually used a reference photo (and pretty much traced it) of an elk. The antlers came straight from another photo as well. But now that I look at it, I think I may try to thicken the head a bit, or just go in a different direction completely, like hettinger suggested.

BTW, neat pics!

make the primary a forward facing elk and use the antlers of that logo for the crest.

I'm really liking this idea, but maybe I'll just make a forward facing elk as a secondary. I'm also going to try a different angle for the head in the current primary. Thanks for the reference photos.

Finally: What sort of team is this for?

Nothing in particular, I just wanted to make an elk concept basically. But like I said with my other concept, if I ever feel up to it, I may create uniforms at some point.

Once again thanks for the comments so far, just hoping to get some more input. I will also try to rework the EP in the next update.

[Punch]

I think the colors melt together like chocolate. The secondary logo looks more like a chocolate truffle than a logo. Although I would love to eat it, it's not a good color scheme. Add a color to contrast all of the chocolate darkness, and it would be much better. I do like where you're heading with it, though.

Punch9

[ChuckDownfield]

I had a close call with an elk at a Fuddruckers in Atlanta (I ate an elk burger). That was some good eatin'!

[CAB]

Update time!

I tried out a different angle here and worked on buffing up the elk head to look more like a bull elk that DelayedPenalty suggested. I'm still a little iffy on the colors. This time around I used a cream/flesh tone color for the outline. Any other suggestions?

I'll have an updated secondary logo sometime this week.

[Punch]

The cream outline does make the concept look less like chocolate. But, with an all-brown color scheme, its hard to make a logo not look dull. I think you should add some more cream accents to the inside of it. IMO, it would make the elk-head pop.

Punch9

[CAB]

Really only one comment? Anyone else at all?

Here's an update to the secondary crest. I made an attempt at a forward facing elk head, but nothing looked right (or fit with the other logo). I personally like the look of the shed antlers. What do you guys think? I also fixed the issue with the EP and it should be much more distinguishable now.

@Punch9-- I have tried out many different looks with the cream color on the inside. I may post some of those options in the future.

[CAB]

Well uhh...still no comments I guess. But I still went ahead and made an update anyway. I wasn't really happy with the last version so I tried to simplify it a little and find a way to include more colors. There is now a lighter shade of brown along with a sky blue, which when paired with brown is a very underrated color combo IMO. Hopefully this is the final update and I'll at least get some comments here?

C&C please!

A side note: does anyone have any suggestions for a concept for me to do? I'd like to do some more of these unique/ish logos in the future.

[Bmac]

I hadn't seen this yet, great job. I think the newest one is a bit too detailed, mainly where the neck moves into the rest of the body. There is just too much going on in that area.

[cjzilligen]

I actually really like the last update, I think the shadowing covers up for most of the negative space. .The sky blue really livens the scheme.

As for another animal, I'd go ahead and check the 'Most Underuse Animals in Logo Design' thread in the Sports Logos section. There should be something in there.

Really great work for Paint, by the way.

[CAB]

Thanks for the comments guys! I actually have been reading that thread. I'm strongly considering possibly a walrus logo? Haha who knows.