Puffins Concept

[chickenfish13]

OK, so I dont usually post things that are at a very early stage ( or I try not too ) but I really want to develop this into an actual logo, so Im looking for some help. Like I've mentioned its very early on in the design process, so take in mind its nowhere near finished.

Now, I was looking in the underused animals topic, and came across a Puffin. I thought it would be cool to take a crack at this.

So far I've got an overall shape that I like, but its lacking in detail. It shouldnt be lacking in correctness, as It's based off of one picture, and i feel its anatomically correct.

I'm looking to you guys to help me evolve this into a good piece of work. Also, I won't mind if in the end its a bit cartoony, I dont usually do cartoony work, so I would like to maybe have one cartoony piece in my portfolio.

Thanks for looking in, I realize its pretty bad right now, and hopefully you guys can help it move along.

[lenardo]

it looks pretty sharp but as a sportslogo and needs to look more active or fierce i guess, but very good so far

[hockey week]

just having it leaning a little bit forward might give it that fierce look. I know that's what puffins look like, but it looks like it's recoiling, or at best, observing, which is not the look a sports logo should have. a slight forward lean and a mean eye (see the penguins, they do that really well), and this could be a great look. I also recommend a version with an upward slanting wordmark making up the bottom

[9erssteve]

Think you're gonna have to go a bit Blackhawks here if you really wanna pull this one off and add a ton of extra colours! The single most identifiable feature of a Puffin is it's multi-coloured bill and you've just got it plain orange. Silhouette wise you got it pretty well nailed cant fault you on that, but it just seems a bit static. I know that's how they typically stand but I think you need to find some way of adding more movement or dynamism to the piece, it's a sports logo after all. Movement, speed and no small amount of aggression are the order of the day.

You're always gonna struggle to make one of those little buggers look threatening, there's a huge colony of them not far from where I stay and the truth is in real life they look like cartoon characters so you're gonna struggle to prevent that happening with a logo. If you're looking for more straight pieces for your folio you're either gonna have to knock this one clean out the park and come up with a truly original way of preventing the logo looking cartoony or find a different creature to work with. If like you say you wouldn't mind a few cartoony pieces in there then REALLY embrace the cartooniness this creature has to offer and just go for it! Pull a Plan B style minor league identity number with this one, I mean if they can do it and pull off what imo is a pretty amazing piece with a cartoon Flying Squirrel then Puffins have gotta be doable to right?

Right now it's not straight laced/conventional (read aggressive) enough or outlandish enough (proper cartoony) to work in either camp. I think you need to stop and decide which direction you're taking and if that's cartoony you need to start over and really REALLY go all out in that direction. Because if you just tweak what you have until you thinks it's "ended up" looking cartoony it's never gonna reach it's potential. If cartoony is what you want GO NUTS!

9erssteve

[chickenfish13]

I dont want to bump this so soon, but anyone else have anything to say?

Thanks for the lengthy info 9erssteve, I'll try and redo this as totally cartoony i think.