Pacific State Timberwolves logo

[Bobcat79]

Hey everyone, I'm new around here so hopefully this isn't breaking any protocol or anything...

Anyway, I love drawing and writing my free time. I self-published a novel set in high school, so in its sequel which I am writing right now, the characters move off to a university setting. The series takes place in Oregon. I wanted to choose real locations (it's now set in Salem, as opposed to the first book set in Corvallis) while avoiding real universities, so I made up a school for my own use ("Pacific State University"). Just the other day I decided to give its logo a go, only THEN to find out that I could use it in Teambuilder. I bought NCAA Football 10 (I'm always behind a year, it seems) literally the day after I designed this just for solidarity and a challenge, so it works out great.

Although I already use it in-game on PS3 (just the wolf head, like in my avatar), constructive criticism is welcomed. I'd like to know what you think. Photoshop CS4 and Illustrator CS4 were used to build this up from the original pencil sketch.

I also had an alternate that featured the wolf's head coming out of the vector state of Oregon, with the PSU lock-up (much like Florida State's FSU) behind it. I'm not sure if I want to continue working on it because it looked so bad. What I have is basically just that, minus the wolf head, here.

[LetsGoOakland9]

I would either get rid of the Oregon or make it more recognizable. When you first see it you have to look at it and think "what is that?"

[Bobcat79]

I would either get rid of the Oregon or make it more recognizable. When you first see it you have to look at it and think "what is that?"

When I posted this on my deviantART site, a few people commented with the same sentiment. It was made worse by the fact that some of them aren't American, so they have little to no basis of the specific shape of each state. Thanks for the CC

[erikstoll]

I got it that it was Oregon but then I grew up there, perhaps make the wolfs head slightly smaller?

[aci]

It seems to me that either his face needs to seem more snarling, or he should be showing a bit less upper tooth.

[BBTV]

It's a nice drawing - a nice "illustration" if you will. But it just seems a little too realistic to me to make for an effective sports logo. I'm not sure how it would look if stitched on a small patch, or printed really small. Maybe thicken the outlines and reduce the shading (it's pretty good, just a little much). Also, I wouldn't use that kind of drop shadow for the wordmark Maybe something that's a little "tighter" (for lack of a technical term.) Maybe also get rid of the white lines below the wordmark backgrounds on the bottom. They really don't add anything, and won't look good when the thing is shrunk down really small.

And yeah - Oregon just doesn't have one of those iconic shapes. If you're insistent in having it in there, take some artistic license and smooth it out. A state shape doesn't have to be that literal. I'd lose it and replace it with something else, but I don't have a good idea for what to put in its place right now.

[Bobcat79]

It's a nice drawing - a nice "illustration" if you will. But it just seems a little too realistic to me to make for an effective sports logo. I'm not sure how it would look if stitched on a small patch, or printed really small. Maybe thicken the outlines and reduce the shading (it's pretty good, just a little much). Also, I wouldn't use that kind of drop shadow for the wordmark Maybe something that's a little "tighter" (for lack of a technical term.) Maybe also get rid of the white lines below the wordmark backgrounds on the bottom. They really don't add anything, and won't look good when the thing is shrunk down really small.

And yeah - Oregon just doesn't have one of those iconic shapes. If you're insistent in having it in there, take some artistic license and smooth it out. A state shape doesn't have to be that literal. I'd lose it and replace it with something else, but I don't have a good idea for what to put in its place right now.

Interesting you mention the white lines under the wordmarks: I had someone tell me to add them, but I think it's only because I needed to balance the white of the Oregon shape behind. I think once I remove it, the wordmark won't need anything below it. When I get some time I'll upload my updated version, or post a few variations. Thanks!