Davidson's Logo Design Tutorials

[krisbazen]

Hey guys,

I have been making a couple of logos today and have also been trying out some screen capture software and the idea occured to me that it may benefit some of you if you could see how I go about making some of the logos I design.

This first one is a very simple gorilla logo. Its pretty much how I went about drawing logos like the Timberwolves and the Outlaws:

These are very straight forward as you essentially only design one side of the logo.

I have also included a bit of type and beding the logo onto an object. At the end is how I composit the logos in After Effects. This may be impossible for those without AE, but the look is certainly achievable in Photoshop.

Let me know what you reckon, I may make a series.

Props dude... Yer a beast!

[Davidson]

Hey guys,

A question I've seen posted a few times on the board is how to draw bevels on text. Well this next video doesn't really answer that question. But it does show you how I do it.

[Davidson]

And one more for now. Another "logofied" quarterback. Tom Brady.

[Vicious]

Great stuff Fraser. very inspirational. keep em coming. its very cool to see how you do stuff. when you are drawing shapes like his hair, do you always close the path? it looked like when you were doing the left side of his hair you left a path open or did you just shortcut through his ear to complete the shape? maybe i missed it because it was fast? I see you used the shapebuilder tool/pathfinder a lot on the hair to combine the shapes. (isnt the shapebuilder tool amazing!?!?!) anyway, thanks a lot for doing this.

[Davidson]

Great stuff Fraser. very inspirational. keep em coming. its very cool to see how you do stuff. when you are drawing shapes like his hair, do you always close the path? it looked like when you were doing the left side of his hair you left a path open or did you just shortcut through his ear to complete the shape? maybe i missed it because it was fast? I see you used the shapebuilder tool/pathfinder a lot on the hair to combine the shapes. (isnt the shapebuilder tool amazing!?!?!) anyway, thanks a lot for doing this.

Ha, yeah, pathfinder is the best.

Always close paths, Can't bare it when they are left open. I sometimes use the pathfinder to close them.

[Hathaway Browne]

That bevelled text one was really helpful, even though I'm only using Inkscape it does at least give me an idea on how to achieve it. Thank you!

[JamieRose]

Cool stuff. Hope you get to do an inanimate object tutorial.

[Davidson]

Okay, well maybe if you post an inanimate object, Ill make a quick tutorial for one.

FD

[raysox]

Fantastic, Fraser.

I want to try using some of these tomorrow on some concepts, they were really helpful.

[The Fixer]

I really like the new ones. Very helpful. You make it seem so easy. What tools are you using besides the pen tool in illustrator? Also:

All of your shapes just seem so much crisper than anything I do (or what I've seen of others). What stroke width are you using when sketching things out?

edit: some more: What illustrator tools do you recommend learning the ins and outs of besides the pen and pathfinders?

thanks for any help you really inspire everyone here to be better

[blase]

Just chipping in to say a massive thanks Fraser. Always been impressed with your willingness to share your work, resources and expertise!!

[Davidson]

I really like the new ones. Very helpful. You make it seem so easy. What tools are you using besides the pen tool in illustrator? Also:

All of your shapes just seem so much crisper than anything I do (or what I've seen of others). What stroke width are you using when sketching things out?

edit: some more: What illustrator tools do you recommend learning the ins and outs of besides the pen and pathfinders?

thanks for any help you really inspire everyone here to be better

There really isn't a trick to it, it's essentially all just pen tool. Learning the pathfinder options in essential to be able to create more complex shapes by deducting and adding shapes from each other.

The stroke widths dont make any difference, you want to create shapes, not strokes. Strokes are helpful for outlining (along with adjustments).

With regards to the curves and shapes I use, I do have a couple of tips.

- You want to use the minimum number of vertices to create your shapes. The more points you use, the less smooth your curves.

- Consistent line width is important, You dont want too much detail in your logos if you are using bold blocks and lines in other places. See the Tom Brady video and how I simplify his hair in places so that there is a uniform feel to the strokes used throughout the illustration.

- Something I see loads is poor use of the curve tool. The tangent handles should extend to about half way along between the two points to get the best looking curves. Any shorter or longer and you get scraggy looking shapes. See below to see what I mean.

[JamieRose]

Okay, well maybe if you post an inanimate object, Ill make a quick tutorial for one.

FD

Alright, let's say we wanted to take the suck out of my old Acquidneck Islanders concept.

Or maybe the Palms

[The Fixer]

hmmmm...gotcha. One of my problems is my shapes never really seem uniform. I have trouble getting them the same width. but I'll work on it and using the handles on every point ( I normally only use them on the ones I can't get a fluid shape by eying it)

[Phitin]

With regards to the curves and shapes I use, I do have a couple of tips.

- You want to use the minimum number of vertices to create your shapes. The more points you use, the less smooth your curves.

- Consistent line width is important, You dont want too much detail in your logos if you are using bold blocks and lines in other places. See the Tom Brady video and how I simplify his hair in places so that there is a uniform feel to the strokes used throughout the illustration.

- Something I see loads is poor use of the curve tool. The tangent handles should extend to about half way along between the two points to get the best looking curves. Any shorter or longer and you get scraggy looking shapes. See below to see what I mean.

Davidson, this might be a silly question, but is there actually a curve tool? I'm new to illustrator and can't find one, if it exists. If there isn't, then how did you go about curving the lines like that, without having a "curve point" in the middle of the segment. Instead you have hard edges, which is what I want in my lines.

[Davidson]

hmmmm...gotcha. One of my problems is my shapes never really seem uniform. I have trouble getting them the same width. but I'll work on it and using the handles on every point ( I normally only use them on the ones I can't get a fluid shape by eying it)

You very rarely need more than one handle per point for this sort of thing.

[Davidson]

Okay, following on from my tutorial about drawing faces:

Here is how to rough one out from the front.

[9erssteve]

Okay, following on from my tutorial about drawing faces:

Here is how to rough one out from the front.

Man that's scary without a reference picture insight you just created a better Tim Tebow logo than just about anyone else here could do with a photo! Loving the videos mate, great to see how others work, and the speed that you can do it at is frightening. 35 mins real time for the Gorillas one is just insane!

9erssteve

[The Fixer]

so here is part of my attempt using the brady logo. Could you use it as an example on what not to do/to do better? you get a very close likeness to the player. The brady logo looks REAL.

this is blaine gabbert

[9erssteve]

so here is part of my attempt using the brady logo. Could you use it as an example on what not to do/to do better? you get a very close likeness to the player. The brady logo looks REAL.

this is blaine gabbert

First thing that strikes me, and for the record I have no idea what Blaine Gabbert looks like, is that he seems to be wearing lipstick!

Try and find a profile photo of anyone, really doesn't matter who, and you'll see that the top lip angles back the way curling into the mouth while the lower lip curls out of the mouth. That means that under normal lighting conditions the top lip will normally be in shadow and the lower lip will be a highlight with a shadow below it which will help you define the upper shape of the chin.

Genuinely forget what you think you know about faces and actually study the image you're working from and draw what's there, even if it "feels" wrong at the time. If you go with what you're seeing over what you think you know (and I mean everyone not just you) such as lips are darker you'll get much more accurate results.

9erssteve