USC Trojan head logo

[9erssteve]

Ok guys, i took all the c&c offered, and remade the logo. I'm still iffy about the face, particularly the mouth and nose, but I figured I'd get it up here for some reaction.

Here's logo number 2. let me know what you think

It's a slight improvement over the first one, but the anatomoy is still well off and the whole thing just looks kinda rushed to me. If I was you I'd concentrate on just doing the head first. No helmets no hats nothing, just a profile head, so you can fully understand the anatomy, proportions and shading involved in making that look top notch. Then once you've got that down, and I dont see any reason why you cant, then start thinking about how you can work the helmet into the equation.

Right now it's like you're trying to do everything at once, and as a result it's all suffering. Concentrate on mastering one peice at a time and you'll get far superior results.

9erssteve

[razr32154]

Ok guys, i took all the c&c offered, and remade the logo. I'm still iffy about the face, particularly the mouth and nose, but I figured I'd get it up here for some reaction.

Here's logo number 2. let me know what you think

It's a slight improvement over the first one, but the anatomoy is still well off and the whole thing just looks kinda rushed to me. If I was you I'd concentrate on just doing the head first. No helmets no hats nothing, just a profile head, so you can fully understand the anatomy, proportions and shading involved in making that look top notch. Then once you've got that down, and I dont see any reason why you cant, then start thinking about how you can work the helmet into the equation.

Right now it's like you're trying to do everything at once, and as a result it's all suffering. Concentrate on mastering one peice at a time and you'll get far superior results.

9erssteve

I appreciate all the feedback you have given me, and I'm not trying to come off as defensive, but I actually did the face first, then did a dry run of the helmet style I was looking for, then redrew the helmet, as close as I could to the sketch, to fit along the face.

And wILL-INI regarding the mask, I'm not sure what it's called but it was on the masks I used as my reference from the movie 300.

[wILL-INI]

Ok guys, i took all the c&c offered, and remade the logo. I'm still iffy about the face, particularly the mouth and nose, but I figured I'd get it up here for some reaction.

Here's logo number 2. let me know what you think

It's a slight improvement over the first one, but the anatomoy is still well off and the whole thing just looks kinda rushed to me. If I was you I'd concentrate on just doing the head first. No helmets no hats nothing, just a profile head, so you can fully understand the anatomy, proportions and shading involved in making that look top notch. Then once you've got that down, and I dont see any reason why you cant, then start thinking about how you can work the helmet into the equation.

Right now it's like you're trying to do everything at once, and as a result it's all suffering. Concentrate on mastering one peice at a time and you'll get far superior results.

9erssteve

I appreciate all the feedback you have given me, and I'm not trying to come off as defensive, but I actually did the face first, then did a dry run of the helmet style I was looking for, then redrew the helmet, as close as I could to the sketch, to fit along the face.

And wILL-INI regarding the mask, I'm not sure what it's called but it was on the masks I used as my reference from the movie 300.

OH OH OHHHHHhhhhh, ok totally did not get that... I get it now, it needs to me integrated into the rest of the helmet. It's awkward now, if you look on the 300's it's wrapped around the brim, on yours I don't see it.

[9erssteve]

Ok guys, i took all the c&c offered, and remade the logo. I'm still iffy about the face, particularly the mouth and nose, but I figured I'd get it up here for some reaction.

Here's logo number 2. let me know what you think

It's a slight improvement over the first one, but the anatomoy is still well off and the whole thing just looks kinda rushed to me. If I was you I'd concentrate on just doing the head first. No helmets no hats nothing, just a profile head, so you can fully understand the anatomy, proportions and shading involved in making that look top notch. Then once you've got that down, and I dont see any reason why you cant, then start thinking about how you can work the helmet into the equation.

Right now it's like you're trying to do everything at once, and as a result it's all suffering. Concentrate on mastering one peice at a time and you'll get far superior results.

9erssteve

I appreciate all the feedback you have given me, and I'm not trying to come off as defensive, but I actually did the face first, then did a dry run of the helmet style I was looking for, then redrew the helmet, as close as I could to the sketch, to fit along the face.

And wILL-INI regarding the mask, I'm not sure what it's called but it was on the masks I used as my reference from the movie 300.

Fair enough, and I'm not trying to come off as a jack-ass when I say this but you need to do more heads just on their own then. Right now,the ear is way to far back, things dont line up properly and your use of light and shade simply defies physics! Why do you have a highlight UNDER the jaw bone? Why is there one on the top lip and the UNDERSIDE of the chin? This would require at least TWO different light sources!

Clearly you have a decent enough grasp of either inkscape or Illustrator to be able to create reasonable vector shapes, but at this stage you dont seem to fully grasp the shapes involved in creating a beleivable face, and how the light and shade should play off the different planes of the face to create a realistic solid looking head. Until you can do that you're going to struggle. Right now everything is for want of a better phrase "bity" you have little bits of shade and highlight in random places and it makes the logo hard to read. You need to be thinking in less intricate shapes and bolder areas. Simplifying the way things really are and distilling them to their absolute minimum. But to do that you need to understand these things intimately, and right now that knowledge is lacking.

The best thing I could recommend would to be get your hands on a reference book for drawing Comic Books, one of the best I found was how to draw comics the Marvel way. It's a bit dated now, but it's sections on drawing heads and the use of light and shade on faces are invaluable to ANYONE looking to do character based logos. The only difference between your logo and say someone like Davidson's is the Davidson understands light and shade to an expert level, his highlights go where people expect them and with as few as possible he can communicate exactly what he wants.

It'll take time, and study but if you really look at faces, and learn how the features all work together to make a face and where the light and shade should fall you have the computer skills to create high quality pieces.

9erssteve

[razr32154]

Ok guys, i took all the c&c offered, and remade the logo. I'm still iffy about the face, particularly the mouth and nose, but I figured I'd get it up here for some reaction.

Here's logo number 2. let me know what you think

It's a slight improvement over the first one, but the anatomoy is still well off and the whole thing just looks kinda rushed to me. If I was you I'd concentrate on just doing the head first. No helmets no hats nothing, just a profile head, so you can fully understand the anatomy, proportions and shading involved in making that look top notch. Then once you've got that down, and I dont see any reason why you cant, then start thinking about how you can work the helmet into the equation.

Right now it's like you're trying to do everything at once, and as a result it's all suffering. Concentrate on mastering one peice at a time and you'll get far superior results.

9erssteve

I appreciate all the feedback you have given me, and I'm not trying to come off as defensive, but I actually did the face first, then did a dry run of the helmet style I was looking for, then redrew the helmet, as close as I could to the sketch, to fit along the face.

And wILL-INI regarding the mask, I'm not sure what it's called but it was on the masks I used as my reference from the movie 300.

Fair enough, and I'm not trying to come off as a jack-ass when I say this but you need to do more heads just on their own then. Right now,the ear is way to far back, things dont line up properly and your use of light and shade simply defies physics! Why do you have a highlight UNDER the jaw bone? Why is there one on the top lip and the UNDERSIDE of the chin? This would require at least TWO different light sources!

Clearly you have a decent enough grasp of either inkscape or Illustrator to be able to create reasonable vector shapes, but at this stage you dont seem to fully grasp the shapes involved in creating a beleivable face, and how the light and shade should play off the different planes of the face to create a realistic solid looking head. Until you can do that you're going to struggle. Right now everything is for want of a better phrase "bity" you have little bits of shade and highlight in random places and it makes the logo hard to read. You need to be thinking in less intricate shapes and bolder areas. Simplifying the way things really are and distilling them to their absolute minimum. But to do that you need to understand these things intimately, and right now that knowledge is lacking.

The best thing I could recommend would to be get your hands on a reference book for drawing Comic Books, one of the best I found was how to draw comics the Marvel way. It's a bit dated now, but it's sections on drawing heads and the use of light and shade on faces are invaluable to ANYONE looking to do character based logos. The only difference between your logo and say someone like Davidson's is the Davidson understands light and shade to an expert level, his highlights go where people expect them and with as few as possible he can communicate exactly what he wants.

It'll take time, and study but if you really look at faces, and learn how the features all work together to make a face and where the light and shade should fall you have the computer skills to create high quality pieces.

9erssteve

I see what you're saying, and I will definitely check out some reference books. I looked the how to draw comics the Marvel way up, and saw some video's on youtube I think have helped a little bit already. And there's no need feel like you're coming off as a jack-ass, I appreciate every bit of help I can get.

As far as the logo goes, I completely redrew the face, and I think it looks more realistic in this update. Also, I changed the shading on the helmet a tad, and changed the colors to USC's official ones. I plan on working this into some jersey concepts soon.

c&c as always guys

thanks

[scottysprings]

You are making progress but still the face looks off. Like 9erssteve has asserted that's what's holding this logo back. Really study the human facial structure and keep sketching out profiles and that should really help you out. Here's a nice graphic of a male profile for you to compare:

[razr32154]

You are making progress but still the face looks off. Like 9erssteve has asserted that's what's holding this logo back. Really study the human facial structure and keep sketching out profiles and that should really help you out. Here's a nice graphic of a male profile for you to compare:

thanks for the picture. I was able to tweak the face a little bit to match the guidelines on the picture a bit better.

Wanted to get an update of the face up to show you guys.

c&c appreciated

[spockEars]

I feel like I'm looking at human evolution here.

[Somppi]

Your jaw is going behind the ear which is throwing it off. That thing in front of the face is driving me CRAZY too. I know what it is, but it just looks unnecessary and I think your logo would look much better without it, it just doesn't fit

[jaha32]

Ok guys, i took all the c&c offered, and remade the logo. I'm still iffy about the face, particularly the mouth and nose, but I figured I'd get it up here for some reaction.

Here's logo number 2. let me know what you think

It's a slight improvement over the first one, but the anatomoy is still well off and the whole thing just looks kinda rushed to me. If I was you I'd concentrate on just doing the head first. No helmets no hats nothing, just a profile head, so you can fully understand the anatomy, proportions and shading involved in making that look top notch. Then once you've got that down, and I dont see any reason why you cant, then start thinking about how you can work the helmet into the equation.

Right now it's like you're trying to do everything at once, and as a result it's all suffering. Concentrate on mastering one peice at a time and you'll get far superior results.

9erssteve

I appreciate all the feedback you have given me, and I'm not trying to come off as defensive, but I actually did the face first, then did a dry run of the helmet style I was looking for, then redrew the helmet, as close as I could to the sketch, to fit along the face.

And wILL-INI regarding the mask, I'm not sure what it's called but it was on the masks I used as my reference from the movie 300.

If you look more closely at your own reference from the movie 300, you'll see that that thing rests directly on the nose. There is not a huge gap between the nose and it. It also doesnt extend lower than the nose. But your newest update below is much better, not there yet, but the face is much more accurate. Now you need to work on line consistency and some of the white highlights on the helmet are throwing me off. But it is a nice improvement.