Minor League Football - Discussion and Logos

[Artisan219]

Still not sold on Raleigh. My favorite right now is to go with the Raleigh Warlocks (an evolution of my scribble work for my aforementioned Alchemists concept), which alliterates decently (better than Alchemists, at least) and kinda/maybe plays into Raleigh's regional identity for high-tech wizardry.

• I'm also considering Raleigh-Durham Reynards with a fox logo, but it's kind of a stretch.
  
• I'm still not opposed to trying a logo for the Raleigh Catalysts (I like the challenge of a chemistry-themed logo) but nothing has come to mind yet visually to give me any kind of starting point.
  
• I would and could make a logo for the Raleigh Leopards but I do have some reticence there. First of all, big cats are very much over-proliferated as sports logos so I didn't want to use such a mascot if I could avoid doing so. Secondly, my previous comment notwithstanding, the only big cat concept I currently have in my entire DFL series is so far the Wichita Cheetahs, so I would rather not have to try to make two separate spotted cat logos, both distinct from the Jaguars. And furthermore, with Charlotte already having the Panthers, I don't think Raleigh would benefit from such a mascot.
  

I'm still unsold on Sacramento and Orlando, as well. I'm thinking Sacramento Manticores and Orlando Ogres, but I'm not sure on either of those.

• I actually am rather fond of the Manticore concept, but other than simple alliteration, it doesn't have any real connexion to Sacramento. Nevertheless, the thumbnail sketches I've done for it seem promising.
  
• With Universal Studios in Orlando, I think what more than likely will be perceived as a Shrek-themed football team might go over either very well or very poorly. I think by and large, such a team could only be achieved if Universal owned a very sizable chunk of the franchise. This raises the unenviable task of finding something other than Ogres for Orlando. I am still very much considering adopting a mascot from the UFL and making a new Tuskers logo but the original logo is actually rather impressive (also, the team colors for the Tuskers were identical to the team colors for the Carolina Panthers, so a palette change would be appropriate).
  

And while I'm on the topic of undecided mascots, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just keep my concept for the Charleston Stingrays. I was initially opposed to it because it almost felt as if I was making a football logo off of the Tampa Bay Rays' baseball identity, but having kept it as a placeholder for awhile, I have to say that the alliteration and coastal Atlantic theme seems fitting, so it's grown on me. There is a bear logo in the NFL (Chicago), the NBA (Memphis), the NHL (Minneapolis), and MLB (Chicago again), so I'm not really sure I need to abandon the idea just because Tampa uses a similar theme.

[Brian in Boston]

I'm wondering if I shouldn't just keep my concept for the Charleston Stingrays. I was initially opposed to it because it almost felt as if I was making a football logo off of the Tampa Bay Rays' baseball identity...

Rather than worrying about poaching the Tampa Bay Rays' identity, I'd be more concerned with the fact that the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville MSA / Charleston, SC Nielsen DMA is already home to the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays.

[Artisan219]

Rather than worrying about poaching the Tampa Bay Rays' identity, I'd be more concerned with the fact that the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville MSA / Charleston, SC Nielsen DMA is already home to the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays.

I actually am aware of that; I think I mentioned it early in the thread as a cause of my reluctance. However, while the Stingrays enjoyed some fair to moderat success to start, averaging over nine thousand in the early- to mid-90s, their average attendance was down to less than thirty-five hundred by the 2010-11 season (I'm referencing Wikipedia, so take with a grain of salt). In any case, the fan following for hockey in the Southern U.S. is tentative at best. More to the point, I think this particular Stingray identity is weak enough to be a non-issue, Charleston area notwithstanding.

[BengalErnst]

lets get back to the creating logos.. big fan of it

[Artisan219]

Alright, back to logos.

Here I have my vector design for the Wichita Cheetahs. I'm still a little unsold on colors, though.

My first color set is based on the Wichita seal. Wichita is also sometimes (rarely) called Emerald City, because of the association between The Wizard of Oz and Kansas.

The second color set is based on, of all things, Superman, as Clark Kent hails from the fictional city of Smallville, Kansas.

[9erssteve]

Not bad, but I'd lose the shoulder. It's adding nothing and kills any real sense of movement in the logo. I'd also redraw the ear. It's pretty clear you've drawn it, not been happy with it, group it and the white inner part together than then stretched the two at the same time. The line weights have all gone to pot and it really hurts the piece.

I'd also look at your line thicknesses. I'd say your thick lines in this piece are the ideal weight for what should be medium lines. Your thins are imo too thin, in places much to thin, and that's a comment I'd make on all your logos so far. Be bolder your logos can take it and it will help increase the weight and strength of the logos which is something you want to get across in a sports logo.

It's a good start and one of the stronger cheeta logo's I've seen even as it stands right now, but it could be awesome! So keep pushing it.

9erssteve

[Artisan219]

Alright, I took your suggestions into account. I took out the shoulder blade and tried to heavy-hand the line-weights. Hope this version suits you better.

[Artisan219]

I decided to jump ahead and put out a uniform concept. Let me know what you guys think.

[dsaline97]

Not sold on the number font. Doesn't seem to fit the rest of the concept. And shouldn't the Nike logo be on the front of the pants, not the side? This is actually a pretty good concept.

[Artisan219]

How's this?

[Q34]

I like these. Only things I would change is the Nike logo on the right arm pointing forward like the NFL jerseys. And also I might toss the entire Wichita Cheetahs wordmark on the chest or maybe just drop the Wichita and put Cheetahs. Either way I like the colors and uniforms.

[Artisan219]

Alright, here's a rough draft logo for the San Diego Dragons. San Diego is the only city on my map to currently be host to an NFL franchise. However, the Chargers ownership has been working to secure a stadium deal to replace Qualcomm Stadium since before 2003, with little success. Most of the current concepts for a new stadium would move the Chargers anyway, whether Chula Vista or Oceanside, though these venue options still fall within San Diego County. At the same time, both AEG and Ed Roski presently have viable stadium plans in the Los Angeles area (my understanding is that, though intended in two different areas of LA, only one such stadium plan can succeed, so there is something of a race to see which project gets moving first). The Minnesota Vikings are now, thankfully, out of relocation talks, but the Chargers remain serious candidates to return to Los Angeles, (ironically, the Rams may also return to LA).

My DFL may just be a hypothetical concept, but all the same, I doubt LA will remain without a team, and all in all, I imagine the relocation fallout of the Chargers to be something of a best-case scenario. Moving the Chargers to Los Angeles is a move of 120 miles, but at the same time, the Chargers would not be leaving their Southern California fan base. Granted, there is nothing stopping the Rams and Chargers from sharing a stadium in LA, but moving the Rams out of St Louis will have a lot more backlash.

Relocation possibilities and whatnot aside, let me give some background on the logo. I chose San Diego Dragons early on, essentially as soon as I decided that I wouldn't use the vacant Los Angeles market, I decided (being the very lazy artist that I am) to try for a logo that could have its own branding or just as easily serve as a logo for the Aztecs. I then decided on the San Diego Dragons, using a Quetzalcoatl logo. That actually proved a little trickier than I had first guessed. The Aztec sculptures of feathered serpents, iconic as they are, proved a little difficult to render in a two-dimensional logo. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with this draft.

I'm intending San Diego to use red, blue, and gold. I guess imagine a cross between the Houston Texans (maybe a brighter shade of blue) and the San José...ahem... San Francisco Forty-Niners.

[cohenj21]

The picture isn't showing up...

[Artisan219]

You're the second person to say that. Are my other pics showing up? What browser are you using?

http://artisan219.my3gb.com/DFL/drafts/aztecdragon.jpg

[Whittier S]

I get this message: Sorry, artisan219.my3gb.com is not currently accessible because it is categorized as security.proxy. But that's because the library wifi is blocking it as naughty stuff. The library filter is pretty stupid.

[cohenj21]

It works fine now. The design is really good, and I like the Aztec-type theme you're using. My one suggestion would be to make the gold the same shade throughout the logo, and to make it slightly less muted, because for a sports logo I think it should pop a little more. Also, if you intend blue to be part of the color scheme, at least use it as some sort of accent in the logo. Another nice concept.

[Artisan219]

My one suggestion would be to make the gold the same shade throughout the logo

Actually I had intended the gradient effect to be read as a metallic color; the actual helmet or jersey would be shiny.

And to make it slightly less muted, because for a sports logo I think it should pop a little more.

Yes, I can concede that. I could just as easily use a brighter "El Dorado" gold versus the nugget gold in this draft.

[KCScout76]

This is a really nice project, love the logos you've come up with - keep up the good work.

[JMtexan09]

Keep San Antonio Defenders name; I liked it much better when it represented of those people who defends at the Alamo

[MSO94]

As a resident of Pensacola Fl...I think you should go with a Military Jet theme.. We don't have Snakes here.

Jets,Flyers,Aviators and so on is what we are famous for.