New Patriots Concept

[dakotapalm]

One of the biggest things you have to consider is branding.

Teams (and companies) use certain colors, style and design elements to be instantly associated with certain things. For example, if I asked you what a yellow "M" on a red background made you think of, you would instantly say McDonald's, almost without hesitation.

The white swirls on the shoulders look almost like surf or water foam? So because of that design element, it causes my mind to think about teams from Florida, California or Hawaii - places associated with water sport. Seeing that pattern for a team from New England is mentally jarring because New England is probably the last place I'd want to go swimming. Also, what in the world does swimming have to do with Patriots? I mean, Washington did famously cross the Potomac, but that's such a mental stretch that nobody will make the connection.

Make sure that your branding "screams" Patriots - - and only Patriots. Right now, your red helmet screams Buffalo Bills. Make sure that you're differentiating your name enough from other teams in the league.

Also, as others stated, you need to work on execution and presentation.

When you're using Paint, it's tempting to just take the paint bucket tool and re-color sections of an existing template, but (as you've found out) the results aren't worth it. I'd highly suggest either taking some time to learn Photoshop, Inkscape, Gimp, or even Pixlr.com if you don't have the ability to download/install a professional photo suite. Or, on the flip side - if you CHOOSE to work in Paint, then you really need to step up your execution. Take. Your. Time.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but below is a Minnesota football concept I did a while back. It took me several days on-and-off to create it. And those who remember the thread when I posted it will recall that I had a couple of revisions to get it right. I post this because my Photoshop skills aren't great when it comes to concepts - but I'm learning to improve myself. And in the meantime, I take my freakin' time with my Paint concepts to make sure they're absolutely bulletproof. Because I'm choosing a "lesser" program to make my art, I need to overcompensate by spending a lot more time in the details.

Forget the design elements, but really look close at the image. For example, in places I changed the color of the black outlines. The maroon jersey has a darker maroon outline - not pure black - because it flows better and makes the image look more crisp. I spent days coming through fonts until I found one that I felt really fit well with UM's identity. The yellow helmet, with the Goldy Gopher logo? I spent quite a lot of time zoomed way the hell in so I could hand-trace around the edges and clean it up. No white flecks, no warped logos, etc.

Welcome to the forums and keep posting. If you're serious about your craft, you'll realize that we're not critiquing you to be rude - it's to help you improve. There are hundreds of "first timer" concepts like these - I had them myself and so did others. The difference between those awkward first concepts and guys like Fraser or Bird is that they continued to improve and work and work and work some more and finally work. And don't get emotionally married to your concept. If it sucks, throw it out and start over. It's the only way you'll learn.

But congrats on taking the first important step. Actually the second step since you posted a revision based on people's comments. Just keep trying and don't give up. I'm excited to see more of your work, man.

This is really good advice. My agreement with it is the reason that I have not posted more concepts. I have a 16 team football league in my head (and parts on the laptop), but it's not polished enough yet. I feel competent with the helmet signatures and replicas of actual designs, but I've got a ways to go before i can do concepts from the ground up.

Really good advice from PianoKnight. I seriously think I moderator should copy and sticky that post, so people interested in posting here have a clear understanding of good steps to follow.

[pianoknight]

One of the biggest things you have to consider is branding.

Teams (and companies) use certain colors, style and design elements to be instantly associated with certain things. For example, if I asked you what a yellow "M" on a red background made you think of, you would instantly say McDonald's, almost without hesitation.

The white swirls on the shoulders look almost like surf or water foam? So because of that design element, it causes my mind to think about teams from Florida, California or Hawaii - places associated with water sport. Seeing that pattern for a team from New England is mentally jarring because New England is probably the last place I'd want to go swimming. Also, what in the world does swimming have to do with Patriots? I mean, Washington did famously cross the Potomac, but that's such a mental stretch that nobody will make the connection.

Make sure that your branding "screams" Patriots - - and only Patriots. Right now, your red helmet screams Buffalo Bills. Make sure that you're differentiating your name enough from other teams in the league.

Also, as others stated, you need to work on execution and presentation.

When you're using Paint, it's tempting to just take the paint bucket tool and re-color sections of an existing template, but (as you've found out) the results aren't worth it. I'd highly suggest either taking some time to learn Photoshop, Inkscape, Gimp, or even Pixlr.com if you don't have the ability to download/install a professional photo suite. Or, on the flip side - if you CHOOSE to work in Paint, then you really need to step up your execution. Take. Your. Time.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but below is a Minnesota football concept I did a while back. It took me several days on-and-off to create it. And those who remember the thread when I posted it will recall that I had a couple of revisions to get it right. I post this because my Photoshop skills aren't great when it comes to concepts - but I'm learning to improve myself. And in the meantime, I take my freakin' time with my Paint concepts to make sure they're absolutely bulletproof. Because I'm choosing a "lesser" program to make my art, I need to overcompensate by spending a lot more time in the details.

Forget the design elements, but really look close at the image. For example, in places I changed the color of the black outlines. The maroon jersey has a darker maroon outline - not pure black - because it flows better and makes the image look more crisp. I spent days coming through fonts until I found one that I felt really fit well with UM's identity. The yellow helmet, with the Goldy Gopher logo? I spent quite a lot of time zoomed way the hell in so I could hand-trace around the edges and clean it up. No white flecks, no warped logos, etc.

Welcome to the forums and keep posting. If you're serious about your craft, you'll realize that we're not critiquing you to be rude - it's to help you improve. There are hundreds of "first timer" concepts like these - I had them myself and so did others. The difference between those awkward first concepts and guys like Fraser or Bird is that they continued to improve and work and work and work some more and finally work. And don't get emotionally married to your concept. If it sucks, throw it out and start over. It's the only way you'll learn.

But congrats on taking the first important step. Actually the second step since you posted a revision based on people's comments. Just keep trying and don't give up. I'm excited to see more of your work, man.

This is really good advice. My agreement with it is the reason that I have not posted more concepts. I have a 16 team football league in my head (and parts on the laptop), but it's not polished enough yet. I feel competent with the helmet signatures and replicas of actual designs, but I've got a ways to go before i can do concepts from the ground up.

Really good advice from PianoKnight. I seriously think I moderator should copy and sticky that post, so people interested in posting here have a clear understanding of good steps to follow.

Thanks, man.

I consider myself only a part-time "hobbiest" sort of designer, but I'm glad you felt that my advice was on-point. Kind words.