Game of Endzones - [UPDATE] House Martell

[pianoknight]

I'm a fan of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga - or Game of Thrones to the HBO crowd. Like any sufficiently large fantasy world (Tolkien, Narnia, Wheel of Time) there's quite a large community of folks producing artwork based on their favorite characters and events.

There have even been a few attempts at designing House Sigils and even putting them on football helmets, but I hadn't really seen a full blown "Westeros League" concept done before. That being said, here is my angle on Game of Thrones, reinterpreted as a modern NCAA Football conference.

A few notes before I dive into the series:

First - NO SPOILERS, or at least use the spoiler tag. The Chris Creamer folks are good about this and really, the thread is to talk about design and uniforms, not the show and catching up. We don't want to spoil the fun for anyone. Please, if there's reason to talk about someone's untimely death or a major plot point, use the SPOILER tag.

Second - I'll be doing a Home, Away and Alternate or Throwback for each House.

Finally - there are legions of major and minor Houses throughout the books and show. For simplicity sake, I'll be confining myself to the following 9 Major Houses. I might add some fan favorites if the series is well received (Clegane, for example).

Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, Tyrell, Tully, Greyjoy, Arryn and Martell

So without further ado, let's get to the concepts!

[pianoknight]

House Arryn Falcons

House Arryn's words are "As High As Honor," so I wanted a fairly classic set to represent them. As far as Houses go, they tend to be pretty straightforward. What you see is what you get.

The helmet combines the crescent moon from the House Sigil with a winged helmet pattern. I wanted to evoke something similar to Michigan or the Eagles here, without just copy and pasting a winged pattern. Player numbers along with "HONOR" are emblazoned on the back.

A simple stripe pattern adds a gray tone to House Arryn's blue and white colors. I felt adding the gray gave them a little variety, again, without getting too far outside what a traditional uniform should be. You'll notice here the "W" shoulder patch of the Westeros Conference; each team will have this patch as part of their identity package, much like you see schools rocking a B1G or SEC patch on their uniform sets.

The shoulders feature House Arryn's Falcon, soaring over the crescent moon. Both Home and Away feature the same yoke and shoulder colors, to maintain a sense of continuity between the sets.

The three-stripe leg pattern ends in a chevron, a symbol typically associated with balance and justice - qualities that a House of Honor would esteem. In relief are etched the player's numbers.

Finally, the alternate set makes use of the new gray color and should be a neutral enough color that it could work against either Color or White opponents. Again, even in the color selection, balance was a theme here.

[westernboys]

I have never seen Game of Thrones (sorry) lol, so I can't tell you too much about this "team". But i love the helmet, I think that would be badass for any team.

The only negative I have to say is that you might want to make the picture smaller. It was wayy too big for my screen, and i had to pan across the jerseys.

Keep up the good work!

[pianoknight]

I have never seen Game of Thrones (sorry) lol, so I can't tell you too much about this "team". But i love the helmet, I think that would be badass for any team.

The only negative I have to say is that you might want to make the picture smaller. It was wayy too big for my screen, and i had to pan across the jerseys.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks - because I usually mock up concepts in Paint, I try to work large. I'll see if there's a way to post smaller resolution files for better viewing.

[GFB]

I love the idea for the concept series and house Arryn looks pretty good. I think a silver/blue/silver combo would look sharp and a be nice nod to the "Knights of the Vale."

[ColeJ]

I love it. I can't wait for the rest baratheon is going to be fun to make.

[Jake3roo]

I have never seen Game of Thrones (sorry) lol, so I can't tell you too much about this "team". But i love the helmet, I think that would be badass for any team.

The only negative I have to say is that you might want to make the picture smaller. It was wayy too big for my screen, and i had to pan across the jerseys.

Keep up the good work!

Same here, but looks really cool!

[FALCON6]

Yes, the air force look is nice!

[pianoknight]

House Tully River Trout - UPDATE

Based on suggestion, I've changed the pant stripes to do away with the excessive curves and gone with a simpler, almost Boston College-style stripe. Thanks to Falcon6 for the idea - I was overthinking the pant stripe and with a more subtle look I think it makes the helmet pop even more.

House Tully has one of the more distinctive banners, a split field of red and blue with white waves. They are one of the older Houses in Westeros, having ruled the Riverlands from their castle at Riverrun for over a thousand years. Like House Arryn, they tend to avoid outright conflict, mostly due to their geographic weakness and being surrounded by other Houses.

Probably the most famous member of the house is Catelyn Stark (nee: Tully) who married Lord Eddard Stark and ruled from Winterfell. Like House Stark, the Tullys tend to be just and fair. Their House Words are "Family. Duty. Honor."

For this set, I really wanted to make use of both the bright red and royal blue of the Tully's sigil. In fact, the idea for this helmet was what originally drew me into making this series. The thought of a helmet having two different colors on each side was really appealing and something I hadn't really seen before in sports.

Because the three colors are so balanced, this set forgoes a true throwback or alternate in favor of having all 3 color options for jerseys and pants. The sets are meant to be co-mingled, so a decent number of combinations are possible.

Obviously the river stripe plays a strong role here, echoed on the pant stripe as well as helmet. The "FDH" symbol on the pants represents the House Words and the actual sigil itself is the collar badge.

Finally, the numbers. They're inspired by the retro Blue Jays numbers and people will either love them or hate them. I went this direction because of the numbers' double white stripes, which I felt ties in with the river stripe pattern.

[uniguy22]

The title of this series should be Game of Endzones.

[Moser316]

Great job on the first two houses, can't wait to see House Greyjoy (bonus points if you can work "We Do Not Sow" into the concept).

[FALCON6]

I like your logo, but I wouldn't go overboard on the wave pattern

and the numbers are good.

[pianoknight]

Moser, I can tell you that House Greyjoy will definitely feature those words, and Falcon makes a good point about Tully's design. I wrestled with simpler pants and I may go back and adjust them. Should have some more to post this weekend hopefully.

Uniguy - I took your suggestion to rename the thread. Game of Endzones sounds better.

[pianoknight]

House Baratheon Stags

With Houses Tully and Arryn taking (somewhat) of a backseat to the conflicts in Westeros, it was only a matter of time before we started getting into the war's chief belligerents. Robert Baratheon's rebellion against the Targaryen Dynasty and the Mad King is what really set the stage for the events in the books and show.

The House colors are gold (yellow) and black, represented by a rampant stag with a crown around its neck. To symbolize the power and fury of House Baratheon ("Our Is The Fury!") I wanted to go with a clean, yet powerful design. The helmet and pants stay consistent within the entire set, save for the alternate set. This was intentional as I felt that a strong, proud house like Baratheon would feel they were entitled to their colors and shouldn't be changing schemes and looks to accommodate the other team. Think of them as basically the anti-Oregon.

The alternate helmet features a rack of Stag antlers, poised for attack. Props to ColeJ for the suggestion.

The sleeve stripes stretch down the shoulders, like a kingly mantle. The decision to half the backside stripe terminate in a 45 degree angle was sort of an accident during the design, but I actually like the variety and feel like it gives the set a unique element. The pants stripe features the house shield, complete with the rampant stag, just like the helmet.

The number font adds some nice curves to the look while still remaining relatively blocky and classic. I decided against sleeve (TV) numbers because I felt it would clutter the sleeves and would be hard to fit elsewhere without looking like it was jammed in after the fact.

[ColeJ]

Awww. I was totally looking forward to antlers in Philadelphia Eagles style. still awesome

[pianoknight]

I actually tried THAT, but it just sort of came out looking like retarded bird feathers.

[ColeJ]

Ooooh. What about antlers on the helmet and make the collar design look like a crown? </nerd>

[Whittier S]

Is the fish on both sides of the Tully helmet? Since the helmet is bicolour like that, it would be helpful to somehow indicate whether it appears on both sides or one side.

[pianoknight]

Kaz- I meant "anti-Oregon" in the sense that Baratheon has only one set of pants and helmets. The Ducks have about 800 individual uniform pieces, so it's opposite on the sheer number of combinations, not the design itself.

Whittier- yes, the fish logo is repeated on the other side of the helmet. It's an identical match, save for color but I do need to go back and flip it in the image. Good catch.

[pianoknight]

House Lannister Lions

In keeping with our theme of major players in Westeros' war for the throne, you'd naturally expect House Lannister to show up. A strong house, both in terms of fighting men and extreme wealth, the Lannisters are not shy about pressing their advantage in the Seven Kingdoms. Their seat is Casterly Rock, but have been fighting to rule from the capital of King's Landing for some time. Pride and even arrogance seems to be a common trait among most in the family. They're the Martha's Vineyard-type, too rich for the rest of us and too disillusioned with power to care.

House Lannister's sigil is a golden lion on a field of crimson. To round out their look, I added black to the mix. Their House Words are "Hear Me Roar!"

Obviously the highlight here is that the Lannisters use more of a soccer/rugby style jersey. Coupled with the color mix, I felt it gives them sort of a "European Imperial" look, which very much fits with their political aspirations in the series.

Similar to the Baratheons, they maintain a constant helmet and pant set throughout their look. Stylistically, this might make for fewer options, but in this case it preserves the stripe pattern that's echoed throughout the uniform. Consistency is a value that the Lannisters project, as aside from their House Words they're known by the phrase, "A Lannister always pays his debts."

The home and away jerseys have a sublimated lion pattern across the chest instead of large numbers. The clash set - which I think we'll have to call it clash instead of alternate, since they're soccer-inspired - embraces that Euro look even more with a sash stripe across the chest. The away set reminds me a bit of the away sets for Tampa Bay or Baltimore, which is not an entirely bad thing. Even on the road, the black and stripes really pop giving this set a very bold and powerful look.