2013-2014 Show Choir Logo

So as you might remember, last year I worked up a quick logo for the Nolan Catholic HS Show Choir. Well once again I was asked to do this years. I was given a sketch to go from and the information that they would like to have all 20 kids names included.

With my old file at hand and the sketch done by one of the students in hand I set out to try to replicated it in a way that would look nice.

The front was simple enough. The shirts would have an updated Show Choir logo as well as the dates, in a normal placement on the breast. Clean and simple.

The back however was a different matter. Since it would have the names of the students it needed to be larger and incorporate the sketch that I was given.

Sketch by Student Mandi O'Neal

Step one was to take the sketch and try to recreate it in Illustrator so it could be clean and I could easily change up the colors to see what looked best. It also needed to be scaled to the larger size that the back design needed to be legible. I sent in this to make sure that even though I changed it up a bit they still liked it and felt it was close to the original intent. At this point the shirt color had not been decided as it was up to a vote.

The original thought for the student's names was to have them in the cloud of sound coming out of the phonograph, but with the text of the Show Choir logo overtop the text of the names it might have been a bit too busy. I presented a different option of using a record sleeve. At this point they had voted on a navy colored shirt and we threw out the idea of using white and gold printing.

I tried to make the design tight and self contained so that it would look nice centered on the back of a shirt. I also played with the colors of the lines and the fills. I also soon realized that black on navy is almost illegible. Those black outlines were not really cutting it. You can also see that in one, I removed the ornamental flowers since they seemed to get lost and distract the eye. I also added in a record sleeve as my idea for how to incorporate the names of the students. There was a few rounds of going back and forth on just printing in gold and white and no black, but none were really as sharp as it needed to be.

I then got the suggestion to make the navy shirt be the outlines and text, and just have the areas around filled with the gold and white printing. It took a little work, but once I started working it was clear that it was much better. I also realized that with the record sleeve in perspective that I would have to make some names smaller than others, and I did not want that to be the case, so I changed it as well.

I sent it in and we all agreed that it was done.

Final Back Design

Cant wait to see what it looks like in real life!

FrankenGirl Doodle

So my Plan A costume for this year needs more time. A lot more time. It's one of those that needs to be done right or not at all.

Plan B costume came together this past weekend after a quick trip to a few halloween stores and rummaging through my existing wardrobe. Inspired and excited I drew up a sketch. And then colored it. And then used it for my icons on Tumblr and Twitter.

The photo of the page in my sketchbook.

Cropped and filtered in Diptic. Lazy, I know.

Anyway, I haven't drawn in months and it shows. I haven't crocheted in months either. This is due mainly to the fact that I have started taking a class at a local community college to learn to play the piano. It sucks up my free time.  

ACNL Doodle

I am sure this joke has been made a thousand times, but since today I actually did get a pyramid out of a tree in my town I wanted to draw it. So sue me. (Please don't.)

Probably should have done the first one, scanned it and used it for the background for the second, but oh well. 

4F pencil, sharpie pen, colored pencils, 30 minutes.

Logo Opinions

Logos are important. They need to say a lot visually without saying much more than the name.
That is why a good logo is priceless and why people who design them can charge quite a tidy sum if they are any good.

I'm personally not all that good at them yet, but I can tell a good one from a boring one.
Yahoo's new logo is boring.

I do love this article page where they show all kinds of ideas and rehashing of the logo idea. But the new font, from the thin straight lines and the identical nature of the two o's read "bank" or something else equally obsessed with order. Now the fact that the o's are two different sizes seems conflicting with the formality of the font itself. Sure the little tiny scoops at the top of each stroke of the letters is interesting, but it is rapidly lost as the logo is made smaller, to the point where I did not even see them on first glance at the new logo on their search page.

Obviously a lot of thought has go into their logo blueprint. The angle at which the ! is tilted, the exact size difference between the o's, etc. However whereas before I read Yahoo with that same sing song kind of phrase that they used in commercials... YaaahhoooOO000ooo! to now reading it like ya-hoo. Or to use it in a sentence: "That kid in the hoodie over there looks like a real yahoo."

I guess it is not as bad as it could be. Some of them also struck me as for different products. For example Day 2 looks like Yahoo is a feminine product or a yogurt or brand of yoga pants. Day 6 could be a toy manufacturer or something. Day 11 reads "dairy" to me.

My favorites from their list are Day 25 with the hidden smile, Day 23 where it looks like a bit of a funnel like its coming to a point, which is the goal of a search engine... to find the one thing you want, and Day 5, which just feels friendly and relaxed to me without the capitol letters.

Of course everything is subjective and as long as you have pleased the client and gotten paid, at the end of the day, the graphic designer's job is done.

Which one was your favorite?

Vintage Animal Crossing

So, you might have noticed I have been playing a lot of Animal Crossing. Well I guess it is at least good for inspiration. Still working on my Blather's crochet, but it coming along slowly since I keep ripping it apart and starting over trying to get the body shape right.

I have created characters for my husband and me (see the last post): Cerulean and Grump. Well I for some reason wanted to draw them together in a formal portrait... Not sure where that urge came from, but like a family thing. So then I started thinking about poses... Both standing? One sitting? So then I thought about famous art... naturally... and thought about the painting American Gothic. I might have to revisit that idea and do another painting, seems fitting for Animal Crossing. Anyway I then thought about old daguerreotypes, because my dad used to collect them. So I found this one in particular which I liked so I based the pose off it.

Decided to watercolor it since I could use the black and white to get the grays and it might be a challenge to work in black and white. It was. Started off with a light gray wash to get the camera lighting kind of idea then started with the blackest parts. Mistake there. It was ok for Cerulean's feather markings, but not for Grump's jacket since then I immediately lost the ability to put in any details since I could not go any darker. I tried to pull some of the black back up with a wet brush and it helped a little. Then I could put down white for the buttons on top and it looked ok. But I lost the pocket so I cheated at the end an used a bit of black ink to crisp up some of the details that I could not paint in.

Overall it took me about an hour to do this. I can't help but think there is a fun idea here. Animal Crossing takes place in real time, so their world could have existed in different time periods... I mean imagine Animal Crossing in the Renaissance! Anyway, it could be fun to do more portraits.

AC Tumblr

Just a quick note here. Been playing too much animal crossing I think (especially considering the contents of this upcoming Friday's post). Anyway. I made a tumblr blog to put up all my pictures from in game. They will be of anything that I find interesting that happens, QR codes for new outfits I work on, etc. I will most likely post any fan art I do here as well as over there, but this blog is not the place for in game snaps.

Blog address is http://starlite-ac.tumblr.com/ if you want to visit or follow.

Speaking of fanart for the game, I drew my husband and me as animal residents. I am a blue jay, simply because I wanted to be blue like my hair and couldn't seem to pick an animal. Plus it helps that I have always wanted to be able to fly. For my husband, I had already made his likeness as a bear so it was only natural.

Cerulean and Grump

Also made this custom background for my tumblr page. It's vertically repeating.
Ask if you want to use it. :)

Happy Crossing!

AC:NL Fashion Designs

I've haven't been very creative lately. At least not in anything outside of work. I have also been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf pretty much every time I sit down. AC is plenty inspiring, heck you saw my new icon design from the previous post, didn't you?

UPDATE: Visit Starlite with dream code 4100-2197-2605 :)

I do have a few things to share though, hence this post:

1. I have decided to work on a crochet pattern for Blathers.

If you don't know, he runs the Museum in AC. I have always loved his design. This pattern is going to be a tough one. Since I plan on writing it all out as I go along, I don't expect to have it out anytime soon. Plus I have already spent a few hours of head time trying to figure out the best way to go about making him look as close on model as possible. The body shapes are easy enough, but the argyle sweater pattern of his chest and some of the more specific details will be a challenge. He is going to be a lot of pieces and embroidery. 

2. Here are the QR codes for the two cosplay outfits I have made for my AC character.
Nausicca Dress Animal Crossing QR code
The first here is for the dress from the very end of Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind. I have noticed that a lot of the cosplay outfits that I see combine her first dress tunic with the gun shell holders with this dress from the end. Not right. They are two separate outfits, in fact this dress, when she gets it from the refugee women when she is captured and escapes, is originally pink and only changes to blue after it is soaked in the blood of the Ohmu.

Katara A:TLA Animal Crossing QR code
This second dress is Katara's Watertribe and bending outfit. It is when she starts wearing the skins of water on her back when they are in the Earth Kingdom and after.

 
Feel free to scan and wear them out and about, just share where you got them please if anyone asks. Thanks :)