Sunday, January 2, 2011

"Orthe" logo sketch


This is a personal logo project for a world I'm working on for a role-playing game. It's just some fun I'm using to practice my typography skills and graphic design. I drew it on a spare piece of yellowish paper (just in case you wonder :P) Any info and crits about the layout would be much appreciated. Thanks, guys :) Hope you're all having a great New Year, so far! :)

8 comments:

  1. Wow! Beautiful.

    What's the oval in the top left corner there? Distracting.

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  2. I admire anyone willing to tackle type by hand.

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  3. Thanks, guys :) The oval's just a bit of sketch that didn't get erased, I'm sure. I'm thinking the 't' and the 'h' need to be brought together a bit. There's a lot of breathing room in there. Then again, the space between the feet of the 'r' and the 't' is about the same. I'm not sure how to tackle that problem. Any ideas? If it's fine, cool. But any input from any typographers out there would be great :) The type was somewhat invented. Then, as I was working, I saw a book cover with a Darryl Sweet image on it with some "sweet" type font that had some cool decorative elements I liked. That's where that 'r' got its little swooping hook (I love that it overlaps the sword, creating a nice little silhouette shape that has a lot of interesting tension). I wanted to echo that 'r' swoop in other areas, like the spines of the dragon head and the curvature of the tail elements. I wanted the overall design to look slightly Celtic, but not overwhelmingly so. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the 'o' turned out. It started as a serpent all the way around. It was filled with tiny scales that were too distracting and didn't flow well. I loved the openness of it, after making a Celtic "inspired" dragon head then leaving the rest free for whatever I wanted to put in it. The decorative diamond shapes ended up giving me a cool "belt" appearance that I didn't plan on. I loved it and kept it. I wanted a Celtic/Medieval look, but subtle and understated. The belt appears in many heraldic devices, especially Scottish family arms. The dragon head is Celtic "enough" and the rest is decorative without being too much, I think. In the end I'll transfer it to bristol board and paint it with oils.

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  4. I think this is very nicely done, Justin. Thanks for posting it!

    I'd be curious to see what it would look like without the tendril that wraps around the "e". I think it takes away from the spearhead flourish on the tail and keeps the letter from breathing.

    Other than that quibble, I think it looks great.

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  5. Thank you, Chuck. I was wanting that kind of feedback. I was thinking the same thing when i added the swooping elements around the 'e'. I'll do it with and without and see what I think. Thank you! :)

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  6. Hey Justin,

    Neat work. Congrats on the type!
    Here's a quick jpeg of a couple of things I was thinking. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4284811/orthe.jpg

    It seems the "r" was a little crammed over to the left a bit too far. Giving it a little space between the O helps it breathe. I like the thick/thin letterforms in contrast to that big fat O, but wonder if you've gone a bit too condensed. I pulled them too far in my jpeg, but i might take a look at extending them just a bit. I think it improves the read as a title, especially if you take the image and look at it for a bit flipped horizontally.

    I lke the tail, but it feels a little thin and frail to me. I think if you bring in some of the thick and thin from your letterforms, it gives it a bit more interest and weight and helps balance everything a little better.

    Just some ideas. Nicely done.

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  7. Dude... thank you. I was thinking the same thing about the 'r'. You have no idea how much this helps me out. I love what you did with the tail. I also agree it was very plain. I love the calligraphic element you employed, it has a very nice feel, even the reversal of the tendrils on the tail. I can't thank you enough, Oliver. That was above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you. I think, seeing the 'r' with more breathing space, the 'e' needs to be moved a skoche to the right. Love what you've done. Thanks, again. Wow, I still can't get over the work you put into that.

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  8. My pleasure Justin. Glad you didn't detest everything I did. It's hard with typography since the subtleties make a lot of difference, but seem to easily become very subjective. But I guess that's art in general huh?

    Look forward to seeing the final.

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