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Monday: End of an Era

 So today marks an end of an era, as I review the final three concepts in my Hockey 2 Soccer series. Overall it was an interesting learning experience, as the end result of it ended up making a nice soccer shirt that I hope the Red Bulls use as a "Metro Fauxback" to honor their 20th anniversary and origins as the MetroStars. That said, we have some terrific concepts today for me to judge, but before we do that, I noticed that the Indy Fuel have unveiled new jerseys a while ago, so lets look at them.

I think the goal is to make them look a little like the Team USA jerseys from 2011. Which is a MAJOR mistake. The only good things are the logo and the collar (which is pretty awesome, though I'd use a compound word beginning with "bad", but I really shouldn't swear on this blog). Otherwise these are garbage jerseys, and Indy can do a much better job. Those random red patches on the shoulder/sleeve are, well, random, and serve no purpose. You think you can do better? Well you probably can, but tell us how anyway by submitting your Indy Fuel concepts to the blog for review. 

REMINDERS:

We have four great concepts up for a vote on Concept of the Week, so pick one to move on to COTY-August!

That Griffins Competition is still going on! There's enough time to perfect your entry, but not THAT much time. Send it in soon or you will have no sot at winning!

Here's an interesting thing: The Favorite NHL Team Vote. I've already done it, and fellow Islander fans should stand up and join me in displaying our hatred for the Rangers too. Yes you can vote for your most hated team too. We'll see where the fandom and hatred lies within this blog.

COTW Aug 11-17 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
Grand Rapids Griffins Jersey Competition (ends August 31st, 2014)
Favourite NHL Team Vote (ends Saturday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
 
 
Boston Bruins Concept by Coby S:


Coby sent me this concept before submitting it, so I'll reiterate to everyone how I said it could be improved:

"Double brown schemes are tough. I know the Hershey Bears use a nice triple brown color scheme, but I love it. The big thing when using a double color scheme is that the colors have to contrast enough so that it doesn't look bland. If you use the darkest brown the Bears have combined with the light brown you're using, it may come out better. So try that and then send me the result of it."

He then responded that he wasn't satisfied with the look. Obviously it is executed with excellence, but it all comes down to the colors, and this does not fare well in that area.

Final Score: 75%


Washington Capitals Concept by Matt M:


This is also well done, but looks too modern for the Winter Classic. That said, this is an AMAZING jersey for the Stadium Series or possibly regular use. The stars on the front are a nice nod to their first jerseys,  combined with the Weagle logo we all want to see on the front of a jersey. The slanted stripes on the arm are interesting, because with arms down, it parallels the wings of the logo, but arms up, it contrasts it. I have a tough time thinking which one is better. Maybe the one thing I'd change is add a blue outline between the number and the red outline to add consistency with the striping.

Final Score: 87% (No this isn't a Crosby vs Ovechkin joke)


Vancouver Canucks concept by Phil B:


So here is one of three, and this is the best of the three.  The V pattern works well here, but the white cuffs and collar stand out awkwardly. Maybe green would look better there. Possibly some blue to green transition on the socks, or green to blue and green shorts. What would you have done?

Final Score: 65%


Washington Capitals concept by Phil B:


When I looked at the logo, I immediately thought "Arsenal": Red shirt, white sleeves. That's exactly what I did here, but no more, which is problematic. Maybe do what Arsenal did two years ago and add a red and blue stripe to the sleeves and socks. The back looks cluttered, but with that wordmark logo, I gotta put the sponsor somewhere. That logo fits so well on the front.

Final Score: 63%


Winnipeg Jets Concept by Phil B:


And thus ends the series. And some will say "Thank goodness that's over with". Some will cry. Actually nobody will cry unless this series harmed their minds, which is entirely possible. But ending on a bang seems too mainstream, as this is pure fill tool. Not that creative. I tried to include the red as a tribute to the previous Jets. But lackluster for the most part.

Final Score: 56%


Erie Otters (OHL) Concept by Steven M:


This is such a great idea, but execution brings this down. Why is the inside of the jersey blue if the outside is red? What happened to the yoke template lines? Where's the helmet logo? The colors also present an issue. White on yellow is never good, and this is best exemplified by the socks (which can use some red) and the pants. The yellow gets lost like that. Also having the yellow numbers next to the red makes the yellow look darker compared to the striping. It's a tough color scheme to work with and I want to love this, but I can't.

Final Score: 78%


The winner of my Concept of the Week nomination is Matt M. and his Washington Capitals Concept!

I am awaiting news within the upcoming week regarding my employment and an opportunity available to me. I cannot disclose the nature of said opportunity, but I can say that it could have a MAJOR impact on HJC. Stay tuned next week to see if the news arrives and find out what happens.
Monday: End of an Era Reviewed by Anonymous on August 18, 2014 Rating: 5

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure why you rate your own jerseys...

Anonymous said...

Because I rate my own concepts harsher than other concepts. I try to put more of a "what could I have done differently" approach to them.

Unknown said...

I gotta say Phil, you had the chance to make a legendary series. You had great ideas for a lot of the teams, but in the end it seemed like you rushed your concepts, and used the paint bucket as your guide. If you would've experimented with sublimation, or out of the box desings you would've had a few cotw in your pocket. I'm not trying to be harsh or anything just thought I'd share my opinion.

Jake Miller said...

Have to agree with Christian. Soccer designs have tons of potential, and you can do pretty much anything with them and they would look great. The problem with your series (other than what Christian already mentioned) is how similar the designs looked in the end. I went through your blog, and 10 of 30 designs have colored arms. In the NHL right now, only one jersey has colored in arms, and for that team, you didn't paint bucket fill the arms.

I think that you should come back to this series, maybe a month or so from now, get a new template (with collar choices), and see what taking maybe a few hours (thats how long it takes me to make a soccer concept) and experimenting with soccer esque things like sublimination can do for a concept.

Anonymous said...

This series was my first attempt at using a soccer template, so it was nice to play around a bit with it. I definitely will try some awesome effects for soccer kits for my own blog. Man United had a nice plaid-ish shirt two seasons ago, so maybe something like that for another team.

winnipegjets96 said...

Phil, your soccer concept was a first and it's broken the ice for concept artists to do full crossovers. What I would have done is a crossover series between MLS and NASL jerseys and NHL jerseys. Don't beat yourself up because some concepts weren't amazing, but take it as a learning experience.

COTW for Matt M.!

Steve Marc said...

I didn't realize that I forgot the yoke stripe after I sent it in and I thought "well that's gonna bring it down." I have nothing but respect for you guys because I'm just starting to do the jersey thing and I really like to hear the inputs you guys give. expect more from me.

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