Monday: My Stylo
Welcome to the HJC Monday post.
With Steven's post yesterday, I thought I'd do something similar but with an emphasis on how I like to go about grading concepts and where I look when giving out COTW nominations and high grades, and where I draw the line between giving things like 7s and 6s. It might not seem like a big deal, and in the grand scheme it isn't, but when grading concepts, the differences are something I look for quite bit. As the Monday I have the longest period of time to write posts, as concepts are sent out late Saturday night or Sunday at any point that day for the NEXT Monday. I usually immediately put the concepts into a folder and look at them. Progressively over the week I'll look at them more and more so that the initial reaction has time to simmer and I can make a fully thought out opinion. Sometimes I'll send a concept I want a second opinion on to my friend who did the guest Adidas review, as he often gives me perspective. The other thing I do is look for execution errors all over and trying to pinpoint execution. I do this not to be nit picky, but more so to help us hone our craft.
Here are some things I usually look at and base most of my grading on:
Execution: Are there TV numbers? How crisp are the logos? Are there loose pixels around the collar, under the jersey and arms?
Layout: Is the concept presented in an attractive and interesting way? How cluttered is the concept? Is the entire kit included or is it just the jersey? Does the template accurately display what the artist is trying to convey?
Ideas: What's trying to be accomplished? Does it work? What doesn't work? How can it be fixed? Are the fixes obvious and easy? Are the risks worth it? Is this concept interesting or is it _________ on a ___________ template?
This is one I think worth emphasizing. Do I actually like this idea? I can 100% respect and give credit where it is due to excellent execution and presentation, but if I don't like the idea, then that's just it! It's my opinion, and while I have my reasons for it, you're more than welcome to disagree tell me why etc. However I will say this, I will give COTW to a concept that I love the idea of and is executed well rather than one I don't like the idea of that has great execution and uses a more advanced software/professional grade presentation. We don't do this in the real world with jersey unveiling, I won't do it with concepts. The best example I can think of this is a concept that has a Chicago roundel logo on a tan chest stripe....some people love the 2009 WC jersey....I just find it to be really mediocre, not bad by any means, but it's one of my least favourite WC jerseys along with the Flyers 2010 jersey and this year's St. Louis jersey (to be fair the standard is with the lowest rating 7.75/10 so keep that in mind, WC jerseys are never THAT bad). I know that there are times you read my ratings and you go "WHAT, YOU THINK THAT'S A 7, THAT'S A 14" and other times you think 'THAT'S A 9? TRY 4.5"....but aside from when BPoe sees a Flyers anything, that's not usually the case. I can say I often disagree with the other writers, but that's what makes it so awesome to have them around, we can bounce ideas off each other, and you can do the same
This is where you, the reader, have a lot of power! The comment section is there for a reason, use it: Nominate concepts, give your own reasons why you love a concept, start a discussion! The other readers will like it, I will like it, the other writers will like it, and most of all, I think the artist will like the praise. It's kind of like if you don't vote for what pizza you want while watching the Jets crush the Islanders 9-1 in game 4 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals on the way to their second cup in as many years, you can't complain when your friend's conceptual artist girlfriend orders fig, goat cheese and plum thin crust when you wanted Brooklyn style Pepperoni. You can't control whether a jersey gets seconded, 3rd, 4th etc, but you can get it one nomination closer. You get one per day, if you think a concept is great, say so! Sometimes, readers have changed my mind with a good argument.
Voting for this week is really simple, just the weekly COTW vote due Friday at noon EST as there is every week. Poll is on the side of the blog.
For the HJC Open, the 16 artists who got through, you need to have your entries for TOMORROW at noon EST. This deadline is very firm, so I'd suggest you try to get them in before then, as voting will begin immediately at noon EST Tuesday and run until Friday.
On with today's concepts!
McGill University Redmen Sports Concepts (By:Jonathan K.)
+ McGill is one of the most prestigious schools in Canada, and being located in Montréal, it's very fitting there is a use of a chest stripe here
+ The colour scheme and amount of stripes reminds me a lot of the 1991 Detroit Alternates, which is a good jersey to base a set around
+ Love the including of the bird on the back of the collar
+ Good execution
- Would have preferred the bird be a shoulder patch
Rating: 9/10
Dallas Stars Concept (By: Denny D.)
+ Nice, simple striping pattern that works well with the Stars colour scheme and logos
+ Wouldn't have thought it would work, but the Texas logo works as a primary in this case
+ Basics of execution is all here, and it's a good start
- Victory green does not show up well against the black; white numbers would look a lot better
- It's always best to stick to one shoulder patch, and use the other logo as a pant/helmet logo. In this case, I'd use the roundel on the shoulders and the regular primary as a pant logo
- The primary logo uses a different shade of black when compared to the rest of the jersey and is a little low on the jersey, but that may be because the hem is set too high
- The hem stripe is much too high, it should be only slightly above the curve on an Edge jersey. However this is a hard template to work with, so I'd recommend checking out the templates page for some better options
Rating: 6/10
Nashville Predators Concept (By: Ryan HJC.)
+ Much better striping pattern. Even though it's not that much different from what Nashville went with, the fact that it doesn't leave a ton of empty yellow on the arms and his really work
+ Thank you for putting the shoulder patch on BOTH shoulders...Nashville sets incapable of doing this themselves
+ Claw marks on the arm are subtle, and add lots of colour, great idea!
+ Good job keeping minimal yellow/white interaction
+ Good execution
- The collar is something where Ryan did the best he could with what Adidas gives us, but I would have made the insert blue to continue it all the way around
- Primary logo is a fair bit pixelated, ditto for the helmet
- There's a little black like under the arm stripes that may just be stitching, but if not then I would make that blue to match the rest
Rating: 8.25/10
Nashville Predators Concepts (By: Matt G.)
+ This was Matt's HJC Open round robin entry, and it's a pretty good showing. Right away the striping is a lot more tame than what Nashville has had for the past few seasons, but aside from the yoke, all the colours are where they were on the previous jersey
+ At least on the white jersey, the yoke REALLY works
+ Love the little addition of the stars on the gloves
+ Like the guitar string striping that lines up with the numbers on the back
+ Good execution
- Colour balancing really kills the away here for me. Swap the blue and yellow and you're golden (no pun intended of course)
- Pants need some white, at least in the logo
- The curve on the bottom on the yoke of the white jersey looks really good, I wish it was also on the yellow jersey
- Inside of the collar should be the same colour as the yoke (blue)
Rating: 8/10
Vancouver Canucks Concepts (By: Anthony C.)
+ Great colour lay out on the blue and green, looks fantastic
+ Good logo choices
+ In adding green to the whale logo, making the ice green is not what I would have done, but still looks good
+ Love the vintage pants
- No helmet logos
- Colour balancing on the white jersey is off. It should have blue numbers if you don't want to add a blue hem under the striping like the home
- I would have scrapped the yoke on the white jersey all together and went with the blue numbers/hem
- Shoulder patches are a bit high up on the yoke
- While their patterns are close in some ways, would prefer Vancouver not wear Chicago striping
Rating: 6.5/10
New Jersey Devils Concepts (By: Anthony C.)
+ The original green Devils jerseys were full of stripes, as are these, and it really works; particularly on the white jersey where the red and green pop very well
+ Love the look of the shoulder patch on the red jersey
+ Great colour balancing, resembles the originals in that regard
+ Great execution
- Not a huge fan of the Devils partial logo in green on the red yoke of the white jersey
- No helmet numbers or logo
Rating: 8.75/10
Kaechon Mountaineers KHL Concepts (By: Jordan R.)
+ Love the custom logo. Reminds me a lot of the Avalanche with a European twist, and it looks great in the colour scheme chosen
+ Despite there being and extra colour on the home jersey not found on the road jersey outside the logo, the colour balancing is near perfect
+ Love how there is both a double yoke outline and a chest stripe but the jersey doesn't look too crowded
+ Great execution and layout on the concept
- One minor gripe with the white jersey is how similar the colours are to a Florida away jersey, but the shade of yellow is different enough to make it work
Rating: 9.5/10 COTW Nom from me!
Kaesong Pines KHL Concepts (By: Jordan R.)
+ Similar to the Rangers, the primary logo makes an excellent shoulder patch with a diagonal script
+ Triple outline Coyotes numbers look great with this colour scheme and add character to a relatively generic jersey idea
+ Great execution and layout
- The green and blue should swap on the striping, but not the socks
-Kind of wish the striping didn't make the jerseys look like a Whalers/Rangers hybrid, which isn't a bad thing, but a couple slight changes to the striping would fix that
Rating: 8.75/10
With Steven's post yesterday, I thought I'd do something similar but with an emphasis on how I like to go about grading concepts and where I look when giving out COTW nominations and high grades, and where I draw the line between giving things like 7s and 6s. It might not seem like a big deal, and in the grand scheme it isn't, but when grading concepts, the differences are something I look for quite bit. As the Monday I have the longest period of time to write posts, as concepts are sent out late Saturday night or Sunday at any point that day for the NEXT Monday. I usually immediately put the concepts into a folder and look at them. Progressively over the week I'll look at them more and more so that the initial reaction has time to simmer and I can make a fully thought out opinion. Sometimes I'll send a concept I want a second opinion on to my friend who did the guest Adidas review, as he often gives me perspective. The other thing I do is look for execution errors all over and trying to pinpoint execution. I do this not to be nit picky, but more so to help us hone our craft.
Here are some things I usually look at and base most of my grading on:
Execution: Are there TV numbers? How crisp are the logos? Are there loose pixels around the collar, under the jersey and arms?
Layout: Is the concept presented in an attractive and interesting way? How cluttered is the concept? Is the entire kit included or is it just the jersey? Does the template accurately display what the artist is trying to convey?
Ideas: What's trying to be accomplished? Does it work? What doesn't work? How can it be fixed? Are the fixes obvious and easy? Are the risks worth it? Is this concept interesting or is it _________ on a ___________ template?
This is one I think worth emphasizing. Do I actually like this idea? I can 100% respect and give credit where it is due to excellent execution and presentation, but if I don't like the idea, then that's just it! It's my opinion, and while I have my reasons for it, you're more than welcome to disagree tell me why etc. However I will say this, I will give COTW to a concept that I love the idea of and is executed well rather than one I don't like the idea of that has great execution and uses a more advanced software/professional grade presentation. We don't do this in the real world with jersey unveiling, I won't do it with concepts. The best example I can think of this is a concept that has a Chicago roundel logo on a tan chest stripe....some people love the 2009 WC jersey....I just find it to be really mediocre, not bad by any means, but it's one of my least favourite WC jerseys along with the Flyers 2010 jersey and this year's St. Louis jersey (to be fair the standard is with the lowest rating 7.75/10 so keep that in mind, WC jerseys are never THAT bad). I know that there are times you read my ratings and you go "WHAT, YOU THINK THAT'S A 7, THAT'S A 14" and other times you think 'THAT'S A 9? TRY 4.5"....but aside from when BPoe sees a Flyers anything, that's not usually the case. I can say I often disagree with the other writers, but that's what makes it so awesome to have them around, we can bounce ideas off each other, and you can do the same
This is where you, the reader, have a lot of power! The comment section is there for a reason, use it: Nominate concepts, give your own reasons why you love a concept, start a discussion! The other readers will like it, I will like it, the other writers will like it, and most of all, I think the artist will like the praise. It's kind of like if you don't vote for what pizza you want while watching the Jets crush the Islanders 9-1 in game 4 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals on the way to their second cup in as many years, you can't complain when your friend's conceptual artist girlfriend orders fig, goat cheese and plum thin crust when you wanted Brooklyn style Pepperoni. You can't control whether a jersey gets seconded, 3rd, 4th etc, but you can get it one nomination closer. You get one per day, if you think a concept is great, say so! Sometimes, readers have changed my mind with a good argument.
Voting for this week is really simple, just the weekly COTW vote due Friday at noon EST as there is every week. Poll is on the side of the blog.
For the HJC Open, the 16 artists who got through, you need to have your entries for TOMORROW at noon EST. This deadline is very firm, so I'd suggest you try to get them in before then, as voting will begin immediately at noon EST Tuesday and run until Friday.
HJC Quarter Semi-Finals entries due (Tuesday @ noon ET)
COTW June 23-29 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)
On with today's concepts!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
McGill University Redmen Sports Concepts (By:Jonathan K.)
+ McGill is one of the most prestigious schools in Canada, and being located in Montréal, it's very fitting there is a use of a chest stripe here
+ The colour scheme and amount of stripes reminds me a lot of the 1991 Detroit Alternates, which is a good jersey to base a set around
+ Love the including of the bird on the back of the collar
+ Good execution
- Would have preferred the bird be a shoulder patch
Rating: 9/10
Dallas Stars Concept (By: Denny D.)
+ Nice, simple striping pattern that works well with the Stars colour scheme and logos
+ Wouldn't have thought it would work, but the Texas logo works as a primary in this case
+ Basics of execution is all here, and it's a good start
- Victory green does not show up well against the black; white numbers would look a lot better
- It's always best to stick to one shoulder patch, and use the other logo as a pant/helmet logo. In this case, I'd use the roundel on the shoulders and the regular primary as a pant logo
- The primary logo uses a different shade of black when compared to the rest of the jersey and is a little low on the jersey, but that may be because the hem is set too high
- The hem stripe is much too high, it should be only slightly above the curve on an Edge jersey. However this is a hard template to work with, so I'd recommend checking out the templates page for some better options
Rating: 6/10
Nashville Predators Concept (By: Ryan HJC.)
+ Much better striping pattern. Even though it's not that much different from what Nashville went with, the fact that it doesn't leave a ton of empty yellow on the arms and his really work
+ Thank you for putting the shoulder patch on BOTH shoulders...Nashville sets incapable of doing this themselves
+ Claw marks on the arm are subtle, and add lots of colour, great idea!
+ Good job keeping minimal yellow/white interaction
+ Good execution
- The collar is something where Ryan did the best he could with what Adidas gives us, but I would have made the insert blue to continue it all the way around
- Primary logo is a fair bit pixelated, ditto for the helmet
- There's a little black like under the arm stripes that may just be stitching, but if not then I would make that blue to match the rest
Rating: 8.25/10
Nashville Predators Concepts (By: Matt G.)
+ This was Matt's HJC Open round robin entry, and it's a pretty good showing. Right away the striping is a lot more tame than what Nashville has had for the past few seasons, but aside from the yoke, all the colours are where they were on the previous jersey
+ At least on the white jersey, the yoke REALLY works
+ Love the little addition of the stars on the gloves
+ Like the guitar string striping that lines up with the numbers on the back
+ Good execution
- Colour balancing really kills the away here for me. Swap the blue and yellow and you're golden (no pun intended of course)
- Pants need some white, at least in the logo
- The curve on the bottom on the yoke of the white jersey looks really good, I wish it was also on the yellow jersey
- Inside of the collar should be the same colour as the yoke (blue)
Rating: 8/10
Vancouver Canucks Concepts (By: Anthony C.)
+ Great colour lay out on the blue and green, looks fantastic
+ Good logo choices
+ In adding green to the whale logo, making the ice green is not what I would have done, but still looks good
+ Love the vintage pants
- No helmet logos
- Colour balancing on the white jersey is off. It should have blue numbers if you don't want to add a blue hem under the striping like the home
- I would have scrapped the yoke on the white jersey all together and went with the blue numbers/hem
- Shoulder patches are a bit high up on the yoke
- While their patterns are close in some ways, would prefer Vancouver not wear Chicago striping
Rating: 6.5/10
New Jersey Devils Concepts (By: Anthony C.)
+ The original green Devils jerseys were full of stripes, as are these, and it really works; particularly on the white jersey where the red and green pop very well
+ Love the look of the shoulder patch on the red jersey
+ Great colour balancing, resembles the originals in that regard
+ Great execution
- Not a huge fan of the Devils partial logo in green on the red yoke of the white jersey
- No helmet numbers or logo
Rating: 8.75/10
Kaechon Mountaineers KHL Concepts (By: Jordan R.)
+ Love the custom logo. Reminds me a lot of the Avalanche with a European twist, and it looks great in the colour scheme chosen
+ Despite there being and extra colour on the home jersey not found on the road jersey outside the logo, the colour balancing is near perfect
+ Love how there is both a double yoke outline and a chest stripe but the jersey doesn't look too crowded
+ Great execution and layout on the concept
- One minor gripe with the white jersey is how similar the colours are to a Florida away jersey, but the shade of yellow is different enough to make it work
Rating: 9.5/10 COTW Nom from me!
Kaesong Pines KHL Concepts (By: Jordan R.)
+ Similar to the Rangers, the primary logo makes an excellent shoulder patch with a diagonal script
+ Triple outline Coyotes numbers look great with this colour scheme and add character to a relatively generic jersey idea
+ Great execution and layout
- The green and blue should swap on the striping, but not the socks
-Kind of wish the striping didn't make the jerseys look like a Whalers/Rangers hybrid, which isn't a bad thing, but a couple slight changes to the striping would fix that
Rating: 8.75/10
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Monday: My Stylo
Reviewed by winnipegjets96
on
July 03, 2017
Rating:
Reviewed by winnipegjets96
on
July 03, 2017
Rating:
4 comments:
Anthony's Devils for COTW
Ryan H.'s Preds for COTW.
Second for Ryan H's Preds.
COTW to Matt G
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