Well now I've got two pages worth of Graphics, with no slowdown in sight.
So check out the latest, and don't be surprised if this continues to grow.
4 Concept sketches, playing around with different styles. And then the final colored one.
The first idea and untimately the closest to the final.
What I was happy with the most for this logo, is that I really worked to make the { } part of everything. Since Dark Templars is a medieval kind of thing, i wanted to capture the gothic look of castles with it. Luckily, the { }'s were perfect to pull that off. So I'm pretty happy with using them in a very creative way.
Simpler design. took off the bricks and the archways. Just testing different looks. I like to give people (and myself) options.
And, simpler still. This was in case the { } wasn't obvious enough. Lose the back wall.
For kicks, I decided to make the whole thing bleed. I figured it was lacking something. Funny thing is.. the blood actually creates the blicks in the walls, which is awesome. Funnier thing? This was chosen for the final design.
And this is the final colored design. Basically lit it all on fire. At the client's request, he wanted the words in a specific style and I worked to match everything else to it.
So all in all, not bad for a few hours work.
I made this design to compete against others for a contest. No word on the winner yet (Nov 15th) but If you want to read about the idea behind it, just go here:
This is was a project for Zeoff and his new group which he started up here:
Basically they're a group that tries to find bugs, problems, mesh issues, and cheats, for maps made in UT.
But they don't do that to be jerks about it, they do it to show the mapper the problem(s) and help them fix it. It's a neat idea, and Zeoff is one of my newest rabid fans who immediately came to me (like {DT}) after seeing my stuff.
This project was much more complicated than usual, but the logo itself was way different than the usual fare too.
Concept: The UE is a key, and when you put the key in the lock (in red) then you can open the door (IE: discover the secrets of the map).
Furthermore, not only do you unlock the door, but the lock and the key MAKE the words "Xploiters".
I give credit to Zeoff for this idea, as it was mainly him who that part up. So lets see how we got there..
Click for a larger version.
He originally was going to use | (but with a hole in the middle, I just don't know the code for that) as the name. So UE| the | was for dividing the player name from the clan title. But it was more than that, the | part was a big deal. he wanted that to be like the secret part that the exploiters were finding. He also pitched the idea of Gorge's eye looking through it like a keyhole. I didn't like that idea though.
Concept? yes. but i don't like using UT models and such in logos, I think it's lame- though extremely popular.
So instead, i took his various ideas and my ideas, and went to work making a huge range of concepts.
1-4 is just variations off the UE logo itself. I liked making the middle of the E into an arrow of sorts.
5. is a bunch of dark silhouettes gathered around a map in the logo shape, pointing at parts of it.
6. is almost the same thing, but more like one guy pointing at the diagram of UE and pointing out a weakness. presumably to a class.
7. is me going "hmm.. i haven't done anything with the Unreal font yet" and trying that.. and then hating it. I was thinking of making the hands with pliers or pointers or something, but i really did hate it.
8. is just total randomness. Super sylized. thats it.
9. Taking his gorge idea, I instead carved it into a wall and put eyes in there.
10. Then it hit me.. wait! what about a key? So I thought about making the | into a lock, and E the key.
10-11. then i figured hey, make the whole THING a key. Which is where the top concept comes from. Unlocking the secrets.
After discussing a bit, we decided to go with the key idea.
Plus.. He had to dump the | in favor of ^ because the | wasn't showing up on some computers. Ouch.
So then the lock and key idea came about.
The fun part is that the key by itself actually does look kinda like a real key. It could have been cleaned up more for that aspect, but at this point I was already way over what i usually do for "favors".. So I wasn't all that willing to spend tons of extra time on it.
Colored it up, did some quick effects, and called it done.
All and all, a really creative idea, and even though i was a little miffed at the amount of 'free work" he was getting out of me.. I love working on creative ideas. So, in the end, it's worth it.
