Final logotypes and montages

When starting working on this project I realized my lack of knowledge about anything concerning typefaces/fonts. I was always given a font that I had to use or I simply used a font that pleased my eyes. I have idea of what kind of fonts I wanted to use for my logotypes but encountered a problem. I simply had no idea what kind of typefaces those fonts are or how they could be called or found. I spent most of the time searching for fonts I just could not find. That’s why I created the letters for Un Chien Andalou myself and that’s were the first problem comes. I hoped that I would sooner or later find a similar font that I could change to look the way I want. But I did not come to that point and that is why I presented the very first attempt at creating letters from scratch (mainly they are hardly symmetrical and I don’t have the knowledge of how a letter is being formed).

My letters ended up more "heavy" then I wanted them to be. The letters should have been more thin and elegant but I did not manage that feel the way I wanted.
Trying to come up with River Crescent logotype also ended up completely different than I expected. It was actually pretty difficult to come up with a suitable idea that would work. Looking for images that would show the logotypes in context was also far more difficult than trying to find a model for the tattoo assignment. I had an idea in my head but couldn't find anything that would please me or would reflect at least partly what I wanted from the images.

River Crescent Computer Sketches

After sketching it on a piece of paper I created a computer sketches and tried playing with the crescent form. I tried many bend forms of the text but almost none seemed to work well. I finally chose a slightly bend form that I underlined with a crescent. There was another one I thought about using - text in the form of a wave. I like the idea but I don't find it appropriate for a logotype of a residential area (something that should be at least in my opinion more serious).

Having chosen the final version I started looking for a font that would be suitable. I did not want anything that would be too remarkable (like something with too edgy serifs) but I wanted something that would still catch the eye - I decided to use Adobe Garamond Pro.



I know the sketches are terrible^^. I was struggling with that a lot.

Un Chien Andalou - computer sketches

After I made the hand drawn sketches I started looking for various kinds of fonts and tried searching for something that would at least partly look as I wanted. I failed at finding such fonts and thus I started on creating my own just to see how it would look like. Finally it looked well, but the individual letters were not done the best way I could do them. I encountered problems and did not have enough time to work on it.

After this I made few more sketches on paper to see how I should compose the words. I did not want to place them in one long line but to create two lines that would be more or less of the same width. I also played with the black and white background. Then I opened up Illustrator and I've done the same in it with the letters I created earlier. It took me some time to choose one logotype as final. I decided to choose the "wiry" font where one part is on a black background and written in white and the second part is on a white background in black letters. For me this has quite unique look not copying completely old french fonts but it loses a bit on its legibility.

Residential Area sketches

I tried to come up with ideas for this logotype but none really came. All I could think was a boring font in which 2 colors would be used (no space in between words) with RIVER being bolder and spaced out and CRESCENT being condensed and lighter. This would not really show any creativity nor the link with the word crescent so I tried incorporating that in the logotype. One idea was using a moon crescent shape/image instead of the C and the other idea was about the two words written on a crescent/crescents. I had a third idea that would use a wavy, distorted font but I couldn’t do the idea justice with the fonts I found. Hand sketches that follow show what I had in mind.

Logotypes sketches - Un Chien Andalou

For the bar logotype I was aiming for an old French look and surrealistic feel. Un Chien Andalou is a surrealistic 16 minutes silent movie of French production. I made first sketches of the fonts. I wanted to try a font that would imitate black wire or a hair thin wiry font with something resembling ants on the letters. Lastly I wanted a solid or still "wiry" look of an font that would be surrealistic (see hand drawn sketches bellow). From the beginning I wanted the logotype to be in black and white.

Logotypes project

Logotypes project is about creating logotypes for certain companies or stores. I chose to work on a logotype for a residential area - River Crescent and for a bar called Un Chien Andalou. I realized how much work and thinking is involved in creating a logotype and for the first time in my life encountered problems with searching for suitable fonts. I had no idea and I still don't really have an idea how to look for a particular font and I don't have a slightest idea of the even most heavily used commercial fonts. Our aim was to create a suitable logotype for the two chosen items
and show them both fat black and white and color and in appropriate context.

I started with some research. I had an idea for the Un Chien Andalou bar but not for the area. And had to find what I had in mind for the bar, that wasn't easy. I finally found the type of I was looking for.

I tried my best to find out where the font I had in mind originated from. After few days searching finally found what I was looking for. This kind of typefaces date from the end of the 18th century. They are easily recognizable thanks to great contrast between thin and thick lines. All these typefaces are not ornamented, are clean and look modern, have abrupt serifs and small appertures. First font of this group of fonts - didone - was invented by Firmin Didot from France. A picture of Didot typeface follows.



For the residential area logotype I had no idea what to look for so I started looking for some already existing logos. It did not really help me much.

Tattoo Design

These are the final versions I submitted. (in higher resolution not the original one though)

Tattoo design - Almost there

Almost there!
I had photos I wanted to use and the tattoo designs. Taking photos of myself was not so easy as well as it was me doing everything.

The montage itself was fine, but I had to choose the right shot/cropping and colors. This is something that took me a very long time (ok, just few days) and I had to discuss this with my professor in order to even finish it.

Tattoo design - Montages

Few days have passed. I had the computer sketches done quite quickly so I started wondering about the montages. I started looking for a model. I couldn't find one at first. Later I found one at DeviantArt. In some photos it's me doing the model.

Here are two 'montages' that I choose but later discarded. The first one is not a montage as it is real. It spent some time running around with this on my left hand. I like it, but it seems some people don't.

Tattoo Design week 2

After the first week of doing sketches it came to doing first computer sketches.
Our professor really loved my paper sketch of mana symbols and wanted to see it done digitally so I decided to try my best with that. I took it as a 'learning material'. I tried to do the symbols so they would look the same as the ones. (mana symbols are coming from a card game called Magic: The Gathering)

I had real difficulties with those, especially with the white mana symbol (a sun). I couldn't come up with a way how to do it in a symmetrical way.

I had the very same problem with the first sketch on the image below (work name 'Dissension'). I had hard time figuring out how to make something symmetrical. With the rest of the sketches I could go free form and I'm quite content with them. (taking in account my capability of making it look good)

Sketches for Tattoo design

I started my sketches for the Tattoo design. My drawings could be divided into three categories. One consisted of creatures like Faeries, Merfolks and such. Other consisted of Dragons, Lions and other mythic animals. In the third one 2d tribal ornaments.

All my designs except the humanoid creature ones are based on tribal tattoos.

You can have a peek on some of my sketches.