MY logo: the black mask WARNING: FRIGGIN' HUGE!

[12431]

just want crits for this logo of mine. It has been done by pencil, and colored in PSP.

I don't think it turned out that bad

[Andail]

124311, there's a lot of work to be done with that image, and I'm pretty sure you could start off just a little by yourself...

[Pessi]

I think you're doing good! However, I think you would attain a more professional look if you used vectors. The lines are a bit inaccurate right now and it could easily be improved with vectors. Also it would give you the resolution independence which is often a good thing with logos.

Basically, the best advice I can give is that, plus that you perhaps shouldn't use any distinct shading with brushstrokes, just base the logo on the shapes and use very little color tricks. But that's just my preference.

Hope to see progress soon!

[Penguinx]

Good point, Pessi.

Logo design is what I do for a living (along with a host of other design work for print) and I can't agree more. Vector is the only way to fly. Between Corel, Flash, Illustrator, and Freehand you should be able to find a product that fits your needs. I have a background in web design, so I just so happen to do about 90% of my logo design in Flash (I'm partial to the ole' girl).

Logos should be 1-3 colors, for the most part (most clients are not apt to pay for four color process work on all their envelopes, letterhead, business cards, etc). Simpler is better. An image that can be easily recognized on a 3.5"x2" business card or a 30' road-side banner is the idea to shoot for.

[Hueij]

Penguinx, are you telling us that you don't design logo's pixel by pixel? Shame on you!  

[Penguinx]

Heh. Unfortunately, Hueij, I can't recall a single instance where one of my clients wanted a pixelart logo designed for them.

Sadly, I am forced to use vectors. Shhh... Vector is a dirty word 'round these parts...

[Hollister Man]

I am in the same trade.  The most important thing about vectors is that regardless of the size you make it,  all the lines and curves stay very neat and tidy.  Think if you blew up that logo, large as it is, to the size of a billboard.  You would easily see every last pixel.  Printing is the same way too.  You don't notice it on the screen, but if you printed that logo out on a good lazer copier, it would look bad.  

You can always rasterize the logo after you do it in vector, that is how 99% of professional designers work now.  They use the vector art for printing and signs, and rasterize it for the web.

EDIT
Hope you don't mind, but I tweaked it into a vector drawing.  It dowsn't look exactly like the original, but it only took me five minutes.

[Penguinx]

I also did a vector drawing of your logo (I had finished it yesterday, but didn't have a chance to get to the board until this morning).

If you were one of my clients and had brought me your picture, I would probably have come up with this:



It's 2 color, black and purple, where the lighter shades of each color could be done with halftones.

I've also included a link to download the file as an Adobe Illustrator document. Hopefully this helps!

Download: http://www.penguinx.org/hat.ai

[Igor]

I really like both- Hollister's one for being simple and to the point and Penguinx's on for all the great curves.

[Hollister Man]

I defer to Penguinx.  :o  That's great.  As I said, I only took a little while, and I used PSP which I already had running.  If I were to do it right I would have used illustrator, of course.  

Look at Lucasarts or Sierra's logos.  They are very neat and clean, obviously not drawn by hand and colored.  If they weren't created in vector, they were very carefully done from scratch in pixels.

[12431 at school]

PenguinX, I love you. your version is so much cleaner and i love the shading. one thing though, the stuff on top is supposed to be a button.
mind if i... steal it?

[Penguinx]

Steal away!