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Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: Herra Tohtori on October 08, 2010, 05:54:10 pm

Title: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 08, 2010, 05:54:10 pm
(http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/3850/squad53test.png)

(http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/5705/squad58comparison.png)

Opinions?

In the comparison you'll notice that the new logo is missing a metallic "pedestal" thingy. Personally, I feel it's not necessary in a squadron logo, and clutters the otherwise pretty sleek design unnecessarily.

I can add it if people want it, though.


EDIT:
Addendum

(http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/5892/107thlogotest1.png)
(http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2976/107thcomparison.png)


Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Rodo on October 08, 2010, 05:56:33 pm
Leave it as it is, looks great.

And thank you for doing this!
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: headdie on October 08, 2010, 06:01:46 pm
personally I like the metal bit but other than that ace work
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Droid803 on October 08, 2010, 06:08:55 pm
I'd like to see how it looks with the metal thang before deciding if its necessary or not :P
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Kolgena on October 08, 2010, 06:12:46 pm
I am Lieutenant Loukakis, and this is my favorite insignia on the Aquitaine. I think it looks good without the pedestal/book pixelated slab thingy.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Mongoose on October 08, 2010, 06:18:55 pm
Looks good :yes:
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 08, 2010, 06:47:28 pm
I'll look into making a version with the metal thingy (though it's hard to even see what it's supposed to be like in form, it's both behind and in front of the crescent... sort of.

Anyway, here's a source data pack for anyone who's interested in taking a look at how the thing is made.

53rdHammerheadsInsignia.7z (http://www.mediafire.com/?c88vj55ddq67b78)


Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Rodo on October 08, 2010, 07:16:27 pm
Looks like a scroll.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Scourge of Ages on October 08, 2010, 09:09:35 pm
Excellent work!
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Snail on October 09, 2010, 08:09:01 am
Awesome. I recall someone else made some squad insignia, but IMHO they weren't close enough to the originals.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Zacam on October 09, 2010, 08:16:34 am
That was me, and I did refactored ones, not reproduction ones.

I like this one, and getting better looking reproduction ones in something other than pcx would be nice.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Galemp on October 09, 2010, 02:41:44 pm
Carl gives this five thumbs up!

:yes2::yes2::mad2::yes::yes::yes:
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: SypheDMar on October 09, 2010, 03:24:41 pm
Looks great, but at the front where you made a fin looks more like gills in retail. Was that on purpose?

EDIT: The fin thingy don't seem to look right to me, either. (Proportions?) :nervous:
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 09, 2010, 03:34:47 pm
The shark in the new insignia is not exactly in the same position:

(http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/26/2674/342UD00Z.jpg)


That's the image I used as a source, and while close, it doesn't exactly match the angle of the shark in the original, but then again, in the original the hammerhead profile is clearly visible (viewed from below) while the body seems to be viewed more or less directly from the side, which creates a weird dichotomy between the positions of head and body, and this means that you'll probably never find an actual image of a hammerhead shark in that position and relative geometry.

If someone wants to re-draw the original shark's posture in vector graphics, be my guest. :p
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: SypheDMar on October 09, 2010, 03:40:16 pm
I see. That's good, then. I was lookin' at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sphyrna_mokarran_at_georgia.jpg

as a reference, though yours matches more to the retail one. Still, some gills would be nice. ;)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 09, 2010, 03:51:39 pm
Well, there is this:

(http://www.lionfishhosting.co.uk/theme-images/hammerhead.png)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Mongoose on October 09, 2010, 03:55:38 pm
Hay guiz, the thing doesn't need to look pixel-perfect identical.  So long as we can tell it's a shark, I think we're good. :p
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Droid803 on October 09, 2010, 05:24:57 pm
Hay guiz, the thing doesn't need to look pixel-perfect identical.  So long as we can tell it's a hammerhead shark, I think we're good. :p

Fixed. :P
Can't just be any old shark~!
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: ssmit132 on October 11, 2010, 06:50:45 pm
Or we could stick a whale shark there instead and see if anyone notices :P

But great job on the insignia; I think it looks great.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: Zacam on October 12, 2010, 03:02:46 am
Fixed. :P
Can't just be any old shark~!

Yeah, we can't be going and jumping the shark, now can we?
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads Squadron Insignia
Post by: sigtau on October 12, 2010, 06:18:42 am
Fixed. :P
Can't just be any old shark~!

Yeah, we can't be going and jumping the shark, now can we?

http://www.instantrimshot.com/
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 31, 2010, 11:58:45 am
bump

(http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/5892/107thlogotest1.png)
(http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/2091/107thlogotest1black.png)
(http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2976/107thcomparison.png)


XCF-file for GIMP, should anyone want to take a look at the source. (http://www.mediafire.com/?1dq8zj9w89qnhqa)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Snail on October 31, 2010, 12:01:25 pm
:yes:
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Droid803 on October 31, 2010, 12:09:12 pm
:3 cute birdy.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: General Battuta on October 31, 2010, 12:21:10 pm
It is awesome except

it may just be me but

the high-resolution irregular outline of the raven's perch makes it look like it's either standing on a mound of charcoal or, well, manure.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Rodo on October 31, 2010, 12:21:15 pm
Nice!
I take it these are gonna be added into the next MVP's release right?
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on October 31, 2010, 12:22:59 pm
It is awesome except

it may just be me but

the high-resolution irregular outline of the raven's perch makes it look like it's either standing on a mound of charcoal or, well, manure.

Well, it's just bloody hard to find a decent image of a pile of stones from the internets.

If you can find me one that looks less like turdicles to your dirty mind, be my guest...  :p
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Snail on October 31, 2010, 12:24:58 pm
Actually they looked to me like greyscale potatoes. :)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Scourge of Ages on October 31, 2010, 02:28:19 pm
Wow, awesome work again! (charcoal)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Kolgena on October 31, 2010, 03:44:26 pm
Why are there two short white lines on the raven's wing?

(Also, I always thought the raven was standing on a pile of skulls. Guess that was just my imagination back when I was 8)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: rscaper1070 on October 31, 2010, 04:48:46 pm
Quote
Why are there two short white lines on the raven's wing?

He's a commissioned officer?

When I first saw it I saw a pile of rocks. Skulls, potatoes, manure, you guys have issues. :nervous:
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Snail on October 31, 2010, 05:11:43 pm
Irish potatoes.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: SypheDMar on October 31, 2010, 05:25:51 pm
I never thought of it as a pile of anything. Just a hill or a rock with many sides. Cool, by the way minus the white lines.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: -Norbert- on October 31, 2010, 06:20:51 pm
I miss the highlights on the "shoulder" a bit, but apart from that and the stripes very nice.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Kolgena on November 01, 2010, 12:15:58 am
When I first saw it I saw a pile of rocks. Skulls, potatoes, manure, you guys have issues. :nervous:

I'm saying that the vanilla one seems like it might be skulls. The T-shaped grey highlights suggest a brow ridge and nose bridge. All in all it's like 30 pixels worth of detailing, so it probably doesn't matter what the original was supposed to be.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on November 01, 2010, 02:10:34 am
The two lines are simply a carry-over from the original image I used for the raven. And the highlights for the wing are there. They just happen to not be in the exact same position because the raven is not the same and lighting is not same either.

I can get rid of the white lines easily enough, but remember that my aim is not to create a duplicate of the original, but to make high quality versions recognizeable as the original design. I probably could just draw new versions on paper, then ink them, scan and colour them. But using available source images is much faster and produces acceptable results so...
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Dilmah G on November 01, 2010, 07:35:06 am
He's a commissioned officer?
A captain as well, it looks like. ;)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: mjn.mixael on November 01, 2010, 08:24:45 am
But using available source images is much faster and produces acceptable results so...

This
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: -Norbert- on November 01, 2010, 08:45:53 am
True, but to remove/darken those two stripes and one dot takes about two minutes, maybe up to five if you are a perfectionist.
Here's a little fix I did. At 100% zoom it looks good enough (for my taste anyway), unless you know what you're looking for and/or zoom in further.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Kolgena on November 02, 2010, 10:18:09 am
I like that much better. Now it doesn't appear that the raven has some sort of electronic tag embedded into its wing.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Herra Tohtori on November 02, 2010, 10:48:52 am
(http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6812/107thlogodestriped.png)


De-striped version with proper alpha.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: -Norbert- on November 02, 2010, 11:11:40 am
Now the only thing that's missing is, putting it in the MVPs ;)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Galemp on November 02, 2010, 01:01:34 pm
It's in the SVN.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia
Post by: Thaeris on November 02, 2010, 10:48:05 pm
Herra, Sir, I salute you.

 ;) :yes:
Title: 70th Blue Lions, First Draft
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 03, 2011, 03:44:29 pm
(http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2737/70thlogo512black.png) (http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4286/70thlogo512.png)
(http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8451/256comparison.png)

Things I might work on: Paws and the mane and tail hair, general expression on the face as well as possibly the positioning of the arms.

Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Thaeris on January 03, 2011, 03:56:06 pm
Can you get more of a statue/herald-like appearance, Herra? The mane as it stands looks like some sort of an afro, and does not look all too well. I would also suggest increasing the depth of the musculature, increasing the ferocity of the snarl, and make the claws massive. That is indeed quite a bit to ask for, but I think it would help the insignia to look a bit more menacing as it did in the original.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: SypheDMar on January 03, 2011, 04:26:05 pm
I agree. On the right hand of retail, the claws seem to resemble more like talons of a Deinonychus. The eyeball seems to make it look less fierce, too. Might be nitpicking too much. Just a little nitpick.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Mobius on January 03, 2011, 04:31:25 pm
I'm with Thaeris on this. It was the scuplture-like look that made the original Blue Lions logo awesome. :)
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: mjn.mixael on January 03, 2011, 05:22:56 pm
With all the previous suggestions aside, this is a phenomenal start. Did you sketch that up yourself? I'm very impressed at what you have done and encourage you to keep perfecting!
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 03, 2011, 05:40:25 pm
Thanks for the input. I agree on all counts specified by Thaeris. The mane and tail hair in the original has post of ornate sculpture-like curls and i just lazily put some fuzzy stuff there for the first draft. And yeah mjn.mixael I did sketch it myself using the original as the model. Was a fit of a challenge as I never tried to draw anything quite like this before... The biggest reason why mine does not have the depth of the original is I did it with a pencil and only put some rudimentary shading on. Also most of that suffered when I digitized the image so I added some even more rudimentary shading on the colouring on GIMP. I'll try to get a second version done tomorrow. Got to figure out how the paws should be set. And the ferocity of the expression really needs some attention.
Title: 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Herra Tohtori on January 05, 2011, 10:29:35 am
(http://i.imgur.com/by4zzu1.png)

So, what do you think? I tried to increase the ferocity of his expression in this version.
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Snail on January 05, 2011, 10:31:06 am
JESUS CHRIST IT'S A LION BLOW UP THE STAR
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Jeff Vader on January 05, 2011, 10:32:26 am
Very nice lion, but I'd still opt for this (http://www.viinarannasta.ee/images-shop/1282550182-leijonaviina32_10x50.jpg).
Title: Re: 53rd Hammerheads & 107th Ravens Squadron Insignia, 70th Blue Lions WIP
Post by: Mongoose on January 05, 2011, 02:38:25 pm
So, what do you think? I tried to increase the ferocity of his expression in this version.
Fund it.