Columbus Racers

As much as I love art and graphic design, I lack much in the department of drawing and sketching, a shame since I’d enjoy nothing more than to create crazy cool sports logos for the rest of my life. However, thanks to much encouragement from the ferocious Mel, I’ve been practicing more and more. When the site Puck Drawn announced it’s rebranding contest for the Columbus Blue Jackets, I became determined to design my own logo.

I started with my research. The state reptile of Ohio is the black racer snake. I figured this would be an easy enough creature for me to design my logo around. With at least twenty different pictures of snakes up on my computer, both real and illustrated, I began to sketch out different logo concepts. I finally hammered out something that I liked.

For the next step, I had to make my digital version. I’m partial to InDesign (typography nerd), but I knew that Illustrator was necessary for this part. Using my tablet, and after much fiddling and cursing, I more or less got the hang of what I was doing. I know that there are still areas of Illustrator that I need to become more familiar with when it comes to actually illustrating in it, but I think this final piece is pretty good for my drawing skills.

Who knows. Maybe I’ll actually work up the courage to enter the next Puck Drawn rebranding contest. Remember everyone, practice doesn’t always make perfect, but it sure as heck makes for better!

-Alex