A HJC Friday!

UPDATE: here is the link to the interview I talked about yesterday... it starts up around 41:30

Well, the holiday season is a time for getting together with friends and hosting them at your place. Today, I am hosting, here at SOAC, HJC's regular friday post while the blog is down. welcome to my virtual living room. While you're here, feel free to poke around, and see what I've done with the place.

As far as HJC Votes go this week, we'll have to figure out what's going on with those, as is, you can't see nominees, so you can't really vote... stay tuned to the HJC blog (if it gets back up and running), and also the HJC twitter account, or facebook page for any news.

I heard a really interesting interview today with Steve Rushin from Sports Illustrated, discussing a recent article of his (well worth the read IMO). If I can find a link to the audio from the interview, I'll either post it here, or on my next HJC, or tweet it from the HJC account. From a hockey perspective Rushin touched in his interview, and in the article on the current state of the game within the fabric North American sports scene. From a jersey perspective he touched the popularity of vintage jerseys, who can get away with wearing a vintage jersey, and where he thinks the NHL will go with jersey and corporate sponsorship over the next decade.

Anyways, it's time to get to today's concepts.

Winnipeg Jets (by Bastian S.)

like: the double stripe pattern fits with the other 2 jerseys the jets currently wear. The presence of red on the sweater.

dislike: that both the old and new logos are on the same sweater, this just doesn't work for me. also the collar seems a bit weak.

change: I would either use all new logos, or all old logos, or an up dated version of an old logo (like the one Patrik uses on his concept later on in this post). Shoulder patches wouldn't be necessary in my opinion.

rating: 7/10.

Ottawa Senators (by Kyle C.)

like: I think the Sens are one of the few teams that SHOULD be wearing black as their primary colour at home. I love the uniqueness of the Senators with the gold laurel leaf pattern. Strong and simple jerseys here.

dislike: the small white and red stripes on the home sweater, they don't match the away sweater.

change: make the small stripes one solid white stripe (red might look good too).

rating: 7/10.

Winnipeg Jets (by Patrik G.)

this picture image has a clear background... click on it to see it better!

like: the nods to both the old and new Jets, that updated logo is FANTASTIC.

dislike: the width of the stripes... I would make the red a bit thicker and the white a bit thinner. Also, I really don't like that shoulder patch too much. It seems especially out of place considering it is primarily silver, and there is no other silver on this sweater.

change: resize the stripes a bit, and get rid of the shoulder patch (either go without, or add a "goals for kids" patch, or an updated version of it on one shoulder.

rating: 8/10.

New York Rangers (by Jordan R.)

like: Both these sweaters are really cool. i like that they are inspired by other sweaters, but not actual copies... slightly modernized. The four stars above the text is a very strong look.

dislike: the sheild logo is problematic for me. It is hard to read, and with the chest number (and captain's letter) it would look awkward and crowded.

change: get rid of the chest number on the light sweater. Simplify the shield logo so that text only has one colour behind it... it is really difficult to read the text on the alternating stripes. Maybe try to allude to the current Rangers shield by having the top half red and the bottom half blue and changing the middle bar to white... just a thought.

rating: 8/10.

Winnipeg Jets (by NB-14)

like: the updated Jets jersey. The colour balance is very good.

dislike: again, there is silver in the logos, but not on the sweater.

change: either recolour the logo to eliminate at least the silver ring. also, I would make the red stripes on the arms a tad thicker, and find a way to eliminate the blue from the collar.

rating: 7/10.

Columbus Blue Jackets (by Bastian S.)

like; the simplicity of this set. It is a classic hockey look.

dislike: the random blue bit on the back of the pants, and how "Detroit-y" the pants are... they do play in the same division... so this could be a problem. How small the star is on the cuffs.

change: fix the pants. red is good, just not Red Wings. make the star a bit larger, and place it higher on the cuff (as is, it would likely be covered by gloves).

rating: 8/10.

Nashville Predators (by WinnipegJets96)

like: I really like the blue sweater... it would make a great alternate to go along with what, the Preds currently wear. I love the subtle checkerboard... it was a unique look, and it would have been cool to see the Preds hang on to it.

dislike: the white jersey seems very empty (largely because of the colouration of the logo)

change: I would simply make this concept a one sweater Preds 3rd concept. If you were set on keeping the white sweater I would add blue cuffs, and get rid of the yoke. It might also make the sweater look less empty if the checker board pattern were less subtle (eg. blue and white checks).

rating: 7/10.


Chicago Bears (by Tyler G.)

likes: What a great set of logos/ uniforms to work from. I love the Bears (da Bears!) unis. These keep the spirit of them very well. I also like that the striping reminds me of the black hawks (especially on the white sweater) gotta love a Chi-town hockey tie in.
dislikes: nothing.
changes: I know it goes agains the collars on the football uniforms, but for these hockey jerseys, I would make the collars contrasting.
rating: 8/10.

thanks for dropping by SOAC for this HJC friday post, hope you enjoyed it. Fell free to stop backe here any time!

Let's get to the sweaters

So for a couple weeks I have been playing around with logo ideas for the Giants. I originally pitched slightly different logos for home and away. I realize that this is often not an option in major junior hockey simply because of the price of producing a second main crest, so I added an outline to the crest used on the light jersey, so it would present better on a dark jersey. Here is the final product I have been working with:

With the logos finalized, I turned my attention to jersey design. As much as I would love it if Reebok manufactured unique sweaters for CHL teams, they don't. They only use existing templates. With this in mind I began to think about which template would lend itself to a classic look, and work well with the Giants logo and my new colour scheme. I had it narrowed down to 2 templates: the Current New Jersey Devils look, or a uniform based off of the New York Rangers 2012 Winter Classic jerseys. Midweek, my mind was made up when Stéphane sent in this brilliant design for the Giants based off the Devils uniforms.

By Stéphane Sinotte

Here is what Stéphane had to say about his design:

1. I agree that CHL teams have cluttered jerseys (my hometown Phoenix are clear winners on that matter!), but I think that keeping the WHL/OHL/LHJMQ and CHL logos are a must. Those leagues need to be known and recognized. I also don't think that Reebok will ever agree to remove their logos on the jerseys. So I say let's work with them when branding a team!

2. Since I want to keep all the logos, I guess we must work with a simple template, with the less possible details (no piping, etc.) and a simple, at the most 3 colors color scheme with a good contrast. That's why I kept the red, the darker brown and the lighter tan - or vintage white - and kept the other colours for the logos and the third jersey.

3. Reebok will not reinvent the wheel for minor leagues! I guess we're stuck with using NHL templates and recolored them. In this case, the Devils jerseys are the ones with the simpler and more traditional look (for a lumberjack theme) on the market.

4. The primary logos are perfect. Don't touch them. Shoulder patches are not needed. Forget them.

5. I'd use the "V" primary on the alternate only. On the particular jersey, I'd go with a lumberjack flanel motif - probably sublimated! - and reversed color on the striping. I'd scrap the shoulder yokes color, but still keep the template for the stitching, it looks like a shirt!. Also, on that one, the darker brown steps aside for the lighter brown to be use.

Having Stéphane send in a perfect Giants uniform set based off of the Devils template freed me up to create on based of my other idea (using the Rangers Winter Classic uniform as a base). I have 2 main reasons for using this sweater. 1) it is a great traditional hockey look. 2) it works well with a shield shaped logo.

Here is what I came up with:

I put Michael Bublé's name, and the number he uses whenever he plays in charity hockey games or practices with the Canucks on the sweater, because Bublé is a part owner of the Giants.

As always, I love to hear feedback from you all, and thanks for reading!

Evaluating the current Giants' unis

Hello everyone.

I want to take my time with this brand overhaul, and do it well, slowly, and methodically. As for posting on the blog, I will be doing the same. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew and promise 5 posts a week. My goal is to have one post every Saturday for the foreseeable future.

This week's post is fairly simple. I want to give you a breakdown of the Giant's logo and uniform history, and show you some updated logos that I worked on this week (it has been the last week of term, so I haven't put a huge amount of work in on this project this week, but I do want to share what I have done with you).

The Giants have had only minor uniform tweaks over their 12 year history. The biggest change happened in 2009-2010, with the introduction of the Reebok EDGE uniform system in the WHL.

Pre-Edge, the Giants uniforms were largely modeled after the Philadelphia Flyers uniforms from the 90's and 00's, with their dark red, black, and silver colour scheme. 

Images from: sportslogos.net

After the introduction of EDGE, the Giants modeled their look after the Calgary flames uniforms, using the exact same template, but putting black on the yokes instead of the cuffs (personally, I think this is absolutely unacceptable for a Vancouver hockey team for 2 reasons: 1) those uniforms SUCK. 2) No Vancouver team should have ANY ties to Calgary).

Images from: sportslogos.net

I have way more things I am critical of in these uniforms than I do things I like about these uniforms (but some of them are really just general criticisms of CHL uniforms). I am just going to persent these in point form, and create some guidelines for my redesign based on these observations.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:

GENERAL CRITICISM OF CHL JERSEYS:

-too "cookie cutter." All WHL jerseys are pretty modern looking, and basically based off crappy modern Reebok EDGE templates.

-too many patches. WHL, CHL, REEBOK x2 (with shoulder patches, captain's letter, and numbers this is TOO CROWDED)

CRITICISM OF GIANTS JERSEYS:

-too modernist. You can tell these jerseys and logos were designed near the turn of the new millennium. The colour scheme is mainly black and silver... this is so overdone (black for black's sake, and the phenomenon in the late 90's, early 00's of excessive use of silver).

-the shoulder patches are BORING. what does a flying maple leaf have to do with a Giant anyway?


WHAT I LIKE:

I like the Lumberjack motif, and how it ties in to the Canucks identity. That's about it.


GUIDELINES FOR BY REDESIGN:

Use the Lumberjack motif.

Don't use black or silver in the main uniforms/logos.

Make the sweaters less crowded (I know this will deviate from the current CHL format, but I can wish, right?)

Use a unique jersey template design.

Use a classic striping pattern.

Try to come up with a new shoulder patch.


SO, Based off my guidelines this is what I have come up with so far.

Here is the colour scheme I have come up with (I have included the RGB colour settings in case any of y'all want to send a concept in... hint, hint)

Here are the Logos I presented last week with the updated colour scheme. I have also made a version of the logo without the overhead wordmark, similar to the logo used on the Giants alternate uniform.

As always, I would love to hear your feedback, and if you have any concept ideas for the Giants, feel free to send them along.

Introduction, and a sneak peek of where I'm going with the redesign.

Hello faithful readers. I'm back

As mentioned on the weekend, for my next major brand overhaul project, I am taking on the WHL's Vancouver Giants. I am not a huge giants fan, but do get out to a game or two every season. It's cheap, and good hockey... "Hockey with Heart" as the Giants put it. I remember the Giants' inaugural season... it wasn't too long ago, only 2001. Not much has changed for the Giants since their inaugural season (aside from the revolving door of players, which is typical in major junior hockey). The Giant's have enjoyed a very successful history thus far.

They have only missed the playoffs once (in their first year).

They won their division from the 2005-06 season up until the 2009-10 season (5 years in a row).

They have been to the Memorial cup twice (hosted in 2006, after qualifying by being WHL playoff champions as well, AND won in 2007)

This year however, the Giants have started of POORLY... they are currently a league worst 7-17-0.

Not much has changed from a design perspective either. They still use their original logo, and have not established a signature look with their sweaters (this seems to be difficult in major junior hockey, as most of the teams wear Reebok "cookie-cutter" jerseys).

I think it is time for a GIANT overhaul (you should probably get used to this pun...looks like I will be using it a lot), to reflect a new era in the team's history... and hopefully use a new uniform to inspire a new team to greatness.

Here is a sneak peek of where I'm going. I am, for the most part, keeping the logos, but changing the colour scheme. instead of a 90's modernist colour scheme which features black and silver. I tried to create a loo which reflects the lumberjack motif in the logos, using browns, vintage white, and red. These logos will be tweaked slightly, but here is what they look like right now. Hope you enjoy them, and as always I would love to hear some feedback.

A "Giant" Update

hey guys, I'm still alive. For the past few months I have been blogging over at HJC. Lately I have been really uninspired to make NHL concepts, simply because they aren't playing right now. I do want to keep making some concepts, and do a bit of work here at SOAC, but this time instead of doing Canucks concepts I will eb focussing on the Vancouver Giants of the WHL. Look for that in the next few weeks. Thanks for still stopping by this blog even though I rarely update it... hopefully with this Giants project that will change a bit.

Pressing Pause

Hey everyone, I have decided I am going to be taking a break from Shirt of a Canuck for a while. It has been so much fun to run this blog, but I am simply not getting enough input to make this blog sustainable. I am by no means shutting this down, I am simply pressing pause until I have some more Canucks concept ideas (for the past few months I have basically done no other concepts except Canucks ones, and I really need to take a break from doing that. I feel my creativity is wearing thin for Canucks stuff). The site will stay up, and I will still publish any comments, and if I do get concept contributions, I will post them (eventually).

I will likely start a concept blog of my own where I will post my work for other teams, but I haven't set that up as of yet. Once I do, I will post it here.

In the mean time, I will be writing on fridays for HJC, and as always you can check my work out on that site.

Lastly, I want to extend a huge thanks to all of you who have read and contributed over the past few months, you have been awesome.

As Arnie said "I'll be back."

Friday, August 17: Contributors Concepts

Matt Marczel is back with his proposal for a Canucks alternate:

I like what Matt has done here. It's green. It's vintage inspired. You gotta know I'm gonna like this!

The work on the logo is superb. I especially like the diamonds, they really fill out the circle. I am not sold on the off colour name-plate. I can't say it looks bad, because it looks good, but that element really belongs to Philadelphia. Overall really solid work.

If you have any comments or suggestions for Matt, please post them in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Friday, August 10: Contributors Concepts

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life is busy between finishing up summer classes, and preparing to go away next week. Honestly, I don't think I will be able to get a midweek post up this week, but I may have some time to work on concepts, which would mean I would have a solid set of posts for the following week. There will a friday post for sure next week.

These last few weeks have been a bit of a dry stretch for SOAC, simply because I have not had a lot of time to do concept work. I will probably not have enough time to create enough Canucks concepts to fuel this blog the way I have for the past couple months in the future. I will be writing for HJC, in addition to SOAC come the end of August, and I know I will have less time for PURELY Canucks concept work.

SO, I want to encourage you readers to send me your Canucks concepts. My concepts alone will not keep this blog going (In truth I am scraping the bottom of my barrel for Canucks concept ideas, and am tiring of having to make basically only Canucks concepts to provide enough material for SOAC), and it would really take some pressure off of me if I could feature more work from others on this blog. Please send your work in to me: shirtofacanuck@gmail.com


As mentioned earlier this week, Matt Marczel makes his SOAC concept debut this friday. Matt sends along his ideal Canucks home and road uniforms. The look of every ideal Canucks set that has been set in to SOAC follows the same basic idea (Use the current third jersey, or a slight variation of it, as the home sweater, and create a matching road jersey). Matt does the same here, BUT also sends along another option which he would consider if he were in charge of choosing Canucks unis.

The striping pattern used looks really great on the home sweater, but looks a little awkward on the away sweater. I actually don't think the blue cuffs are necessary. If you are going to use them, I would either make them small cuffs, like on the habs uniform, or merge the lower blue stripe with the cuff (so remove the low white stripe). but really I think it would look best with no cuffs at all.

I really like the gloves, they are simple and cool, and really hearken back to the uniforms from the 70's.

The second set Matt sends along is one he would consider for the main home and road sweaters. I have made similar sweaters, and think that they would be best suited as home and road alternates (if the NHL allowed teams to wear more jerseys).

What do you think of these sweaters? If you have any brilliant ideas for Matt, please post them in the comments below.

We will see a proposition for a third jersey to go along with these home and away options from Matt next friday!

Thanks for dropping by!

Saturday, August 4: A Quick Update

I am back from vacation, but am not going to be posting as much on SOAC for the next few weeks. I know I had said I would probably have a new post for today, but instead of writing that post, I have written a post over on HJC as part of the application process to write for that blog. Swing by there at noon eastern time to check that out. If I do end up getting that gig over on HJC, I want to keep SOAC up and running, and I think two MAYBE three posts per week would be doable for me. For the next couple weeks that is what I am going to be aiming for here on SOAC.

This week is going to be a busy one for me (between finishing up summer school, making concepts for Icethetics' latest IceHL jersey design competition, and preparing to head out on another short trip) so I am really not sure when I will get my next concept post up. There will still be contributor concepts on friday so check back then for that. hopefully I will get another post or two up this week, but no guarantees.

Also, I have a few corrections to make to some of the information I posted in the last concept post I did from Wednesday, August 1. Reader Matt Marczel passed this along:

Colin

 

The Vancouver Giants logo was originally proposed to the Canucks as a primary logo during the Canucks 1996 rebranding phase which produced the Orca logo. Local graphic designer Brent Lynch designed both the Giants logo as well as the Canucks Orca. Brent Lynch also most recently designed the Victoria Royals logo.  I read about the info regarding the Giants logo in an article regarding the Victoria Royals logo unveiling last summer. The link below is to an article that is a carbon copy of the one that I read a year ago.

 

http://tomhawthorn.blogspot.ca/2011/07/creator-of-canucks-logo-returns-to-his.html

 

 

Matt

Thank you Matt for catching my mistake, and finding the correct information!

We will hear again from Matt next friday when he makes his SOAC concept debut.

Friday, August 3: Contributor Concepts

This week we have another concept from Steven. Some of you may have seen this on other sites, like Icethetics, or HJC, or even on Steven's own blog, but I still wanted to post these on SOAC. I actually requested he send them in, thankfully Steven obliged, although he was a bit hesitant, because he probably wouldn't want the Canucks to wear these in real life.

What I like most about these concepts is Steven's tremendous creativity. These concepts are not what you expect a traditional hockey uniform to look like, but they are clever, and well polished. I really do appreciate it when artists try to be creative, and take some risks with designs.

The first version of this concept is a quite risky with the two-tone, sublimated green chevron pattern, and overall it does make the jersey seem a bit busy.

The second one eliminates the sublimated green chevrons, and goes with a simple green base. I really like this jersey with the simplifications.

This type of chest stripe seems right out of the world of soccer to me (clearly during the summer months, my mind seems to go to this world...). It reminds me of the kits worn by both the Canadian Women's National team, and Manchester United, both of which look really sharp.

Wednesday, August 1: What Might Have Been

Today I have a re-imagining of some uniforms which could have been from Canucks history. I remember reading (on Icethetics, I think) that the logo which is now use for the WHL's Vancouver Giants was originally intended to be a Canucks logo. This makes a lot of sense, as it plays on the Johnny Canuck/Lumberjack motif, which is not the first image that pops into my mind when the word "Giant" is mentioned. Ultimately this logo was rejected by the Canucks, but has found a happy home on the front of the Giant's sweaters ever since they joined the WHL in 2001.

The fact that this logo was first rejected by the Canucks, and then introduced by the Giants in 2001, leads one to think that this logo may have been considered when planning the new alternate sweater which the Canucks introduced in 2001. This would have been a major departure from the Orca Bay logos, and a huge step back in line with the original Canucks identity. Perhaps the Third jersey would have ended up looking something like this:

As you can see, I have maintained the layout of the third jersey worn from 2001-2006, but have used an updated version of the Giants crest instead of the Orca. I have simplified the Giants crest to instead be a V shape (for Vancouver), instead of a G shape (for Giants). I have also altered the colour scheme to fit the colour scheme worn by the Canucks from 1997-2007 (the fact that this recolouring does not appear forced, also adds soem legitimacy to the thought that the Giants logo was originally intended as a Canucks logo). I maintained maple leaf detail on the Lumberjack's sleeve, however, did try to make it more subtle. I do think that it is kind of tacky for a Canadian team to feel obliged to put a maple leaf somewhere in their logo, but Canuck is a slang term for Canadian, so I don't feel that the inclusion of a maple leaf is unwarranted.

Just for fun I have also included home and road sweaters which go along with this concept. I based them off of where I felt that the third jersey design, and other similarly progressive jersey designs from 2001 in the NHL, were leading.  Hope you enjoy!

So that's that. Fun to relive one of my favourite eras from Canucks history, and do a bit of historical re-imagination, and a bit of logo alteration. All around good times. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I have.

Come back on friday to see some more concepts from contributor Steven Grant.

I will be back on the weekend, but can't promise a post, however I will be able to publish any comments which you have submitted in the past week. 

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, July 28: A flash back to my earliest ever jersey designs.

Hey everyone, I really appreciate you stopping by to the site. Running this blog has been a lot of fun for me, and it has been really good to share ideas and receive feedback on my designs. I feel that as a concept designer I have only improved since starting up this blog. But it has not been as easy as I thought. I am constantly challenged to create fresh and creative concepts o a regular basis to post on SOAC. I guess this is to say, I have been getting a lot of practice with designing hockey sweaters. The old saying practice makes perfect does not apply to me and my designs, but practice certainly makes better.

Last month I won my first COTW on HJC, and this concept went on to beat out some fantastic designs to claim the COTM for June. Since submitting this concept I actually worked with some more suggestions and improved the road sweater (you can check out what the finished product looks like on the final concepts page).

I have been designing jerseys on my computer for about a year and a half now, and have been drawing hockey players and hockey jerseys in notebooks for many years before I realized people actually did this on their computers, and posted their work online. This has become such a fun hobby for me, but I want to look backwards today and encourage anybody who is just starting off, by looking back at some of my early jersey designs.

Many of the designs you have seen me post here on SOAC have been incubating for years. You may remember this design from one of the very first concept posts from this site. It wen through many evolutions before the final product was complete. I tried many different templates, and many different ideas for arm striping. I also made many errors along the way.

My most recent Canucks concept which I made up before working on the designs which would wind up on SOAC, was this one. I concept which I polished up in February 2012 and printed off to take to a David Booth signing (I don't like to get jerseys signed, because, then I feel like I can't ever wear them again... and I didn't have a Booth card, so I made up and printed off a custom Booth concept!). I wanted to make sure it was polished, but I still made the error of not putting the hem stripes over top of the jersey stitching.

Here is another version of the home concept which I made in June 2012. It is essentially the same sort of concept as the previous one, but lacks polish, and does not have the skills applied to it that I learned and applied to the previous concept. I don't have shoulder patches properly applied to both sides of the sweater, and I make the same mistake with the hem striping. Also, the experimentation in the sleeve striping just doesn't look good, it doesn't even compare with the finished product.

Taking an even bigger step back we arrive at some of the earliest Canucks designs I did during my first month of concept designing in February 2011. For the away sweater, note how the striping has basically stayed the same all throughout the process of designing this sweater. Also look at the TV numbers... they are drawn freehand! I didn't know how to rotate numbers by a few degrees, and hadn't found a template where I could apply them horizontally, so I drew them on. Interestingly, I didn't make the mistake with the hem striping not going over top of the jersey stitching on these concepts. I can assure you I did not get this right consciously.

I guess the point of this post is everyone has to start somewhere. I am not saying I am the best designer in the world (I am clearly not), but I am saying that I have improved with practice. There is still a long way for me to go, and may things for me to learn, but I will keep doing this as long as I enjoy it, because that is the main thing.

I started doing this just for fun, while I listened to the radio broadcast of Canucks games in the late 90's/early 2000's. I started by just colouring jerseys, and it has evolved into something much more sophisticated than that. Recently, I dug up some of my very jersey designs (which were made on index cards which I cut into the shape of a hockey sweater, and coloured with pencil crayon). I made these up and hung them from a string to decorate my bedroom.

    

    

   

    

    

As you can tell, the ideas which show up on these concepts have influenced designs I have posted on SOAC. I also want to point out that a twelve year old came up with the idea for a blue and green orca uniform 5 years before the Canucks did. That fact puts how awful our current uniforms are in perspective, eh?  :)

Anyways, thanks for  stopping by. I'm sorry that I have had to scrap one of my posts next week. I just haven't had time to write it between packing and finishing up course work for summer term. There will be a post on wednesday (which will be well worth stopping by to read), and a contributors concept post on friday. I get back on thursday night, so will probably have time to write the post which was intended for monday then, and will probably post it on the weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Friday, July 27: Contributor Concepts

Hey everyone, we've made it to yet another friday, which means we have some more work from people other than me.

Before we get to that, a bit of housekeeping. As I mentioned, next week I will be on vacation, and have set up some auto-posts to go up while I am away. I laid out a schedule of these posts on Wednesday, but have had to scrap one of the posts (the one on monday, simply because I did not have enough time to write it, and do everything else which I needed to do before I left). There will be posts on wednesday and friday, and I hope to finish the scrapped monday post when I return home on thursday, and post it on the weekend.

Anyways, lets get on with the concepts:

This week marks the debut of Steven Grant on the blog. Steven runs his own concept site (sg-94.blogspot.ca) but has kindly sent along some Canucks concept work to me.

Steven sent along his ideal Canucks sweater set. The home and road sweaters are very similar to the sweaters worn from 1972-1978, except the logos have been slightly altered, making the overall shape and outline pattern really similar to the current updated Stick in the Rink logo, but maintaining the simple "stick" part of the logo, and staying true to the original colouring of the jerseys. I really like these subtle changes. Good work, they really do make a difference. As you probably know, I am not a fan of the striping pattern introduced in 1972 (I have always thought that the 1970-72 striping was much more creative), but I really can't complain about my personal preference. This look is classic, and well put together.

THE THIRD JERSEY IS AWESOME!!! It's green. It's retro. It uses the VC logo. It reminds us of the millionaires jersey. If I were me making this sweater, I might make the hem stripes straight, and I might make the shoulder numbers a bit bigger. Other than that, no complaints. Really well done Steven, I look forward to seeing and posting more of your Canucks concepts.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for reading! I look forward to seeing your comments, and emails when I get back!

Wednesday, July 25: Green Alternate (continued)

Last week I posted this green sweater, but wasn't sold on it. I wasn't expecting a lot of positive feedback on this one. Despite my own hesitation, people seemed to like it. Nevertheless, I have tried to innovate. The treatment of the VC logo being placed in the arm stripes was inspired by the way the C with crossed tomahawks logo was placed on the Blackhawks sweater from 1956-1959. This is such a classic look.  I also added some football style numbers in the top of the shoulders (as the sleeves would have been too crowded if I place the numbers in the usual position).

The circle logo, and the treatment of the arm patches had a real Chicago feel to it (the Hawks used a circle logo often, most recently on their Winter Classic uniforms). Despite Vancouver's rivalry with Chicago, I can admit one thing about the Hawks: they do get their uniforms spot on. I have thought this for a long time, and even made a Canucks sweater based on their Winter Classic uniforms early on in my concept designing career. Here it is:

Today I revisit this concept in an attempt to explore other options on my quest to find a great green alternate for the Canucks. The first thing wrong with this concept is the logo. The logo is not a classic logo, and this jersey screams old time hockey. The numbers fall into the same category, not old-timey, on a faux-back sweater.

Here is my first attempt at fixing this sweater. It is basically a Chicago Winter Classic rip-off, but hey, with that striping pattern, you can't really go wrong.

The next concept is a slight departure from the Chicago Winter Classic form, with the switch of the circle logo to the shoulders. I like how this swap has worked out.

I would love to know what you think of these sweaters, and if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Now for whats coming up next on SOAC. I am going away on a little vacation for the next week or so, but there will be posts on SOAC. here is what is coming up:

Friday, July 27: Contributor Concepts
Saturday, July 28: Evolution of My Jersey Design
Monday, July 30: The Quest for a Green Alternate continues POST DELAYED... probably until the weekend. Sorry.
Wednesday, August 1: What Might Have Been
Friday, August 3: Contributor Concepts

For the time being, I am going to try to be posting regularly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (with the occasional Saturday post). My post are typically set to go up at 9:00 AM here in Vancouver. (perfect for a lunch-hour read for my friends out east!) Be sure to take note of that and drop by accordingly.

Thanks for reading!