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jackkmart · 06-21-2022, 08:40 PM

I'm Addicted To Doing These...

I'm back again... I don't know why but ever since the Mavericks I've been on a real creative wave and I can't stop creating concepts (I've done about 12 others that I haven't fully fleshed out yet and/or are underdeveloped/ didn't come out as planned). This post is all about Texas, and in the spirit of the lone star state and its vastness, I figured it deserved a big post to match the big state, so this will feature not one but two Texas teams. I've also spent a bit more time refining the presentation so the readability of the post is enhanced, as the last couple sort of ended up being just massive text and image dumps. I wanted to avoid that going forward for your convenience and mine.

Before we hop in a quick thank you to everyone who reads these, I know I can be a little verbose and post a lot of these but the feedback, whether it be positive or constructive is super appreciated!

Also, the here are links to the previous two if you are at all interested and missed either post:

Milwaukee Ice Pups

Kmart Cool Guys (Since Revised to the Gulf Coast Mavericks)

Ok, ok enough yapping. First, we head all the way south to the border to the west texas town of El Paso.

Branding

The El Paso Desiertos! First of all, I'm not too sure of the mascot name here but I really wanted to do something more interesting than Toros or Bulls even though the original concept was just that, a longhorn. Eventually, it morphed into a mean-looking bull skull which I imagine is a reanimated bovine of some kind. Desiertos also integrates the inherently 'TexMex' culture of El Paso, being on the border with Mexico and basically sharing a metro area with Ciudad de Juarez. Desierto in Spanish means Spanish so a 'Desierto' in this context I guess would be a mean bull spirit of some kind I guess? I don't know really, it's kind of abstract which I like but I'm also not too confident in it.

Again, I think this also helps address the unfortunate lack of southern teams in the J while also filling a hockey market that's not really exploited in real life (that being south Texas), which gives me a lot of freedom with concepts. I also have a special affinity for El Paso because of all those Marty Robbins songs in Fallout which have cemented the city in my mind as a real western town even though today it's just another mid-size American city. If I were to further expand this concept I would probably look to add some more classically western imagery like revolver pistols and cowboy hats, etc. The primary already somewhat resembles a holstered pistol if you really squint, like really hard.

Speaking of the primary logo let's get on to the actual branding.

Here are the current logos I have for El Paso. The primary we've already touched on but, again it's a bull skull that's been stylized to be sort of mean-mugging those viewing it. Also, its forehead has got a big lone star on it, because... Texas. This is one of the few times I've not sketched a logo at all before going into Illustrator I just straight up traced a bull skull then chopped and changed until it looked clean and to my liking. The colors are taken directly from the minor league baseball team in El Paso with some minor tonal changes because the color palette works so well for the city and the brand(s), maybe this will become a Pittsburgh-like situation with every team using the same color scheme. The primary color is a deep, rich brown (nearly black), the secondary is a sandy gold color, while white is the third which is supplemented by a suite of greys (as you'll see later).

The secondary, or shoulder logo, is a silhouette of Texas which is supposed to look 'boney', if that makes sense, in an attempt to emulate the primary and just generally keep the theme. The star is meant to be highlighting El Paso on the map.

The third logo or mini wordmark is a simple ''EP'' for El Paso using a western-style font and, again, a star makes an appearance forming the negative space in the P. I'm sensing a bit of a pattern here.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this set, especially as I cooked the whole thing up in an especially manic, tea-fueled couple of hours a couple of days ago. There are improvements to be made for sure but I'm happy enough with it right now.

Right, now the jerseys.

Jerseys

Brown is an interesting color to work with on a jersey and I think it helps to really distinguish this team from others in the league at the minute, even if it is a tad dark. I went with a pretty classic striping style here trying to really exploit the strong contrasts of the color palette while giving the jerseys a retro look. I think the away works better without any gold coloring but I would be happy to make some amendments for any of those interested in how the other attempts at the away jersey looked.

I think the home is the real winner here though, the gold works so well with the red and the logo really pops with the white skull and bold red outline. I think this would look pretty mean on the ice. The away isn't too bad either, if not a little boring comparatively, but it's clean enough and does its job. I do like the red and brown alone without any gold though, I must say (best of both worlds?)

Alternate jerseys anyone?

The first alternate is a red one because too many teams just go with a black alternate, which would probably work really well for this team but, c'mon, let's try to do something a little interesting. I think the red jersey is a little plain but it serves as a very different look from their primary as it's modeled after the current Golden Knights uniforms, another desert team with similar colors. I think this modern look contrasts the retro-styled main unis. The other alternate isn't as much of an alternative as it is an alternate home jersey. Here the brown is completely replaced by a dark ''steel'' grey. I think this looks good but I'm partial to the brown ones just because it's a little more unique even if it may be less immediately appealing to the eyes.

If anyone has ideas or templates you think would look good for El Paso please feel free to reply and I'll get around to making a mockup of said jersey and reply in the thread!

Roll Credits?

Not quite yet, we've got a quick trip east to Houston first.

Branding

Alright! Now, somewhat purposefully, we go from a retro, rugged style team to a more modern team that is meant to harken back to designs of the late 90s into the early 00s. What's a spacehawk? I don't know, I don't know what a desierto is either but it gets the people going. Basically, I found a hawk logo I liked and then re-sketched it, made some changes, and then realized Houston has a rich history of aeronautics and a spaceflight so I made the hawk into a spacehawk.

I sort of like the idea of taking 'generic' mascots and adding a slight twist to make them more individual and well-suited to their host city. I also thought Houston could offer a natural rival to Texas in the SHL if it were to be a big-league team as opposed to a J team. Houston is also a massive city and they probably deserve a team in some capacity at some point. However, there may already be enough bird mascots in the bigs as it is.

I don't have much else to say about the name or city so let's just get on to the logos.

The primary looks like a normal hawk upon first glance, but in its shading, I attempted to make it look like a nebula of some sort like the hawk is made up of cosmic matter almost like a constellation being animated to life. Also, there's the shooting star across the head that creates the eye. I'm actually quite proud of this logo and I think the idea through the execution came out pretty well while being a unique and memorable design. I mostly went with shades of purple and blue to create the spacing effect all of which are outlined by a proper black, with accents of silver which are meant to represent or symbolize spacecraft that often take on a white-silver appearance.

The secondary is pretty simple, it's just a star with a little constellation inside with a comet swinging around. It's meant to be shrunk down on a shoulder patch so it's not the most exciting or well-designed mark. Again, this team is almost purposefully a little cheesy as a call back to designs of the 90s. This theme is continued in the third logo which is an H comprised of NASA-style lettering and the same shooting star across the middle creating the middle part of the H.

Jersey time?

Jerseys

Nice? Horrible? Ridiculous? I really don't know about this set but I think I like them. The away especially is a very 2000s feeling jersey to me with the diagonal striping and silver shoulders and arms. Let me know your thoughts. I think this team looks really good in black and the bright blue and purple complement the darkness of the home jersey really well while they create a more sleek professional look on the away. On both jerseys, you can see a slightly different secondary logo with an H inside the star for Houston.

I think most of all this brand is distinct from the rest of the J if nothing else. Purple is a criminally underused color in sports and I think purple and black is a great combo.

Now the alternates.

Could we get any more 90s/00s? The 'Novahawk' jersey is basically an old TB Lightning jersey in spacehawk colors with a slightly modified primary logo that features a pretty in-your-face star pattern which was partially inspired by this very controversial Dallas stars logo (the uterus one) from the early 2000s. I think mine looks slightly better than that one but it's also supposed to be a little ridiculous. The bright purple also serves as a good contrast to both the home and away jerseys. The navy alternate on the other hand is just a glimpse at what the spacehawks look like in a dark blue as opposed to black. Maybe an avenue to explore? I think I prefer the black but this is always an option for them as it's also featured on the primary logo.

Conclusion

Well, another one of these posts come to an end, same old spiel, feedback is very much appreciated, hope you like the concepts.

HERE you can find an Imgur album with all the logos and stuff if you are interested in a closer look or to use them for whatever reason! These two concepts were especially fun and I think I'll keep trying to toe the line between overly ridiculous and realistic branding.

I'm not going to promise another one but I'm pretty confident I'll keep making these. At first, it was for the money but now I really can't stop doing sports concepts so I'll probably have another out in a couple of weeks if there's still an appetite for these posts. Also, if you think I'm spamming or overdoing the gimmick feel free to let me know as well hahaha.

Again, any ideas you want to be cooked up or explored feel free to DM or PM me here, on discord, or on this thread.

Alright, I think that's it, thanks, guys.