[C+C] [WIP] 16 bit Band Logo

[NoahCopeland44]

Hello. My name is Noah. I am working a Youtube music project called "Groundpound Falcon" that does rock versions of classic video game songs. I am making a SNES title-screen-ish logo for the band and would love some pointers from some true pixel artists.

Here's a rough (emphasis on the "rough") sketch of the general letter shapes I want in the end. (only working on the word "Falcon" right now). This is just to get a general idea.  The letters are little more square here than I probably want them (particular the C and O), I don't know how to makes curves lines look good.


Here's what I am more concerned with. I am doing the first letter "F" until it's looks right.  I figure there's no point doing a whole word if I can't do one letter correctly.


I'm a musician, not a pixel artist so that's why I am asking the people who actually know what they are doing.
Any guidance you have would help tremendously. Thank you!

EDIT: Updated Progress in post down below

[Tijjer]

Before we can help you can you post the regular size of the F and not a scaled version?  Pixelation has a nice feature where by clicking on it resizes the image plus it makes editing it easier if we have the standard size.

[Manupix]

Sorry to be blunt, but the sketch type is bad, and there's no point pixeling on a flawed basis.
Typography is one of the most arduous parts of design, so it won't be easy 

You should look up typography resources first for some inspiration (here's one), and come up with a few simple graphic concepts. Think carefully of each letter shape and proportions, consistency between letters, 'kerning' (spacing between letters), and overall composition and graphic meaning (adding wings to 'Falcon' isn't enough to make the word 'fly').

Only then should you start thinking about pixeling.

[NoahCopeland44]

Before we can help you can you post the regular size of the F and not a scaled version?  Pixelation has a nice feature where by clicking on it resizes the image plus it makes editing it easier if we have the standard size.

Thanks, good point! I edited the original post to have the regular size "F."

[questseeker]

Your image editor has a text tool: use it. Drawing text from scratch isn't mandatory.
You'll need to try many different fonts, sizes and settings before obtaining a good starting point for the actual pixel art effort (cleaning up outlines and coloring the letters), and this experimentation cannot be done by hand. Moreover, basing the logo on existing fonts is going help you with simplified vector art variants (suitable for printing).

Also, depending on your needs, a larger (possibly much larger) artwork size could be better.
For example, if your em size is 50 pixels (more than in your current sample) and letters are printed 20 cm tall (e.g. in a traditional logo on the bass drum), each pixel is blown up to 4 by 4 mm: quite huge. A banner would be even worse.

Your F has a nice, tasteful treatment: if you work on good looking letters that fit together, with enough room to do something more complex than a vertical gradient, I expect the result to be good.

[NoahCopeland44]

Your image editor has a text tool: use it. Drawing text from scratch isn't mandatory.
You'll need to try many different fonts, sizes and settings before obtaining a good starting point for the actual pixel art effort (cleaning up outlines and coloring the letters), and this experimentation cannot be done by hand. Moreover, basing the logo on existing fonts is going help you with simplified vector art variants (suitable for printing).

Also, depending on your needs, a larger (possibly much larger) artwork size could be better.
For example, if your em size is 50 pixels (more than in your current sample) and letters are printed 20 cm tall (e.g. in a traditional logo on the bass drum), each pixel is blown up to 4 by 4 mm: quite huge. A banner would be even worse.

Your F has a nice, tasteful treatment: if you work on good looking letters that fit together, with enough room to do something more complex than a vertical gradient, I expect the result to be good.

Thanks for the tips! See, I didn't know if it was "cheating" to use the text tool haha. But you are totally right. The text tool is probably much smarter than I am at this point. I'll start experimenting.

Ok, I'm not quite following on the size issue. Lemme try to understand it.
Are you saying the image is too small in terms of pixels? For instance, if the F is currently 40px high, are you suggesting something larger like 100px or something?
Or are you saying something else?

I remember doing the album artwork for my old band's CD a couple of years ago. For printing, I had to create the image at 300ppi. Is kinda what you're talking about or am I waaaaay off?

Thank you for the taking the time to respond. I've been researching the fundamentals in addition to the advice on this form.

[Probo]

I think he means that if you wanted to use the logo in real life, blown up for an A2 poster or something, it would be very noticeably pixelated. the fact its pixelated isnt a problem if its meant to be pixel art, but he's rightin that you may want to vectorise it later in Illustrator or something, for ease of use if its going to be printed in various mediums and scales.

Id just concentrate on the design for now man! you can scale it later if you need to.

heres a cool title screen logo/font, 50px high i think

http://www.emuparadise.me/Sega%20Genesis/Titles/Probotector%20(E).png

[r4c7]

I honestly think you should rework the letters a bit. This entirely subjective though. Since you said you were working on the F, I feel it would look better and more readable if you separated the forks on it. Also try to make the letter proportions and the kerning more uniform, for example, the F and A look small in comparison to the chunky N.

I think you could also work on a more interesting design. Here's an idea I quickly made:

Don't look much into the letters, I hastily drew them with my mouse. The main idea is to try and do something interesting.

[quervo]

Ok, Hi first of all . As Manupix says. you are in a pretty complex area: typography design plus PIXELART, nice x)
From my experience, you should begin in other way. Start just from a separeted part of a typographyc logo could and would give you headeaches, since maybe you find the proper style and then you'll try to implement it on the rest and it didnt work out as you spected.
 My recommendation: draw and sketch the logo COMPLETELY, i mean in paper. Find a way that is concise, it does not weaken itself, and with the least amount of uneven white space.
I guess you wanna make the logo in Uppercase, is a good thing, but watch the L and C of FALCON, between those two letters exists a big blank space that you have to look carefully.
Regarding literalize the idea, sometimes works, sometimes not. If you make it visually obvious, could work really awesome, but it takes a lot of work, because usually it is done in a very subtle way.

Here some webs to inspiration....most of this would not gonna help you since is design for brands, but if you take the time to look at them, after 20 or 30, your brain will give you some new ideas. I hope this helps

http://logopond.com/

http://logofaves.com/

[NoahCopeland44]

I think he means that if you wanted to use the logo in real life, blown up for an A2 poster or something, it would be very noticeably pixelated. the fact its pixelated isnt a problem if its meant to be pixel art, but he's rightin that you may want to vectorise it later in Illustrator or something, for ease of use if its going to be printed in various mediums and scales.

Id just concentrate on the design for now man! you can scale it later if you need to.

heres a cool title screen logo/font, 50px high i think

http://www.emuparadise.me/Sega%20Genesis/Titles/Probotector%20(E).png

I definitely want it to look pixelated. Not overly pixelated, but since it's for a band that does video game music, I want to look like a 16-bit title screen. I want the average man to look at it and say, "their logo looks like an old video game lolz"
Thanks for the reassure on the scaling. You're right, I need the design right first.
And dude, that's a cool title screen! thanks for sharing!

I honestly think you should rework the letters a bit. This entirely subjective though. Since you said you were working on the F, I feel it would look better and more readable if you separated the forks on it. Also try to make the letter proportions and the kerning more uniform, for example, the F and A look small in comparison to the chunky N.

I think you could also work on a more interesting design

I am certainly not against reworking the letters. That's one of things I could use guidance in. You are so right about the kerning. I will go back and fix that. Thanks!


I'll keep you posted and will post a revision soon.