Need Help With Clan Emblem...

[Mimolette]

Turns out this is going to be my very first thread/question haha. Not sure if it's the right place so please forgive me, almighty gods of the forum :o

So since a week or two ago, I've managed to completely remodel my little ghost clan so that the clan members can have a little more pride. It's been going great and I really love how the clan's turned out so I decided to invest in it even more by trying to create our own logo! :D It didn't seem that bad at first, until i tried in both Photoshop, Illustrator and even fricking MS paint. There's a reason why I stick to traditional art rather than digital D'x

Anyways, I was wondering if there was any kind tenno out there who'd be willing to help me design the emblem! I can spare some plat or even try farming some parts for you guys, though I'm kinda poor (if I buy the logo that is) and most of my prime parts have been turned to ducats after Baro's last sale. However, I'll try my best and everything so yeah, some incentive haha.

I've already designed the basic emblem in black and white, but can't get around 'perfecting' the actual shape. 'Perfecting' as in: 

• the angles aren't off and more or less the same
• the spacing being equal everywhere
• Transparency layers around the logo (showed in black, click the 'hidden content' button)
• vectorising the whole thing

 

Spoiler

Logo doesn't look too bad now does it? xD

 

Additionally, the most important aspect would probably be a neon glow. Like, a red neon glow with a white core (like most neon lights). I know the outer glow feature looks great on Illustrator since its all vector and whatever, but I just wasn't able to get the actual shape :/

Finally, maybe a really awesome touch would be to make the white parts look very runic, ya know, as if it was carved in a rock. I don't know how else to describe it, but it'll make the actual emblem look ancient rather than modern.

I'll try to do whatever in my power to repay you guys xD Thanks a lot in advance!

 

Edited March 4, 2016 by Acreox

[DarkRuler2500]

Was this how u thought of it?

Edited March 4, 2016 by DarkRuler2500

[ntyd1s]

I'd use Photoshop since the final result has to be PNG.

- place a texture layer on top and set it to 'clipping mask' to make your runic rock

- try setting layers to different 'blend modes' to achieve preferred color composition

- simple 'layer style' effects can make it look more complete; play around with 'bevel & emboss', 'outer glow', 'drop shadow' etc...

- use 'save for web' to make 24-bit PNG with transparency at 128x128 pixel resolution

[Mimolette]

5 minutes ago, DarkRuler2500 said:

Was this how u thought of it?

:o I like the way you made it look more runic, but I was thinking of a neon red glow with a white core like most neon lights. Ya know, like the colors should only include the white, red and anything in between :P Something like this maybe: 

 

Spoiler

 

Thanks for the submission though! :D

Edited March 4, 2016 by Acreox

[Mimolette]

2 minutes ago, ntyd1s said:

I'd use Photoshop since the final result has to be PNG.

- place a texture layer on top and set it to 'clipping mask' to make your runic rock

- try setting layers to different 'blend modes' to achieve preferred color composition

- simple 'layer style' effects can make it look more complete; play around with 'bevel & emboss', 'outer glow', 'drop shadow' etc...

- use 'save for web' to make 24-bit PNG with transparency at 128x128 pixel resolution

Mhm, thing is, I've played with those before and it did not really look good xD I just don't have skill in digital art, except if you count photoshopping faces and MLG-fying stuff as 'art' haha. Don't want to impose on you guys, though it'll make our clan look so much better!

[DarkRuler2500]

This way?

 

Gtg to work now... cu in about 8 hours.

Edited March 4, 2016 by DarkRuler2500

[Buff00n]

How's this?  Just some quick and dirty photoshop:

It looks a bit dark because I took the liberty of dimming the levels a bit.  The in-game engine tends to make clan logos much brighter than they appear in preview.

[mindlord0013]

Doing it in white can be a problem, because it glows much brighter. I suggest using muted colours of what you intend to use. I would also use a larger canvas when working on it, and scale it down as the very last step (in most cases).

Here's what I would suggest from your current stage:

1. In a free, good quality image editor (I use Krita or PAINT.net) open the image. Upscale it to 512 x 512 pixels, and redo the main shape in the higher quality.
2. layer the image, with white parts on the top layer and the black as a background (to delete later), with a few layers in between.
3. Two layers underneath the white, use a bright red with ~35% transparency to give the red glow effect. (Experiment with transparency settings on a mock-up using the preset "glow" effect, and an in-game screenshot.)
4. Between the red glow and white layer, do an outline of the white shapes with black. (not too thick)
5. Change the white to a muted light grey, otherwise it will glow too much. To give an impression of depth, use a slightly darker shade and go over the inside border of the white shapes without painting over into the black border.
6. If you want it to look like marbled stone, create a new layer on top and use a very light grey or blue to create splotches. Experiment with layer transparency until it becomes a subtle detail.
7. Keep doing small adjustments until you're happy. Once you're happy, scale it back down to to 128 x 128, delete the black layer, and save as png.
    
   Spoiler

   Here's an example of how my own clan emblem turned out. Notice how bright it is, even though we used muted colours. Finer details will be lost unless you use darker colours than you expect to use. Trust me, the mock-up and "glow" effect will help you with this.
   

    

[Mimolette]

Thanks for all the tips and submissions!

 @Buff00n, I'm interested to see how far you'll go since it was just a rough version :o Think you can make it look more runic and somewhat even (the first line's thickness as opposed to the upside down 'v').While making it look more runic, I suppose the 100% perfect sameness of width will be lost, but yeah, if its possible :D

Thanks, @mindlord0013, I'll use your step by step if it comes down to the worst case scenario where I'll have to use my sub-par artistic skills ;_;

[mindlord0013]

1 minute ago, Acreox said:

Thanks for all the tips and submissions!

 @Buff00n, I'm interested to see how far you'll go since it was just a rough version :o Think you can make it look more runic and somewhat even (the first line's thickness as opposed to the upside down 'v').While making it look more runic, I suppose the 100% perfect sameness of width will be lost, but yeah, if its possible :D

Thanks, @mindlord0013, I'll use your step by step if it comes down to the worst case scenario where I'll have to use my sub-par artistic skills ;_;

Hey, I think my skills are sub-par too. It just takes practice and some tutorials which really cater to your learning style.

[Buff00n]

8 hours ago, Acreox said:

 @Buff00n, I'm interested to see how far you'll go since it was just a rough version :o Think you can make it look more runic and somewhat even (the first line's thickness as opposed to the upside down 'v').While making it look more runic, I suppose the 100% perfect sameness of width will be lost, but yeah, if its possible :D

I like doing this kind of stuff.  But I'm not sure combining "cracked rock" with "neon glow" is going to work, especially at 128x128 with the "skinny" rune design.  With clan logos simpler really is better.

[Buff00n]

Eh.  Did it.

[Mimolette]

1 hour ago, Buff00n said:

Eh.  Did it.

It looks amazing :D But do you personally think it'll look great once in game? Like the lighting and the cracks and all...I know my definition of runic wasn't very clear (sorry about that) but I was thinking more along the lines of something like this:

The way how the edges look slightly uneven and how there are small 'holes' in some of them. Other than that, the logo is looking great! :D It's looking really close to what I had in my mind! Wish I had that kind of skill haha.

[Buff00n]

58 minutes ago, Acreox said:

It looks amazing :D But do you personally think it'll look great once in game? Like the lighting and the cracks and all...

It would look fine.  Keeping the intensity below about 190/255 will keep it from being totally washed out.  The details will be visible if you get close and give it more than a glance.

1 hour ago, Acreox said:

The way how the edges look slightly uneven and how there are small 'holes' in some of them.

Oh, you want some kind of hand-drawn "paintbrush" effect.  That's a little harder to pull off with the tools I have available.  This also contradicts what you asked for originally, which was to even out all the spacing and make it "perfect".

[Buff00n]

Came out more "chalky" than "painty", but here you go.

[Mimolette]

59 minutes ago, Buff00n said:

It would look fine.  Keeping the intensity below about 190/255 will keep it from being totally washed out.  The details will be visible if you get close and give it more than a glance.

Oh, you want some kind of hand-drawn "paintbrush" effect.  That's a little harder to pull off with the tools I have available.  This also contradicts what you asked for originally, which was to even out all the spacing and make it "perfect".

Ah okay cool thanks. Yeah, I was talking about how it'll lose that '100% sameness' if the emblem would be made runic, but I was talking more about the width and stuff to be more or less the same.

34 minutes ago, Buff00n said:

Came out more "chalky" than "painty", but here you go.

Aaand wow, just wow. It's perfect! :D Will I be able to submit this directly or do I have to do certain things? Also, what do you want as reward? xD I owe you one dude!

[Buff00n]

54 minutes ago, Acreox said:

Will I be able to submit this directly or do I have to do certain things? Also, what do you want as reward? xD I owe you one dude!

Yeah, it's ready to go.  Make sure you download it directly, as the original .PNG.  Should look pretty cool.

Just send me a screenshot . I enjoy doing this kind of stuff occasionally.

[Mimolette]

On 3/5/2016 at 0:30 PM, Buff00n said:

Yeah, it's ready to go.  Make sure you download it directly, as the original .PNG.  Should look pretty cool.

Just send me a screenshot . I enjoy doing this kind of stuff occasionally.

Thank you so much, it looks absolutely amazing. Exactly how I had imagined it, it's simply perfect!

You da real mvp @Buff00n

[Buff00n]

40 minutes ago, Acreox said:

Thank you so much, it looks absolutely amazing. Exactly how I had imagined it, it's simply perfect!

Haha rad.  Glad it worked out.