Fayetteville Herons
For this design, I created a new mascot identity for a local high school. Here is the process I followed.
The Great Blue Heron, a bird that is not only prevalent in Arkansas but also possesses unique characteristics, could be an exceptional choice for a new school mascot. With its distinctive dark face markings, long and narrow beak, and an impressive wingspan, it stands out among other bird species.
As with any design, my first step was to find some good references, preferably some that displayed an action I could replicate.
the process
I decided that the second photo would be a great base as many of the defining facial features and large open wings are visible. I took that photo and started with a very rough tracing to nail down the basic shapes. I opted to combine some poses from the other references with the base to get this rough sketch:
From there, I traced even more simplified shapes around the base sketch.
(Here I'm using purple to show what shapes I want to add dimension to.)
I continued this process of tracing my previous designs to improve and simplify them a couple more times...
...until I reached a solid form to work with:
Color
Next was to start adding color! I chose this color palette as the colors aren't too much of a far cry from the real Great Blue Heron; they are a fresh and lively take on the real anatomy.
Upon trying to colorize my design, it became apparent that the legs were going to be a problem.
Considering I still had to add text and make that work compositionally, I thought the design might be better off if I omitted the legs completely.
So, after some final tweaks, this was the completed color design (minus the text):
Moving on to the text! It took me some time to strike a balance between maintaining similarity in the shapes and introducing some stronger shapes, but ultimately I landed on this design:
With the mascot mark and the logo, all that remained was to put it all together!
