How to Create a Graffiti-Style Logo

[treehouse™ presents] 0:00 [Exercise Your Creative] 0:05 In this episode of Exercise Your Creative, 0:09 we'll be creating a logo for a company called Brew Jay's. 0:12 Brew Jay's is very fond of the graffiti art style. 0:15 So instead of jumping right into Photoshop or Illustrator, 0:18 let's have a little fun with our process. 0:21 When first starting a logo, I like to use references 0:23 such as books, magazines, or even web image searches. 0:26 With this particular project, 0:29 I use some old graffiti books that my buddy gave me a while back. 0:31 [? Electric guitar music ?] 0:34 Once I feel I have a good direction, I start sketching. 0:49 [? Electric guitar music ?] 0:53 Going into the project, I have my mind set on two things. 0:58 One, I wanted a blue jay. 1:01 And two, I needed to incorporate some sort of 1:03 graffiti representation into the logo. 1:05 [? Electric guitar music ?] 1:08 After going through a few sheets of paper, 1:35 and numerous amounts of designs, 1:37 I found the layout I was looking for. 1:39 Next, I tighten up the design by inking over the sketch logo 1:42 with tracing paper and a fine tip black marker. 1:46 [? Electric guitar music ?] 1:49 What better way to get inspiration for this project 1:59 than to actually spray the design. 2:02 This way I am sure of all the textures 2:04 and how the paint will react to the surface, 2:07 instead of just guessing. 2:09 I simply went to the local art store and picked up some spray cans 2:11 with some variation of spray caps. 2:14 You don't have to be the best graffiti artist, 2:18 or artist in general, to do this exercise. 2:20 All we want to do is get the paint on the wall 2:23 and examine the paint and how it will react to the surface, 2:25 and then apply those textures to our final logo. 2:28 [? Electric guitar music ?] 2:32 [Brew Jay's] 3:14 [? Electric guitar music ?] 3:19 [Brew Jay's] 3:22 Now that we have our textures, 3:24 let's bring these into Illustrator and apply them to our design 3:26 for our final logo. 3:29 In Illustrator, we want to create the outlines with the pen tool, 3:31 and adjust the lines from thin to thick wherever we see fit. 3:34 [? Electric guitar music ?] 3:38 Then we will add our title using an older font style, 4:27 and make it pop a bit with some drop shadows. 4:30 [? Electric guitar music ?] 4:34 Now its time for some color. 4:47 I wanted to stay traditional and relative to the subject's actual colors. 4:49 Hence, the bright blue and the gold wheat. 4:53 [? Electric guitar music ?] 4:56 Next, we want to add that grunge texture we discovered 4:58 when using the spray paint. 5:01 [? Electric guitar music ?] 5:03 Finally, I'm adding some shadows and highlights. 5:14 I used a multiply and an overlay layer, 5:17 using dark and light colors. 5:20 Dark colors for the multiply layer, and whites for the overlay layer. 5:23 [? Electric guitar music ?] 5:27 [Original Sketch] 6:03 [Original Sketch] [Completed Logo] 6:06 There we have it. Our final design. 6:08 Not bad for a day's work. 6:10 As you can see, it's beneficial to 6:12 Exercise Your Creative, and work outside the box. 6:14 It's always a good idea to perform simple, 6:17 creative projects to expand your thoughts 6:19 rather than jumping directly into the software application. 6:21 As always, Exercise Your Creative. [Exercise Your Creative] 6:25

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