New Logo Design for We Are Epic - Corporate Identity Branding

I was asked to help design the new corporate identity, logo for We Are Epic (Epic for short). I have been working with the Leicester based design company for some time, and therefore had a good idea of the type of business they are and what style of branding would work for them.

We worked closely together to come up with a text based design, simply concentrating on the word 'epic'. The new branding needed to be fresh but fun, with the ability to use the logo in many colour schemes including a single coloured version. I tried a variety of text styles in an attempt to get the 'feel' of the brand just right. You can see my first stage of designs on the image below with the blueish squares. I've also added my initial sketches so you can see exactly where my design process begins.

The client then narrowed the choice to two potentials as you can see on the second pic. We also tried a few colour variations to see what worked for the future.

The final logo can be seen above in a single black colour. I think you'll agree there are some obvious links to perhaps an 80's style, but hopefully a more modern twist and different or advanced enough to stand the test of time. Let me know what you think or if you'd have chosen a different path. Cheers and enjoy!

Pump Clip for The Langton Brewery - Welland Valley Vintage Traction Club

The Langton Brewery have another great beer to add to their collection. This one is named 'Traction' and has been especially created for Welland Valley Vintage Traction Club. The beer should be available in designated fine drinking establisments in and around the Leicestershire area soon. As you may know I've created many pump clips and beer labels for the brewery over the years. You can see them all in my portfolio.

If you spot the pump clip at a bar near you then feel free to take a pic and post it on my Facebook page. I always like to see my work out and about in the real world. Cheers and enjoy!

The Health & Safety Fails Collection - These 2 guy

I’ve been creating illustrations of these two silly, crazy, idiotic guys for several years. They’re two characters I created to convey a message about health and safety in the workplace, and basically how NOT to do it! I recently created a load of new illustrations which you can see in the slideshow below. I've also just added them to my Behance site.

Here’s a link to the project on Behance, and if you get a chance I would love to know what you think.

BTW ALL of these illustrations are also available to purchase individually via my iStock portfolio, or feel free to get in touch with me at nathan@antcreations.co.uk and I'll be happy to discuss selling them direct either individually or as a set.

Leicester Tigers - Welford character design - He's Grrreat!

If any of you good people are Leicester Tigers fans you might recognise this grrreat guy. It's Welford the official mascot for Leicester Tigers - the English rugby union team based in Leicester (obviously).

I've been illustrating the Tigers Family (#Tigersfamily) cartoon strip for the past two seasons, and you can see every single cartoon strip as well as sketches and even video on their very own blog.

This project however is all about Welford. Welford has been the offical Leicester Tigers mascot for some time now, but until recently he has only been seen in his physical form. He can usaully be seen on the pitch and in and around the Welford Road ground, meeting the fans and interacting with the kids. Now however he is also famous in his 2D, fully illustrated version!

He appears in many forms of promotional and marketing material both online and in print. You can see him in several places around the ground, on matchday promotional and fun (JTC - Junior Tigers Club) items and across the Tigers external marketing range.

Below you can see Welford in his claws out 'Thriller' pose :) You can also see him in several other classic poses as well as some early sketches of Welford before he was created in his final glorious full colour vector version.

Let me know if you're a fan of Welford and be sure to take a pic and send it to me if you see him around. Feel free to leave some comments below, but please keep them clean if you're not a Tigers fan ;) Cheers and enjoy!

If you'd like to see more of my character creations then click here and give your eyes a treat :)

Boardgame created for Northern Rail - Rambutan

"All aboard(game)!". I recently created this illustrated board game for Northern Rail whilst working with a great company from Market Harborough called Rambutan. The final vector based artwork was designed to replicate a generic roll the dice type of boardgame, with a beginning (GO - which represents now) and an end point (WIN - representing the future and beyond). The journey represents a train track and each 'place/square' represents a month of the year which also states a different company goal/target for that month. There were some success cards added to continue the boardgame idea which stated some important company targets etc. And to personalise the whole thing all the characters and surrounding artwork represents Northern Rail and/or the company in some way.

The end piece was printed up to A2 and used in their management conference to quickly and simply explain the companies journey for the next couple of years and beyond. Apparently it went down very well in the conference and hopefully helped explain the company vision in a fun and simple way.

The final artwork is below and some close ups to show you the details. I've also added a couple of the early sketches I created which were used to sell/explain the idea to the client.

As usual I would love to know what you think and any feedback you may have. Cheers and enjoy!

    

He's mad! Sun Madness pump clip - Middleton Wholesale

If the sun was mad then surely this is how he would look. Shades on, beer in hand, tongue out and happy as Larry! Well that's what I think anyway, and so that's how I've depicted the big blazing blighter on the new pump clip designed for Middleton Wholesale and appearing right now at The Sun Inn in Kislingbury.

I design quite a lot of beer related images, mainly for Langton Brewery. You can see all the pump clips, beer labels and everything else beer related in my beer themed portfolio. 

Let me know if you make it to the Sun Inn and sample a pint of Madness. Take a pic and send it to me and I'll post it here and on my Facebook page. Cheers and enjoy!

West Lodge Rural Centre cartoons and illustrations

I've been creating artwork for West Lodge Rural Centre for quite a while now. West Lodge is a great farm park for all the family, based in Northamptonshire. Working in partnership with PJD, we've created a whole range of characters that appear all over the company website and various promotional literature. The illustrations also appear on signage, helping visitors navigate their way around the farm park.

The latest characters are needed to promote the rabbit enclosure. You can see the final artwork below and the early sketches I created for the illustration. I've also created a gallery showing all the characters I've created over the years and you can see it here. If you get a chance to go then it's worth a visit, the kids love it there! Cheers and enjoy! 

Sergeant SME reporting for duty

Attention! This is Sergeant SME or Sgt Sme (SME is an industry acronym for “subject matter expert”). He's a character I've created working with We Are Epic, the design, PR and marketing communications company based in Leicester. Nexus Defence was the client and they provide specialist security equipment and consultancy within the counter terrorist arena. Quite a serious topic!

The brief was to create a character that was 'quite anonymous'. This made the project a little trickier than normal as the brief totally goes against the usual reason for creating a character. When a character design project lands on my desk it usually requires a special, unique and stand-out character, quite the opposite to anonymous I think you'll agree :)

The service Sgt SME is promoting is a fairly serious one, so after some initial sketches (see below) it was decided to steer clear of anything too cartoony. We quickly decided to advance one of the sketches and create a simplistic vector version (see below) of the soldier in full kit holding a detector. We tried a few variations on the uniform and also tried adding some background colour, but finally decided on the colours you see on the big Sarge below.

As usual let me know what you think. Anonymous enough do you think? Cheers and enjoy!

Grr's 2 Purr's logo design - The cat's whiskers, the dogs...

I had the pleasure of working with a great client recently creating a brand new logo for Grr's 2 Purr's. Grr's 2 Purr's (as the name suggests) specialise in services and products for both cats and dogs. They're based in The Langton Farm Shop just outside Market Harborough and provide a premium dog grooming service as well as selling loads of high quality products, accessories and treats for our favourite four legged friends!

You can see the full logo below and how it works across several colour schemes including black and white and the companies corporate colours. I've also added many of the initial early designs I created as alternatives to the one that was finally chosen. As usual I would love to know what you think, and if you have any comments feel free to leave your thoughts. Cheers and enjoy!

British and Irish Lions rugby playing lion on the charge

The British and Irish Lions have started their tour of Australia. I'm obviously biased, but it's great to see so many of the squad are made up of Welsh rugby players! I feel the Lions are in with a real chance of doing extremely well on the tour this time. So, to celebrate here's a new illustration depicting a rugby playing lion in full flight. Enjoy!

This illustration is available to buy in my iStock portolio