0545: Freak Out Flashback
Friday · Aug 16 · 2013 | 1:38 PM PDT
I warned you it might come to this. Given the recent popularity of the handmade concepts from Morgo Uxbridge, I thought I'd dig up a little something from my childhood. If you want to know how far back my love of hockey jerseys goes — well, here you go.
The drawing wasn't dated, but I'd say I was in the neighborhood of 11 or 12 when it was made. Not that I was an artist by any stretch. And please don't ask me why it says "REX" on the back. I couldn't possibly tell you what was in my head 20 years ago. But at least you can see I was always a fan of the Whalers' superb logo and uniforms.
And about those "victory stripes" under the arms... it's not an homage. Growing up a Lightning fan and seeing them on our jerseys, I just assumed it to be a standard feature on all hockey sweaters. Didn't realize until years later that it was something special only Tampa did.
Speaking of the Lightning, my brother Mark is six years younger than me and, I believe, drew this around the same time as the one I made above. That would put him at about 5 or 6 years old so you can understand the crudeness. He's since become a very talented artist in his own right. But my brothers and I were fascinated with the Bolts' storm jersey when it was released in 1996. We thought it was way cool compared to the boring stripes of the primary jerseys. But what did we know?
What do you guys think? There's more where this came from. I just unearthed my take on the NYI fisherman jersey as well as a mash-up Mark did of the Hurricanes and Predators in 1998, when they were there new teams on the block.
By the way, feel free to say you hate this and I won't post anything more. I just thought it was funny digging up this old stuff. And hey, if you have anything like this to share, please send it along.
Reader Comments (11)
Chris, I think it looks fine. I like the victory stripes. Think it's great that you include hand drawn stuff. I think almost all of us started out doing stuff like you did. Thanks for bringing back some childhood memories. Please keep including the hand made designs. Maybe have a hand drawn Sunday series.
Oh man.. these bring me back. I used to make fantasy leagues with teams and jerseys and i would spend all my time on the Icethetics of it all. Would love to find some of them.
These are fun!
Hey Chris
Morgo Uxbridge here. I've been hand drawing jerseys for over ten years now and I can say with confidence that my concepts did not look nearly as good as your Whalers jersey when I started out. In fact, I'm actually quite impressed considering the age you were when you made this. What ever made you stop?
These are great! Can't wait to see the fisherman,
I think we should have a series on hand drawn designs. I find it very interesting, seeing jerseys drawn by hand. I think we could have "hand drawn mondays" or something like that.
Chris: this is your website, so feel free to post whatever drawings or designs you want. I think it's a great idea, and I'm sure lots of other folks would love to see it.
Hand-Drawn Mondays please! these are awesome!
It's really interesting to hear your passion for jerseys has lasted this long, Chris! I grew up playing the NHL games, so that's how I remember a lot of the pre-Edge era jerseys to heart. I always loved the jerseys and played around with the different ones, but I never actually had that many jerseys myself. As a kid, I had at least two jerseys, one white Red Wings, and one black Penguins, both from around 2000-ish (the Pens one was the alternate they wore in the mid-late 90's). I have the former, but I don't know where the latter is, and I really wish I could find it one day. It's possibly my favorite jersey of all time, if not just the one from my childhood.
Anywho, it's great to see your work, I think you did a great job (better than I could at that age). The Whalers' final uniform set is one of my favorites of all time, just a perfect mix of colors, their inagural ones are meh, despite the fact that it's primarily green, my favorite color. But anywho, you did a terrific job. The victory stripes in there get +10000 points from me. I love them, and I love the fact you put them on there. Kinda wish more teams implemented it (I think someone did? Idunno...), but it looks great on the Hartford sweater.
I was gonna ask you if you had actually bought a Whalers jersey yourself as a reference, but if not that, then was it from memory, or a picture, or what? Then again, when did you draw it? I'd love to know. Also, did you like the Whalers at all besides for their jerseys (I mean I know your favorite team is the Bolts and all, but yeah...)? Also, I'm jealous of the fact that you've seen a pre-2000's game in person. I would die for a time machine to see any of the jerseys the teams wore back then in action, seeing the old jumbotron screens, pre-game intros, etc. Also, have you seen the Bolts third in-game, too? That would've been awesome, I love those jerseys. I hope I can pick one up someday.
But anywho, back to the point. I'd love to see you and your brother's other works. I'm curious, as this has already fascinated me. Please, do not hesitate to continue with this. It's nice you found these lost historical gems, the Icethetics community needs more!
I used to hand draw jerseys, though for some reason, many of them were in pen. These are really good for the time in which they were drawn.
show 'em off, man. take in your 12-year-old self's work just like you probably did back then.
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