Your Sunday Concept Fix

I've been getting some great concept art submissions in the past couple weeks, but I wanted to keep Haiti at the top of the page for a little while. I just added a few new items to that post, by the way. But now I think it's time to start sharing some of the other great artwork that's been coming in.

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Mark Komondor	We'll begin with the Penguins and a concept created by an artist brand new to Icethetics. These are his first submissions and he sure seems to know what Pens fans want. Imagine Crosby in the same uniforms that Lemieux and Jagr once wore when they lifted the Stanley Cup together. Of the first one, he writes: I was going for a throwback look by incorporating elements from the late 80s/early 90s sweaters the Pens wore when they won two stanley cups. I took that uniform and simplified it, using the Wild's red home sweater as a guide. I feel like this is a good mixture of the 90s elements, and the circle logo which has found popularity on the blue sweaters. He says the other is simply a combination of the jerseys worn just prior to and since the Age of Reebok.
Adam L'Italien	Adam's Canucks concept makes some revisions to the new Johnny Canuck/V logo introduced on the third jersey last year. He says, why not use the full-body JC on the V? But the most important thing about this jersey: it's green!
Brian Brideau	Rumors that the Predators plan to launch new home and road jerseys for 2010-11 could result in something like what Brian has come up with here. In fact, these should look familiar. I posted the first two jerseys two weeks ago. What's new is the blue alternate sweater Brian has now added. For the most part, I like this one. The striping is unique but the Flyers-copycat nameplate is what I think needs to be revised. I truly hope differently-colored nameplates do not become a league-wide fad.

More concepts coming during the week.

With Haiti In Mind

Want to donate? RedCross.org

Last night I posed the notion that creating Haitian concept jersey designs (I know, ice hockey in Haiti) could be a small way for Icethetics artists to bring a little awareness to the earthquake disaster victims. Nothing big, but a few of you did decide to get involved.

Here's some of the artwork I've received in the past 24 hours.

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Brendan Klein	Brendan Klein sent in this concept, with blue elements evoking the watery nature of the island nation. The sweater is based heavily on the Haitian flag, as are most of the concepts you'll see here. The name on the back of the jersey is that of René Préval, the president of the Republic of Haiti since 2006. Not sure where the 47 comes from, but it is a fun prime number.
Matt McElroy	Matt McElroy submitted this one, incorporating all the colors of the flag and even the seal.
Connor Hanley	Connor Hanley played the gradient game — last seen in the NHL on the 2001 Vancouver Canucks third jersey. More astute readers might also note the typeface used for the numbering and lettering — it's what the Canucks wear today. Just saying.
Marty Thompson	And finally, while Marty Thompson's designs may lack the polish of other concept art you see on Icethetics, it certainly does not lack the spirit. The flag pretty much says it all.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this. Well done! And if you're still working on a submission, don't stop now. I'll keep posting them as long as you all keep sending them!

Update on Sunday · Jan 17 · 2010 | 9:42 PM PST by Chris

A couple more just came in. Check them out.

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Hunter Gingras

Hunter Gingras offers up not two but three concept designs for the mythical Haitian hockey team's sweaters. All are created on the same basic idea but it would give the team three options when dressing for a game. A wordmark is splashed across the front while the seal found on Haiti's flag adorns the shoulders of each jersey. For what it's worth, the red one totally makes me think Caps in the '80s.

Jake Slavik

And for something completely different, Jake Slavik couldn't decide which color to go with for his jersey, so he opted for the rare half-and-half. Bold move. He also pitched the flag seal in favor of his own unique wordmark — and an inexplicable Nike logo on a Reebok Edge jersey. We'll figure that one out later.

Update on Monday · Jan 18 · 2010 | 11:33 PM PST by Chris

The Haiti memorial concept art just keeps coming. Thank you guys a ton for participating!

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Jeff Wozniak	Jeff has come up with one of the most complete identities for the fictional Haitian ice hockey club. The well-designed crest stands out on very sharp jerseys. You'll notice Jeff has incorporated the various elements of the flag seal in his logo. Though the striping comes awfully close to crossing the line of what's tasteful, I'm still quite impressed with the effort put in. If only we could actually do something real with one of these awesome jersey designs.
Brad McPelican	Brad has taken a different approach with his white concept jersey. The shield on the front is rather bold as are the multi-colored stripes evocative of Caribbean art. It's simple but that's why it works.
Brett	Lastly, Brett sent in this jersey design, which I think is quite possibly the most realistic of any submitted so far. If a nation like Haiti were to ever actually field a hockey team, I'd be willing to bet that little time would be spent being overly creative with the jerseys. Brett also dug up a bit of hockey/Haiti trivia to share: I actually found out that there has only been one person to ever play in the NHL that was born in Haiti, his name is Claude Vilgrain and he actually played for my Philadelphia Flyers for two games in 93-94. Also worth mentioning is Georges Laraque, who now plays for his home team, Montreal Canadiens. While Laraque himself was born in Canada, his parents are both from Haiti. As of last Thursday, he was still waiting to hear from family members in the devastated region.

More to come tomorrow.

Update on Tuesday · Jan 19 · 2010 | 10:43 PM PST by Chris

I'm really stunned by the response to the idea of creating jerseys for Haiti. As some of you have mentioned, it would be incredibly cool if a pro team somewhere could pick up one of these designs, manufacture them, and hold an auction for the earthquake victims. Fingers crossed!

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Uncleben	This is another great design for Team Haiti that has me impressed. Lots of bright colors and two different and beautiful crests. Very nice work here!
Brendan Anderson	Brendan just sent in his design today. Very simple and subtle. I particularly like the idea of opposite-colored sleeves. That's a new one.
Wize	This one has an awful lot of stripes, doesn't it? It may be a bit much, but at the very least it captures the essence of the Haitian flag.
Bill Blazina	Bill came up with a unique crest for his concept jerseys. I think it's the first time we're seeing the country's silhouette used as a design element. The only problem is that it vanishes a bit on the blue jersey. This would've been a good opportunity to swap the blue with white on the crest (and the captain's C).

I don't know how many more concepts I'll receive from you guys, but as long as they keep coming, I'll keep adding them to this post. Thanks so much for participating! (By the way, I sent a small donation to the Red Cross' Haiti relief efforts on behalf of Icethetics and you guys!)

Update on Sunday · Jan 24 · 2010 | 8:13 AM PST by Chris

Got a few more in the last couple of days.

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Glen Cuthbert	Glen put together this Haitian concept jersey, a recolored version of the Florida Panthers' new third. I like the addition of gold to the sweaters. That's something we haven't really seen yet — and we've seen an awful lot of these already.
Ethan Proulx	And Ethan just submitted these attempts. I think whether you prefer the red or the blue, it's probably still a little too busy to ever be an actual uniform design. And what's up with the multi-colored pants?

We Are All Canucks

I'll be making the long cross-country journey back to the Sunshine State today. Sad.

This is the final of five auto-posts featuring new concept art and it is being written nearly a full week before it will even see the light of day. Trippy. Or not.

You knew it was coming eventually. Not a single Canucks-centric post all weekend. How can this be possible? I saved it all up for today, that's how. Readers seem to send in more Canucks concepts than any other team. I don't know if it's the team's undying identity crisis or the possibility that Canada somehow funnels its most artistic people into one corner of the country.

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Matt Marczel	We'll kick things off with my personal favorite. Matt Marczel's concept depicts the ideal Canucks identity. It's not plagued by spaghetti, corporate interests or over-simplification. That logo represents Vancouver and Johnny Canuck. And it incorporates the green and blue to boot. What more could you ask for? The design also manages to hang on to its history by keeping the modernized stick-in-rink logo on the shoulders. If ever there was a 40th anniversary jersey that could spell perfection, folks, this might as well be it. What's even better is this set paves the way for a brilliant green third jersey.
Jared LeBlanc	Jared LeBlanc has provided us with just such an example of a green third. It certainly shouts Reebok Edge but it shows a willingness to accept the things we cannot change and work inside certain parameters. That being said, the curved tail of the sweater may be rather exaggerated. We get it. As long as the greens matched up, there's really no reason that Matt and Jared's designs couldn't form a complete package here. Jared's even offered a nice pants design.
Ryan Haslett	Continuing with Matt and Jared's ideas, if it's a special event, vintage type design you're looking for, Ryan Haslett has the answer. He's gone with the "vintage white" and the new VC logo. Do I smell a Winter Classic coming? Though to be fair, all the previous Winter Classic jerseys have either taken elements or entire jerseys from actual historical record. This would just be vintage for its own sake. Not that that's bad. Could I be any more equivocal? The point is these are all great designs but what really needs to happen for the Canucks is they need to choose one and commit to it — for more than a few years.
Kevin Krilow	This next concept by Kevin Krilow focuses on the full-body Johnny Canuck logo. It's just as good as some of the previous artwork so what can you really say? Now it just comes down to personal preference. Do you prefer the full body or just the head? You know where I stand but that doesn't mean I'm right. This set comes with a home, road and alternate jersey. Surprisingly, it's the home and road sweater the make use of the text logo. Not necessarily bad, but uncommon.
Ryan Broda	The last one had to be an '80s recreation. You just knew it. If the Canucks never introduced the orca logo in 1997, it's entirely possible their current Reebok Edge uniforms could look something like what Ryan Broda has come up with here. It features an orange (some call it red) alternate and gold vintage jersey. Though I'm surprised the Flying V hasn't found a place on the gold sweater. The red/black/gold stick-in-rink logo is even there on the shoulders of all four sweaters. Glad to see it there. It was the cornerstone of the team's original identity and even if it can't be center stage anymore, it needs to be part of their look in some way forever. The only drawback this set seems to have is the numbering and lettering styles. I think for these, you need to just stick with your standard block text. Don't try to be fancy.

The end. I hope you guys appreciate all the effort I put in to make sure there was new content on the site every day while I was gone.

I'll be back in town Tuesday night but have some errands to run on Wednesday so the next update to the blog/concept page may not come until Thursday. In the meantime, enjoy the archives!