Last Post - New Blog

Hello everyone!  This will be the last post on SG-94.  Don't get too upset though, I'm not retiring from making concepts I'm just switching to a new blog address.  From now on I'll be posting all my concepts on stevengrantdesign.blogspot.com.

The new blog is also home to my new Combo template.

Thank you to everyone who has visited this blog, commented, and/or submitted concepts these past four years.

Goodbye!

Goodbye (Kind Of) After Three Years

This blog was started three years ago today, and I've decided it's (kind of) time to shut the blog down.  I will still post any concepts I make here (if I make any more concepts), but it will likely be a long time between posts.  However I will no longer be posting guest concepts, or doing any "My Thoughts" posts.

Also, I put together this image of how the blog's logo has changed over time...

Hopefully I'll be back with more concepts, but it will likely be at least a couple months from now.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

New Template and a Ducks Concept

Happy New Year!

To start off 2015 I have a new template to unveil, and a Ducks concept using that template, but before we get to those I also want to state a new rule for guest concepts.  From now on I'm only going to accept concepts that are for actual hockey teams.  That means concepts for movies, TV shows, video games, other sports, Swedish superstores, etc, will no longer be accepted.  This new rule is simply because I enjoy reviewing concepts that are for actual hockey teams more than other concepts.

Now here is that template I was talking about...

This template is a hybrid of the template used on The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database and the template from the Paint Users Paradise 2.0 thread on the Sportslogos.net forum (which is why I call it the "NHLuniforms.com/Sportslogos.net Hybrid Template").  It is mostly traced from an image on The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database, but with the arms perpendicular like the Sportslogos.net template.  The collars are also from the Sportslogos.net template (with some alterations done by me).

This template can be found on the Templates page, along with some extra collars and stuff to go along with it.

Anaheim Ducks:

To try out the new template I created this Ducks third jersey concept.  It's another attempt at using no white in the stripes (previous attempt here).  Those stripes are somewhat inspired by the collars on their current home and road jerseys.

Lastly, I made a minor change in the look of the blog by adding a white stripe behind the links to the pages.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Logo Updates

Hello folks!  Today I have a couple of logo updates to share with you, the first being a very minor alteration of this blog's logo.

Like I said it was a very minor change, mostly I was just fixing a few inconsistencies with line widths and spacing.  The only change that is at all noticeable is the "SG" and "94" parts are now a bit closer to the middle.

SG-94 Jersey Concept:

After I updated the logo, I thought I should make a jersey concept for the blog (something I haven't done since I was using the shield logo).  I've noticed the blog's logo doesn't look very good alone on the front of a jersey (although Jake88 showed us it works if there is a chest stripe behind the logo), so I turned the entire logo into a chest stripe.

Also I updated the eagle-talon/E logo I made back in March.  I altered the thickness of some lines, and angled the gap where the claws meet up with the E.  One day I'll update the eagle-head logo I created back then, but I'm waiting until I have a bit more skill at making logos (which might be a while).

Eagles Concept:

Lastly, I re-made the Eagles jerseys using the new E-claw logo as the main crest.  The blue jersey is basically the same as it was back in March, but I flipped the hem-stripes to match the colour order on the road jersey's hem.  The white jersey now has blue on the top of the sleeves, but besides that there is not much different.

Thanks for visiting!

Ducks Guest Concepts and a Flames Jersey

Anaheim Ducks, by Ricky:

We have a couple of Ducks concepts today, and we begin with this set by Ricky.  He uses orange as the main colour, and uses the Ducks oval secondary logo as the main crest.  I'd have to get used to orange as the Ducks main colour, but I think I'd end up liking it after a while.  The striping pattern on the home and road is okay, but I think it could be improved with a couple of fixes.  First of all I think the piping from the arms should connect to the yoke somehow, and I also think the stripes at the bottom of the sleeves should be on the other side of the piping so that they are more visible when being worn by a player.  The third jersey is a good classic jersey, kind of like the Ducks 2003-06 third jersey.
Grade:  C+

Anaheim Ducks, by Jared:

Jared sent in this Ducks concept which he made in NHL2K10 for the Wii.  His home jersey is also orange just like Ricky's, but the road jersey doesn't use any orange (I think, the colours are a bit washed-out so I may be wrong).  In my opinion if you going to go with an orange home jersey then the road jersey needs to use more orange.  The biggest problem with this concept is that the jerseys are recoloured versions of the Islanders 2007-10.  I don't know how creative you can be making jerseys in NHL2k10, but I'd like to see something new, not a recoloured jersey.
Grade:  C-

Calgary Flames Jersey:

I have a new jersey in my collection.  Actually it's not new, I've had it for years but I couldn't find it anywhere.  Finally I found it in the bottom of a drawer in a dresser in a spare bedroom.  You can see this jersey, and all the other jerseys in my collection on the "My Jersey Collection" page.

Have a good day!

Two Years, Flames, and a Guest Concept

Today is the second anniversary of this blog, as the first post was on April 15th, 2012.  Since then there has been 178 more posts, including 30 posts with concepts by a guest (today is one of those posts).

Celtic FC, by Ricky:

Today is also the first time there has been a concept for a soccer team on this blog.  I'm probably not the best person to review this concept since I don't follow soccer at all, but I'll give it my best shot.  Looking at the jerseys my first impression is that they're too busy.  For the first two jerseys I'd recommend getting rid of the pattern in the armpit/shoulder area, or at least make it much more subtle.  I also think the horizontal stripes would look better if they were thicker and simpler.  I like the green jersey better, but I think the shade of green is too bright, just darkening it a little bit would improve it a lot.  I also think the sleeve stripes on that jersey should be simplified more.  On a more positive note the execution is very good, and I like some of the minor details like the trophies in the numbers.  Overall these jerseys are just too busy for me, I tend to like simpler designs, but that doesn't mean these are bad, just that I don't like them.
Grade:  C-

Calgary Flames Third:

I wanted to make a third jersey for the Flames that uses the shoulder logo from their current third jersey as the main logo.  I decided to use angled stripes like their 2000-07 jerseys, but I used those angled stripes as a chest stripe instead of hem stripes.  The rest of the concept is pretty self-explanatory.

Have a good day!

Canucks 90's Third Jersey

I have new jersey in my jersey collection to share with you folks!

My parents got my this replica of the Canucks 1995-97 third jersey for my birthday.  I now have basically every Canucks third jersey or specialty jersey, but no home or road jerseys.  You can see this jersey, and all my other jerseys on the My Jersey Collection page.

Have a good day!

My Thoughts: Canucks 2001-06 Third Jersey

It's time for another post where I discuss my thoughts on a topic, which I cleverly call "My Thoughts" (it's the same as what other people call opinion posts or rants).  Today I'm discussing the Canucks 2001-06 third jersey.  Before I get started though, I should warn you that I have a lot of nostalgia for this jersey, so my opinion is going to be very biased.

The reason I have a lot of nostalgia for this jersey is not only because I'm a big Canucks fan and the Canucks were wearing this jersey when I was really getting into NHL hockey, but also because I got this jersey jersey as a Christmas gift as a kid signed by Markus Naslund (and I also later on met Markus Naslund while wearing this jersey).  Here is a photo of that jersey...

My opinion is that this jersey, the Canucks 2001-06 third jersey, is the perfect third jersey.  Think about it, it's a very unique jersey with that gradient from red to blue, but it still has everything that makes up a good traditional hockey jersey (hem stripes, sleeve stripes, and a shoulder yoke).  It also fit in perfectly with the Canucks home and road jerseys from that era, but it looked different from their regular dark jersey.  That's something I hate about the Canucks current home and third jerseys, they look so similar from a distance that I often don't even realize the Canucks are wearing their third jersey until a few minutes into a game.  Back when I was a kid I would immediately know the Canucks were wearing their third jersey, and I loved that, it was always a pleasant surprise seeing the Canucks take the ice in those third jerseys.

Now backtracking a bit, I want to clarify that when I call this jersey the perfect third jersey I don't mean it was the best third jersey ever.  I'm just saying it has everything one could want in a third jersey (at least everything I want in a third jersey), and it was still able to look good in my opinion.

Those are my thoughts on the Canucks 2001-06 third jersey, feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments.  Also I plan on doing a "My Thoughts" post for both the Olympic hockey jerseys and the NHL outdoor game jerseys, but I will wait until after the Olympics are done to do the Olympics jersey post, and until after all the NHL outdoor games are done to do the outdoor jersey post.

Lastly, I've added this jersey to the "My Jersey Collection" page.  The only reason it wasn't there before is because the jersey is a youth small, therefore I'd look pretty goofy if I tried to wear it and I reasoned if I couldn't wear jersey it isn't really part of my jersey collection (but I changed my mind about that now).

Have a good day!

New Year, New Look, New Templates

Well the title should really be "New Year, Updated Look, Updated Templates", but it didn't sound as catchy.

Anyways, as you can see I've made a few changes to the look of the blog, but I've kept the basic design intact.  The logo is the same as before, but it is now only in one shade of green, so it doesn't have the bevel effect it had before.  That one shade of green is a brand new shade of green, it is darker than the kelly green I was using previously but lighter than the forest green.  I also have moved the pages for my concept series and jersey collection up to the top where the other pages are.

I have also updated all the templates that were on the Templates page.  Most of the changes were very minor (ranging from making sure the shade of grey used for the jersey stitching was consistent throughout all the templates, to changing the position of the sock stripes to a more accurate height, among with many other minor changes), but I did make one non-minor change which is the option of adding a visor to the helmet.

I based the visor off of this image on the facebook page of The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database, so if anyone should get credit it should be the guy who runs that website.  I also made a two layer version of the helmet and visor (that you can find on the Templates page), which is good for programs like Paint.Net that have that the ability to have more than one layer.

Vancouver Canucks Third Jersey:

Now I wanted to create a concept to share using the updated templates, but I had no ideas for concepts so I just made the Canucks current third jersey.  You can see on the image the two layer version of the visor, which has a bit of shading.

Happy New Year everyone!

Millionaires Jersey and Canucks Guest Concept

Hello folks.  I hope you all enjoyed your holidays, I know I did.  I got to see some relatives I rarely see, had some good food, and got some nice gifts including this Vancouver Millionaires jersey.

This jersey had been on my wish-list since the Canucks unveiled it, so I was thrilled to get it for Christmas.  I've added it jersey to the My Jersey Collection page, which you can get to by clicking the image on the right side of the page that says "My Jersey Collection" or by clicking right here.  Now let's move on to a concept.

Vancouver Canucks, by Justin S:

This is Justin's take on a Canucks De-Edge set.  It's not a bad look, but I don't think it's an improvement over their current set, and it's not that original either.  These jerseys are just blue and green versions of the Senators 1995-99 jerseys, but with contrasting shoulder yokes.  I suggest changing the striping pattern to something new, and also adding a logo to the shoulders, the Canucks have lots of good secondary logos.

Have a good day!

Wild Review and a Guest Concept

Photo from wild.nhl.com

The Wild unveiled their new road jersey this past Sunday (actually they leaked it on Saturday), and I'm a big fan of the new look.  I was also a big fan of their previous road jersey, so I was nervous the new jersey would be a downgrade, but it wasn't.  I was most nervous that they might remove their awesome bear-head logo from the front of the sweater, so I was very glad to see it was still there.  The new striping pattern also looks good, and it fits in with their third jersey.  One thing that seemed a bit unpopular was the red numbers, but I actually like them, they make the jerseys more interesting and it fits with their logo nicely.  I'm not going to call this an improvement over their last jersey, but their old jersey had been around for a while so I am glad they made this change.

SG-94 Concept, by Jake88:

Jake88 sent in this awesome concept for the blog.  I love the striping pattern used here, it works great with the logo in my opinion.  I also like how the logo is on a green background on both jerseys, because I think this logo looks best on that colour background.  I have no complaints about this concept at all.

One Year Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of SG-94!!!  It was launched on April 15th, 2012 with the beginning of my NHL Redesign series.  I decide this would be a good time to slightly update the blog's look.

The biggest change is the new logo, which is the blog's name in the shape of a rink.  I actually used a very similar logo right before I started this blog, which can be seen on my concepts in the first few posts.  I also brought back forest green to go with the kelly green, and made a few other small changes.

With the new logo, I also updated my concept presentation, which can be seen on either the NHL Redesign or IIHF Redesign page.  The biggest change is the coloured "Info Bar" at the bottom of the template.

Thank you all for visiting this blog.  Come back soon, I'm currently working on a Winter Classic concept.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's currently snowing at my house for the first time this year.  I thought it was a good time to change the banner at the top of the page to something festive.  I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah, or whatever else you celebrate.

I don't have any concepts today, but I'm planning on doing some international concepts for the World Juniors.  I also tried to do some concepts for defunct teams, as Adam suggested a few weeks ago, but I really had no good ideas.

Another New Look

As you probably noticed I changed up the look of this blog again. I know I've done it quite often, but I truly believe I won't get tired of this new look for a long time. Here's a rundown of what's new...

Appearance Wise

1. Green is lighter.
2. Shield logo is gone, replaced by my wordmark (I seem to dislike my logos after a while, but my wordmark has been the same for each logo).
3. Black is added as a secondary colour.
4. Light grey is used as the main background.

Feature Wise

1. I've now added a Facebook page.
2. I'm accepting contributor concepts again.
3. I've gotten rid of the blog list on the side of the page. Replacing it with a Links page.
4. I've added a some quick link icons to the side of the page. Including a link to my Twitter page, Facebook page, email address, and some pages on SG-94. Those pages are my NHL Redesign, My Jersey Collection, and my What If series for the Jets and Nordiques (those two posts were the most popular page-view wise on this blog by a wide margin). Just click the icons to go to the link.

So that's what is new. I'll get back to posting concepts soon.

Quick Update

Just a quick update to point out the list of other blogs I've added to the sidebar (right).  It lists the blogs in order of most recently updated, and it's basically all the hockey blogs I have as Bookmarks right now.  I have to give credit to Tyler Gross of Hockey Uniform Concepts, as that's where I first saw this done.

Predators and Pink

Jersey News

(Image from www.sagueneens.com)

The Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL wore special uniforms last night to raise awareness for breast cancer research.  They look like most other breast cancer awareness jersey, lots of pink added, and using features from their regular jerseys.

(Image from www.saskatoonblades.com)

Also, the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL will be wearing special event uniforms for their October 20th game against the Everett Silvertips.  The jersey features a new roundel logo for the event, and has an awesome feature in the bottom stripe.  The bottom stripe will include a list of names of Blades season ticket holders' family members and friends who have lost their battle with cancer.

Concepts

Nashville Predators:

I like the Predators current colour scheme, but I also really liked the striping on their original uniforms.  So for this concept I tried to combine the two, while also changing a few things.  The current logos and numbers are used, but the NOB is slightly different.  The stripes are the same for all three jerseys, just the main part changes colour.

SG-94 Concept:

I've been using a blank shield as a logo more often recently (Twitter logo, favicon, and on my template) so I had to see what it would look like on a concept.  Then after I made the concept I had to post it here.  I tried to make it look vintage with a chest stripe, shoulder numbers, and a box around the back numbers (similar to a name bar).

New Look, Old Concept

I updated the look of the blog a bit.  No new logo, but I changed the Header (top of page), and the background (getting rid of the diamond pattern).  I updated my template too, also getting rid of the diamond pattern there.  Below is a look at the updated template, and here is the same concept on my old template to compare.

A look at my new template.

Also, I haven't made a lot of concepts lately, mostly due to a lack of inspiration.  So don't worry if this blog isn't updated for a while, it isn't going anywhere.

My Logo History

On Monday I posted about SG-94's future, today I thought I'd post about it's past.  And I'm sure none of you care about this, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Logo 1, October 2011 - January 2012:  This wasn't really a logo, it was just a tag I put at the bottom of my concepts.  The font of the name was just Arial.

Logo 2, January - March 2012:  Same as logo one, except I changed the font and made the "94" the same height of the name.

Logo 3, March - April 2012:  Probably the most drastic change, as I added green, changed the shape to a hockey rink, and shortened it from my name to just "SG-94".

Logo 4, April - June 2012:  This was the logo I used when I first started this blog.  The shape changed from a rink to a puck, and the font extended outside of the circle.

Logo 5, June - July 2012:  I don't know if any noticed this when it happened, but I made a few subtle changes to the previous puck logo.  The font became wider, the bevel changed, and the black became lighter.

Logo 6, July 2012 - Present:  This is the current logo I use, and you probably already know enough about it from when I had a logo poll up.

Sorry for such a boring post, I'll post some concepts soon.

SG-94's Future

As you have probably already heard, I have been accepted to be a Writer for HJC.  I will be posting there every Wednesday.  I may have a bit less free time, but I still want to keep this blog going.  A few of things will be changing though;

1. I will no longer be accepting others concepts.  My original reason to start this blog was to display my concepts, and I no longer see the point of accepting concepts.
2. There may be posts less often, or there may be longer stretches of time with no posts.
3. I am getting rid of the "My Jersey Collection" page.  I don't think it's necessary, and it just adds clutter to the blog.
4. I am changing the Header at the top of the page (this one's random, I just thought three things were too short of a list).

I will keep everyone updated if anything else changes.

And the winner is...

The voting ended last night for SG-94's logo, and the winner is the sharp-top shield in the green and white colour scheme. 

Here are the results of the votes.

Colour Options:

Option 3 - 7 votes (50%)

Option 2 - 6 votes (43%)

Option 1 - 1 vote (7%)

Shield-Top Options:

Option 2 - 9 votes (69%)

Option 1 - 3 votes (23%)

Option 3 - 1 vote (8%)

SG-94 concept:  Since this is a blog about jersey concepts, I had to make a concept with the new logo.  I wanted the striping to be very traditional to match the simple colour scheme.

I will now get to work updating the blog with the new logo.  Thanks to everyone who voted.