Okay, so I was messing around with some design stuff the other day, and I got this idea to try and recreate the old Yankee logo. You know, the one with Uncle Sam hitting a baseball with his hat? It’s a classic, and I figured it would be a fun little project to see if I could pull it off.
First, I spent like an hour just looking for a decent picture of the original logo. It’s surprisingly hard to find a good quality version online. I scrolled through tons of blurry images and weird fan-made versions before I finally found one that was somewhat usable.
Starting the Sketch
Once I had my reference, I fired up my design program and started sketching. I decided to trace the basic shapes first, just to get the proportions right. The hat was pretty straightforward, but Uncle Sam’s face was a bit tricky. His expression is kind of intense, and I wanted to make sure I captured that.
- Traced the outline of the hat
- Blocked in the basic shapes of Uncle Sam’s face and body
- Tried to get the angle of the bat right – it’s kind of swooping upwards
Adding Details
After the basic sketch was done, I started adding in the details. This is where it got interesting. I spent a good chunk of time just working on the stars and stripes on the hat. Getting them to look right and not all wonky was a real pain.
- Drew in the stars – surprisingly hard to make them look uniform
- Added the stripes, making sure they followed the curve of the hat
- Refined Uncle Sam’s facial features – his beard was a challenge!
Coloring and Finishing Touches
Then came the coloring. I tried to stick to the original colors as much as possible. Red, white, and blue, obviously. But I also wanted to give it a slightly aged look, like the logo had been around for a while. So I played around with some textures and overlays to make it look a bit worn.
- Filled in the colors, using a classic red, white, and blue palette
- Added some texture to make it look a little old and faded
- Tweaked the colors a bit until I was happy with the overall look
Finally, I added a bit of a shadow beneath the whole thing to give it some depth. And that was it! I was pretty stoked with how it turned out. It’s not perfect, but it definitely captures the spirit of the old Yankee logo. I might even print it out on a t-shirt or something. It was a fun little project, and it was cool to see how I could take something old and kind of make it my own.
All in all, it was a pretty satisfying experience. Took me a few hours, but it was worth it. It’s always fun to take on these little design challenges and see what you can do. And you know, maybe next time I’ll try something even more complex. Who knows?
