Okay, so I’ve been wanting to mess around with creating some custom logos, and I had this idea to combine the Michigan “M” with a basketball. I figured I’d walk you guys through how it went, bumps and all.
Getting Started
First, I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. I’m no artist, but I can sketch out a basic idea. I started by drawing a few different versions of the Michigan “M” – you know, the classic block “M”.
- I did one that was pretty standard.
- I tried one that was a little wider.
- And I even sketched a slightly slanted one, just to see how it looked.
Next, I drew a basketball. Not gonna lie, getting the lines right on the basketball was a little tricky. I erased a few times! My circles weren’t perfect, more like slightly wobbly ovals, but hey, that’s the charm of hand-drawing, right?
Combining the Elements
This is where it got interesting. I had to figure out how to make the “M” and the basketball work together. I tried a few things:
- Overlapping: First, I just kind of placed the basketball behind the “M”. It looked okay, but nothing special.
- “M” as Part of the Basketball: Then I tried to make the “M” look like it was part of the basketball’s design, like it was printed on the ball. That was a little tougher to draw.
- “M” formed of lines: Finally, I changed the “M” a little, I used lines to form the M, I tried to combine the lines of “M” with basketball.
I settled on having the lines of basketball formed the “M”, at least for this attempt. I felt like it gave the logo a bit more of a dynamic, sporty feel, instead of just a letter next to a ball.
Inking and Refining
Once I was kinda happy with the pencil sketch, I went over it with a pen. I wanted to make the lines bolder and cleaner. Of course, my hand slipped a couple of times, so there are a few imperfections. But like I said, that’s part of the fun of doing it by hand.
I erased the pencil lines underneath, and there it was – my very own, slightly wonky, Michigan basketball logo. It’s not perfect, far from it, but it was a fun little project. I show it to my kids, they all recognized the elements. I think I am going to try to draw it on my iPad next time.
I might try using some design software later to make a cleaner version, but for now, I’m pretty happy with my hand-drawn creation.
