3D LOGOS: PART V- Animation and Cartoon Styled 3D Logos and Icons for Key Art

Sample Sheet of Animation and Cartoon 3D Logo Designs

NOTE: Blogger reduces Image size: Full Size is here.

3D LOGOS

Part V Animation and Cartoon Styled 3D Logos and Icons for Key Art

      3D Logos Part 5 is my next installment on 3D Logos covering Logos for Children and Family movies, mainly Animation and Cartoon based work. I do logos for 2D work on Television as well as 2D and 3D for Theatrical Films. 3D animation is the largest area I do 3D Logos for, and TV Animation turned to feature film is where more will be found.

     Early in my Design career I worked in Television animation for the ABC series The Phantom 2040 , produced by Hearst Animation Productions. This was my first Art Director position and really was a great time , and helped get me into tune with Animation as a Film and Television genre.

     My first 2D Logo was for The Phantom 2040, the first 3D Logo  that I worked on also finished for Looney Tunes Back in Action. This was a big exploration in both Black and White format,  as well as full color. I grew up on Looney Tunes , so this was a blast to get to work on this, and it was an early finish that made it to the final posters. 

     Since then I have worked on dozens of films, mostly 3D Animation logos as they are the main staple in Theatrical Animation. Always a priority to make them legible as well as a design that can work on a light or dark background.

If  you have a need for a 3D logo, contact me for a quote today. I am open to small gig's as well as retainers of Full-Time work.

Prices are very reasonable.

Part I on 3D Logos: Can be viewed over here.
Part II on 3D Metal Logos can be viewed here.

PART III on 3D Distressed Logos can be found here.
PART IV on Transparent 3D Logos can be found here. 
My 3D Neon Lgos for Film as well as Environmental Graphic use can be seen here.


                                        Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 3D Neon Logo for Key Art for 'The House' 2017

The Neon tubes and clips were ultimately used for the final Key Art for The House 2017

The full render with the back tin plate[ removed for final]

Here is the base Quad Mesh for the 3D Logo. Note the reflection sphere behind the logo, to add details to both the glass objects , as well as the metal clips. 

 Early on I did an alternate with broken glass tubes and dented and gritty back tin.

If requested by the client I can provide an ambient/dirt pass to overlay the color pass to accentuate edges and intersections to add some light grit to the render.

A Close Up shot of the full 5K finish.

 A Color render at a low angle of the 3D Neon Sign I made for The House.

 The Quad Sub-D build with subdivision removed to see the base objects.

Close up details on the 3D Neon Sign design and build.

This Quad Mesh shot shows the inner glow object inside the outer glass tube, as well as the build for the retaining clips.

 This is a Distance Based 3D Mask, or Z-Depth pass I include so the team can do distance based editing on a pixel by pixel basis.

This first Color-Picker Mask I rendered out isolates the inner glow inside of the Neon Tubes, this is SMART 3D. 

This second Color-Picker Mask I rendered out isolates the outer glass of the Neon Tubes.

Here is a Wide format Key Art piece using the Neon Sign I made in 3D to assist the team at Leroy and Rose.

Project Review

3D Neon Logo for Key Art for

'The House'

2017

Client:New Line Cinema via Leroy and Rose Agency
Art Direction: Melchior Lamy
Project Date: March 2017

Back in the Spring I was asked to create a 3D Virtual Neon sign for the New Will Farrell film, The House. This is what I call a '3D-Assist', as the Posters and logo were already locked in by the client, and I was called in at Finish to help with a 3D version of the logo, as that is my expertise.

Most clients I have are limited in-house with 3D Designers and Artists, so they call me for these smaller jobs, which make up the bulk of my work.

For this one, I had to create all elements including all base vector splines, and as I have done dozens of 3D Neon signs, I have a procedure down to create them on time and on budget.

I was originally tasked with a clean version of the 3D Neon Sign, and a distressed alternate, with these delivered at a smaller size for approvals to save cost. A typical 3D Logo like this is first delivered at 1500 pixels wide to get approval for the larger final, which in this case were 5000 pixel wide final. I have rendered up to 18,000 pixels wide in the past.

When I build 3D Neon Signs now, I have some 'off the shelf' parts I have already made to reuse, like the glass clips and fasteners. I build the neon tubes themselves with two objects, an outer glass shell, that is not solid inside, but skinned with a shell command to get a thickness on the glass edges for proper reflection and refraction characteristics in the final render, as well as a second object, a glow object inside the glass at a smaller diameter representing the 'gas' inside the tube.

The final deliver is usually a multi-pass render with extra channels and masks to use, including a Z-Depth pass, and my Color-Picker layer to grab elements, include the glow inside the tube to add outer glows in post as needed by the Art Directors I deliver this too.

Neon is getting popular to use in Key Art, as I worked on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Despicable Me 3, and the Defenders all using 3D virtual Neon Signage, just in the last few months.

If you ever need a 3D-Assist, contact me for an estimate to make your logo into 3D Neon signage.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013-3D Logo exploration PART II

In my 3D Logo exploration back in 2013 for X-Men Days of Future Past, this concentric ring concept was fun direction to explore.

 This version had the center on the "X"  in X-Men, radiating outward to the end of this 3D Film title.

 For this round I added some kinetic animated 3D radial-blur as if the type spun down to the still revealed in the print version of the 3D Logo.

I did a full set with the circles centered in the full title and had a bit more symmetry to the look. I also used multiple metal textures to accentuate the rings a bit.

 This 3D Title had a 3D brushed metal backdrop behind the 3D Logo for X-Men Days of Future Past.

Another 3D Logo for X-Men 4, with the Radial Spin, designed for a living one sheet as well.

 I took the logo and did a full edge to edge 3D render for a teaser title only One-Sheet.

 This 3D Logo got a bit of volumetric back lighting centered on the concentric  circles in the chopped up 3D Font.

I still did some 'bright-on-bright' looks too, but stayed withing the original darker looks for most of the work.

I did experiment with the concentric cutting on the Big X mark as well this was the top lit brighter version.

Here is the alternating ring and darker version of that Big X-Men X Icon in 3D brushed Metal.

Project Review

3D Logo exploration for: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013

PART II

Client: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation via Gravillis Inc.
Project Date May 2013.

Today in PART II in my series of 3D Logo explorations for X-Men Days of Future Past back in 2013 I am covering a fun concept that graphically  broke up the text into rings. I am very familiar with the franchise as I worked on most of the prior X-Men films, from X-Men 2, X-Men 3, and X-Men 4:First Class, and I ended up and finished the X-Men 2 logo as well as the X-Men 3 ones in the past, so I took the full final title layout and created a sereis of looks with the style.

It has been popular to cut and slide type for a while in 2D, and I have done this in 3D as well as seen here for the first Wolverine spin of X-Men film, and on Blood Diamond here, and here on, A Perfect Getaway,

This  4th X-Men film deals with time travel, so they wanted something graphic to show this and time-ripples were a direction they wanted to visualize so I went with a pond-ripple effect by cutting the type in the concentric rings that I bumped, slip and dragged around in 3D space top show a break[ in time].

I will have another PART III posting for this X-Men work I did in the future, so please enjoy the post.
You can review PART I here.

                                               Cheers,   THOM

Project Review: Speed Shooters United: 3D Logo Design-2014

Step one in designing a 3D logo is to layout the 2D type with a font picked and hand adjusted. I then present it in high contrast for legibility concerns up front.

 The final design was Alt-A with post effect added for Motion-Blur and glow.

The first pass 3D render for approval of Design A for Speed Shooters United.I used a Carbon-Fiber[fibre] material for the back plate holding device.

 A Second Design Pass presented as version "B"with a darker metal back-plate w/o the textures.

 The final design provided to keep the budget under control. I did just three versions to choose from.

Here is the simple wireframe showing this is beveled splines, so a fast build up and quick to adjust for the clients needs.

 Here is an overview render done to show the light box rectangular lights I often use in these shots that as standard in my Plug-In renderer of choice Final Render.

Project Review

Speed Shooters United

3D Logo Design 2014

Client: David Bogie at Speed Shooters United.
Art Direction: Myself.
Project Date: December 2014.

I get cold calls for quick small jobs from folks who find my blog here and contact met for work , and back in December I was contacted to help create a 3D Logo for a company in the Trap and Skeet shooting arena called Speed Shooters United.

The client saw a few designs on the blog that inspired them to contact me to do a pass on  their logo, so off I went. 

First step I do is to pick a font[ typeface], and l layout a few designs in both black on white as well as white on black. This is what I was taught at ACCD in the early stages to ensure any design will work in the most simple one color design for both dark as well as light background usage.

Once a style is picked I did three versions to choose from. The final was then rendered big format at 5000pixels wide for poster use, and some post work glow effects color adjustments,a s well as some motion blur was added to enhance the RAW 3D render output.

A fun and fast little gig that was less than a full day to deliver. Small Jobs like this one, help fill in the cracks from the larger ones, and I get to do some fun stuff and get a new client as well.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 3D Illustration and 3D Logos for ALEXANDER[2004] PART II

A Rusty metal texture with a bit of galvanized feel to the tin like section. Very low bump and low shine in this shader I experimented with.

A Pumice like warm rock with deep pits as well as high density.

 A brushed gold metal texture with some warm red rust corrosion added to the shader. I modified the rusty paint shader that ships with Dark Tree for this pass.

A Double plate stacked 3D Logo design with a dry cracked mud feel to the dump in this version.

 Warm to Cool lighting along with a micro texture with very fine details. the pumice had blue added to the flat spots in this shader.

This double stack uses a caustic map to create the wave like cracks in this Procedural Texture pass for the Poster work for the film, Alexander.

A single stack design with the same texture from above devreaes by 90% in this alternate 3D Logo. I also added warm red lower lighting.

A Cracked warm rock with vein-web used for the displacement on the font in this 3D Logo pass.

A sincle stack 3D Logo with heavy pits. I modified a sponge shader I had to develop this one.

A rusted steel with all rust, no shine left[ see first one up top] and ball like pits overall.

 A final texture pass with the pits reversed to be like warts on the rock surface.

Project Review
3D Illustration and 3D Logos for
ALEXANDER[2004]
PART II

Client:Warner Brothers Pictures via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: Calvin Sumler.
Project Date: Winter 2004-Spring 2004

Today I have PART II up for the 3D Illustration work I did for the film Alexander back in 2004 while in-house at The Cimarron Group, and today I am covering a round 2 design exercise with rock like textures.

Once we established a few fonts that the client liked I was asked to spend a day and create some natural rock like textures to pick from. I build procedural textures using Dark Tree 2.0, and import the shaders I write into 3DSmax to use with the Simbiont Plug-In.

In this post I used just one design to create a dozen or so looks. Some were single level designs, while a few were stacked with two levels, but all from just the one vector file I was given by Art Director Calvin Sumler.

I did rusty metals, granite, marble, concrete, and a wide variety of stone and pumice like materials for the presentation. A fun exercise right in the middle of the design process. I will have more posts in the future for this project, and you can view PART I here as well.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review:-Miracle on 34th Street- DVD Key Art: 2009

The final 3D render I did for Miracle on 34th Street DVD Key Art. I used Sub-Surface-Scattering for the snow piles.

Same shot as above with the show piles on top of the Virtual Macy's Parade float.

The Subdivided Ambient Wire frame render shows a simple build out.

The Base Poly Quad Mesh here shows the simple build I made.

A Fish-eye up shot of the Parade-float with the cables bending via the camera FX.

 The High Poly Sub-D render.

The Base Quad with subdivision removed.

A bit of a 3/4 Low angle with lens curve for the last 3D Logo render I did for the DVD for Miracle on 34th street.

The High Poly mesh also shows the reflection sphere in the shot that is hidden to the camera, but visible to the reflections on the slick float surface.

 Here is low poly wireframe of the 3D logo.

Project Review

Miracle on 34th Street
DVD/Blue-Ray Key Art: 2009

Client:Twentieth Century FOX Film Corp. via Menagerie Creative.
Creative Director: Cheryl Savala.
Project Date: November 2009.

Today I am posting a small 3D Logo gig I did a while back for some Key Art Home Entertainment DVD-Blue Ray covers for a Blue-Ray-DVD re-release of Miracle on 34th street for my client Menagerie Creative.

I was asked to create a Macys Parade styled, Giant inflatable float of the type for "34th". I did one clean version in 3D, and one with some piles of snow on the tops of a few key letters.

When I added in the minimal details, I created a woven surface texture to emulate a bit of the canvas fabric found on these massive balloons, and that is seen most clearly in the highlighted areas on the bright red float.

I rendered out a few straight shots as well as two fish-eye camera lens shots too. Some with, and without the snow. Sadly, the project did not continuem or see the light of day, though it was a fun gig to be apart of.

Cheers, THOM