My first logo (on the left) was, frankly, created hastily in my eagerness to get this Web site up and running in late February. However, the primordial idea in my head was to have the lobster more dynamic, jetting backward through the water as lobsters do by swiftly scooping their telson (tail) under them. Lobsters walk forward and swim backward.

Now that I’ve a bit more time on my hands, I have the luxury to work on that initial concept still rolling around in my brain. I began a sketch tonight:

Next step: referencing my photos and the live model himself in his watery home, I will draw the pinch-happy creature in Illustrator. He’ll shoot out gusts of swirling water and bubbles. I’ll probably do further refinements like textures in Photoshop. Finally, I’ll rework the whole Web banner above to be better integrated, and with nicer-looking menu buttons.

Incidentally, the little guy’s name is Ocelot. My husband is Russian, and when he first heard the word ocelot he was so enamored with it that he named several things in our home Ocelot, including a house plant.

 

Update 3/26/09, 5:00PM

Here’s what I have so far in Illustrator. The sections of blue carapace are created using a gradient mesh and three shades of blue. The brown joints between the tail pieces employ a simple brown to gray linear gradient. The whitish swimmerettes under the tail use a radial gradient from white to light gray.

 

Update 3/26/09, 9:00PM

More!

 

Update 3/26/09, 10:00PM

Still more. He still needs spots.

 

Update 3/28/09, 11:40AM

I think I’m finished!

 

Update 3/28/09, 2:10PM

I lied. I needed to pump up the amount of orange. I’m really happy with it now. I hope you are too.

 

Update 3/28/09, 8:00PM

The new banner is live! Yay!

 

 

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Comments

4 Comments

• 

  By kemagazine, 03/29/2009 @ 6:03 am

  I love it! blue and orange…perfect!
• 

  By Dawn Pedersen, 03/29/2009 @ 10:40 am

  Thanks, kemagazine! Hey, I like your blog.
• 

  By Mchilly, 03/30/2009 @ 8:53 pm

  Cool work!
• 

  By Dawn Pedersen, 03/31/2009 @ 5:01 pm

  Thanks, Mchilly!

 

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