Question

Shaping Text for Logo

Asked by: StayingAwake

I'm creating a logo for my client's new company, which sells food for cats and dogs. They want the company name (which is a one 9-letter word) to fit inside the shape od a bone. I'm struggling trying to get the letters to form into the shape of the bone. I'm using Illustrator and Photoshop, and would like the end result to be vector art / .eps.

Anyone have any thoughts on the best way to to take fairly blocky letters, and shape them into a bone? It needs to be obvious that it looks like a bone, and not just simple text warp / bend.

I can try to give more info if needed.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

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Asked On
2006-06-20 at 12:56:13ID21893112
Tags

bone

,

illustrator

,

letters

,

shaping

Topic

Web Graphics Software

Participating Experts
4
Points
250
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: benmcnellyPosted on 2006-06-20 at 20:33:51ID: 16948330

Do you have some samples? Maybe the bone your wanting to use?

Personaly I would make it look like a molded or engraved (eched) in the bone...

-> http://www.lapelpinplanet.com/pets/pets_enlarged_pics/bone-detail.jpg
Like this but naturaly look like it was part of the cast not litteraly etched in.. Although either may work..

If I gather you correctly though, what the wany is to fill the "bubble" ends with the letters...
knowing the letters would help ;-) but I understand your perdicament..

like I said, maybe screenshot of the bone would help

- ben

 

by: benmcnellyPosted on 2006-06-20 at 20:48:39ID: 16948376

I got some interesting results playing with the warp tool  ( SHIFT - R ) in Illistrator...

-> http://j3one.com/upload/dsdfdsfs.gif
(supposed to be "Superfood" (used a "kid" font)

 

by: StayingAwakePosted on 2006-06-20 at 21:12:48ID: 16948442

Hi Guys,

Thanks for providing some info. Originally, I didn't want to post the name or any info about the company for privacy reasons, as they are still in the building stages. But, I also realize it's hard to give advice and help when you don't have that info. So, here's a link to my first subission for her feedback:

http://www.ma5en.com/random_images/boneology_logo_01.jpg

I think my first attempt came out looking less like a bone, and more like a funky shaped logo. She said she wants it to have a "simpler, cleaner" font, and have it look much more like it's a bone. I don't actually want the name of the company inside a bone, but rather have the letters themselves appear in the shape of a bone. I hope that makes sense! I'm just not sure of the proper way of manipulating the text character to give the logo the shape of a bone. Is there a better program than Illustrator? I don't think so, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for all the help...

-Masen

 

by: omancaPosted on 2006-06-21 at 00:13:30ID: 16948990

You may want to use free transform in Photoshop

 

by: lherrouPosted on 2006-06-21 at 04:55:25ID: 16950491

StayingAwake,

You might do well to start out by setting your letters' font size individually, so you can make the end letters larger and the middle letters smaller, and then combine them into a single object and tweak and distort the final shape - this will help preserve the end letters better, they won't be as distorted as if they start at the same size. Also important is the black outline and inside fill (which you have - but may want to improve on to get that "bone" look). Perhaps starting with a "Bone" font will help give the hint to the viewer that the larger shape is a bone, too.

(Here's some nice bone fonts, by the way: http://www.goblinville.com/fonts/bones.htm)

Cheers,
LHerrou

 

by: JoseParrotPosted on 2006-06-23 at 14:22:37ID: 16972826

Hi,

As per your example, I see the construction in three layers.
In layer 1, draw the bone. The text will be adjusted on its boundary.
In layer 2 put the text inside the bone, as large as possible. Some letters can be smaller other bigger than the bone bound.
In layer 3, by using the text of layer 2 as reference, draw each letter in vector fashion. Then adapt them to the boundary, by using the control points and vectors.

If you want the elegant way, use Edit->Transform->Warp (if your Photoshop version has this feature, of course). You'll find a tutorial on warping at  http://www.informit.com/guides/content.asp?g=photoshop&seqNum=247

Jose

 

by: StayingAwakePosted on 2006-06-23 at 20:17:49ID: 16973898

I'll test out some of your ideas and get back shortly with the results.

Thanks guys!

-SA

 

by: StayingAwakePosted on 2006-06-30 at 00:02:00ID: 17015980

I don't think I found quite what I was looking for, but the help is much appreciated. I will split the points accordingly.

Thanks again!!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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