Alright, so today I’m gonna walk you through how I tackled recreating Cody Rhodes’ logo. It’s not perfect, but it’s my take on it, and I learned a ton doing it. Let’s dive in!
First things first, I grabbed a bunch of reference images. I googled everything I could find – different angles, different lighting, everything. The more reference you have, the better. I even watched some wrestling matches to get a feel for how the logo looks in motion. Sounds extra, I know.
Next, I fired up my trusty Illustrator. I’m more comfortable with vector graphics, so that’s the route I took. I started with the basic shape. That skull thing is the core, right? I used the Pen tool to roughly sketch it out. It looked terrible at first, all blocky and uneven. But that’s okay, gotta start somewhere!
Then came the refining. I spent a good hour just adjusting anchor points, smoothing out curves, and generally making the skull look less like a melted ice cream cone. The key here is patience. Don’t be afraid to zoom way in and tweak every little detail.
The “Rhodes” text was next. I tried a few different fonts, but nothing felt quite right. So, I decided to customize one. I picked a bold, sans-serif font as a base and then started messing with the letterforms – adjusting the kerning, changing the stroke weights, and angling things to match the vibe of the skull. It was a lot of trial and error.
Once I had the basic shapes down, I focused on the details. The shading on the skull, the subtle gradients on the text – that’s what really brings it to life. I used a combination of gradients and solid colors to create the illusion of depth and dimension. It’s all about playing with light and shadow.
I also added a subtle outline to the logo to make it pop. It’s a simple trick, but it can make a big difference. I played around with the thickness and color of the outline until I found something that looked good.
Finally, I exported the logo in a bunch of different formats – PNG, SVG, JPEG, you name it. You never know when you might need a different file type.
Was it a perfect recreation? Nah, probably not. But I learned a lot about design, about vector graphics, and about paying attention to detail. And that’s what matters.
- Tip: Don’t be afraid to experiment! Try different things, see what works, and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t look perfect right away.
- Another Tip: Use reference images! They’re your best friend.
That’s my Cody Rhodes logo journey. Hope you found it helpful, or at least mildly entertaining!
