Fantasy Football Trophies, Custom Logo Title Plates, Part 4

In parts 1 through 3 of this series, I have discussed artwork requirements for creating custom title plates for Fantasy Football Trophies. In these prior posts, I have talked about how artwork needs to be black and white and "camera ready" high resolution artwork.

In the realm of laser engraved title plates, it is important to understand how the laser engraving machine works. The laser either cuts, or it doesn't. This is a process of material removal, not printing, so grey scale and half tones are not possible. Or are they?

In the above example, we see the typical black and white laser engraving. It is either black or gold, the laser cut, or it didn't.


Since a laser cannot engrave in "grey" how can we achieve a half tone effect? By assigning a shade of grey to an area on the artwork, the laser will create a pattern, and this pattern will read as lighter or darker halftones. A more dense pattern will be perceived as being lighter, and a sparse pattern will be perceived as darker. In the example to the left (which you can click on to see full size) we can see this half tone effect in the plumage of the hen.

If half tones are to be used, it is critical that the artwork be high resolution, as I discussed in earlier parts of this article, if you don't have quality art, you should bite the bullet and pay your engraver to do the artwork for you.

In this example on the left, we have a black and white image that might have used grey scale in order to further define the areas around the hawk's eyes, although this is a very nice looking plate!




This trophy featuring the Tazmanian Devil in grey scale is a great example of how the half tones can effectively work to help define an image. Here we have 2 shades of grey, the lighter shade on his chest, and the darker shade representing his limbs. The perimeter around Taz is completely removed, like the text. Anything shown in gold would be black in a black and white image.

Previously, I mentioned that when working with logo art, it is helpful to invert the art so that the page is black and the art is white. This is closer to what the actual plate will look like, and can help in determining what portions of the logo should be visually clarified for maximum impact.

If you would like to see all of our perpetual fantasy football trophies, loser trophies and football keeper trophies, visit us at Sculpture Alley!

Fantasy Football Trophies, Custom Logo Title Plates, Part 3

In my last post, I talked about the difficulties trophy makers have with the artwork submitted by fantasy football leagues for their custom title plates.


This subject is so important, it warrants further explanation and examples. As I mentioned in my last post, I am using real examples from commishes who wanted to have their logo incorporated into their fantasy football trophy title plates.

Let's start with the above image submitted to me by a commish. As discussed in the part 2, artwork needs to be clean, camera ready, and in black and white. The commish told me he just wanted to do the figure with outstretched arms in the circle as his league logo.

The problem is, this logo doesn't exist, and that means that our graphics department has to create it, which results in a $30 art charge. The football commish didn't want to pay for the art charge, saying, "Can't you just copy the dude in the circle?"

No. there is text in front of the figure and the circle, there is all kind of shading and imagery on the figure, etc. Understand that when your "logo" doesn't have clarity and isn't a cohesive design, you are going to be looking at some kind of upcharge in order to get this image on your trophy.

The next example is the very common customized NFL shield, that the league has modified to be their logo. Not a problem, but in this case, the shield is fuzzy and pixilated, not to mention that it is in color, and is not at all suitable for laser engraving.


As I mentioned in part 2, we need to be able to freely resize the logo, and enlarge it with absolutely no loss in clarity, or the logo will look blurry and crappy when engraved.





Next we have an example of a league shield we created for a fantasy football commish. We did end up revising the greek letters under the FFFL portion of the logo.

Now, you might notice that this is a little blurry when you click to enlarge. That is because when we create a logo for someone, we send them a proof in a jpeg or pdf for easy viewing, as not everyone has high resolution graphics software like CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator.



Here we see the finished laser plate, with revised greek letters, custom text under the logo, and the rest of the league information left aligned and stacked on the right side of the plate. This is the kind of bold, clean layout that gets noticed from across the room!






Here is another poor quality jpeg logo presented to us for laser engraving by a football league commissioner. The greyscale in this logo would not translate well on a laser plate, it would make the overall look very muddy.



Below is the revised artwork for the fantasy football trophy title plate. With the gretscale removed, we have a clean black and white logo which will really pop on the title plate.

Probably one of funniest types of engraving requests I get is when someone sends me an animated gif and asks if I can engrave it on their title plate.

Moving images are not suitable for laser engraving.

So what kinds of files should you send? .Tif files work very well, most jpegs do not. Just make sure that you can enlarge the file without loss of quality or getting the pixel effect. You can also save your file in a much larger size, as there is rarely a loss of quality when making an image smaller.

To see all of our fantasy football perpetual, loser and keeper trophies, visit us at Sculpture Alley!

Fantasy Football Trophies, Custom Logo Title Plates, Part 2

In the world of fantasy football trophies, nothing is more desirable than incorporating the league's custom logo into the title plate design. More and more fantasy leagues have their own logos, and branding the trophy with this image is not only cool, but it also makes other leagues that see the trophy salivate with envy!

Hands down, the biggest challenge in creating a custom laser engraved title plate lies in the artwork. Logo artwork needs to be camera ready, that means clear, crisp black and white art. Admittedly, I cringe when someone sends me art to review for their fantasy football trophy, I know when I open the file what I am going to see. Less than 1 percent of artwork submitted for engraving is acceptable, and I spend a great deal of time explaining to fantasy commishes why.

I am going to use actual examples of fantasy football trophy artwork submitted to illustrate this point. Let's start with exhibit A. This is typical of the kind of art file we receive. Most leagues create their logos in a jpeg format and have it posted up on their fantasy league website. While this is great for a website, it's no good for laser engraving. First of all, it is in color, and a laser only operates in black and white. There are a few exceptions in terms of greyscale that I will address in part 4 of this article.

The biggest problem with this logo, which is so common, is that when you attempt to enlarge it, the logo becomes pixilated, with jagged edges. With a laser engraved title plate, what you see is what you get, so having a pixilated and blurry image on the plate looks like, how shall I say it? Crap.

In the case of this fantasy league logo, we needed to completely recreate the artwork in a high resolution format. This means our graphics department had to draw the logo in CorelDraw which then can be used to engrave the plate. When a fantasy football logo has to be sent to the art department, we generate a proof for client review in a jpeg or pdf file for easy viewing.

In the second example above, we have inverted the file and changed the white to a gold color. This is very helpful for football leagues to imagine how their logo will look laser engraved on the trophy. At this point we can make changes to the logo to help clarify certain elements, based on what the league commissioner wants. Once approval is given on the art, we can complete the title plate on the fantasy football trophy!

Here we have the completed trophy, which you can click on to get a better look, along with any of the other pictures in this post. This fantasy football trophy also incorporates custom fonts, and again, prior to engraving, the entire layout was sent in a proof to the commish for approval.

If your logo needs to be recreated, you will have to pay a one time art charge, which is typically $30, but can be higher if the logo is super detailed and takes more time to draw and digitize.

Trust your trophy engraver if they tell you the artwork is not suitable. Look at the logo, try to enlarge it to a 4 inch by 4 inch size, and if looks pixilated, it's no good. Don't try to smooth it or sharpen contrast in your photo editing program and resubmit it again and again. Many fantasy leagues do this in an effort to avoid the art charge, and spend hours monkeying around with the logo. If you want the logo to look like it should on your football trophy, and you don't have a graphics artist in your league, just bite the bullet and have it done right. Our policy is, if the artwork won't look great on the plate, we simply don't accept it, because we know that ultimately the league will be disappointed with the results.

To see our full collection of fantasy football perpetual, loser and keeper trophies, visit us at Sculpture Alley! Please feel free to email or post any questions!

Fantasy Football Trophy, Custom Logo Title Plates Part 1

I've been wanting to write a detailed article about this subject for a long time, and I hope you will find this information useful.

Up to this point, my articles have featured trophies with standard engraving. For most fantasy football leagues, standard engraving is an elegant and classic choice. For other fantasy leagues that have a logo, we need to enter the realm of custom title plates.

With standard engraving, the metal is actually cut to a predetermined depth. If you rub your finger across the surface, you will feel the engraved characters. Most standard engraving machines have limitations on the number and style of fonts they can do. As I mentioned, this is a classic approach, and standard engraved plates have a great sparkle to them.

In the trophy example on the above, the top plate was done with standard engraving, and the bottom plate was engraved with a laser.

A laser engraver is an amazing and costly piece of equipment that offers stunning capabilities to recreate complex graphics. In the above example, the laser plate is a special brass stock specifically made for laser engraving. The brass has a thin black coating which the laser removes revealing the golden brass beneath. On a laser plate, if you run your finger across, it feels smooth, the engraved characters are barely perceptible.

For a fantasy football trophy featuring a laser engraved title plate, the logo and text must be digitized with graphics software. My next article will talk about the types of art files needed to make a laser title plate. Because the art is digital, the laser can engrave virtually any kind of font and graphics, although there are some tips and tricks to making your title plate graphics look their best, which I will cover under the art requirements article.

If you are interested in having a custom title plate for your fantasy football trophy, and you have a logo, you should email it to your engraver to make sure it will work. They can guide you on what changes need to be made in order to have your graphics really "pop" on the plate.

At Sculpture Alley, we really enjoy working on logo title plates, this makes the fantasy football trophy truly custom! To see our full collection of fantasy football perpetual, loser and keeper trophies, visit us at Sculpture Alley! Don't forget to visit our Fantasy Football Engraving Gallery!

Can't decide what to put on your Fantasy Football Trophy Title Plate?

Sometimes it is not the easiest thing in the world to decide what to put on your Fantasy Football Trophy title plate. If you have a mature league, and the league name is etched in stone, you are probably in good shape.

But what happens if you want to order your championship trophy, and the league is new, with a league name being in flux? What sounds good after a long day of football and six packs may not stand the test of time. Also, many leagues decide to do a custom title plate with a logo or other custom graphics, but the group cannot decide on the look they want.

In these cases, rather than rake yourself over the coals trying to make a snap decision, you can have a preliminary title plate made, and attached with screws. This gives you the option to easily remove the title plate in the future, and have another one made.

As you can see by this example, the look of a mounted title plate on your Fantasy Football Trophy can be both decorative and elegant. The trophy dealer can create embellished corners, and even use decorative rosettes to further jazz up the screws and work them into the design.

Later, when it is time to make a new plate, you can remove the first one and take it or send it to your engraver, so they can put holes in the exact same position as the previous plate. Additionally, adhesive backing can be used on the plate to hide the fact that the base was ever drilled.

This is a great way to get over the anxiety of choosing the perfect text at the time of purchase!

For other tips, please read my prior posts, and feel free to stop by and see my full collection of perpetual fantasy football trophies at Sculpture Alley!

Fantasy Football Trophies Engraving Part 2

Once you have selected a fantasy football perpetual trophy, you will need to decide on the text for the header or title plate. Many perpetual trophies feature a large plate which will accept more text than a keeper award. In my Engraving Part 1, I suggest around 60 characters for a keeper award, but a large header plate can easily fit 100 characters.

That doesn't mean you should do 100 characters, it just means you can. The nice thing about a large header plate is that you can make your league name really shine by engraving it in large type.

Take a good look at the header plate. Do you like the engraving style? Does it look cool to you? Do you want another font? Before you buy, contact the dealer and ask about your options. Don't be afraid to ask questions! A good trophy dealer will offer you options, and should have samples for you to look at.

Let's get back to what text to put on a fantasy football perpetual trophy header plate.

1. The league name is obviously most important. Many customers ask for their league initials, such as CKFFL. On a large header plate, you can actually spell out the league name. In the trophy shown above, I used the league initials in a decorative medallion.

2. Most folks will want the words "Fantasy Football League" on the header plate.

3. Champion, Champions, or Championship Trophy. This lets everyone know what this trophy is about! You can also have a league start date, for example "Est. 1992"

Many people submit their header plate information in all caps like this:

GRIDIRON GODS
FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE
CHAMPIONS

This is fine, but consider that having all the type in caps doesn't draw attention to any particular part of the engraving. Experiment with different formats; some caps, upper and lower case, perhaps a portion in italics. For example:

GRIDIRON GODS

Fantasy Football League

CHAMPIONS

Here is another cool option for league initials. In this plate, I curved the league name around a football graphic, and put the league initials inside the football.


Give some thought and planning to your header plate, and you'll have a fantasy football trophy that you and your league can be proud of for many years.

Please feel free to ask any questions, and check out my line of fantasy football perpetual trophies, loser trophies and more at Sculpture Alley!

Fantasy Football Trophies Engraving Part 1

Engraving is a huge part of the Fantasy Football Trophy. Personalizing the trophy is what makes it yours, and unique to your league. I am asked so many questions about engraving, I had to make a FAQ page to answer some of the more common issues.

In my opinion, less is more when it comes to engraving. The more text you try to squeeze on a plate, the less emphasis is placed on key elements of the engraving. The engraving tells a story, the who, what where, when and why of an event. It may include some or all of this information.

The most common question I am asked is, "How many letters can I fit on a plate?"

For a regular trophy, sculpture or keeper, a good rule of thumb is 60 characters, in 3 lines with 20 characters each. Most plates can accept this much text, look nice, and still be easily read. I see some dealers advertising more characters and more lines, but you will need a magnifying glass to read your plate! It is important that your trophy dealer uses their experience to guide you as to what will or will not fit. I review all engraving and formatting via email so that people will have a good idea of what the finished product will look like.

Perpetual Football Trophies with large header plates can accept more engraving, I will be covering this in Engraving Part 2.

There are a few key points to keep in mind when submitting your engraving.

Check your spelling. Seriously, use a spell checker, and triple check the spelling of names. The trophy dealer has no way of knowing what is correct, and they will do exactly what you submit.

Many people submit engraving like this:

Bob "Bubba" Smith Red Zone FFL Champion

A long single line like this doesn't work. The text is made smaller due to the limit of the plate length, and the rest of the plate (above and below the engraved line) looks empty.

Break apart your engraving to add emphasis, for example:

Bob "Bubba" Smith

Red Zone FFL Champion

or

Bob "Bubba" Smith

Red Zone FFL

CHAMPION

or

RED ZONE

Bob "Bubba" Smith

FFL Champion

This will make your engraving go smoothly with the trophy dealer, as they will know exactly what you want. You can make elements larger, bold, italics and caps easily in most email programs. Don't hesitate to experiment with different formats to get the engraving exactly as you want it.

Please feel free to ask any questions, and check out my entire line of Fantasy Football Trophies at Sculpture Alley!