Crimson Fog

I am excited to say that this is the final imprint logo for TM Publishing called Crimson Fog. This logo is for the genre mystery and thriller publications. This logo went through many variations before coming to the final that you see above. 

I researched all sorts of things from fog to blood splatters. Here are some images that inspired me:

Then I went to my sketchbook and drew a lot and here are the few that I sent to my client:

From my previous logos I felt that it was appropriate to go with something literal for the logo with some concept thrown in. My client liked B the best and felt that A and E were too dark for their liking. From their feedback, I made these more refined sketches:

My client liked the bottom cloud the best and felt that inorder to be a fog it needs some context. So for the mystery element, I decided to add a detective into the scene.

 My client liked B and D, however they didn't want the gender of the detective to be apparent, so I tweaked the figure by lengthening the trench coat and lowering the heels. After a few revisions, the cloud was taken out of the logo because of it's complexity. I looked up how I could make the figure appear to be in a fog. I found that fog is the absence of (in this case) a figure. I applied a gradient to the figure to make her/him appear to be in a fog.