Tips for creating an emblem in Black Ops (I)

Creating an emblem in Call of Duty Black Ops can be as easy or as difficult as you want. If you have some talent for arts then you have an advantage but if not, this is not a problem at all.

Before I start to write I have to say that I saw the menu for the three platforms (Xbox 360, Play Station 3 and PC) and it looks quite similar so for this post I won't make any difference.

At this point first of all is to know what emblem you want to do. It is quite simple to take a monkey, a gun and a FTW (WTF?) symbol and just put them without order and with some ugly colors. The game is plenty of those, unfortunately. You can create as well some penis or similar but it looks like more like you are a 12 years old person. If you are you shouldn't be playing this game (+18)...

Let's suppose that you are grown enough and you want to do something nice or just original. Pick up a logo, a cartoons character, a brand or just your own idea and think that you have twelve layers to do it. Choosing is not so easy. Many people has been working on it for a long time now so being original is not a real chance anymore. If you see what you wanted to do and it's made by someone else you can still make it better, or different, there is not a big deal on that.

Avoid stupid content for your emblem like swastikas or animals having sex. You can be banned for some matters like some news say (check here). You don't really want that so take a nice idea.

The more you practice, the cooler the emblems will be.Once you have done some of them try to introduce elements like shadows, brights, reflections or perspectives and you'll gain in quality quickly.

Think of some images of your childhood, about your favorite series or movies, about the teams you are supporting in sports or about those cool brands you like so much. You can take a review to your music collection and think about some records cover or just use your old drawings. Whatever is fine.

Take into consideration if you can make it in 12 layers and look for the way to fitting in those layers making it simple. Choose the right colors and try to take care of the contrast they make. Think about how it'll look like in the title bar and which of the title backgrounds will suit better so maybe you can save a layer for the background.

If you don't like how it is working, just reset and try something different, you have time enough, haven't you?

Buy as many emblems as you can with your budget. You don't need to buy all from the beginning on but just think that when you go to the next prestige level it doesn't make sense to buy new weapons maybe so spend the money in emblems, otherwise you will loose all the money.

Finally, by now, think that a dog is not just a dog if you turn it and fit it onto another shape. A gun machine could be a letter F or a letter could be the body for that character you want to do. Think in the overall picture and find the way to do it with the stuff you have bought.

I'll continue soon with a graphic explanation and some examples but I hope you can find some sense in this words by the moment.