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Reaching a benchmark.

I started my T-shirt design career in 2008 when I stumbled upon Threadless, an online design contest that printed crowd sourced designs. I’d spent a lot of time designing for print/other mediums but t-shirts where completely new to me. I created designs that I wanted to wear and submitted them to the site. My first submission got picked, printed and delivered to me. I was hooked on the T-shirt as a design canvas.

From there I entered many similar platforms online and my work got selected regularly. Before long I had a small fan following and people where starting to notice my work. I’d developed a T-shirt design style and mastered the art of marketing my art. At this point I started getting requests from brands for designs for their apparel lines. I did many, including the music scene. After a few twists and turns I ended up working as the Art Director at Design By Humans. A similar model to Threadless at the time. There I learned the art of screen printing and how to push the boundaries of the medium. This made me a better designer. I could advise clients on how to print their product to make them more successful. I could consider the process when I designed. After being promoted to Creative Director I got exposed to apparel licensing and worked with brands to curate art.

After designing hundreds of tees I got more opportunities to work with clients like Disney, Star Wars, Modcloth and Billabong. I realized the power of the T-shirt. The medium that is seen by hundreds and loved by thousands had got me quite the client list. It’s a medium that never goes away. I recently designed my 500th tee, a design for a MMA fighter. As I finished it and sent it off for approval I realized the benchmark I had reached. In eight years I have designed 500 T-shirts. That’s a lot of people wearing my art and that makes me happy.