Tees

Recently I was very fortunate to work on some officially licensed Cartoon Network art for the hit TV show Adventure Time. I am a been a big fan of this show and it’s amazing character design. BMO has always been one of my favorite characters. So when it came to designing some apparel for the show I had to start with BMO. For most of the designs I kept a hand drawn feel to the art. I especially wanted to create a large doodle drawing encompassing all of the best characters. I also doodled many sayings and easter eggs from the show around the characters. Cartoon network selected three of my designs and for now they are being sold online. I’m hoping they will get picked up for some retail placement but we’ll see how they do. You can see more detailed images of the designs here.

My art work is now being sold on t-shirts in Slovakia and I am pretty excited about that! I worked with Megin Clothing to create a line of apparel last year and now it is live in their web store. They make a range of apparel and accessories, including some unique cut and sew items. The collection includes many of my Day of Dead skull designs and also some of my cuter character art pieces. My art is featured on tees, custom tees and leggings. They also work with champion athletes to promote their brand and philosophy. The tees came out great and based on the images they sent to me, Slovakia looks beautiful. I’m stoked to have my art in this part of the world. It is Crazy to think how far your art can travel. If you like any of the pieces you can find the apparel I designed here.

A few months ago I was approached by the salsa making company Gilly Loco to make a few t-shirts. They sent me a very nice care package and I got to sample most of their products. Deliciously spicy salsas and yummy chips! Inspired by the tasty treats, I created many ideas and preliminary sketches. Gilly Loco selected a lazy lizard laying on a sugar skull after eating way too much salsa! The design had roots in Mexican art with a sugar skull front and center, surrounded by the key ingredients of the product.

The second design was a special release for the holidays and featured a new play on Santa Claus. Delivering salsa and chips to all the good boys and girls. This was a cool little project with some delicious samples thrown in. Perfect! Unfortunately all of the tees sold out before I could get my hands on them! Maybe next time….

New Website, classic designs

Shirt Hero is a brand spanking new T-shirt website. It is no ordinary t-shirt site, It’s got a clever twist to how it works. It’s ridiculously cheap. You can buy T-shirts for just $7! Seven dollars a t-shirt is amazing! The good news is that unlike other super cheap T-shirt sites these guys are using a very nice quality T-shirt blank. It’s a 100% cotton ringspun 30 singles tee that trust me, for T-shirt nerds like me is surprising at this price point.

Prior to their launch I worked with them to offer some of my most popular designs for their kick off. An Ode to Wild things, Don’t Give a Hoot, Extreme Coffee and Calavera are all available for just $7 each as part of their launch release. They’ll update the catalog once a month and offer new designs, same crazy price. The bad news is that the older releases may not be restocked so if you are interested, act now. At the permanent price of $7 a tee I think my designs will be gone pretty fast. As they bring them back you might see them appear on different blank colors.

My Third Win at the Site Where it All Began.

Threadless has a special place in my heart. This is because a. I got my love of T-shirt design from there and b. I met my wife through that site! After an eight year hiatus I got my 3rd print, have to say it felt pretty great. I first got printed back in 2008 with my first ever submission to the site “I’m with…”. My second win, ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’ was a little later that year. So after many submissions and a lot of high scores I finally got a 3rd win with a design submitted to the Sublimation contest!

The new winning design is called ‘Many Layered Doodle‘ and it features a mass of layers filled with themed doodles; houses, dinosaurs, the ocean and monsters. This is the style I am most well known for and as an all over sublimated print it works very well. Threadless has changed a lot over the eight years, with a core of their catalog going to print on demand. The one disappointment in winning this time was that Threadless no longer do exclusive staff photography for the winners, so the images were all mocked up in Photoshop, which isn’t nearly as much fun. I did however get samples and the tees, cushion and tote bag were all printed very nicely.

The design is available in tees, tanks, pillows, tote bags, wall art and phone cases!  Threadless and I go way back and the brand has been a big part of my success. They will always bring good memories for me and I’m super happy to be back there.

Unique boutique City Kid Style wotto tees

Occasionally I am blessed with the opportunity to work with a brand who gives me a good amount of creative freedom. City Kid Style is one such brand. This unique boutique store offers printed “basics” and unique one of a kind hand made kids clothing. The brain child of a Washington mom with a local, sustainable and American made message, this brand has a great products.

I was commissioned to create a tee centered around a well know Oscar Wilde quote. The brief was loose and afforded me the luxury of letting the design unfold organically. I tried to represent the young kids who would wear this tee with characters, words and positive energy that reflected the spirit of the brand. A mass of characters and doodles developed into a unique slightly heart shaped composition. Happiness, Education, Home and Friendship were all represented in a fun and unique way.

My work allows me to work with giant brands and smaller boutique companies like City Kid Style. One thing is for sure it always feels good to support a small business lead by people with passion and a dream. We should all support our local, creative and sustainable businesses, it’s in all of our interests. Take the time to support this brand and pick up one of  their tees here.