Collaboration

I entered a design contest hosted by BlackStrap, something I don’t do very often. Designing masks and gaiters for outdoor sports seemed like a fun idea with a new product type to explore. My submission was a yellow and black design featuring my signature doodles and characters. After a few months they notified me, while I was in Big Bear that I had won and that my design would be turned into one of their products. They also let me know that the design was being made into a snowboard that would be sent out to me. That was pretty exciting. The design has been made into a product and is now available through their store here.

Back in 2015 when Inkbox was starting out I designed a few temporary tattoos for them. Fast forward seven years and I was asked to design some new pieces. Over the years I have been asked to design tattoos and that is always an honor. Temporary tattoos are a little less intimidating because the person won’t have them forever. Based on that, I was more playful with these designs and wanted to explore some unique themes. I submitted many designs and five have been selected so far. I am hoping to build on my collection over the next 12 months.

I have two tattoo bands that feature doodles of apposing themes, Warm & Fluffy and Death & Mayhem. Whether you lean towards the dark side or love fluffy and cute, there is a tattoo band to suit all. I also have a smiley face, a cheeky skull and a spider. These designs are all available via their website: www.inkbox.com

Wilson are one of the biggest sporting brands in the world. This year I got to work on collaboration between this sporting giant and Illumination Entertainment. The Minions are also an iconic set of characters who have global appeal. Wilson wanted a fresh take on the Minions for their 2022 line. The line included tennis rackets, bags, badminton sets and accessories. I designed several concepts with multiple pieces of art. Two looks were selected.

The first piece of art is a very abstract tiled pattern that is full of Minions, tennis symbols and gradient shapes. The colors are relevant to the Minions but I selected brighter more unique colors. The second look was a repeated emoji style Minion, repeated to look like an audience at a tennis match. Both designs were well received and selected for many pieces of the collection. You can see the full collection here. All product is ©Universal Studios.

In late 2021 I was asked to partner with the global fashion brand Shein. As part of their artist series I was asked to provide art to be made into products. These products were made available through their website. shein.com Throughout the year new items will be added. This was an exciting opportunity and together we worked on eight products for release in 2022. At the time of writing this five of the eight products have been released. Having a collection with a global brand is an interesting experience. The reach and relevance of this brand means my art will touch a whole new audience across the globe. That in itself was pretty attractive to me but they also paid me too, which is nice.

Creator Toronto has developed a modular denim jacket that allows wearers to change the back panel of their jacket to feature artists designs. This jacket was two years in the making and I was pleased to be invited to help last year. Creator sourced artists from around the globe to create the bespoke panels for the back of the jacket. I have five designs available and I hope to add more soon. Panels can be switched to match outfits, reflect moods or just to support an artist.

Creator launched this project recently via kickstarter and quickly raised their target amount. As I type this they have surpassed their target 3 times over and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping! Hopefully the popularity of the jacket means artists will be supported by this brand for many years to come. You can see all of my design here at my personalized profile on their store website. Right now you can support their kickstarter and get a jacket at a reduced price!