compete-tee-tion

New week, new shirts at Design By Humans. This is Still Life by ste7en, my favorite of the bunch. It's a lot of fun and the celebrity likenesses are dead-on, especially cherry Che, which cracks me up. The bright pop-art colors help make this one a must-have.



Chariots Retired by ianleino is a really clever concept. It definitely sparks the imagination to picture a distant parking lot where all the outdated eighties entertainment vehicles are housed. The vintage water-based print completes the concept nicely.

dwgagner's The Adventure is a cool vintage look. It inspired some controversy in the comments due to some borrowing from some materials exhibited at the Air and Space Museum. I have no real opinion in either direction- I don't think it's necessarily wrong to expand on the work of others in this way, but I do think I probably would have been more interested if it was less faithful to the original. As is, it doesn't catch my interest much.



keithmore's There's Nowhere to Hide is a well-drawn expression of paranoia that takes full advantage of the shirt's length. In the final product, though, it's not quite my cup of tea- I preferred the front and back placement, which I think leaves some mystery about the surveillance (it might seem at first that the satellite is benign or that the man is paranoid, but once you see both sides you have a fuller experience of the theme). It's quality either way I guess, but I'm much less likely to actually purchase this version.

Chaos Came From the Ocean by steven is really amazing- I love all the creatures spouting from the two hands. I also love that the robot is dressed in a pimpish manner for no apparent reason and that his speech bubbles leave no doubt about his intentions. It's a really great shirt, is what I'm saying. Definitely click on the original submission link while you're there, because the design improves when you see it close up (I wish close up views were available for all the shirts).

Overall, a pretty good week. Three of the five are shirts that I'd consider buying, which is some very good odds. Also impressive: DBH's Shirt of the Week is Rapelling Gang, my favorite shirt of last week. Excellent choice!

Labels: design by humans

A poster at the always-helpful T-ShirtForums.com has posted a huge list of helpful t-shirt design links. It includes places to find fonts, free vector imagery, stock images and more.

As always, if you plan to use any of the linked materials in a commercial design, read the agreement very carefully- not all resources are legal for commercial use.

Labels: how-to, tips

The Iron and Wine Loves Threadless competition ended recently, and I was really glad. For me, this was probably the weakest theme I've seen in a Threadless contest (shirts were supposed to be based on the song Boy With a Coin), and it was definitely reflected in the designs that were submitted. But there was still some good work to be found, so here are my top three:



Radiomode's Answer Is looks great- it's an attractive scene with some decorative flourishes and a kickin color palette. The various elements work to reard the viewer for taking a closer look- the cord of the phone loops through the skull and the bird tweets politely into the tin can.



Boy in the Weeds by stor is flat-out neat, and I fully expect it to be printed (whether as a contest winner or not I cannot say). The weeds are rendered in a way that is both organic and mechanical- despite their precision, they almost seem to sway in the breeze.



JoesephWilliamDesign's A Beard of Waves is gorgeous. The beardiness compliments the band that this contest is for, and the character work is excellent. There is also a neat intertwining of styles between the linework in the beard, the halftoning of the skin and the floral pattern in the background.

There were other great shirts as well, but those three were far and away my favorites. It was a tough competition for me as a voter- I somehow managed to avoid giving a five to any of the entries in this one. Ouch! In my limited defense, I did give out plenty of fours. But still, it was definitely not a favorite theme for me.

Labels: iron and wine, loves threadless, threadless

The Implied Form T-Shirt Competition is a joint venture between Chixink (a t-shirt store) and Pink Ghost (a store specializing in vinyl toys). The goal is for designers to create a two-color vector file for a shirt design that has the style of both companies.

The winner will get a copy of their winning shirt, $50 Pink Ghost gift certificate, 10 buttons/badges of the winning design, a matted print of the design and a whole mess of notoriety (including including website links from Chixink, Pink Ghost and Implied Form).

If you're interested in this contest, submit your work before October 20th, 2007.

Labels: chixink, implied form, pink ghost

Shirt.Woot's 9th Derby will begin tomorrow at noon, with the theme City Without Words. Woot has a couple of limitations for submissions: no words or letters of any kind can be used, and no previously entered designs can be used.

Here's how the Derby works: Participants can enter their designs any time from Friday at noon until Wednesday at noon. Early submitters have an advantage, because voting is continuous from Friday at noon until Thursday at noon.

Each week, the top three designs (according to Woot member voting) are printed and sold that weekend. There's been a substantial prize increase, so winners (and those who submit non-derby work directly to Woot) are now set to receive $250 if their shirt sells up to 500 units or a whopping $500 if their shirt sells 501 or more units. The sum of $2 per shirt remains for all shirts sold after the first day, as well, so designers could be looking at quite a windfall.

Labels: city without words, derby, shirt.woot

Design By Humans has redesigned their site, and it is awesome. In addition to a simplified voting system (there's now only the choice to vote for a print, rather than the previous yes-maybe-no options), the new site offers some cool rankings (you can see which designs have received the most votes that day, and which shirts are selling the most copies). You can also see exactly how many votes a design has received, which is very neat.

Design By Humans is an on-going t-shirt design competition, offering prizes for Shirt of the Day, Shirt of the Week and Shirt of the month. Designers can earn up to $3500 (plus residuals). If you enter, be sure to read up on DBH's selection of printing techniques- they can enhance your work with treatments like high density ink, gel, and embroidery.

Labels: design by humans

Until September 30th, 2007, daily t-shirt site Uneetee will be offering free shipping on all the shirts in the Uneetee collection. There are definitely some gems to be had, such as Edno Jr.'s Dream of the Flying Geisha and Loy's Traffic Jam.

US and Canadian customers get free shipping, and international orders will only have to pay half the usual shipping charges. Either way, it's a pretty good deal- especially since shipping charges at Uneetee are typically pretty high.

While you're at Uneetee, you might want to vote on the September finalists for the $1500 design contest. Or, enter your own work in next month's competition.

Labels: shipping, uneetee

Teetonic, the on-going Scottish t-shirt design competition, has a new contest. The UK band Wet Wet Wet is releasing their first new material in a decade, and they've turned to Teetonic to design them an official tour shirt.

The winner gets tickets to a show, a meeting with the band backstage, a framed t-shirt signed by the band, £100 in teetonic.com vouchers and 5 tees of your design. Even non-winners have a chance at taking home something for their efforts- all entrants are entered in a drawing for £100 of Teetonic shirts.

Submit your work before October 8th, 2007 for a chance to win.

Labels: scottland, teetonic, wet wet wet

Ferraby Lionheart Loves Threadless. And if you're like me, you have never heard of this dude. It turns out that he's a musician with a song titled Small Planet. That song is the theme of this contest, so design your shirts accordingly. I'm a little skeptical on this one- I think the recent Iron & Wine competition proved that a lot of people aren't actually taking the time to listen to the song, they're just reading the title. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Anyway, the prize is totally boss: the winner gets a custom Epiphone Les Paul Jr. guitar with their design on it! There's also a Ferraby Lionheart CD, poster and EP in the mix, plus the customary Threadless prize of $2000 cash and a $500 Threadless gift certificate.

Enter before October 24th, 2007 to be eligible for the prize.

Labels: ferraby lionheart, loves threadless, threadless

This week's Select, A Tall Tale, is also my favorite of the new shirt batch at Threadless this week. Artist Chris Thornley (Raid71) has crafted a really charming scene that makes expert use of his drawing style. The dashed markings imply motion and transparency on the ghostly creature, volume and light on the cat, texture on the bird and shadow on the ground. Definitely a great piece.



Ping Pong Championships of '82 by Michael B. Myers, Jr. has a seriously sweet concept- a ping pong pro goes up against the video game Pong paddle. The bright pink and green colors give this one the feeling of a vivid dream, and the shadow work is really nicely done.

Ryan Lin's Northern Ice Pilot has some really nice line work, it expresses dimension and light perfectly. I especially love the way the clouds are rendered. According to the blogs, there may also be some Final Fantasy references in this one- I can't verify that, because while I am a huge video game dork I've only played Final Fantasy 10 (and... not well).



I usually hate shirts that call out the organs like this. They tend to strike me as obvious, and kind of gross. But Treasure Map by Noor Azman Mohd Zain (Jemae) is a huge exception to what I thought was an iron-clad rule. The organs are abstract enough to be visually pleasing and the treatment of the map feels completely authentic. Even a shirt color that I usually dislike is used here to great effect.

Matheus Lopes Castro's La Gran Reunion is another shirt that makes me like a shirt color that I never go for. The pinks and warm browns in this design actually manage to make a natural shirt look good. The concept is also a lot of fun: the image shows a reunion of gentlemen, with the stereotypes that they portray graffiti'd over their images.



Eric Pacenta's Life on Gi'raph Paper is the shirt this week that I'm just not so crazy about. It's well done, don't get me wrong, but the whole composition just feels so cutesy. Still, it's cool to see something that looks so different from the rest of the catalog being printed.

It has now been 273 days since Sink Yourself by Charley Schrader (fat pigeon) finished scoring. It is pretty rare to see a shirt printed after so much time, and I'm really glad that they took another look at this one. My second favorite of the week, there's a lot to like about this design- some great texture in the sweater and boat, nice character work on the storm cloud, and a touch of humor in the lightning-paddle and the storming speech bubble.



The reprints this week are fun, but my general wish for some color variation for reprints still stands. I just think it would be cool if each printing of a shirt had a distinct look to it. And for slogans the type treatment could easily vary from printing to printing- it might even be cool to assign reprint slogans to alumni and have them work out a new look for the slogan.

Overall, though, it's a nice bunch of shirts. Two of them are shirts that I'm highly likely to buy, and most of the rest are ones that I'd wear. There's also a nice variety in style and content.

Labels: threadless

The Allmightys Once Upon a Time competition has entered voting, which will continue until October 8th, 2007. There are some gems in the running, such as The King Is Dead by YONIL (which is a vintage shirt from an alternate fairy tale dimension) and Vile Stories by Puzon (a great composition of monsters with some nice half-toning).

As with all Allmightys contests, t-shirt designers earn commissions based on the sales of their shirts. Gold winners get 2 euros per shirt, silver gets 1.50 euros, and bronze and special selection designs get 1 euro.

Labels: allmightys, once upon a time

This might be my favorite week of shirts so far at Design By Humans. I had three major contenders for my favorite of the week, but in the end I had to go with Rappelling Gang by hagithash. I love the style on these characters, and the addition of the frayed rope embroidery on the back is amazing. Completely charming and totally unique.



danr's Seed was another favorite of mine this week. It takes two common t-shirt elements (the hand and the tree) and combines them into an iconic image. It's beautiful, and the strong visuals have a lot of power to them- this shirt could easily be a message about environmental issues as well. Add in the off-kilter blue color palette, and this shirt is a must-buy for me.

Our World by LoftySofty is a cool concept: it depicts children drawing a chalk cityscape on the pavement. The contrast of the styles used on the children and the drawings is very expressive and fun. While I would have preferred a lighter grey shirt like the one this design was submitted with, this still looks pretty awesome.



RecycledWax's Music is bold and fun. The color palette of pink, blue and white is fresh and suits the artist's cartooning quite well. There's also some nice contrast between the drawing and the background, which I think helps to sell the theme even more.

Luchador Mask Rejects by eskimokiss is awesome. Just flat out awesome. Each mask is amusing on its own, and as a group they're incredible (favorites of mine include Che and the hockey mask). As if the shirt weren't cool enough already, this thing freaking glows in the dark. AWESOME. Do I even need to say that this was another contender for my favorite this week?

Overall this was a great group of shirts. There's not a single one that I dislike, which is quick a feat. Also, congratulations are in order for artist iotadial: his shirt Silk Moth Soliloquy was named Design By Humans Shirt of the Week!

Design By Humans is an on-going t-shirt design competition, printing a new shirt every weekday. Prizes are available for Shirt of the Day ($500 cash and $250 credit), Shirt of the Week ($1000 cash) and Shirt of the Month ($1500 cash and $250 credit). Additional bonuses are available to artists whose shirts sell a lot of copies. Designers should bear in mind that DBH offers a selection of printing options including foil, gel and discharge effects.

Labels: design by humans

Slogan writers whose work is printed by Threadless will now earn $200 cash and $100 in store credit. Additionally, reprints will earn writers an extra $100.

Sloganeers have long campaigned for a prize increase, and it's definitely good to see that Threadless is listening.

Labels: slogan, threadless

Karmaloop has hopped on the t-shirt design competition bandwagon, and is currently offering $3000 for the best submitted design ($2000 cash and $1000 Karmaloop gift certificate). Five runners up will also have their work printed, with a prize of $200 cash and $300 Karmaloop gift certificate each.

Winners will be chosen on October 19th, 2007. To see what others have entered so far, click here.

(via Hide Your Arms)

Labels: $3000 design contest, karmaloop

The image above is not related to the Derby. It was today's designer-created shirt on Shirt.Woot, and I love it. Regular t-shirt design competition fans probably recognize the style- it was created by Nicolas Marcon (Monsieur Pimpant), one of the most original and unique artists in the t-shirt contest game. If you've seen Pimpant shirts for sale anywhere else, let me know. I love this guy's style!

Anyway, on to the Derby: The theme is Summer into Fall, and they're looking for designs that express the changing of the seasons. If you've got a shirt concept, submit it before Wednesday at noon. Community members will vote and the top three favorites will be printed next weekend. Winners get $200, plus an additional $2 per shirt ordered after the first day of sales.

As always, professional designers can submit any kind of t-shirt work to Shirt.Woot at any time and bypass the Derby entirely. If printed, they'll receive $200 and an extra $2 per shirt ordered after the first day.

Derby fans, take note: the Derby blog Best Losers has an interview up with Annie22, a two-time Derby winner. Check it out to learn more about her design process, and to hear the advice she has for Derby entrants.

Labels: derby, monsieur pimpant, shirt.woot, summer into fall

Uneetee's monthly contest recently upped the prize to $1500, and several of September's top twenty contenders are more than worthy winning it. My favorites of this batch have got to be Dina Prasetyawan's Proof of Childhood and Budi Satria Kwan's Redux. They're both clever, well-realized designs that look fantastic on a shirt.

As always at Uneetee, the voting population is still kind of small. That means that some artists are able to swing the results in their favor by getting everyone they know to vote- and it also means that it's very important for everyone who wants the best shirts to win out to make their voice heard by voting.

Uneetee's contests are a monthly affair, so they are currently accepting designs for next month's competition. Submit now for your chance at the next $1500 prize.

Labels: top twenty, uneetee

The 33 1/3 Loves Threadless contest deadline has passed, so it's time to take a look at a few of the top contenders.



The Ash Grove We Come to Be by thepaul is one of the most expressive textural pieces I've seen on Threadless. The woman's face holds a lot of power, and as the eye is drawn in the viewer is rewarded with a cacophony of smooth tan and gold line. The well-chosen tee placement only enhances an already amazing work.



Zero BPM by ejay is dark and whimsical at the same time. Death listens to his favorite sound, while wearing bunny slippers of course. Every detail is perfectly imagined, with subtle touches like the texture on the scythe handle raising the bar even further.



nes-k's Natural Music is probably the most fun grey design I've ever seen. Playful and clean, a figure chooses the bird he'd like to hear by tugging a vine. The restraint of the artist increased the imaginative appeal of this piece.

While those are undoubtedly my top three, there were many excellent submissions to this competition. In scoring, I awarded seven designs with a 5 (four of which were $5). Another nine received a 4.

Labels: 33 1/3, loves threadless, threadless

GorillaTank is a t-shirt design contest that has recently impressed me by printing work like Superfly and PB & Jelly Wrestling. But since they're a new company, they haven't had time to come up with a t-shirt label yet.

And that's where you come in: GorillaTank is currently holding a competition to create a label. Designs should be one-color and no larger than 2x4 inches.

Submit before October 17th, 2007 for a chance at the 692 pounds cash prize.

Labels: gorilla tank, label

It's a nice, varied week at Threadless. First up is my favorite of this bunch, X-Ray by Michael Temim. It's true that there are a lot of shirts in this world with anatomical references, but the style exhibited here sets it apart from the pack. The contrast of the rib drawing and the silhouettes is really fantastic, and the little dog adds a punch of humor to the composition.



Jon Barthell's The Magical Zipper to Weiner Man Land is flat out weird. And I love it. The cartooning is well-done, and the use of the zipper (which a weiner man interacts with) creates a really intriguing (if somewhat terrifying) scene.

I'm not quite so positive about Teddy Band by Alexandra de Rosso. It's nicely drawn, but to me nothing differentiates this design from the hundreds of cutesy shirts that get submitted to Threadless every day. Even worse, I find the arrangement of characters pretty uninspiring- some of the animals seem as bored as I am with this broken drumstick drama.



International Translation by Tony Elmore is one that I wasn't overly keen on in scoring. While I still maintain that it wouldn't function very well in the wild (more generic international icons sould be more successful), the change to make the design more vertical increased its usefulness by quite a bit. Now that there's more space between concepts it is much more clear what the wearer is indicating. And while usefulness might be debated (by me, at great length), it's definitely a good looking shirt.

This week's slogan is Screw Vintage. This Shirt is From the Future. It's a neat sentiment, and I appreciate the color scheme. What else can I really say about a slogan tee?



Eric Fan's Helium Menagerie is a one=color masterpiece. The linework expertly expresses shadow and the bulging of air in rubber. I'm not so crazy about the color scheme (the blue from the original submission was more to my taste) but it's pretty damn attractive regardless.

Paisley Paramecium by Julian Glander is another cool design with a bit of a color issue. The original submission was green on green, which seemed perfectly suited to the subject matter. Blue on navy isn't ugly or anything, but it doesn't fit my preconceived notions about microscopes quite as well. At any rate, paisley is gorgeous. Microscopes are fascinating. This shirt is neat.

This week also brought back two reprints, Radios by Dan Terry and Damn Scientists by John Slabyk. They're both really solid, exactly the type of work that deserves another print. While I'd rather see some drastic changes in the color scheme when a reprint is done (dark red on light blue is the way of the future), I'm otherwise wholly in favor.

Labels: threadless

Fans of sports and comedy take note: The Comebacks Loves Threadless. What is The Comebacks? It's a sports movie spoof, starring David Koechner (who you probably recognize from about a thousand non-starring comedy roles, including a stint on The Office).

Submissions should use the theme "Keep Your Eye on the Ball." Submit your work before October 17th, 2007 for your chance to win a prize package including a Sony Portable DVD Player, Fox Atomic DVD's, Comebacks swag and the customary Threadless prize of a $500 Threadless Gift Certificate and $2,000 in cash.

Labels: loves threadless, the comebacks, threadless

Design By Humans is quickly becoming my favorite t-shirt site. This week's batch of shirts has a wide range of artistic style and an intriguing selection of printing techniques. Let's take a closer look:

My favorite shirt this week has got to be It's a Lovely Death by OutwardCreative. The textures are beautiful, as is the color scheme- it's an attractive look at a deeply unattractive subject, and that juxtaposition is very appealing. I love the way the colors loop around each other.

Silk Moth Soliloquy is totally original. The asian theme is a great fit to artist iotadial's style, and the strong vertical of the design expresses a lot of yearning. I can imagine that the gold foil accents in this piece give it a lot of pop.

tomburns' GOOD and EVIL has an amazing vintage illustrative style, perfectly suited to an oversize print. It's a one-color print done really well- the lines communicate shades of grey as well, which keeps things fresh.

Tales by DangerRuss was probably my second favorite this week. The subject matter, a grandfather regaling his grandchildren with exaggerated stories from his pasts, is both amusing and heart-warming. The style is expressive and unique (in particular, I love the way the speech bubble is treated). Silver foil highlights add even more pizazz to this awesome shirt.

fawnfruits' Underwaterdeer is the first shirt I can recall that has had an applique treatment. While I was skeptical of how that technique would look on a shirt, I have to admit that this looks really wicked. Placement is different on the men's and women's versions of this shirt, but the men's version is perfect- the horns curve around towards the collar.

Overall, a great week. I like the range of work shown. Also, I've added Design By Humans to the list of contest links on the right of this page. Thanks to Jamey of Sunsports for pointing out the oversight.

Labels: dangerruss, design by humans, fawnfruits, iotadial, outwardcreative, tomburns

Rocky Road Rena are purveyors of limited edition t-shirts (with runs of either 1 shirt or 50 shirts), and this Australian-based company is looking for shirt designs that tell the world how you're keeping the environment "green 'n' clean." Keep it black and white and send it in by October 5th, 2007 for your chance to win a fabulous prize package of $500 worth of Rocky Road Rena gear.

Labels: australia, green n clean, rocky road rena

ComputerLove, a website that serves as a network for creative professionals, is holding a t-shirt design competition. They're looking for designs that express the theme "Utopia."

First and second prizes are iPhones, and third prize is a Nintendo Wii. If that sounds good to you, submit your work before the deadline of October 15th, 2007.

(Thanks to Rangga of T-Shirt Island for the tip!)

Labels: computerlove, utopia

There's a new Derby on at Shirt.Woot and this week's theme is "Blank is the New Pirate." They're looking for shirts with a new, cool historical archetype that people could replace pirates with. Listed examples include vikings, gauchos, centurions, samurai, Foreign Legionnaires, monks and Cossacks, if that gets your imagination running.

Submit your work before Wednesday at noon. Sooner is better than later, because voting is on-going until Thursday at noon. The top three designs will be printed next weekend, with the winning designers getting $200 (as well as $2 per shirt sold after the first day of sales).

If you've got a great design that doesn't fit the theme, Woot is still interested. E-mail Woot with details of your previous design experience and some samples of your work. If printed, you'll be picking up $200 per design (and the customary $2 per shirt sold after the first day).

This Shirt.Woot thing must really be taking off, because there are already a couple of new websites built to assist the Derby fanatics. One member has set up a statistics page so that designers can see how voting patterns affected their work (and when they gained or lost votes). Another site, Best Losers, is dedicated to the great designs that didn't quite have what it takes to win the Derby.

Labels: best losers, blank is the new pirate, pirate, shirt.woot, statistics

I've posted previously about the t-shirt site Keydon, which was formerly a t-shirt contest site. They've recently changed directions and are now featuring humorous and vintage-style shirts instead of the more illustrative style they previously favored.

The change was due entirely to some trouble on the technical end, and while Keydon will remain a vintage shirt site, key people at the company are still intending to create a competition-style site under another name in the future (stay tuned!).

Unfortunately for those of us who wanted to buy some of the artistic shirts from the site's last incarnation, they're not available. After the site changed directions Keydon released all the artwork back to the artists (so don't be surprised if the shirt you liked pops up at another site).

Here's some good news for all the idea people out there: Keydon is looking for some great shirt ideas. If you've got an idea that they use, they'll pay $100 (and you'll get a free shirt)! Think vintage, think funny and send it to Keydon.

Labels: keydon, vintage

Gorilla Tank has just added two new t-shirts to their line-up. Both are now available for purchase, but act quickly- like all Gorilla Tank shirts, quantity is very limited (200 pieces).

First up is Nudist Beach. I admit, I'm not crazy about this one. The joke is decent, but I just don't understand what it's doing on a shirt. The imagery is well-done, it's just not a very attractive subject. I also feel like there's a missed opportunity in that the egg is cooking on the sand in the hot sun (complete with smoke plume) and there's no mention to that in the text. Surely some kind of hotness or coming out of one's shell reference could have pushed this over the top.

PB & J Wrestling, though, is one I have no criticisms about. It's a funny image (sumo is inherently funny) that manages to be completely gorgeous at the same time. The jelly, the peanut butter and the bread each have a distinct texture and the colors really pop on the brown shirt. I'm probably going to pick up one of these today.

Gorilla Tank is an on-going t-shirt design competition, so if you've got the goods check it out. Winning designers will receive 300 pounds (about $600) and 120 pounds in store credit.

Labels: gorilla tank

Design is Kinky has announced One Color Comp, a t-shirt design competition just for one-color shirt designs. The winner's shirt will be printed, and that designer will also receive some fantastic prizes (semi-permanent books, empty mags and t-shirts).

Submit your work before October 15th, 2007 for a chance to win.

Labels: design is kinky, one color comp

Zazzle is having a contest in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day. Enter your pirate-themed apparel (or other products that Zazzle offers) for a chance to win $1000 cash. Ten runners-up will also receive prizes of $25 in Zazzle vouchers.

Enter by September 16th, 2007 for your chance to win.

Labels: pirate, zazzle

By far one of the coolest aspects of the new Threadless store is the fact that they are offering classes (in conjunction with Digital Bootcamp). Ever since these classes were announced, I've been wondering what would be taught. Well, all my questions are answered... and classes begin in less than a week!

Here are some of the subjects:
Flash Essentials
Photoshop Essentials
Working With The Pen Tool
Illustrator Essentials
CS2-CS3 Transition
Using The Wacom Tablet
Getting The Most From Your Digital Camera

I'm definitely tempted on the Wacom Tablet class, I must admit. My tablet skills are pretty much non-existent. But, since all listed classes so far are from 5:30 to 7:30 on weekdays, I'm probably too far away to get there anyway. Here's hoping for some weekend offerings in the future!

via Custom T-Shirt Talk

Labels: digital bootcamp, retail store, threadless

The story of this week's batch of new Threadless shirts is, for me, centered around the major design change made to Deus Ex Machina. I'm totally in favor of the change- my main issue with this design during scoring was that the human hand seemed oddly placed and much less stylish than the rest. But it's definitely interesting to see how much Threadless is willing to change about a design before the printing occurs. It's a pretty substantial argument against resubmitting work with some changes now that there's some compelling evidence that Threadless is willing to look past those types of flaws and change them after the fact. At any rate, it's a pretty great-looking shirt (though the ladies version might have some placement issues).

Deus Ex Machina was one of two shirts printed this week by Dan Rule. The other is What Makes It Go, a whimsical look at the inner-workings of a giraffe. The close up view is tons of fun, but for me the shirt is fairly weak from farther back. To me, a shirt that requires close viewing is not one with a design that is well-suited to the t-shirt medium. The illustration is fantastic, but for me it's just not at home on a shirt.

Medusa is this week's Select. While most Selects showcase the work of Threadless artists who have had multiple prints, this is the other type of Select- created by an artist that Threadless approached specifically for this purpose. Artist Ray Frenden, who recently worked on the art for Bioshock, conceived this shirt as a kind of acid metal explosion. The colors are insane, and so are the eye sockets on that skull. It's the kind of shirt that I enjoy looking at but would never wear (maybe because I would spend the whole day staring at my own shirt!).

Color-Coded Criminals is pure Threadless: an homage to a classic movie done up on a shirt with style to spare. I'm not a Reservoir Dogs fan, and I'd still wear it. The shape of the car's interior adds to the fun.

Pulsars and Dying Stars is the Joy Division fan shirt of your dreams, I guess. If you like Joy Division. And you somehow don't already have a shirt like this. To me, this isn't the kind of shirt that I like to see printed, though I'm sure it has its fans. By which I mean Joy Division fans. *sigh*

My Favorite Pattern is a design by Fufuki, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Threadless designers. It's solid: the ladybug spots are in an eye-pleasing (an not entirely typical) configuration, and the ladybug character is drop dead cute. Hopefully this is just the first of many Fufuki shirts at Threadless.

The Friendly Narwhal by Brian Walline is one of my favorites this week. It's a masterpiece of texture and characterization. Great attention to detail, especially in the softness of the narwhal's eye and the lifeless sprawl of the polar bear.

Overall, a nice selection of shirts. It's a nice bunch, and I bet all the shoppers at the retail store's opening day enjoyed them.

(Edited to remove the line about Ray Frenden working on BioShock, as I appear to have invented that. Sorry!)

Labels: threadless

The French t-shirt design competition site French Loser just added two new shirts to their catalog- and they're both fantastic!

Headache by Drew Millward is a great line-drawing that stays fresh by using an innovative coloring style. I love the way the colored areas overlap. Plus, the treatment of the smoke cloud (which includes a face that stands out from the rest of the design by remaining unoutlined) is a really creative touch.

Miami by Theoze is quite nice as well, a typical vacation tee done up to represent the reality of Miami's weather. It's kind of a mix of tourist and terror- a woman screams as a hurricane looms large behind her. And of course, the styling is terrific with its comic overtones.

The design contest at French Loser is ongoing, so keep on submitting. Winners receive 2 euros per shirt, which can add up to as much as 1000 euros depending on the size of the print run.

Labels: drew millward, france, frenchloser, headache, miami, theoze

While not directly t-shirt related, I just have to pimp this new site: Artbreak. It's a site to sell your art through (or, in some cases, just show your art), and though the site is still beta testing they've already got some really gorgeous work up and available for purchase.

Personally, I was drawn to the work of Andrea Heimer and Bill O'Neil, but there are a lot of talented people listed.

And maybe it's just my t-shirt centric world view, but I'd love to see most of these people take a crack that format!

Labels: andrea heimer, artbreak, bill o'neil

Congratulations to MrRocks, whose shirt design Is Nothing Sacred? was selected as Shirt of the Week at Design By Humans.

The award for Shirt of the Week is an additional $1000 (Shirts of the Day receive $750). There is also a monthly prize of $1750 up for grabs, so if you've got a great shirt design (especially one that takes advantage of the unique print techniques that DBH offers), try your hand at submitting. The contest is on-going.

(You may have noticed that this week's winner... wasn't actually a Shirt of the Day winner this week. I think this irregularity is due to the fact that no Shirt of the Week was awarded last week, when the $5000 winner was announced. I expect (though no formal rule seems to exist) that in the future, a Shirt of the Day will win the Weekly prize during its inaugural week.)

Labels: design by humans, mrrocks, shirt of the week

T-Shirt Hell has been offering a prize for idea submissions for awhile now, but they've just recently increased the prize to $500 (formerly $200) and 10 shirts. So if you have a horribly offensive t-shirt idea, there's never been a better time to send it along to T-Shirt Hell.

Labels: offensive, t-shirt hell

I'm not gonna lie, I check Design By Humans every day to see what kickass shirt they've decided to print. And every day, I am pleasantly surprised. Because these are truly amazing shirts, make no mistake- the raw creativity and finely-tuned skill on display at DBH is pretty much unmatched by an other site, a fact made all the more amazing because this is still only the site's second week. Unbelievable.

Animal Story by Raid71 was today's addition, and it is fantastic. I love this guy's style because it conveys so much information about light and texture, and the special technique of adding some embroidered accents probably helps to emphasize that even more in person.

Animal Farm by tomburns is one of the most attractive shirts I've seen in awhile. The interplay of blues and yellows is gorgeous, and the fact that the design is an homage to the Orwell novel (which, unfortunately, I've never actually read) just adds more depth to an already great tee.

Revelations by jimiyo requires a closeup: the delicate lines, smooth shadows and cool copper highlights work together to form a really stylish look. I admit to hating the shirt color on general principle, but it works well with the design here.

Turttle by RWR2 is defined by the bold turtle and tree that form its center. It's a brilliant, fresh drawing and I bet the flock print adds even more flavor. I might be picking this one up this weekend.

Citylife by Steven communicates the feel of the city perfectly. The printing techniques (oversize print, suede puff lines, foil highlights, oh my!) just communicate awesomeness.

Overall, a really nice week. It's interesting that four of the five shirts center around animals, I wonder if there'll be more accidental themes in the future? Anyway, part of me hopes DBH prints some more mediocre stuff soon- buying shirts at this rate, I'm going to be broke!

Labels: design by humans, jimiyo, raid71, rwr2, steven, tomburns

Since the Mae Loves Threadless deadline passed a week ago, I think it's fair to say that all the designs have entered scoring by now. The top tier of this contest was pretty great, I awarded a $5 score to four contenders. But here are the three that I'd most like to see go home with the prize:



The Great Discovery is well-named, because it is a flat-out great shirt. Awesome color scheme, creates a fun shape on the shirt, and there's even an interesting back story (check the first comment in the link to learn more). Plus, it would be deeply cool if a collaborative design won a contest with the theme of Singularity. It must happen!



They Were Robots is a cool depiction of what it might look like if some of history's most decorated names were, well, robots. Time-traveling robots. And you know what, it looks freaking amazing. I want that version of reality. The roboticized icons include Einstein, a Pharaoh, some Confucian dude and Shakespeare. And even if I have some of those names wrong, it's still a winner in my book- the whimsy of robot mustaches cannot be beaten.



Survivor is a little different from the others, because it is much more dour. The last mannequin soldier tows a katamari of his dead brethren, looking very much like he has the weight of the world (or at least an ass ton of mannequin parts) on his shoulders. But you know what? It looks great, it has a strong message, and I'd be proud to wear it.

Overall, a great competition. There were more than a dozen entries that I think would make excellent additions to the Threadless catalog, hopefully a few of them will make that leap in the weeks to come.

Labels: loves threadless, mae, threadless

The newest Derby theme at Shirt.Woot has been announced: Visually Sound. Basically, they're just looking for any kind of visual representation of sound. Which seems like a pretty awesome topic to me, though I fear an onslaught of shirts covering in comic book-style sound effects done in MS Paint.

As always, submissions can be made from Friday at noon until Wednesday at noon. Voters will determine the top three shirts, which will be sold over the weekend. Designers who win will earn $200 for the first night of sales and $2 per shirt for every shirt sold after the first day.

Designers with some t-shirt experience can bypass this process entirely if they choose and submit shirts of any theme directly to Woot. Check out the What is Woot link for details.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot, visually sound

Talbots Kids is currently holding a shirt design contest just for kids. Entrants should be between 4 and 12 years of age, and should submit a design consisting of their favorite animals.

Prizes will be awarded to ten individuals. First place will be printed, with the winner receiving a $1000 Talbots Kids shopping spree and a drawing gift sets. The other nine winners will get the drawing gift sets and $250 shopping sprees.

To enter, submit your design along with a Talbots entry form before October 3rd.

via Promo Magazine

Labels: children, talbots kids

Animals are pretty great, huh? That's what Rocky Mountain Animal Defense believes, and it just so happens that they're holding a t-shirt design contest.

There are actually two competitions: One for a RMAD logo shirt and one for a more general shirt sporting a design with an advocacy message. There are two first prizes (one for each category), as well as second, third and honorable mention prizes. If you win, you'll be the proud recipient of some vegan ice cream, gift certificates, a magazine subscription... You know, all that crazy vegan stuff.

Enter your work before November 31st, 2007 for a chance to win.

Labels: animal rights, rocky mountain animal defense, vegan, vegetarian

You guys, E For All totally Loves Threadless! E For All is so into Threadless, it's ridiculous- they're awarding a prize that includes a $400 JetBlue giftcard, a Nintendo Wii, 2 4-day passes to the E For All Expo and a bunch of E For All swag- all in addition to the typical Threadless prize of $2000 and a $500 Threadless gift certificate. That's quite a dowry!

Aaaaaaanyway, it's a theme wedding. I know, how cliche! But they're both really into it, so let's play along. The theme is "Power Up and Play." I guess we should design shirts?

This competition runs until October 1st, 2007.

Labels: e for all, loves threadless, threadless, video games

The $10 sale at Threadless marches on, with a smattering of shirts for the last day of the sale.

After Show is a really great shirt- there's kind of a melancholy vibe in the way everyone is sweeping up the remains of the musical notes, and it's a cool touch that one sweeper is whistling. Cap it off with a really nice seventies-inspired color scheme, and this is undeniably a great shirt.

But my favorite of the week has got to be We're Not Savages. It's an immaculately styled Lord of the Rings tribute, and the mixture of bold black and white with subtle red shading creates an amazing sense of environment.

Ascending Descent is one that I knew would get printed from the moment I saw it in scoring. It's well-styled, and I can't really nitpick it at all... However, I just plain don't like it. I think I'm reacting to the halftones (which, to me, kind of bring the quality level down) or maybe the angles of the piece just aren't grabbing me. I don't know, it's a puzzler.

The complicated take on a symbolic image is a good idea, and that's why Roadside Picnic really works for me. While I preferred the color combinations in the original submission, it's bold enough that I think it would work with just about any set of colors.

A Collection of Flies is another one that I've been expecting to see printed. It's pretty clever, and the artwork is solid. If I were in the market for a flies-pinned-to-a-shirt kind of thing, this would absolutely be the one to get.

I hate Luckiest T-Shirt Ever. There, I said it. It's a concept that pops up a lot at Threadless, and this is easily one of the worst iterations I've seen. It's honestly kind of mind-boggling to me that it both scored well and got printed. The drawing style is not great, the characterizations of the lucky items are uninspired... I just don't see a winner here.

Now I Know My ABCs is another that I am just not digging. Why is this a rectangle? To me, the overall shape of this absolutely kills the fun and whimsy a shirt like this should have. That's just about the only flaw, but it's such a huge flaw that it destroys the whole shirt for me. The geometry of the letters contrasted with them forming a cool, organic shape would have been amazing, and I weep for the shirt that might have been.

So, it was kind of a disappointing set of shirts for me. Two fantastic shirts, but the rest are less than what I think they could be.

Labels: $10 sale, threadless

I didn't post a summary of this weeks new Threadless designs- it seems that natural disasters (flooding, specifically) are one of the few things that can distract me from my t-shirt obsession. But now that that's been cleared up and my internet connection has been back for a few days, I'm ready to post the huge summary.

First off, I am so glad to see that Unseen Unheard got printed. It was one of my favorites from the Ted Leo competition, and I was pretty disappointed when it didn't win (though the actual winner, My Classmate, is certainly quite nice as well). Further, the artist of Unseen Unheard is Ed Pincombe, yesterday's big Uneetee winner. Wow, way to take the internet t-shirt world by storm!

My other favorite of this week's new tees is Wishless, which is just absolutely gorgeous. It's a great enough idea that it might have been printed regardless of artistic quality, but the extra effort is evident in the elegant texture work on the dragon.

Strength in Numbers is a Ross Zietz design, so of course it's already sold out in adult sizes. But it's not just the superstar name that made this a quick sellout- the colors are masterfully done, and the halftones lend a beautiful subtle shading that takes the piece to the next level. Additionally, the shark's expression is completely charming.

What can I say about Cat on a Skateboard? How about this- it's kind of like an adult-oriented update of the shirts kids wore in the eighties. It's bold, it's fun, it's awesome.

Then there's Stupid Cupid. I admit, I don't really care for this one. The colors are dull and to me, the characters are so subtly portrayed that they seem pretty lacking in personality. Add a white shirt and this one is pretty much dead to me. (Its close to sold out, though, so clearly others disagree with my assessment.)

Grave of the Fireflies is one that I almost like. Almost. Part of my objection is the color scheme- that shade of brown on back isn't really doing it for me. There's also some awkwardness in the way the jar is portrayed- the angle seems unlikely to my eye. The figure in the background also strikes me as unresolved.

Amazon Addiction is alright, and given the number of Tetris-themed submissions that Threadless receives, I guess they were bound to print one eventually. I just hate that it was this one (I'm rather partial to Working Game. Plus, the placement isn't really ideal- that branch seems way too low.

Stupid Raisins, Stay Out of My Cookies is a great Text Tee. Its bold, child-like qualities are so appealing that I'd be tempted to wear it even though I love raisins.

Unicorn is a great pun with a nice, bold image and a halftone punch that lends extra style to the concept.

Another one with a simple, bold graphic is Bad Apple. The pixelated middle fingers are a great touch, as is the shadow beneath the apple. It's no surprise that this is already sold out on everything except the hoody.

UR In My Top 8 is a great concept- a knight sends text messages to his princess rather than risk fighting the monsters that stand between him and the castle tower. Some really amazing textures help this shirt to be one of this week's stand outs.

Kids will hold hands with anybody. That, and a simple case of missing identity, form the basis of the design for Everybody Loves a Yeti. It's a nice, spare piece of art with tons of personality.

The Select this week was Rock the Frog, but for me the shirt didn't live up to its awesome name. There's a sense of studied awkwardness at play (which I usually go for), but here it just seems to detract from the sense of motion that a smashed guitar ought to have. The shirt placement is perfect, but the rest of this is just not my cup of tea.

Anthill Trap is solid. There's a great cartoony style at play, and the joke is easy to understand at a glance. I'm really not crazy about the giant sun shape in the background, but I'll also grant that I don't have a better idea on how to handle that space.

Overall, a great selection of shirts. The $10 sale continues until Monday, so if you haven't checked it out yet, definitely take a look.

Labels: $10 sale, ed pincombe, threadless

Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on Uneetee's August $1000 winner. This shirt, titled Blast From the Past, was created by artist Ed Pincombe.

Starting now, the shirt will be available for $10 at Uneetee (offer ends on September 5th).

The September contest is currently accepting entries, so if you think you've got the next winner, go for it!

Labels: $1000 winner, blast from the past, ed pincombe, uneetee