Threadless has begun another of their famed $10 sales, and to celebrate they've also printed and reprinted a total of 18 shirts! That is downright gluttonous. But awesome! And for all the holiday shoppers out there, they've set up a gift guide.
Confessions of a Jock: I Killed a Nerd by Thomas De Santis (Montro) is a deeply cool image- it instantly reminded me of that episode of the Twilight Zone where a dude is locked in a bank vault during a nuclear war (if you saw it, you know the one- but I won't spoil it for people who somehow haven't see it yet). There's a sense of fragility any time you see a lone pair of glasses, because you know that the owner is at the very least crippled by their loss, unable to accurately perceive the visual world. I also enjoy the theme of nature reclaiming a symbol of knowledge. And, of course, the owl- is the owl tiny, or are the glasses huge? Either way, I am a fan.
I have mixed feelings about Splatter in D Minor by Jahoosawa. Black ink on a white shirt pretty much always looks boring. And I've never seen splatters with that kind of sharpness, which makes the composition look lazily done. Further, the design was submitted with the splatter beginning on the shoulder, which added to the motion in the piece (it is now centered, which is less interesting). There are things to like about this, though- the line of the notes and splatter is attractive, and there's a very well done gradual transition between the splatter and the notes. But for me, it's just not enough.
This week's Type Tee is Movies: Ruining the Book Since 1920 by Jayson Dougherty (ZombieToArt). It's a quality slogan, but to me the shirt could use some work. I feel like shirts should be good-looking even from far away, and this font isn't doing it for me. Maybe because the catalog already includes Sound of Silents, they decided to go with a movie theater setting and a modern font... but to me, something with a more antique twenties-style vibe would have been a must-buy, while this shirt comes up a bit short.
Punk Rock Cock by Aled Lewis (fatheed) is ridiculously good. The illustration itself is on point, especially the safety pin and those little boots. It's also a great merging of the rooster and punk concepts, from the mohawk to the colored feathers. Really great work.
To me, One Handprint of Nature by Jojo R. Dabucol III (BLXMAN77) is a missed opportunity. The idea itself isn't bad (though its been done many times before), but the execution strikes me as pretty lacking. It all looks pasted together, with very little merging or transition between the nature and hand elements. It isn't enough to use fingerprint to fill in a zebra, those lines should also join up with the lines of the hand. The trunks of the trees should bend into the hand, maybe even with roots that enter the handprint. Overall, this just doesn't look finished to me.
Boy in the Weeds by Winson Lee Ying Hang (stor) is a real standout in this group of new shirts. It stands apart from the rest of the collection, as it is so geometric in nature. I love the color scheme, the strong vertical thrust of the piece, and the quiet asymmetry in the leaves. The design has the feel of being a nature pattern from the future.
Tragedy Struck by Jack Moore (jacklmoore) is a common shirt topic revitalized with a fresh illustrative style. Nice touches abound, from the curves of the background to the dotted motion lines. The roller skates make it clear that this disaster will happen quickly, and the droplets behind the ice leave no question that it's too late to put a stop to it.
The Raven's Cry by Andrew John Mohacsy (Andreas Mohacsy) is a real smorgasbord of textures. It's a gorgeous illustration, no doubt, and there's so much going on my eyes don't know quite where to land. I'm not a huge fan of this as a shirt, though- I find the overall shape of the piece to be awkward on a shirt, and I think this level of detail isn't a great fit for the t-shirt medium. I'm a fan of this artist, but I wish some of his other work had been printed instead.
Now That's Dope by Robert Gould (Robsoul) is kind of a hand-drawn approach to the type of cartoon that Married to the Sea does. Two generals discuss the dopeness of their phonograph tunes, hilarity ensues. The style of the drawing and the illustrated font add value to the piece. Unfortunately, it has been printed on bright yellow. It takes a very special shirt design to overcome a shirt color like that, and for me this just isn't it.
Three Plus... One? by Giulia Cucija (jewel947) is the kind of cutesy shirt that I typically dislike- but I think that this one is pretty nice. The difference between this and a lot of other funny animal shirts is the strong design choices, such as the crooked, strangely windowed buildings and the bright colors. I also like the progressive realization of the birds as your eye travels from left to right.
Paper Cranes by Glenn Jones (Glennz) is the ideal execution of a joke shirt: the colors are bright and bold, the message is clear even from a distance, and the concept is easy to grasp. An origami figure does karate's Crane stance (instantly recognizable to anyone who has seen The Karate Kid) in the direction of a couple of origami cranes, who seem more than a match for this dude's awkward posing.
Hitchhiker by Henrique Lima (Gringz) has a great style. I like the short, squat rocket (which barely seems able to lift itself off the otherworldly surface) straining under the extra weight of the jovial cyclops. The details make the piece, from the well-realized background art to the series of buttons, switches and wires on the rocket exterior.
The first (and best) of this week's modern reprints is Cowboys and Indians by Glenn Jones (Glennz). It's a funny shirt, yes, but what makes it really shine is the amazing shading on the horse and elephant. The orange shirt is another great touch- it conveys the heat of the southwest, but the unnatural neon of the color also gives everything a touch of the bizarre. Interestingly, this is the first Select design I'm aware of that has gotten a reprint.
In Case of Fire by Bruno Acanfora (PINTA MI CERCA) is a light-hearted tee, with a marshmallow on a stick inside a Break Glass construct. It carries the message that in an emergency, you should still try to look on the bright side- plus, it's a great camping shirt. I've got to say, though, I'm pretty tired of the whole "break glass" thing- I feel like I've seen a shirt with just about every object imaginable in one of those.
I really like the look of A Key For Everything by Richard Lee (lofty softy). The keys really pop on dark grey, and I like the way they're cataloged and labeled like sketches in a naturalist's notebook. The sticking point for me is that I find a few of the more abstract labels to be unbearably twee (key to your heart? key to success? Ugh). I'm probably on my own with that one, but I really think a little more realism would make this a lot more wearable for me.
In addition to the regular reprints listed above, Threadless dug deep into their vaults to reprint some shirts from the early days of Threadless, including I Luv You CPU by Greg Washington (jeedubnew). While it is my favorite of these older reprints, that isn't saying much. Like a lot of early Threadless stuff, I think it relies too much on the conventions of print and ignores the possibilities of the t-shirt medium (for instance, much of the text is basically unreadable). Still, there are elements that I like, such as the angle of the computer image and the repurposing of the silhouette in the upper left.
Summer Wind by Joachim Baan is another design that fails to take advantage of the shirt. The line of flowers could easily have traveled further north, interacting with the collar. The focal point could have been lower on the shirt, with the flowers traversing more of the available print area. There's no advantage that I can see to leaving it centered like this. It's a good looking design, but it looks so much more at home as a wall graphic than it ever did as a shirt.
I don't really have anything positive to say about Black Spot by John Slabyk (S20). The image itself is pretty dull, though I can see how it might have merit to someone who likes pirates or large, simple shirt designs. What kills it beyond repair, though, is the ridiculous tirade against brands that appears on the back of the shirt. It's especially out of place at Threadless, which is so heavily branded (even including logo stickers with every order, so that fans can recruit others as customers). Plus, it is just crazy lame to tar all brands with the same brush- it just reeks of a fear of success.
Anyway, there was definitely a huge selection of shirts added today, something for every type of customer. My own purchases were from the shirts introduced on past weeks (Fox and Hare and Sink Yourself), but there were a few from this group that I considered.
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Friday, November 30
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