Design By Humans is taking advantage of Leap Year in a big way- today only, you'll get a free DBH logo shirt when you buy any other two designs. This offer is only good until midnight tonight, so act fast!
Friday, February 29
Hot Chip Loves Threadless. They've also got an album out titled Made In The Dark, which is also the theme for this contest. Specifically, they're looking for shirts that find an innovative way to use glow in the dark ink.
Submit before March 31st, 2008 for your chance to win the fabulous prize. In addition to the typical Threadless winnings of $2000 cash and a $500 gift certificate, the winner will also receive a MicroKorg keyboard, every Hot Chip album, signed album art, and an Astralwerks gift pack.
This week, instead of giving artists a conceptual theme to follow, Shirt.Woot has decided to throw a curve ball and dictate the style that must be used. That's right, it's a Line Art Derby. No fills, no halftones, no text, and definitely no clip art allowed. Oh yeah, and you can only use one color.
The derby is currently open for submissions, and entries can be made any time before Wednesday at noon. Voting is continuous until Thursday at noon. Three winners (determined by votes) will be printed next weekend, with each winner earning up to $500 for the first night of printing and an additional $2 per shirt sold after that point.
Wednesday, February 27
Here's what I love about Uneetee: because they're less established than other competitors in the market (Threadless, Design By Humans, and Shirt.Woot) they take bigger chances and really put a lot of effort into standing out from the crowd.
Today's promotion is a good example of this- In the Eye of the Beholder by Yoshi Andrian Amtha is a solid shirt, an atmospheric image showing that disaster and bliss are often two sides of the same coin. But while it's a great shirt design, sometimes even a good-looking illustration needs a little extra pop. So some lucky buyer might be walking away with a sweet new pair of sunglasses, like the ones featured in the shirt design.
All shirts printed at Uneetee are selected from the designs submitted and voted on by site members. Weekly winners get $1500, and any other shirts printed get $2 per shirt sold.
Tuesday, February 26
Everyone uses Firefox these days. But somewhere, on the fringes of the internet, there exist a few sad souls who still muddle through the web with their sub-standard browsers. Even as we pity these people, it is our duty to show them the light.
And what better way to educate the world on the coolness of Firefox than with a t-shirt contest? Here are their guidelines for creating your shirt concept:
"We’re looking for a unique, creative design that embodies the essence of Firefox 3. We know this is a challenging task, so here are some thoughts to help guide you:
General Concepts:
* We like to think that Firefox 3 will make the Web better and more enjoyable for its users. So, you could focus on themes that reflect the positive aspects of the Web as a whole (and perhaps show Firefox's connection to them) - things like innovation, global community, collaboration, knowledge, fun, technology, etc.
Specific Concepts:
* You could also focus on any of the specific Firefox benefits as the basis for your concept. These include security, customization, “100% organic software”, performance, productivity and of course many more."
That's pretty wide open, so this might end up being a neat field of entrants.
One winner will be sold, with that designer receiving a free shirt and a $250 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Four runners up will get free shirts and $50 Amazon.com gift certificates.
Submit your entry before March 16th, 2008 for your chance to win.
Monday, February 25
Creature Convention by Julian Glander (secretly robots) is the winner of the Cranium Loves Threadless contest- an expected winner, but still a great one. More than just about any shirt in recent memory, this design took strides to do something new. Breaking from the norms of t-shirt design, the artist created a unique folding message- the drawing transforms from a group of appealing creatures to bubbly text that says "Wow!" Other shirts replicating this technique have already been printed, but this outclasses them easily.
Mount Pocono by Keith Shore is this week's Select, using UV inks (visible only in sunlight) to display colored lines on a textured mountain, sort of an arty ski trail map. I have to say, this shirt's not for me- I'm not crazy about the shape of it on the shirt (looks a bit lumpy, bulky, and awkward) and I'm at a bit of a loss as to why anyone would want to wear a ski trail map. The textures are great, but they're the only part of this I'm digging.
Ballad Of The Weekend Warrior by John M Jirasek (MrDomino) is an intricate, vectory composition about the things we do because we have to, and the dreams we wish we could pursue. A helmeted, gasmasked soldier with weary eyes takes centerstage, as the rest of the piece disintegrates behind him. The text, a speech bubble stating "I just wanted to be an astronaut," adds a clever twist to the scene- as much as the background is losing clarity, so is the subject. The colors look fresh and edgy on a lemon shirt, nice.
Merge by Chalermphol Harnchakkham (huebucket) is an illustration of a girl, melting into a pool of water. Flowing lines and muted colors unite to form an introspective shirt with a lot of style and a cool bottom placement. While this is a favorite of mine this week, I also wish that the design was grounded to the bottom of the shirt a bit more strongly. The product pic where the bottom half of the shirt is wet shows what this would have looked like if a darker brown was printed from the bottom of the drawing to the shirt's edge, and it's a look I much prefer.
Death's Sweet Seduction by Graye Smith (grayehound) is a swirling drawing depicting the old wives' tale that you should hold you breath when driving past a graveyard, lest the dead steal your breath away. I love the smoothness of the lines of the air, and the way they contrast with the more realistic environment- it sets up a cool implication of two worlds, the world of the living and the world of the supernatural. The dreamy, dreary colors add to the suspense of the piece.
Birds Of A Feather by Ross Zietz (arzie13) is easily my least favorite of the week. It's not that it's a bad shirt, it's just so... boring. I mean, bird silhouettes? Coming out of a feather? It's a decent pun, but Threadless has definitely seen better subs based around this concept. This one just looks like vector packs to me.
Reprinting this week: Partly Hungry Skies by Daniel Cheng (dinho) and A Voyage of Discovery by Ian Leino.
Overall, a very solid collection. There's probably nothing I'll end up buying, but I appreciate the breadth of style and concept printed.
Sunday, February 24
Design By Humans has new shirts, all of which can be bought at a discount when using coupon code DBH22. Enjoy!
Enlightenment by jackmoore is the best of the week. A good-looking, atmospheric drawing heavy on curved lines and shades of blue, it communicates the enlightenment theme easily. The placement adds to the appeal, because while the frog and mushrooms are centered on the shirt, the light source extends from the shoulder and carries the eye past embroidered leaves. Definitely a cool piece.
The legendary smell of the flowers... by Draco is my second favorite of the batch. I think the sunny palette is a great contrast to the gas mask and polluted backdrop, showing the vibrancy of nature in a situation that man struggles to endure (even though it was his own creation). Strong, thought-provoking imagery, and it looks great on a shirt
Green Winter by riffmaster18 confuses me. On a basic level, I just don't like the way it looks- the black, green and white are used in virtually equal quantities, which kills any motion or intensity I'd expect to see in a large print like this. The subject matter is another question mark for me... another tree? DBH had great success with another large tree print (one I find much more appealing, honestly) just days ago. Though I guess in some ways this isn't a particularly tree-like print, as it looks more like tie-dye than anything else. This one just isn't for me, I guess.
1000 Cranes by collisiontheory is a shirt I'm fairly neutral about, maybe because the shirt itself is so neutral. Large white paper cranes with a thin black outline, they cascade from one shoulder and gently curving around the lower back. I'd probably wear it, but I doubt I'd ever feel strongly enough to buy it. There's just not a lot to react to in those simple shapes.
Mecha Naga Buddha by reyyy is another source of confusion for me this week. I feel like a reference is being made to something, but none of it looks familiar. Pretty much the only thing I can make out is a face in the center- if I had to guess, I'd say this was a promotional item for some kind of anime project, but it must not be because I don't know why DBH would be printing that. Anyway. I usually love one-color work, but this one bores me because I feel it didn't take advantage of texture opportunities. Plus, I just don't care for the palette.
Overall, not a great week of shirt for me- I only like two, and I dislike another two very strongly (which is fairly rare for me, at DBH). The week as a whole feels a bit lazy to me, as proper images (close ups and images of the shirts being worn) aren't even provided for most of the shirts this week. Very disappointing. That said, I am very happy to see some shirt color outside the DBH staples happening in this week's batch- that, at least, is a giant step in the right direction.
Friday, February 22
I really don't blog about La Fraise as often as I should- blame it on their woefully understocked American store. It's just hard to get excited about their contests since I know I (and most of the readers of this blog) will probably never get to wear the results.
But the fact is, La Fraise is still a great opportunity for t-shirt artists. Their current Born to Geek contest is no exception. In conjunction with lesjeudis.com, La Fraise is looking for shirt designs that celebrate nerds. The winner gets the princely sum of 1500 euros, and the pride that comes from knowing that 500 people are wearing the limited edition shirt the artist has designed. The submission deadline is March 3rd, 2008.
If that deadline is a little too close for comfort, bear in mind that La Fraise also hosts an on-going t-shirt design contest without a theme. The prize for that contest is 1000 euros.
Thursday, February 21
Shirt.Woot has posted their latest Derby theme: Water. As they put it, "If you're anything like us, the majority of your body is made up of water. And yet, you probably don't own a single article of clothing celebrating this most ubiquitous and necessary of chemical compounds. People drink it, swim in it, float boats on it, wash with it, fight over it, boil it, fill balloons with it, add caffeine to it, create elaborately choreographed fountain displays with it, and surf on it. And now, they design t-shirts about it. It's water!"
One added stipulation: No text allowed this week.
As always, you can submit your entry any time between Friday at noon and Wednesday at noon. Voting runs from Friday at noon to Thursday at noon. The top three vote-getters will all be printed next weekend, earning the designers up to $500 for the first night of sales and $2 per shirt sold after the first day.
Wednesday, February 20
Allmightys's latest contest, built around the theme I Am Thinking, has passed the submission deadline. But that's good news for internet blowhards like me, because that means it's time to vote and attempt to control the contest's outcome!
My picks for the win have got to be The Architect by a.mar.illo and Movies! by knickola. The Architect's strong one-color construction and sweeping lines give the immediate impression that the protagonist is walking through a city of his own imagination, adding buildings and structures as he moves forward. Movies! is at the other end of the spectrum, combining doodles and bold type to create a design that evokes the essence of movies- a visual experience you just want to keep exploring.
Tuesday, February 19
Uneetee's newest winner is Foster Family by Kristoffer Neil Melicano. It's a solid piece, with a sunny palette grounding the drawing of a child in a lion costume who naps among a pride of real lions. To me, the real strength of the design is in the background- the way that tree bends to the wind adds an air of suspense, like this comfortable scene might take a turn for the worse at any moment.
Submit your designs to Uneetee for your chance to be the next weekly $1500 winner.
And hey, this week brought another twist to the Uneetee formula- they now have an Insaneetee deal, where each day one shirt from the catalog is featured at the low price of $10. Check it daily or risk missing out on a deal. Today's offering is Woolly Mammoth X-Ray by Danny Christopher (I've already got this one, but it's great).
Monday, February 18
The big story of the week at Threadless- huge price changes! Bad news for guys, the base price for all shirts is now $17 (formerly, only female shirts cost that much). It's not entirely negative, as some Select shirts had a price drop, but for most buyers, this is going to end up increasing the bill on their next purchase.
(Edit: According to a posted comment (and some further research) it looks like the base price for one-color designs on the Threadless brand shirts will be at the $15 price, not $17. So some shirts will still hit that same familiar low price.)
Topiary by Priscilla Wilson (valorandvellum) is my favorite shirt of the week- intricate linework, a natural palette and and an amusing concept combine to create a near-perfect shirt. The way the elephant holds the clippers with his trunk suggests that the bushes have carved themselves into these animal shapes, which is pretty charming. I'm also digging the interaction of the bushes with the birds- for all their supposed wisdom, it looks like the owls are unaware that these bushes are alive.
Pulp by Aaron Hogg (hogboy) is a 50s-style comic book cover peppered with phrases from the modern internet. The headline reads Zawezome, the astrogirl says WTF, and the spacely squid intones Pwnd. It's a clever mix, and the illustration is very faithful to the source material. My hesitation on this design is the unavoidable rectangle it creates on the shirt- I find most designs set up that way to be visually dull, especially at a distance. Since there's not really a better way to set up a comic book parody, though, I think I have to cut a little slack in this case.
Wizard Rock by Spencer Hibert (ZILLIPILLI) is the week's Select print, and I do love the way it uses the purple of the shirt to support the design. I have to say, though, the drawing and its subject matter (a wizard, why?) really do nothing for me. It's a little to eighties arcade cheesy for me.
Napoleon In War Paint by Jesse Lefkowitz (Leftist Jesuit) is a striking image, depicting Napoleon in the costuming of an Indian. Part of what amuses me about this is the way Napoleon's double chin gives him the look of a spoiled toddler, literally playing at war. I'm not a big half-tone dot proponent, which is what keeps me from being fully positive on this- I tend to dislike the look of the dots when used this much. Regardless, it would be a great looking shirt for anyone without the same bias.
A Field With A Dream by Graye Smith (grayehound) is my second favorite shirt this week, a genuinely gorgeous illustration that shows a field coming to life as a beautiful young woman. A cool twist on the Mother Nature concept, the field forms the woman's skirt and the clouds in the sky create a bodice. What really makes this such a success, for me, is the amazing set of colors- the yellows, browns and greens are earthly and evocative.
Secrets Of Mensa by Julian Glander (secretly robots) is a charming, oddball piece that gives the world clues on how to look smart. While most text-heavy designs tend to look a bit lazy, the hand-drawn type and nerdly colors fit the concept very well. The design's protagonist is a pyramid (that symbol of ancient knowledge) who seems to be following a bit of his one advice by wearing unnecessary glasses (a monocle with earpieces).
How Many Licks? by Ian Leino is a very well-done illustration of a cut-out of the globe, showing what each layer of earth consists of. It hits the trademark look of a scientific drawing right on the head and tweaks it with some humor. But for me, it's not a shirt. When worn, the design seems dull and colorless, requiring a close reading before any humor is apparent. For me, a truly great shirt needs to be attractive first and foremost, and if humor is the goal it should be noticeable without any strong effort on the part of the viewer.
Reprinting this week: Polar Gardening by Jean-sébastien Deheeger (nes-k) and Time Fades by Samuel Lara (label). These, at least, have remained at the $15 price point- I think this may just be a function of the shirt brand, though (these are still on Fruit of the Loom and American Apparel shirts, all others were printed on Threadless's new shirts).
Sunday, February 17
There's a great new batch of shirts at Design By Humans this week, so if you're looking for a discount on your order, try coupon code DBH22.
Japanese Cranes by ryozilla is one of the most wearable pieces I've seen at DBH, the kind of shirt that virtually any type of person from any background could wear and look good in. I love the abstract, watery shape in the background- its subtle pattern has a sense of motion about it, and both the black and silver cranes leap from it.
Wilde Pointe by shiroshok is a primal, roughly colored design that I can't keep my eyes off of. The texture is magnificent, and the empty eyes of these creatures is a little frightening. I'm decidedly against white shirts in general, but this one is a great fit. Truthfully, this is probably my favorite shirt design in awhile just because it looks so different from most other shirts I've seen.
Imagine by casajordi is about halfway between the DBH aesthetic and the style I associate with Imaginary Foundation. I'm not actually a huge collage fan (the ones I like are almost always heavy on illustrative elements), but to my eye this one is well done, if not something that suits my taste. I do enjoy the splatter, though- I think it adds a nice element of magic to the proceedings.
THE EPIC BATTLE by EmbraceDesigns is a fight between the coolest animals that ever lived- a t-rex, giant squid, pterodactyl, whale and mammoth battle for superiority. While fight scenes are typically testosterone frenzies, this shirt takes the opposite tactic, dressing up the scene in pink and purple pastels. The huge print makes the design seem to explode from the shirt, awesome!
Rasta Princess by fabiland is a really gorgeous illustration of a young rasta girl. I have to say, I'm a bit torn on this one- while I love the drawing, I feel like the vector mishmash in the background is a bit haphazard, not really adding to the piece. The placement is equally disappointing, starting at the bottom of the shirt and unfortunately cupping the pecs a bit oddly when worn (even weirder, the female version appears to have been stretched to give the same boob-hugging action- is this something buyers are really looking for?).
Overall, though, a really fantastic week. Aside from my weekly wish for more variety in shirt colors, I think the selections are very top-notch. It's all great work, and I hope next week continues this pattern of excellence.
Saturday, February 16
The Threadless Loves Revolution competition was different from most of the site's other Loves contests because instead of using a corporate sponsor, Threadless was the sponsor. And the design brief was definitely alluring- they wanted designs that were in direct opposition to the cutesy pun shirts that Threadless is largely known for.
Underwater by Lupencia is a favorite of mine, both for its dreamy feel and its textural lines. The overlapping objects and swirling lines give the impression of a gentle drowning, a sense of letting go. The fact that the girl in the image is wearing a costume adds appeal, and a whole set of new interpretations of the art for the viewer. Her eyes are closed, but the animal's eyes are wide open. Very nice.
Revolution 7.7 is the kind of tight collage that ALIADOTONY has had great success with at Design By Humans. This one takes the tactic of mashing together imagery from different eras, centering on the twenties girl with an Iggy Pop lightning bolt painted on her face. Like the artist's other work, it's a giant step above most other designs in this vein- instead of relying on the photography of others, the main focal points are hand-drawn elements and splashes of color. It's an excellent piece, and I think it would really pop with some cool printing techniques.
I think Burden to Bear by slaterock would look absolutely fantastic on a shirt. The half-toned photographic elements (bears in the background) are a cool experiment and insert a modicum of reality into an otherwise imaginative scene. The shirt's focus is a creature who is about 1/3 bear, 1/3 bone, 1/3 man and 100% awesome. Other creatures (a dark and skittish lot) cling to his strength, even as they seem to detest him for it. Not only would I wear the shirt, I'd also love to read a comic book about this fellow.
Overall, this is probably my favorite Loves competition of all time. By telling artists to do what they've always wanted to instead of what the audience demands, Threadless was really able to showcase the creativity and skill of their community. While these three designs are my personal favorites, there are many more that would be really fantastic winners.
Scribtee is printing so many shirts lately, I can't even keep up! These have been available for about a week now, but it's good stuff so I still want to make sure I highlight it.
My favorite has got to be Submarine by Toni Garcia, which is a good take on a favorite topic of mine. I love the idea of fish uniting to take on their foes, the whole school transforming into a new sort of creature. This shirt also does a great of of giving the hapless submarine a jolt of personality, quite a feat. Impossible Love by Adrian Serralta and Fantasy Dreams by Anxo Vizcaíno also got well-deserved prints.
Scribtee is an on-going design contest (run by ShirtCity) with new winners announced twice a month. Successful designers receive $500 cash and a gift certificate for $50 when their work is printed.
Want to know more about Scribtee and how it works? Check out the interview with Robert Goldbach of Scribtee and Your Ingredient.
Friday, February 15
I'll be honest, I don't understand this Derby theme at all. So here it is, direct from the source:
"Once every four years, our calendar needs to get right with the cosmos, to toss an extra 24 hours in to realign itself with reality. 2008 happens to be one of those years. So we figured it was time for a t-shirt celebration. Maybe your shirt design shows us what you'd do if you had an extra day out of the calendar. Maybe you riff on the "every four years" idea, or the concept of "leaping". Maybe you dazzle us with a startling treatment of the words "February 29".Maybe you sloganeer: "People born on leap day do it one-quarter as often." Maybe you do something else entirely. Don't miss this rare opportunity for Leap Year design action, especially if you're a mouse or a blue jay - you probably won't live to see the next one."
So, um, enjoy making a shirt that can be worn once every four years, I guess...
If you win, you get the fabulous prize of up to $500, plus an additional $2 per shirt sold after the first day. The top three designs, as voted on by site members, will be printed. If you want a shot at that, enter before Wednesday at noon. If you just want to control the outcome, make sure you vote before Thursday at noon.
Wednesday, February 13
Design a shirt, help the Red Cross? That's pretty much how this contest works. The National Youth Council of the American Red Cross is holding a competition for designers to come up with shirt art that "represents the significance of blood donation, the gift of life."
If you're interested, fill out the appropriate forms from the Red Cross website and send in your design before March 21st, 2008. They'll print 600,000 copies of the winning shirt, and the designer will receive $1,000.
Tuesday, February 12
Zodiac Sounds by Tan Nuyen is Uneetee's newest shirt, on sale this week at the discounted price of $12. Black and white animals (from the Chinese zodiac) cover the shirt, with their vocals called out in bright colors. It's a huge print and looks great on the shirt- in fact, it's making me rethink my No White Shirts policy. I could easily be $12 poorer by the end of the week!
Uneetee announces a new winner every Monday, all chosen from designs submitted and voted on by site members. The prize for being chosen is $1500, and you also have the opportunity for additional royalties on your design if it has many printings.
Monday, February 11
For some reason, Threadless went with a theme this week- all designs are printed on either black or white shirts, and to support this initiative the product pics are in black and white as well, with only the colors of the design shown in their full color glory. I actually found the product photos pretty distracting, but it's still a cool experiment.
This week's Select shirt, Flightless by Yeoh Guan Hong (yeohgh), is my favorite of the group. It's a cool illustrative piece, combining hand-drawn type with bird sketches- all of which is spiced up with bright orange, adding detail to the birds and giving them a sense of place. Another strength of the piece is its transparency- it is sort of like each color is on its own plane of existence, and while they appear to interact with each other none of it is really real.
Magic Paintbrush by William Chua (xiaobaosg) shows a young boy painting creatures that come to life. It's a pretty common idea, and can be seen other places like Harold and the Purple Crayon or the video game Okami. This is a well-done version, though, and the sweeping motion of the imagery supports the theme nicely.
Red Moon Replay by Tan Nuyen (Monkey III) is about late night movies, and does an expert job of combining night imagery (the wolf howling at the moon) with movie imagery (check out those video player icons). The red moon pulls double duty, also functioning as a record button. The silver foil of the wolf, laying over the icons, adds style to the piece.
RIP by Lev Berry (elleevee) is, frankly, a shirt I don't really get. I'd describe it as a collection of musical visual elements, done up in neon. I don't get the arrangement, though- the title makes me think it's supposed to be a grave scene, but I don't see it. I don't know, I guess it's just not for me.
Green by René Corini D'Agosto shows a kind of eco-graffiti. A painter has covered the city (both buildings and a car) with art depicting a more natural world. The best part of the design is the splash of blue in the upper left- the painter's work has become real, and a single bluebird is perched on a branch. I also like the perspective of the piece, and it's a great fit for the white shirt.
Happy End by Bocognani Vincent (vintz) is about King Kong's greatest fantasy- romancing Lady Liberty. Backlit by the setting sun, the design really does look like something right out of a movie with bright colors and dramatic shadows. The way their shadows darken the city has me wondering what they're going to do next, maybe a giant-sized crime spree? Do I smell a sequel?
To me, Windsurfingbird by Karl Nord (svrtknkrr) is another baffling print choice. I attribute the high score this one received in voting to the huge print size it showed, because at the smaller size Threadless printed, it has no visual power. It's much less dramatic and it lacks motion. Further, without the title I never would have picked this out as windsurfing- it just looks like a dude on a badly drawn bird to me. But I'm from the midwest, where windsurfing isn't really a thing. Maybe on the coast this plays better.
This week's reprints:
Overall, a couple of gems and a whole lot of boring. I blame some of this on their weird black and white shirt color choices- I really prefer color. Hopefully next week is all color to cancel this out.
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