compete-tee-tion

Metal Plated Horn by everybodylovesirine is my favorite shirt of the week. I love the complication of it, and the grittiness of the design (it is distressed with inky speckles throughout). The large size and soft colors let you really dig in to the quality of the drawing. The lines of the skull are pleasingly ornate, which does a great job of setting this apart from DBH's other skull-themed shirts.



Red Blue Mixup by Vo1ture isn't something I particularly enjoy- I feel that it comes off a bit like a hodgepodge of unrelated elements. But I do think it's a worthwhile print for a couple of reasons. One, it's pretty dramatically unlike most of the other designs in the shop (it feels more technical than organic). And two, the closeups are pretty sweet. It's really the composition as a whole that isn't up to par- taken in small portions, it's a lot more functional. I'm not a fan of the vector collage thing, but for people who are this is a decent take on it.

Circe Berman by tomburns centers around a great shirt concept: a woman with a visible skeleton. The all over print is incredibly attractive, with different shades of red hair covering the entire front of the shirt. It's an amazing piece... except maybe for one thing. The face creeps me out A LOT. The lips look so cartoonishly inflated that I'm reminded more of wax lips than a human face, and given the way the design centers on the face, it's enough to prevent a buy.



You Were Here A Second Ago... by guillotine0084 is a shirt I'm a bit torn on. I think the concept is great, but the execution feels lacking. What works for me is the interaction of the stripes and how the missing creatures are shown in negative space. But the colors of the stripes themselves feel chosen at random, and it bothers me that the animals shown have no size relationship to each other (especially the birds). Another issue for me is that the text is dead center in the design, and on stripes that seem dramatically cleaner than the others. It's a solid idea, but I think it needed more work to live up to its potential.

Same Bird, Different Day! by shibbiy uses an interesting contrast of style. The almost photographic hand, the line drawing of the bird, and the organic feel of the color splashes are at first glance so different that it feels almost collaged. The difference of the elements is magnified for me by the way the bird seems to almost- but not quite- rest on the finger. But what saves the design for me is the treatment of the color splashes. They relate to the shape of the bird and the edges give the impression of feathers.

Design By Humans is an on-going t-shirt design contest that prints new shirts every weekday. Prints are chosen from the shirts submitted by and voted on by DBH members. Shirt of the Day winners receive $500 cash and $250 DBH credit. Shirt of the Week winners get $1000 cash. Shirt of the Month gets $1500 cash and $250 credit. Winners also have an opportunity to earn residuals through the Rockstar Awards Program.

Labels: design by humans