compete-tee-tion

Code Creations is an interesting addition to the t-shirt design contest market for a few reasons. Firstly, their focus is on helping the environment- they're the first competition to use organic cotton shirts and eco-friendly inks exclusively.

Secondly, although their are design contests (more about that in a moment), designers aren't the only ones who could walk away with a prize- Code Creations got its name from the creator's enjoyment of puzzles and codes, and site visitors have the opportunity to earn prizes of their own by completing challenges.

Current design contests at Code Creations include Code Red (you can submit a shirt design of any theme), Code Green (for eco-friendly designs), Code Black (for designs that are creepy, or rated higher than PG-13), Inspired Challenges (outdoor adventure or the band Wonderful Johnson), the K-9 Challenge (designs for dogs), and the Slogan challenge.

Prizes for these contests vary, but typically include some sort of cash, free apparel, gift certificates or “Mystery gifts.” More details can be found here.

Labels: code creations

Uneetee's newest winner is Murder of Crows by Tessa Vesak. It combines two things Uneetee has had a lot of- puns and silhouettes. It's a cool, bold shirt, though, and probably worth a buy. My only issue is the sloppiness of the crows- the transition between the larger crows on the front of the shirt and the smaller crows on the sleeve seems really abrupt to me- they suddenly end up at a different angle and size, without much transition at all.

Uneetee prints a news winner every week, pulling shirt designs from the collection submitted and voted on by the Uneetee community. Winners get $1500, with the potential to earn more through reprints.

Labels: uneetee

An Outstanding Win by Lim Heng Swee (ilovedoodle) is a funny tribute to the idea of winning a race by a nose, showing an animal whose neck gives it a finishing advantage. It's the kind of awesome plan a kid would have, and the sketchy style conveys that enthusiasm as well as speed.



Ever Fresh by Daniel Blignault (typerror) is the winner of the Rob & Big contest... obviously. Because, it is Rob and Big on the shirt. As milk. And for me, this is kind of irritating because the idea of the contest is supposed to be to play off the theme, not to advertise for the sponsors. As a Rob & Big shirt, it's awesome and I do love the show. But I'm not crazy about another chocolate vs. white milk shirt, or the fact that it relies so much on the tv show for value.

Chirp, Principle Curry by Justin Van Hoy (dutchpress) is the week's Select design. Frankly, I find it pretty baffling. It's a square of art, which I think is a poor fit for the medium. The idea of the shirt, scales of different colors, has some potential even though I don't care for this execution- I think using fewer colors (and more patterns) would have created a similar final product from afar, and a more interesting piece at closer distances (and at a much cheaper price).



Attack of Literacy! by Joshua Kemble (polynothing) is a comic book cover about the anti-zombies... brainy writers want your mind, and they'll take it if you read their books. I love the idea. The execution is nice as well, in that the style is pretty dead-on for the comic theme. I just wish that it was more clear who these writers are. The obvious ones like Poe and Shakespeare are easy, but the rest... It might have been nice to reference their books in some way to give people a better chance at figuring it out.



Dog Fight by David Thorley shows two dogs from different worlds in a war of pictograms. It has that crisp, clear, and funny vectored style that people associate with Threadless, an obvious pick to print but a good choice nonetheless.

FallRevolution by Chow Hon Lam (Feishu) is a cool take on motion, showing a figure falling through dimensions (or maybe portals, heh) and picking up patterns and colors as he passes through. I love the strong vertical motion, which really draws the eye.



Reprinted this week: And He Just Did Not Have A Clue by Budi Satria Kwan (letter) and Pessimistic or Optimistic? by Josh Perkins (theperk).

There's also a new episode of Threadless TV: Episode Six: Attack of Literacy.

Threadless prints new shirts every week, chosen from entries submitted by and voted on by the community. Winners earn $2000 cash and $500 Threadless credit, with the potential to earn more through reprints and Bestee awards.

Labels: loves threadless, rob and big, threadless

Design By Humans's 25% off coupon LUVDBH is set to expire at midnight tonight, so act fast before you get stuck paying full price!



The Mecanic of the Man by casajordi uses medical imagery and bright colors to create an ambiance of growth and discovery. It's a cool look, very reminiscent of some of the work at Imaginary Foundation (though less, er, imaginative than most of what they sell). As with a lot of collaged pieces, though, I have trouble getting too excited about it- while this is a new arrangement of the stock imagery, I've seen most of the elements used in other shirts before so it all begins to seem a bit generic. To me, some original illustration might have brought the design to a higher level.



Leo Regalis by Incarnadine is a tough one for me to comment on, largely because I don't really get what the point of it is. As near s I can tell, there's no greater message or visual allusion taking place, which means the design depends entirely on its appearance for its worth. This is obviously very subjective, but it just doesn't do anything for me. The visual elements bore me and the colors aren't my thing.

H.e.l.l.o. by filak seems more like a Threadless print than a DBH one, because it centers on a jokey visual. The idea of UFOs arriving to carve out a greeting with lasers is pretty funny, and the print sits nicely on the shirt (though I do wish the colors were a bit brighter and less drab). Still, even though I think it's a decent shirt, it's something I'd be unlikely to buy- I check out DBH for the things Threadless doesn't do, like specialty printing techniques and unconventional images. While it's interesting to see DBH treading into Threadless's territory, this isn't better than most of what Threadless sells- to beat Threadless at their own game, it really needs to be exceptional work or treated in an exceptional way.



S/L/I/C/E by kooky-love is a cool, offbeat illustration of a sliced creature whose body has decided to use a pyramid for a head. Interesting colors, textures and even expressions make each element worth a second look. It's one of the more original shirts I've seen lately, and for that it definitely deserved the printing.

Super Hero Fight by louisroskosch is a really cool drawing. I love the idea of a comic battle, the illustration style is intriguing, and I think DBH's printing techniques (including metallic ink, puff ink, and stitching) take the concept a giant step beyond. I'm considering a purchase, but I still have some reservations because of the shirt placement- it looks a bit awkward to me, like the illustration was adapted to the shirt hastily instead of drawn with the shirt in mind.

Design By Humans prints a new shirt every weekday, chosen from designs submitted and voted on by the community. Winners get $500 cash and $250 DBH credit. They also have the opportunity to earn other prizes, such as Shirt of the Week ($1000 cash), Shirt of the Month ($1500 cash and $250 DBH credit) and the Rockstar Awards Program.

Labels: design by humans

Labels: contest les ardents, sehubabe

Shirt.Woot is getting ready for Mother's Day a bit early, I guess, and has decided this week's derby theme to be Motherhood. The only special rule this week is No Video Game References, so it looks like even text is allowed.

The derby begins accepting submissions Friday at noon, continuing until Wednesday at noon. Voting is on-going from Friday at noon until Thursday at noon. Three winners will be printed the following weekend (as chosen by site members), with the printed designers earning $1000 for the first night of sales and a potential $2 per shirt sold on any sales after that date.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot

Since I last checked out Scribtee (the on-going t-shirt design contest run by ShirtCity), they've had a couple of new prints. Ghost Ship by Sven Palmowski is a real gem, and the unexpectedness of the design (due to unique shapes and colors where I wouldn't have anticipated them) makes it seem like it's from another dimension or something. Which is a huge compliment, as it's not every day I see a shirt that makes me think differently in terms of the medium. I'm not quite as keen on Chair Tree by Salva Lopez, but the concept is definitely solid and I like the idea of paying more attention to the materials around us.

Winners at Scribtee win $500, and are typically announced monthly. As with other contests, site users can vote to influence which shirt designs will be printed.

In other news, Scribtee has a blog.

Labels: scribtee

I love a good one color print and Uneetee's latest winner, Memoirist Land by kaya, is certainly that. The lines of the woman's hair entwine with animals, making the hair seem like a stand-in for a dream. It sits really nicely on the shirt, and I like the stark black and white- it gives the lines more power.

Winners at Uneetee are chosen from shirts submitted by and voted on by community members. Printed designers earn $1500, with the chance to earn more if their work is reprinted. A new design is printed every week.

Labels: uneetee

Be Happy by Yoann Plard (apy) is this week's Select, using a roller coaster to spell out the phrase Don't Worry, Be Happy. The swooshing coaster tracks work well as a scripted type, and I love the way the roller coaster posts sprouting through clouds gives the design some real height. My favorite thing about this is the pure hopefulness of the design; it communicates clearly that regardless of what highs and lows life hands you, a positive attitude can make it fun. The enthusiasm is totally absent of irony, and I love it.



Elephas Maximus by Thomas De Santis (Montro) is the winner of the Good contest, and it lives up to the competition's standard by being both a Big Idea and a good design. Which is why it is so disappointing that the print itself is such a let down. No longsleeve or hoodie options are offered, and the ink the designer specified on the arm of the shirt has been removed. Even worse, the men's edition of the shirt seems to be poorly printed, with the sleeve not positioned in the trunk area at all. What a huge disappointment- I think that if Threadless weren't capable of printing the shirt as specified, they should have picked a different design to print.

We're Friends, Right? by Matheus Lopes Castro (mathiole) is a really amazing illustration with some great color choices. The setting sun works both metaphorically (the sun is setting on those birds, for sure) and for story reasons- I definitely wondered how long the crocodile had stood frozen like that. The tension between what the croc wants with his heart and what he wants with his belly is both hilarious and oddly touching.



Push It! by John Mitchell (JOHN2) is a poo joke. But one that's actually funny, attractive, and wearable- making this the holy grail of poo shirts. It's also very well-drawn, with different facial expressions and emotions on each paint tube. The execution is solid all around, even down to the dotted shading on the tubes and the splatters of the paint.



Slides by Steven Bonner (steven218) is a cool example of how simulated process printing can work, using a variety of colorful slides. It's a unique look for sure, but it's hard for me to picture wanting to wear someone else's photographs in this way, especially since many of them seem to be personal snapshots of friends.

Murderer by Chow Hon Lam (Flying Mouse) caught my eye first because of the great heavily lined illustration style, and second because of the humor. The idea of animals arresting a chef for his crimes is pretty appealing, and I could see this being a cool shirts for vegetarians as well. The details are well worked out too, particularly the chef's face which communicates his shame impeccably. My only quibble here is with the shape- to me, the art isn't a great fit for the medium, as the placement doesn't quite seem to sit well on the fabric when worn.



Reprinted this week: Take Me To Tokyo by Juju's Delivery and Bobshopping by Mike Harding.

There's also a new episode of Threadless TV, Episode Five: Know Your Blogger.

Threadless prints a new batch of shirts each week, chosen from submissions entered and scored by the site community. Winners get $2000 cash and a $500 gift certificate, with the potential to earn more through reprints and the Bestee awards.

Labels: good, loves threadless, threadless

Just a reminder, Design By Humans is running a sale that ends tonight at midnight. So get your orders in quickly and remember to use code LUVDBH to save 25%.



Oil Monster by missmonster is my favorite of the week, largely because it stands out from the DBH collection so strongly. I think the image placement is unique, and very well-suited to the black shirt- it really enhances the shirt itself, letting both the shirt and the graphic have almost equal importance. The colors are this piece's other strength, with eye-catching brightness they really do give the feeling of movement.



NIHONSEI by aliadotony is a collage, something the artist is getting to be known for, but in a different style than most of his other work- it's a visual celebration of all things Japanese. To me, it brings to mind thick advertising- sort of the image that would stick in your mind if you flipped through a Japanese newspaper really fast. The sparse colors and large image area work well in supporting that.

Taking Tree by benharman turns the children's book The Giving Tree on its head, showing the tree's greedy opposite. Seeing a tree steal candy from a little kid is inherently funny, and the art style is very true to the parodied work. It's a joke shirt that also is just plain good-looking.



Rainbows by RikkiB is another of the artist's trademark doodle riffs. This idea of rainbows carries through the piece (despite the distinctly limited color palette) with the repeated use of stripes, especially the recognizable rainbow near the center of the mass. It's another large print, made more unique by the stripes that carry the artwork up the shoulder and down to the hem of the shirt.

Country Club Nouveau by j3concepts has an amazing set of colors, which really carries the piece. The illustration style deftly mixes elements of the past (such as the cassette player) with modern design elements like the dollar signs and lightning. Totally fresh look, and the colors and patterning remind me of the seventies as well.

Design By Humans prints on shirt each weekday, chosen from entries submitted by and voted on by the DBH community. Shirt of the Day winners get $500 cash and $250 DBH credit. There are also prizes available for Shirt of the Week, Shirt of the Month, and Rockstar Awards, which up the total potential winnings to $3500 and more.

Labels: coupon code, design by humans, sale

Labels: coupon code, design by humans, sale

Derby #39 has begun at Shirt.Woot, which is currently seeking submissions that deal with Motion. Special rules this time around include no text and a ban on using asphalt shirts.

The derby is currently open for entries, with a deadline of Wednesday at noon. Voting is on-going until Thursday at noon. The top three entries (as voted by Woot members) will be printed the following weekend, earning printed artists $1000 for the first day of sales and an additional $2 per sale made after the first day.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot

A Better Tomorrow is probably the coolest name for a shirt site ever, which is the reason that even their branded shirts stay wearable without looking like billboards. A Better Yesterday parodies that, forwarding the amusing notion that the future ain't all it's cracked up to be. This theme is fleshed out with a host of yellow creatures, all freaky in a futuristic fashion. My favorite is the giant cyclops who serves as a backdrop.

A Better Tomorrow is an on-going t-shirt design contest based in Germany. Printed designers earn 500 euros.

Labels: a better tomorrow

Redux by Budi Satria Kwan is Uneetee's latest winner, using Japanese imagery to paint a picture of the link between life and death. Even as the man destroys himself with his sword, the escaping blood forms a cherry blossom tree and provides a perch for birds. Imaginative, iconic, and thought-provoking. As an added bonus, Uneetee is again splurging on a specialty ink, used a raised ink for the flowers.

Uneetee is an on-going t-shirt design competition, printing a new shirt every week. Winners at Uneetee are chosen from user submissions that have been voted on by site members. The prize for being printed is $1500, with the possibility to earn more through royalties.

Labels: uneetee

Peaceful Kingdom by Brian Chang (beesneak) is my favorite of the week due to its expert handling of both color and line. The wavering lines give the impression of a strong breeze cutting through the quiet scene, with a lever of detail that makes it hard to look away from the composition. And the viewer is definitely rewarded for looking closely- the monkeys and the human explorer (somewhat camouflaged by their color) are a nice touch that you don't pick up on at first. Plus, the subject matter of predator and prey napping together is definitely appealing.



This week's Select, Fangs On The Mound by Mike Bertino, is another gem (I'd say it's my favorite Select in quite some time). The custom split pea-colored shirt is eye-catching and unique, setting the stage beautifully for the decidedly off-kilter illustration. The artist has a great style (I especially like the textural roughness of his lines) and makes great use of the fang motif. Even better, there's artwork on both sides of the shirt. I think this is a definite purchase for me.

The Season Has Landed by Freshfauxx (dhectwenty) uses that same style that the artist has used to great effect in numerous Design By Humans prints- bright, splattered colors contrasted with more solid black and white shapes. I think this method captured the motion of the owl really nicely, he almost takes on the look of a phoenix.



S'more 101 by Brad Colbow is... not a good shirt. It falls into a Threadless trend that I've never understood, that of creating diagrams of things that don't need them. Which I would be fine with if the final product was attractive. It isn't. It feels a bit boring and disposable to me, which is definitely not helped by the fact that the diagram is, according the the only way I've ever made s'mores, totally upside-down. I have no doubt that there are tons of other people who love this stuff and will buy it, but man do I not understand the appeal.

Such A Great Height by Budi Satria Kwan (radiomode) is a fun, iconic take on giraffes, using the overlapping of giraffe necks (coming from both the bottom and the top of the print area) to create a uniquely patterned group of animals. While this would have been a cool one-color shirt, the addition of two extra colors for giraffe spots clarifies the concept and gives the creatures a bit more personality. The only aspect of the design I'm not so crazy about is how it ends abruptly at the bottom. But even that has been mitigated a bit by the use of some leave patterns to make the color fade somewhat, so it doesn't mar the shirt by any means.



My Fantasy World by Tang Yau Hoong (i know very little about art) is a very well-done illustration. It's a great fit for the shirt. And... I don't really get it, I guess. I have a hard time evaluating this one because I'm so far out of the target demographic here. I dunno, I think I'm just weirdly hung up on why the books would transform into flowers. Even looking at the drawing, I don't see why it would be that of all things (the shapes just don't feel related in a natural way, making it seem too strained for me).

Ignorance Is Bliss by Leon Ryan (d3d) has colors that just make me smile, as it looks as though the entire scene is lit by a sunset. The artwork is masterful, somehow combining text, character work, a realistic setting and flourishes into one tight composition. The color unites these elements, but in an especially slick touch, so do the details- for instance, the flourishes are mirrored in the lines of the guitar strings and the man's tattoo. I would deem this the most well-constructed design I've seen at Threadless in ages, very impressive.



Reprinted this week: Eclipse! by Ian Leino and You Sank My Battleship by Ron Lewis.

Threadless Tee-V also released a new episode, Episode Four: Gimme S'more (which is exactly what it sounds like).

Threadless is an on-going t-shirt design competition printing seven new shirts most weeks. Winners are culled from submissions from site users, which are voted on by the community. Printed designers earn $2000 cash and a $500 gift certificate (with the chance to earn more through reprints or Bestee awards).

Labels: threadless

Oceanic by handsforeyes is my favorite shirt this week by a country mile. Which I don't mean as a knock on the other designs, it's just that this one targeted my interests so specifically it's prowess cannot be denied. The subject matter (crab claws fighting their way to the surface of choppy waves) lends itself to illustration, and the artist did a great job of using texture. The wave snippet on the should helps to keep the piece from being too boxy.



Bear Hug by jaynajaynajayna is a huge one color drawing of a bear. Which makes for a great shirt, because bears are awesome. The positioning of the bear is perfect for the medium, as his ear sits on the sleeve and the off-centeredness adds some visual interest. While I realize the Hugs text is fairly central to the concept, it also makes the shirt less wearable for me- it just feels kind of twee. Maybe if the text treatment were different I'd feel otherwise. But the good news is, the text isn't too visible.

WinterTale by hyperhyphen is a design that works well mainly due to color choices- they're bright, bold, and full of motion. In that sense, I think the subject matter (a dragon and a tiger) are secondary to the style, which is definitely a cool approach. I feel like the texturing takes the design up a notch, giving the impression of paint on canvas rather than just another dragon shirt.



Memory Ln. by ste7en mixes humor with good design, using the phrase Memory Lane literally and creating a street map of the mind. The CMYK color palette is pretty fresh, and the details (such as continuing the jokes on the street names, such as Fetal Ave.) are dead on. But what really sells the concept to me is the use of the heart as directional diagram on the sleeve- it adds a second joke to the shirt (heart on my sleeve) and makes the concept more polished.

Ink Alphabet by luke9480 is for some insane reason only available as a girl's shirt, which is insanely vexing- there's nothing particularly feminine about it that I can see. The design uses the alphabet to show ink bleeding from letters, so the letters transform from smooth, dark shapes on the left to a colorful chaos on the right. It's gorgeous, and I think the use of a clear foil overlay would just make it pop even more in person.

Design By Humans prints a new shirt every week day, with winners chosen from the designs voted on and submitted by site members. 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, $250 credit). Printed artists also have the opportunity to earn residuals through DBH's Rockstar Awards Program.

Labels: design by humans

The folks at Spreadshirt recently did some testing on American Apparel shirts to determine how much they shrink after many washings. It's interesting to note that even after 20 washings, the shirts only had minimal shrinking. This is likely due to the fact that the shirts were hang dried... which makes me wonder if there's been a similar test done by anyone of how AA shirts old up after being heat dried.

The Spreadshirt UK blog has some great in-depth information on their test results.

Labels: american apparel, spreadshirt

Labels: metropark, obey

This week's Shirt.Woot Derby is all about you- or at least all about the year you were born. So it's time to try your hand at summing up your birth year in a shirt design, without the use of crutches like text and copyrighted imagery.

The derby is open to new entries until Wednesday at noon. Voting is on-going until Thursday at noon. The top three shirt designs, as voted on by Shirt.Woot members, will be printed the following weekend. Each printed designer earns $1000 for the first day of sales, augmented by a $2 per shirt bonus for every shirt sold after the first day.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot

Hardcore board game fans probably already know about Pozy.com. They're a site selling massively discounted board games, with just one available every day (sort of a take off on the business model of Woot.com).

Anyway, the main page of their website features an alien. And they're pretty sure Pozy fans can make an even better one. The winner gets some serious board game riches: $225 of Pozy priced games (which basically means at their half off rate). Plus, the design will be displayed on the web page- and possibly shirts.

If this sounds like a challenge you're into pursuing, check out the contest brief and make sure you get your entry in before April 20th, 2008.

Thanks to Joe of Fantastic Bonanza for the tip!

Labels: logo, pozy

Camiseteria just printed six brand new shirt designs, all culled from the submissions i their on-going t-shirt design contest. My favorites are Carnabrasilia by Draco and Big Sushi by Leonardo Matos. Both have a fresh, colorful and cartoon-y appearance, very much the vibe I associate with Camiseteria's catalog.

Camiseteria is Brazil's on-going t-shirt design contest. They welcome entries from all over the world, and winners earn R$600 cash and R$400 in Camiseteria products.

Labels: camiseteria

Uneetee's latest winner is a doozy- a complex illustration by the renowned Jimiyo, whose print Revelations is currently Design By Humans's 4th best seller of all time. His Uneetee debut, Life, Tis Precious, is at that same trademark level of intricacy and quality. The fact that Uneetee sprung for a sparkle effect on the shirt means this is a great bargain- a quality printing effect on a gorgeous drawing at the low price of $12. Pretty unbelievable!

Every week, Uneetee prints a new $1500 winner. These winning shirts are selected from the submissions, with input based on voting and feedback from site members.

Labels: uneetee

ATTACK OF THE MOLE PEOPLE!!! by Sam Schuna (olie!) is my favorite shirt of the week. I'm impressed at the way it works so well with such a difficult shirt color, giving the drawing a bit of a seventies vibe. But most of all I enjoy the way the moles have been illustrated- those gigantic paws are pure comedy.



Decapitated Doomsday by Steak Mountain is probably the most ambitious Select I've ever seen, with a hand-dying process that kicked the shirt price up to a whopping $40. Interestingly, the fans don't seem to mind- at least one size is already sold out. As an experiment, it's a very cool idea. But for me, the shirt itself is flawed- the large black circle is easily the least interesting part of the shirt, but because of it's placement and density it is the only thing I see when I look at the design. Which is too bad, as the smaller decapitated drawings are a lot of fun.

Peaceful Future by Jack Yu (dacat) is all about transition. Planes become doves, bombs butterflies and tanks turn into turtles, all indicating a switch from the violence of machines to the tranquility of nature. I really like the way the designer used gradients to reinforce this theme of gradual change, which also gives the shirt a more gentle look.



8-Bit Investigation by Aled Lewis (fatheed) appeals to me because it works on a few levels. The design is laid out so that the shirt essentially becomes a building (which is a pretty neat concept all on its own). The art cranks things up a notch by utilizing a pixellated style. Since the scene depicts a falling death, the pixel style lets the artist depict the gore in a really humorous way. And since pixel art is basically a dead art form in this day and age, the shirt can also be thought of as a statement on that.

Word! by Matt "The Word" Palmer (bananaphone) is the kind of joke shirt that Threadless is known for, playing on the idea of slang and thesauruses. Like most joke shirts, the entire worth of the shirt hangs on how funny you find the joke. The art, while amusing, isn't enough to sell the shirt on its own.



Greek Mixology by Brock Davis (Laser Bread) has a great concept, mashing up DJ imagery with that of Poseidon. Instead of spinning records, he spins a whirlpool (capped off with a drowning victim). The clean lines of the illustration won me over completely, making this shirt a favorite of mine this week.

Liberty by Kneil Melicano (roadkill3d) is a nicely colored vector piece, accentuated with halftone dots and glow in the dark ink. I think the highlight of the design is in the motion of the lines of the bird- it's explosive, as though the bird's exit from its cage was inevitable.



This week's reprints were Skip Dessert by Jennifer V. Raad (renfrue) and Ctrl + Z by Ben.

There's also a new episode of Threadless TV: Episode Three: Go Fight Win, which features a racing refrigerator.

Winners at Threadless receive $2000 cash, a $500 gift certificate, and membership in the Alumni Club. There is also an opportunity for designs to earn more through reprints and Bestee awards.

Labels: threadless

I Love Wars by mathiole makes a strong statement about the realities of war, using images of battling movie icons (including Chewbacca and Chuck Norris) proclaiming the greatness of war to contrast against the image of a flustered George W. Bush, who admits that he mainly likes movies. The style is very stencil-y, a nice fit for the message it conveys. I could do without the cloud of halftone dots that obscures the bottom of the piece, but it's definitely not a deal breaker. This is a good-looking shirt that makes a statement.



Rabid Fire by MrRocks is a pun-based shirt with a large print of a comic-style illustration, but unlike most shirts in this genre it's quite wearable. The placement and color palette are bold without being overwhelming, which helps the shirt to carry the bulk of the ink attractively. I also like the contrast between the tight drawing style and the explosive chaos of the gun's firing.

Lightning Storm by kbauthus is a large, texture-filled drawing of a storm filling the shape of a lightning bolt. I love work in this style, as it works so well from a variety of viewing distances. The choice to put it on a white shirt is interesting to me, because that kind of brightness is rarely associated with the subject matter. It works very well, though, as it brings more attention to the excellent line work. I'm not totally sold on the placement- to me, putting the bold so high up on the collar makes it look a bit like a jagged beard- but all in all, it's a pretty great shirt.



Nocturnal American by Swirvington is a massive owl made of colorful geometric shapes. It makes me think of the seventies, which is mostly a compliment. Anyway, I love the owl itself, but I'm not crazy about the colors in the images DBH provided. I wish they showed another image of the shirt as worn, because I think those pictures usually express the colors more accurately.

Return to Hades by HUSKWORKS is my favorite piece of the week, and it gives me a renewed faith in DBH. I love the subtlety, and how the design relies on delicate lines instead of huge size or gaudy colors. The artist's ability to create both chaos and clarity in just one color is incredibly impressive, and makes this a very artful shirt.

Design By Humans prints a new shirt every weekday, with printed artists earning prizes for Shirt of the Day, Shirt of the Week, and Shirt of the Month that can total up to $3500 (plus residuals). Shirts are voted on by site members and chosen by DBH staff.

Labels: design by humans

SplitReason printed a whopping seven new shirt designs, which span the nerd gamut and leave no segment of the geek population unaddressed. Of them all, my favorite has to be Time Travel, which is a neat parody of Back to the Future using the style and characters of Peabody's Improbable History. It's a great looking illustration and makes for a really charming shirt.

Here are the other six shirts that printed:




SplitReason prints shirts submitted by the public. Winning designs are chosen based on feedback from site members and if printed, designers earn $250 and a free copy of their shirt.

Labels: splitreason

Threadless has a new contest, sponsored by Moby. They're looking for designs built around the theme of Last Night, which is also the name of Moby's new album.

Enter before May 1st, 2008 for your chance to win the prize package, which includes an Ableton DJ suite, framed and autographed Last Night album artwork, the full catalog of Moby albums, CDs and DVDs from Mute Records, a $500 Threadless gift certificate and $2,000 in cash.

Labels: loves threadless, moby, threadless

Shirt.Woot had a huge announcement today: From now on, all printed artists are guaranteed $1000 for their first day of sales. This is the new rate both for Derby winners and for Daily submissions, and it is consistent regardless of the number of sales (so shirts that sell out and shirts that sell one copy get that same $1000). All artists still have the opportunity to earn more money ($2 per shirt sold) after the first day of sales.

This week's derby celebrates the change, asking artists to come up with shirts based on the theme Greed. A couple of stipulations, though: Woot has outlawed all text (and yes, that includes currency symbols) and pirates.

As usual, Woot begins accepting entries on Friday at noon, with voting also beginning immediately. Submissions remain open until Wednesday at noon. Voting closes at Thursday at noon. The top three entries, as voted on by Woot members, will be printed the following weekend.

For more Derby fun, try fan sites Best Losers and Shirt Derby Stats.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot

A Better Tomorrow is Germany's best t-shirt design competition, and it keeps its prominence by consistently printing unique and interesting shirts from design and illustration talents from all over the globe. Since I last mentioned ABT, they've printed two new worthy additions to that list. My Universe is a swirling mass of characters, shapes and type with a great set of colors. Arcade Family is a straight-forward take on a weird idea- a family made of video game controllers (makes sense to me, some of those definitely look like faces). Both fun designs, and unlike shirts available anywhere else.

A Better Tomorrow offers a 500 euro prize to any shirt they decide to print.

Labels: a better tomorrow

Lucha Thumbre is the latest winning shirt at Uneetee. The illustration takes its inspiration from thumb wrestling, extrapolating an alternate universe where thumbs come alive like mexican wrestlers. As with most good shirts, it's the details that make it so fun- I'm rather drawn to the thumb's two teeth, which give him kind of a manic feel.

Uneetee announces a new $1500 winner every week, selected from the submissions voted on by site members.

Labels: uneetee

Threadless is celebrating April Fools Day in a big way- they've printed 9 brand new shirts (all low-scorers that the voters somehow overlooked) and have marked down all the shirts printed on old stock (Fruit of the Loom for men and American Apparel for women) down to a shockingly cheap $5. Insane! And very awesome!



Executioner Is A Nice Job by jzef was shockingly low scored for such a funny illustration, netting a score of just 1.67 out of 5. The artist's vision of such a feared figure as a jolly neon muscleman is both attractive and appealing.



Ziggy Stardog by Alvaro Arteaga (alvarejo) is a really great drawing of an off-the-wall subject- a dog posing as Ziggy Stardust. The mixture of pattern, texture and bright color immediately grabs the eye. My only complaint is with the printing- I can't fathom why anyone would print this so small and so low. To me, if you're printing a character from the torso up on a shirt, you really need to go big or go home (I'd point to And Then I Just Got Tired as an example of this printed in a more interesting way).

Rockers's Delight by Martin Krusche (MartinK.) was one of my favorites when it was being voted on, so I'm definitely glad to see it printing. The character work is amazing and really gives the rocker a distinct personality. The styling is dead-on as well, with lots of details to enjoy (including the worm in his hair). Ultimately, though, this is another shirt where the printing is not up to the level of the design- it's just far too small and too low on the shirt for me to wear.



Egyptronic! by Elise Nishiyama (SayonaraGangster) is kind of a nu rave take on the symbols of ancient Egypt. People who can wear this kind of thing without looking stupid are few and far between, but they do exist. And I've definitely not seen another shirt quite like this, so it gets some props for that.

Tyger Tyger by Lizz Lunney is a cartoon, and for me it's not a great fit for the shirt medium at all. Since my opinion on this hasn't changed since it was in scoring, I'm just going to cut and paste my comment from then: "This is a cartoon. This is not a shirt. The fence makes things too boxy (why not trees instead?). Also, you are missing out on the coolest thing about kites- they fly away! Wouldn't this be much more interesting if some of the kites were trying to escape being burnt? The fact that everything in this is so static is really killing the concept." Still all true, making this the only decision this week I was really disappointed by.



SWAMP GUITAR by swampfactory is totally fun, portraying a Swamp Thing-type character as a rock hero. His twig guitar (providing a resting place for passing butterflies) is a cool addition, and somehow leaves this mess of mud and leaves looking like it is posing for the cover of Rolling Stone.

Popping Wheelies by Kenneth Lavallee (kennnnnnnnnn) makes gory gorgeous, using his trademark illustrative style to tell the story of an angry boy who crushes tiny creatures beneath his bike wheels. It looks great as a huge print, and I really like the way the splashes of red give the piece some motion.



Yawn by Dale Sattler (noponies) is a dreamy take on nocturnal forest life, with anthropomorphic owls embracing their sleeping animal friends. This image of owls as the sleepy watchmen of the forest definitely resonates with me, and the ribbon-y element cutting through the characters keeps the action from getting too complacent.

The Rare Pixelated Shark of the South-Pacific by Kristian Bauthus is probably the most unique shirt Threadless has printed lately, and for that alone it has my respect. It mixes pixel art with hand-drawn text and flourishes, and the shark proudly proclaims his own awesomeness. I think it works pretty well as a shirt, in kind of an off-kilter way, but I wish the shark popped from the shirt a bit more- he gets a bit lost on the silver shirt in the product pics I saw, and even though it is designed to do that it's not an effect I particularly enjoy.

Overall, an awesome April Fools promotion. It's telling that there are still so many more low-scorers that would have been great additions to this list.

Labels: threadless