compete-tee-tion

Springleap is a South African t-shirt design competition site, printing up new winners every month. Pictured above are two of my favorites, Complex Tought and Cthulu Watercity Invasion.

Each month, a first place winner receives R7482.18 South African Rands (about $1068.88 US), the winning design and ALL the other winning designs, a limited edition poster of the winning design, varying sponsored prizes, and R2 for every shirt with that winning design that is sold.

Runners-up are also rewarded, earning their own tshirt and two others randomly selected from that month's winning range, a limited edition poster of their design, varying sponsored prizes, and R1 for each shirt with their design that is sold.

Labels: south africa, springleap

BeyondHelp is a site specializing in t-shirts for people... beyond help. Examples of their products include a polo shirt with a discreet middle finger insignia and a t-shirt with a passed out leprechaun and the text "Being Irish is a State of Mind."

If you contribute an original idea that they use, you'll earn $100 and five shirts of your choice.

Labels: beyondhelp

Shirt.Woot's Imaginational Symbol derby is currently underway. Here are the details, straight from Woot:

There sure are a lot of countries out there. Germany. Prussia. Prussian Germany. The Holy Roman Empire. As a species, we’re really good at staking out our turf. But so is the common songbird. What makes us better than them? Why, our capacity to draw! A crest, a flag, a postmark, a seal, a thing that one could rally behind in a lost cause that was going to get everyone killed. This is your chance to leave a mark on the world. Only make sure the world you’re marking doesn’t already exist.

This week, we want to see an emblem of the nation that’s in your head. We only have a few rules. First of all, No real countries, as bad designs might provoke a war. Secondly, No imaginary countries that someone else created. We saw what happened to Peter Jackson regarding the Balrog and we just don’t want to get involved. We are applying this rule broadly to all places from myth and legend, be they Atlantis, Brigadoon, The Kingdom Of Prester John or Narnia. If you were C.S. Lewis, we’d let you use Narnia, but we know for a fact he’s dead, so we better not catch any of you trying it. Invent your own imaginary friends.

Also, keep one eye on the shirts we have already printed, like Geek Crest. We don’t want reruns. Try not to be too similar. Remember, your world has a very different history than ours!

And this time, no all-text shirts. A motto or something is fine, but imaginary people don’t rally around a sentence. Especially your imaginary people. Why don’t you put a little cash into the imaginary school system or something? Jeez.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot

Theme: May/June Contest theme: “Big City”. It’s summertime (almost) here in NYC, time for late-night rooftop bbq’s, lying-out in the park, and actually enjoying being on our bikes. All of the sudden having 8 million neighbors doesn’t seem like such a bad thing at all. This is also the time of the year that the ambitious urban gardener emerges to make everyone’s neighborhoods a little greener. That’s why this contest will benefit Trees Not Trash in Bushwick (or East Williamsburg). So your mission for this month is to show some love for living in the city, and slap it on a t-shirt. Submissions accepted until June 20.

The Prize: $300 cash, plus a $100 gift certificate to DC, plus $250 every time we reprint the shirt.

Let us sum up: You design t-shirt, other people like your shirt. We give you money and make the shirt. The designated non-profit organization gets 10% of the proceeds. Easy.

Labels: district cotton, shootout

Labels: sale, uneetee

Straight from Wooshka, here are the details:

Recently we asked you, the Wooshka community, to vote on how you would like to be thanked for the successful launch of Wooshka. With 68% of the vote, a member-only $1 sale was the clear winner.

So... for 48 hours from this Tuesday 27 May (New York – 10:00am, London – 3:00pm, Sydney – Midnight) any Wooshka member can buy any shirt in the range for just $1! All members can buy at least one $1 shirt, subject to stock availability. Members can only purchase one $1 shirt per individual order to try and make it fair for all members.

Labels: sale, wooshka

Sea Ghost by Brian Walline (thunderpeel) is my favorite shirt of the week. It's a spooky take on undersea exploration, where a deep sea diver fights valiantly against a phantom octopus. I like the frantic nature of the piece, where I feel like I can sense the diver's fear even though his face is masked by his helmet. The small touches of personality (like the ghost's anchor tattoo) also help boost the shirt to a higher level.



Gossamer by Robert Hardgrave (Farmer Bob) is the first of this week's Select shirts, using a circular framing to house a bunch of disparate visual elements. I have to say that while I enjoy his other art, this shirt is a miss for me. The reason is that the circle kills a lot of the inherent motion his other work has- I don't feel that my eye is drawn around the piece in the same way at all. In fact, the circle itself becomes more of a focal point that the interesting elements it is made of. I hope he tries his hand at shirt design again because I think his style would be a great fit for it, but this particular example is not for me.

Believe It by Julia Sonmi is another of this week's Select designs, a cool mishmash of historically-inspired concepts and modern illustration styles. It's also one of the most interesting shirts I've seen in awhile, as every inch of it is densely packed with quality (favorite bits for me are the cupped hands at the bottom and the antlered pyramids). But while I love the art, I think the placement choice makes it a difficult shirt to wear. Not everyone can pull off the collar-centric stuff (I know I definitely can't), but for those who can, this is a must-have.



True Love by Christopher Sleboda is this week's third Select (and wow, is that a lot of Select for one week). I don't really get the concept (laser tag? neon geometry?), which would be fine if I liked the look more. A quick glimpse of the artist's store confirms that I've liked his other shirt work, so my best guess on this one is that he tried to fit in too much (his other shirts are much more simplistic and concept-based). I wish I could be more positive, since I do like his print work a lot, but truthfully I'm not even digging most of the individual elements that make up this design (the faced banana is a nice exception).

Deforestation by Rick Crane (The Paper Crane) is one of the cooler conceptual designs Threadless has ever printed- it's a massive print, covering the entire shirt (front and back), that contrasts a healthy forest with a field full of stumps. Somehow, seeing this miniaturized on a shirt does a great job of driving home just how completely devastating deforestation can be to an area. I love the idea of using a pattern to make a statement like this, very smart work.



Saturday Morning Reruns by Jim Mitchell (jrmasm) takes classic cartoon roadrunner vs. coyote battles into reality, using a natural style to show the feuding animals. It's very well done and sits more nicely on the fabric than I anticipated, making this a pretty great shirt for nostalgia fans.

Incredible Circus by Chow Hon Lam (Flying Mouse) is another of the simple but hilarious designs that Threadless is known for. A trapeze act with an elephant and a monkey is pretty funny all on its own, magnified by the fact that the monkey is attempting to catch the flying elephant. The dashed line shading looks great, which makes this as great a shirt for adults as it is for kids.



Reprinting this week: A Birth Day by Jean-sébastien Deheeger (nes-k) and Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poems by Ira Vogel (pieces of cheese)

This week's Prints: Heavy Metal Listening Party Print by Ed Pincombe, Poker Hand Values Print by Tan Nuyen and MP(3) Print by Matthew Fleming.

Threadless TV also has two new episodes up for viewing: Threadle manss Recapper and A visit to Blik.

Threadless prints new shirts every week, chosen from the designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners get $2000 cash and $500 in Threadless credit, with the possibility to earn more through Bestee awards, poster prints, and reprints.

Labels: threadless

Create by jimiyo is, to me, far and away the best shirt that DBH printed this week. The design speaks to the hectic motion of the creative process, with bright, metallic flourishes snaking around tools and birds poised to take flight like a brilliant idea. But more than anything else, it just plain looks amazing on the shirt. It's a definite buy for me.



Golden Guardian by the_jcw has a lot of elements that I like. I like the statue, the colors, and the painterly style its been given. I think the main thing that turns me off is the huge, overwhelming size. To the extent that I like giant prints, I usually want them to seem more a part of the shirt- having a lot of cutouts to show shirt color, or with other colors that are nearby in color to the fabric itself. With this one, I feel like I'd be wearing a painting, and that's not something I'm looking for.

Can You Fly? by zenvenarillion is completely and utterly confusing to me. Ok, let me explain: it appears to be an upside-down dude housed in a rectangle of three colors. I don't know why. It looks a bit like it could be a logo for a streetwear company, I guess. But to me, that rectangle seems kind of lame- like this is artwork adapted to a shirt, instead of something designed with a shirt in mind. Clear boundaries on the print like that are almost always a demerit in my eyes.



Sweet Pea Attacks! by campkatie is a shirt where I like the concept a lot, but I'm not a fan of the execution. I mean, cat with laser eyes! That screams awesome. The problem for me is, I hate how halftones look on fabric. Especially when used so extensively. At that point, I think the shirt only really looks good from further away- up close, it's a hastily polka dotted mess.

Chasing Star Trails by collisiontheory aims to show the motion of stars in the sky. I have to say, without an explanation, I never would have figured that out. to me, it looked more like a music-related design, though I did wonder at why the circles were cut by a tree silhouette. I like the idea here, but I wouldn't wear it. I think that putting the epicenter dead in the middle of the chest was kind of a boring choice, especially for a design that is mostly very symmetrical. Maybe if the tree were thicker or otherwise more of a focal point I'd feel differently.

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

Pooby 5 is having a big Memorial Day weekend sale, knocking all their prices down to just $10 for t-shirts (discounts are applied at check out, and shipping starts at $2.50 for two shirts).

Pooby 5 is the newest outlet for artists who submitted great work to competition sites like Threadless and Shirt.Woot but didn't win. Prices stay low because Pooby 5 is using an ultra-secret printing method (not DTG or heat transfer, but something they're calling "hybrid screen printing").

If you're interested in being printed at Pooby 5, contact them. Artists receive 18.5% of each sale, unusually generous for a shirt company. They're always looking for new talent, so if you know your work can sell shirts let them know. It also isn't required that a shirt design has been in a contest. Special inks are also an option- Pooby 5 has glitter inks and glow in the dark at the ready.

Labels: pooby 5

Shirt.Woot's newest derby is Summer-themed. Special rules include no summer holidays, no text, and no black shirts.

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

Here are some IrateMonkey facts:

1. They pay artists 20% of the total profit from their t-shirt (with a $500 minimum).

2. They are located exclusively on Facebook.

3. They have a monkey as their mascot.

Five shirts are already available for purchase.

Labels: iratemonkey

The newest shirt at A Better Tomorrow is Pirate Jenny by a.mar.illo. It's an awesome, evocative piece, showing Pirate Jenny herself overlooking a ravaged, burning city from her perch high up in the ship's netting. The unique color scheme helps to make this a very fresh-feeling composition.

A Better Tomorrow chooses winners from the shirt designs submitted and voted on by site users. Although the site is in German, designers from all over the world can enter and win. Winners earn 500 euros when printed.

Labels: a better tomorrow

Prizes: First place gets 12 free shirts and a $100 XLarge gift certificate. Three runners-up receive $25 gift certificates.

Deadline: June 30th, 2008.

Labels: xlarge

Uneetee's latest winner is She Plays the Devil's Music by Michael Myers. It's a gorgeous illustration, with colors that stand out nicely on the silver fabric. I love the contrast of the girl's cherubic innocence with the creepy mutant-like demons.

Uneetee choses winners from the designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners receive $1500, with the chance to earn more through reprints.

Labels: uneetee

Big announcement at Threadless this week- from now on, they'll be printing 3 shirt designs as limited edition prints every week! For $35, buyers get an 18 x 24 inch screen print on high quality paper. Designers whose work is chosen will get $500.



Color In The Dark by Sebastien Cuypers is an attention getting piece that combines a photographic setting with an invasion of vector-y creatures. I love the idea of these creepy but cute multi-eyed monsters bumbling curiously through the dark streets. And as an added bonus, all those eyes glow in the dark.



Hitting On The Moonshine by Garrett Morin is this week's Select, and it is easily one of the strangest shirts I've seen lately. It seems to be constructed out of bits of clay, using a photograph as a backdrop. I give a lot of credit for originality, but I'm not fond of the execution. It looks too much like a kid's 3d graphics experiment (a lot of this is likely due to the colors, which have an uncomfortable tint).

Bowler. by Dann Matthews is simple, clever, and well-done. If I bowled... well, ever, I would probably buy it. As it stands, a shirt so white and plain is a bit of a hard sell to me. But the concept and work are definitely top-notch.



Training For Utopia by Ken Marshall is a hyperactive collage full of color and imagery. It also conveys a lot of motion, which makes the composition enticing to the eye. My issue, though, is that with complex shirts like this, I feel that the shape it creates on the shirt becomes even more important. And for me, the shape is lacking- it just feels like a mass, instead of a designed object. That said, the fact that it's both front and back is a nice touch (though I think I prefer the back to the front).

A Friend's Job by Whitney Gaynor is classic Threadless cuteness, showing a patchwork lion repairing his pal, a stuffed bear. The patterns on the lion are very nicely done, with a lot of variety in color and style. I'm less fond of the bear, whose fur seems less textural to me- maybe it's the uniformity of the thickness of the dashes. Still, it's a great kids shirt.



Rock 'n Work by Matheus Lopes Castro is one of this week's real gems. To me, part of the hilarity is that it reminds me of those terrible job ads that are always looking for a "rockstar" programmer or designer. If they actually got what they were asking for, I guess this shirt would be the result. The energy and movement are great, accented by a splotchy, painted style.

Ladies and Children First! by Laurent Vaissade is pretty damn enigmatic. A fellow in formal wear stands in deep water, only visible from the eyebrows up. It makes me wonder how he got there and where he's headed. Anyway, the style is nice and crisp, and I love the concept. Totally unique.



Reprinted this week: In Case Of Zombies by Olly Moss and No, you can't come... You are a mere pawn by Gemma Correll.

This week on Threadless TV: Episode Nine: The Launch of the Threadless Prince

Threadless prints new shirts every week, chosen from the designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners get $2000 cash and $500 in Threadless credit, with the possibility to earn more through Bestee awards, poster prints, and reprints.

Labels: threadless

Migratory Pattern by dhectwenty is Design By Humans's standout shirt of the week. It is a departure from the artist's typical work, which tends to involve a lot of color. With just one color, he handily captured the essence of a bird's movement. It's unique and intriguing.



Reconstruction by ninhol uses a cool patchwork style to form the design, it comes across as something quilted into the shirt. I love the characterization of the bird, who has a lot of personality packed into its small frame. The shape of the tree, though, feels too bulky to me- and while it doesn't prevent me from liking the shirt, it would prevent a buy.

Watch Your Six by jublin is another of the huge prints that DBH is known for. It works well, largely because of the spareness of the illustration. That gives the shirt the ability to be a neat, simple, colored piece from far away, and also to tell a story when up close.



A is for Apple by akoelle is a very neat ink-based shirt. The leaves on the tree resemble fingerprints, which is a cool thematic tie-in with the reaching hand. The shade of orange is totally fresh (and even though it colors an apple, I love that choice). Top it off with some nice text work and a perfect shirt placement, and it all adds up to an awesome shirt. It's like a children's book illustration you can wear.

No More Grey Matter by paperball is a complicated composition full of fun monsters and other kinds of cartooned chaos. The color palette is great for moving the eye around and uniting the piece. I found myself also very drawn to the overall shape of the drawing, kind of a skateboard or pill-like form.

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

Fair and Bare is the UK's newest on-going t-shirt design contest. They set themselves apart from other contests by using only fairtrade certified shirts, which means that everyone involved in the shirt's production gets a fair share of the profits.

This belief system extends to the artists participating as well. Each winner will be paid $400 per printed submission- and even better, when Fair and Bare increases the payments, all past artists will be bumped up to the increased payment as well.

Labels: fair and bare

A Better Tomorrow's latest winning shirt is a cool guide to England's greatest city. Londonguide by Peachbeach is an exciting, frantic design showing off everything that makes London unique. It also looks great on the shirt, as the chaos of the composition is softened by the similar colors all the elements use.

A Better Tomorrow chooses winners from the shirt designs submitted and voted on by site users. Although the site is in German, designers from all over the world can enter and win. Winners earn 500 euros when printed.

Labels: a better tomorrow

Enter before May 25th, 2008 for your chance to win.

Labels: glass boutique

Teetonic is looking for a shirt designer who can design a great official shirt for T in the Park (a festival featuring the likes of Rage Against the Machine, REM, Chemical Brothers and more). Designs that comment on festival culture and the artist's own experiences are preferred, and using any official band logos is forbidden.

Enter before May 30th for your chance to win 2 weekend camping tickets to T in the Park, a two man tent, two sleeping bags, two roll mats, 100 pounds in Teetonic vouchers, and 5 shirts of the winning design.

Labels: t in the park, teetonic

Uneetee's newest winning shirt is The Robotanist by Ed Pincombe. It's an awesome design with a lot of sci-fi flair. Like the cover of an especially well-crafted comic book, the robot works to fight his way through a hazy mass of carnivorous plants. I might have to buy this one, because it looks seriously good on the shirt.

Uneetee choses winners from the designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners receive $1500, with the chance to earn more through reprints.

Labels: uneetee

Threadless has announced a new competition, Threadless Loves Lollapalooza. The theme is to design a shirt based on the actual meaning of the word lollapalooza, which is "remarkable or wonderful person or thing." That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, so I hope to see a massive variety in the work submitted.

The submission deadline is June 12th, 2008. The winner will walk away with two 3-day tickets to the festival, two round-trip tickets to the festival (from anywhere in the world), three night rock star hotel accommodations, and a commemorative swag bag in addition to Threadless's typical prize of $2000 cash and a $500 Threadless gift certificate.

Labels: lollapalooza, loves threadless, threadless

Smile... My Shadow by Lim Heng Swee (ilovedoodle) is both simple and charming. A creature chalks a smile on his gloomy shadow, with everything created out of large curving shapes. The details like the realization of the hands and the texture on the creature's back give it a polished look and add charm.



Beaver Circus Spectacular by Jon Burgerman (Dr Pinkus) is this week's Select. I must confess, I don't particularly like this one. To me, doodle-style shirts tend to rely on 1) color, 2) characters, and 3) overall shape... and those are all areas in which this one fails for me. The colors feel messy and unmatched, the characters are largely too rough to really capture my imagination, and the shape strikes me as kind of unflatteringly bottom-heavy. I've liked some of the artist's other work, but this one feels pretty uninspired.

It's Just A Summer Job by Mike Sayre (mildish) is another of this week's gems, as the concept is pure summer and pure Threadless. A hamster wheel and a ferris wheel combine to make a funny image and an interesting statement on the nature of work. After all, for every bit of fun that people have, someone had to work hard to make it happen. Even if it looks like fun. I think the escaping balloons are an especially nice touch.



Terrible Wonderful Strange by Andrew G Schick (shiroshok) shows some serious awesomes exploding out of a dude's stomach. They're mostly limbs, featuring wings, hooves, hands and tentacles. There's some great work on the textures and soft colors, which really worked to draw me into the scene and to make things seem more surreal.

Renaissance by Heintz Sébastien (Néhérénia) is a neat riff on nature and structure. I think it's the kind of scene that could easily be interpreted a few different ways. A city growing like a plant. A city being overgrown by nature. Maybe even urban and plant life finding a way to co-exist. The feeling of the design is very dreamy, and I like the idea of lights glowing in the trees- lightning bugs lighting the city?



Self Destruction by Andrew John Mohacsy is a totally unique piece, using frantic, sketched lines to show a bomb's emotional distress. His eyes tear up as he moves the lighter closer to his head. The style was very effective in creating a sense of motion, and in making me care about the outcome. One of the most interesting shirts Threadless has printed in awhile.

Surfer's Paradise by Simon Massey di Vallazza (francobolli) is a great summer concept, showing a surf spot hidden deep in the jungle. The colors (and the VW) are pretty sixties-inspired, which makes it stand out from most shirts Threadless prints. Not a shirt for me, but I think there's a huge market for it.



Reprinting this week: Robot Dance Contest by Cameron McEwan (Ronin60) and MP(3) by Matthew Fleming (flembo).

Threadless prints new shirts every week, chosen from the designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners get $2000 cash and $500 in Threadless credit, with the possibility to earn more through Bestee awards and reprints.

Labels: threadless

Shen-Lung by opifan64 is my favorite shirt this week at Design By Humans. The strength of the lines reminds me of a woodcut, and I think the addition of gold foil looks great and works to move the eye around. While the subject matter at first struck me as a bit stale, I think the artist did a great job of finding a fresh take on it.



Audio Visual by MariJ4 is the big winner of the Temposhark contest. Disappointingly, it seems less an original design than a copy of the band's previous marketing materials. If that's all the band was looking for, I'm not sure a contest was even necessary. The most irritating part, though, is that I feel this isn't a very good shirt- it's just a giant circle in the center of the shirt. Totally boring visually, and completely without meaning.

Perfection is Boring... by casajordi irritates me. I find it to be a pretty hideous arrangement, both in colors and in content- judging from the title, maybe that's the point. If you like collages of public domain images, maybe you like this. But I don't tend to like that stuff, and even apart from that I'm honestly confused about what about this design is at all worthwhile. The trouble with collage pieces is that I can't even compliment any of the individual elements that make up this design, because while I like them, I also know that the artist who submitted this shirt isn't the one who made them.



Time On Your Mind by Setup85 is the other gem this week. It's an awesome illustration that combines elements to create the feeling of capturing time itself. The face of the clock strikes me as both beautiful and fearful, contrasting nicely with the more aggressive look of the animal below it. The greatest part of the piece, though, is the grasping hands. They give the design a unique flavor, and some action and movement that wasn't present otherwise.

Typographic Pandemonium by jsheldon feels wearable, but uninspired to me. It looks more like a type study from a typography class than a finished design. The specific arrangement of text isn't ideal to me because of the large O and Q at approximate breast placement. I like type a lot, but I'm just not that crazy about this. I feel it could have been improved on.

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, temposhark

Allmightys has a contest running right now that's all about repetition- in Pattern Battle, the only rule is that your shirt needs to riff on patterns in some way. Check out their contest page for further details.

The submission deadline is June 23rd, 2008. Winners earn commissions based on the sales of their shirts, which vary from 2 euros to 1 euro per shirt sold, depending on what place the shirt design won in the contest.

There is also a mini-contest underway for site visitors. Post your opinion on patterns on the mini-contest page for your chance to win two free shirts of your choice from Allmightys. The deadline on this is May 19th.

Labels: allmightys, pattern battle

Shirt.Woot's newest derby theme was revealed last week, so consider this a reminder. They've teamed up with sponsor 2K Games (makers of Civilization Revolution) to enhance the derby a bit. This week's theme is Join the Revolution, and winners are looking at an increased prize package thanks to this week's sponsorship. Adhere to the theme, and bear in mind that Woot has specifically said that they don't want Civilization-themed shirts- no association with the game is permitted, and related logos are artwork are outlawed.

First place receives $2000, an Xbox 360 Elite, Civilization Revolution for the 360, a themed 360 faceplate, and a signed poster. Second place is $1500, a 360 faceplate, Civilization Revolution for the 360, and a signed poster. Third place will get $1000, a copy of the game for the 360, and a signed poster. These winners are also still eligible for Woot's aftersale commissions of $2 per shirt sold after the first day of sales.

The derby opens to submissions on Friday at noon and remains open until Wednesday at noon. Voting is on-going from when the derby opens until Thursday at noon. The top three shirt designs (as chosen by Woot members) are printed the following weekend.

Labels: derby, shirt.woot

A Better Tomorrow's latest print is basically a pile of awesome things- a kraken, spray paint, a bandana, stars and more. Overall the style of Mr. Krake looks like the kind of thing an enthusiastic kid would doodle in their schoolbooks- big on feeling, low on finesse. The end result is that the shirt is pretty charming- not something I'd buy, but I still see a pretty big audience for it.

A Better Tomorrow is based in Germany, and prints shirts chosen from their on-going t-shirt design competition. Winners receive 500 euros.

Labels: a better tomorrow

Uneetee's newest winning shirt is Queen Bee, which is an artistic take on the phrase. In theory, I like the idea a lot, but in practice the style of the artwork just doesn't speak to me. The character seems to have no personality, and her proportions (the ears in particular) just come off a bit wrong to me. I'm not a fan, as I think Uneetee has had much better shirts submitted.

Uneetee selects a new winner each week from the shirt designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners receive $1500, with the potential to earn more if their design is reprinted.

Labels: uneetee

HEEEAAAAVYYY Metal!!! by Rodrigo William Rimes Rezende (rwr2) is my favorite shirt of the week, because it depicts the idea of overweight rockers with skill and humor, rather than relying on the pun itself to carry it. It's hilarious to see these fat dudes' bellies hanging over their too-skinny leather pants, highlights showing sweat on their rolls. The intense facial expressions, especially the red face of the singer, further sell the concept. It's a cool shirt, even for non-metal fans.



Zombie by Gael Cecchin is this week's Select. It's a tight combination of cartooning and lettering that does a lot with a low number of colors- perfect for the medium. The front and back prints give the idea that a zombie is literally exploding from the rabbit's head, which is a neat progression that I wish more shirts would use. Copper ink pops nicely on the blue shirt as well, which makes me think I may need to pick up a copy of this one.

Sasquatch In Disguise by Sean Langedijk (playing in the rain) is based on an idea that is solid gold- a pair of bigfoots donning disguises to explore the world around them. The lines and textures are incredibly charming, especially the oversized hands clutching the small oars. The details make the shirt, like the way the shapes underwater are distorted and the wood-like pattern on the masks.



I Got Another Whale by Chow Hon Lam (Flying Mouse) is pure Threadless- simple vectored imagery, with a joke you have to look a bit closer to get. It's very well-done, from the apathy of the cat to the indignation of the whale. Despite the simplicity of the shapes and the idea, the details are still present in the texture of the whale and the hair on the cat's outline.

The Things I've Swallowed by Samuel Lara (label) reminds me of classic cartoons and eating cereal in front on the tv on a lazy Saturday morning. The collection of eaten objects is awesomely weird and colorful, kind of a peek into what a comic character's belly might contain. Overall, it's like no other shirt I've ever seen, so even though it has a bit of a limited audience, I'm glad it printed.



The Rebirth of Venus by Kneil Melicano (roadkill3d) is a parody of a famous painting, making a modern statement on our cultural perceptions of beauty. It's disturbing to see surgeons looming, about to alter a masterpiece. I don't know if the intention is to make the artwork uncomfortable to look at as well, but that's the effect it has on me. The colors kind of gross me out, and the colored halftones start to look like a rash. It's a shirt I respect, but wouldn't wear.

Everything Will Be Alright by Lim Heng Swee (ilovedoodle) is a cool one-color piece, showing a happy-go-lucky parachuter passing through a storm to find a more peaceful patch of sky. I preferred the more subtle colors the design was submitted on (to me, they reflected the calmness better), but the new colors aren't bad either. I like the repetition of elements, as that makes the character stand out more.



Reprinted this week: Lab Partners by Hagit Hashimshony and Go Japan! by Glenn Jones (Glennz).

This week on Threadless TV: Episode Seven: Against All Odds.

Threadless prints new shirt designs every week, chosen from the entries submitted and voted on by the site community. Winners receive $2000 cash and a $500 Threadless gift certificate, with the potential to earn more through Bestee awards and reprints.

Labels: threadless

Don't be a Dummy by wes_allen is the stand-out shirt of the week, combining cool imagery with an interesting statement. The use of both crash test dummies and television sets gives the impression that people who spend too much time in front of the tv might morph into the dummies, and the cautionary text (with messages like "Don't be a dummy, buckle up") reinforces that idea. The general feeling is that you have to be careful with what you let into your head, with color accents of light pinks and blues that soften the potentially harsh implications.



Revelations 2:2008 by jimiyo is of course pretty damn amazing, because most of his stuff is so well done. This is no exception to that trend, and I love the idea of showing this skull cloaked in so much life and death related imagery. From afar, it's a cool shirt, but up close all the details really come into their own. I'm not entirely sold on the shirt color, though- I preferred the grey it was submitted on, because to me these dark colors are a bit too harsh on the white fabric.

Mr. Elepop the Carrier by csj89 is a wild illustration that almost explodes with color and content. Kind of like a children's book illustration on steroids, there's something cool to look at in every inch of the drawing. For the right buyer, it's a tremendous shirt. I'm not that buyer because it's a bit too busy for me (it just looks messy from far back to me, and I don't care for the white ink in the background), but it's still a pretty decent shirt.



Flycycle by edelia is huge, bold, and weird- I love it! The drawing itself is pretty boss, as the fly seems to have a lot of determination in his eyes. The placement adds a lot to the charm, as it gives the bike a sense of motion it might not have had otherwise. Overall, it's excellent work and I'm likely to pick one up.

Stripes are Fun by dagnis is a shirt that, admittedly, is not really my kinda thing. I tend to go for illustrations that look like something, or that have some kind of greater message. Still, the t-shirt medium is very diverse and there's absolutely room for purely decorative experiments as well. I think the use of a gradient and the inclusion of the lines-between-the-lines that go at an opposite angle take this particular design to a different level than most work in this vein, so while I'm not buying I'm also not disappointed in the choice to print this.

Design By Humans prints a new shirt each weekday, with winners receiving $500 cash and $250 DBH credit. Winners have the opportunity to earn even more through DBH's Shirt of the Week prize ($1000 cash), Shirt of the Month prize ($1500 cash and $250 credit) and Rockstar Awards Program for shirts that sell a lot of copies.

Labels: design by humans

Bang Bang T-Shirts is a shirt design competition that focuses on the world of pop culture. To this end, they have a variety of themed competitions that aim to create some truly unique shirts based on the chosen subject matter.

Current competitions include Chevy Chase, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Monkey Island. These contests all have a set deadline of this December, but Bang Bang often prints shirts sooner when something catches their eye. The prize is £100, and sometimes more than one winner is printed.

Labels: bang bang t-shirts

I think FeelDude is in Italy or something, which means my understanding of what's going on is... well, a bit sketchy. The good news is that there's a tiny icon on the upper right of the site that will switch the content into english. The bad news is that not every page has a translation. Still, it's a decent start at making things more accessible to the english-speaking.

Here's what you need to know: shirts that get a lot of votes have a better chance at being printed. Shirts that print win 150 euros cash and 150 euros in FeelDude gear.

Labels: feeldude, italy

Shirt.Woot has been pretty busy. This week, they've begun a new derby, with the theme Alphabet and the restriction that each letter must be used... and used exactly once.

This derby opens to submissions Friday at noon, with submissions closing at noon on Wednesday. Voting is on-going from Friday at noon to Thursday at noon. The top three entries, as voted on by Shirt.Woot members, will be printed the following weekend. Each printed designer earns $1000 for the first night of sales and an additional $2 per shirt sold after the first day of sales.

Shirt.Woot also posted an announcement about next week's derby: they've partnered with 2K Games to create a derby based on the game Civilization Revolution. The derby's theme will be Join the Revolution- and though the contest is sponsored by Civilization, direct references to the game (in the form of logos or artwork) are strictly forbidden.

This derby won't open to submissions until next Friday (May 9th) at noon, which gives potential entrants some extra time to finesse their designs. Because this is a special sponsored derby, the prizes are different than usual. First place will receive a whopping $2000 (plus possible commissions), a 360 Elite, a year of Xbox Live, a copy of Civilization Revolution for the 360, a Civilization Revolution themed Faceplate for the 360, and a poster signed by the team. Second place will win $1500 (plus possible commissions), a 360 faceplate, a copy of Civilization Revolution for the 360, and a poster signed by the team. Third place gets $1000 (plus possible commissions), a copy of the game for the 360, and a signed poster.

Very interesting to see Shirt.Woot entering into the sponsored contest arena- could this be the event that makes more artists see them as a contest venue on par with Threadless and Design By Humans?

Labels: derby, shirt.woot