Threadless reached their goal of adding 5000 more fans on Facebook, and to celebrate they're rewarding customers with an additional $3 off on selected shirts. Check out the list of discounted tees here.
The Bermuda Pyramid by Nicholas Tassone (band-it) is the coolest print I've seen in ages, at any site. The all-over print creates a great ambiance, somewhere between fog and outer space. The pyramid's greenery gives it the feeling of a greenhouse, a protected area where life thrives in all the emptiness. The ghost white of the aircraft adds to the enigmatic concept (there's even some nice attention to detail in the trail of the plane as it flies). A must-buy.
Eye See You by Oliver Hibert is this week's Select. It's an odd design, but while I often respond positively to strangeness, this one is kind of throwing me for a loop. I'm not finding the colors too pleasing (bright colors on Olive is a hard sell for me), and the concept itself is unappetizing. An eye pun would have to be pretty funny to keep from feeling juvenile, and this fell short of that. There are some individual elements that I like a lot, like the combination of the eye and clock hands or the use of cloud shapes to create a camo pattern. But overall, this shirt is not for me, despite my usual enjoyment of the artist's style.
The Grand Escape by Andy Wilhite (Leroy_Hornblower) is a neat play on pattern, showing a creature literally breaking through the repeating imagery. The pattern itself is a bit boring, but works perfectly with the concept- each removed piece looks like a block. I'm also digging the large size of the area with the character, because the creature's face is done with so much personality (captured in surprisingly few shapes and lines) that it would be a shame to miss it. If I liked the pattern a bit more, this would probably be on my buy list.
Map of Mt. Sato Land! by Daniel Abensour (Aphte) has all the complexity and free-spirited fun of a children's book illustration, constructed in a shape that fits perfectly on a tee. That means it looks awesome both from far back (where the mountain itself takes centerstage) and up close where you can't help but dive in to the area beneath the mountain. It's great stuff, and I hope there's a print on the way as well because this would be perfect for a kid's room.
Extra Pulp by Chris Sharron (csharron) is a very well-done pun design. While a lot of people would have just drawn oranges with guns and called it finished, what makes this illustration so perfect is the accuracy of the cartooning- with just a few lines, Travolta and Jackson are clearly and hilariously expressed. Even as someone who didn't particularly enjoy Pulp Fiction (I know, I know), I think I'd still wear this just because it's so cleverly put together.
Farewell, Midgard by Mathijs Vissers (Demented) is a tee that works mainly because of the eyeballs. They add a real sense of narrative to the image, from the bird with the gleaming eye posing so proudly with his captured snack, to the roaming eye still embedded in the skull (is he looking for his missing part, or focused purely on the treasure scattered around him?). Other assets to the design include the angle of the spear that dissects the image (it leads the eye nicely) and the textural lines that give everything in the image a battle-worn look. Eminently wearable.
Outlaw by Alex Solis (alexmdc) is the winner of the Threadless Loves Horror contest, a fact that I'm a bit conflicted about. While I'm thrilled that this artist won, I found this particular design to be the weakest of the three he entered in the contest, both in terms of expressing the theme and in wearability. So while I'm sad for the missed opportunity of Lycanthrope and Black Bartelmy, it's still a great day for Alexmdc fans. I think my hangups on this design are twofold- 1) the fact that I'm not terribly familiar with any western-themed horror movies (I'm sure they exist, it's just not a side of the genre I've experienced), and 2) the way the character just hangs in space in the middle of the shirt, lacking the grounding of a scene. It's an amazing illustration, just not up to par with what I've seen him do elsewhere in terms of shirt design.
My Career Plans Were Much More Exciting When I Was Five by Jesse Tatton is, as slogans go, pretty solid. It gets your mind running about those dreams you had as a kid, and wanting to be a firetruck instead of a firefighter. The appeal is in the impossibility. In a way, the text treatment works- it's set up like a kid's handwriting worksheet. But for me there's a precision to it that is at odds with the theme. I want messy kid writing and a doodle of a monkey in the corner, you know? This looks like the work of a kid with boring dreams. I bet he wants to be an accountant.
I Would Look Cooler If I Were Riding a Unicorn by Jef Kaplan and Lauren Nelson is a nice slogan because frankly unicorns deserve more credit than they get. I'm a bit let down by the type treatment, though- it opts to put the bulk of the slogan (including the word riding, which for me is the meat of the statement) into tiny type in favor of focusing on the unicorn. And I like unicorns, I really do. But that's not the point. The point is riding one. That's not something that calls for pretty princess type, it calls for some true I Am Cooler Than You badassery. It has a giant spike growing from it's head! And you get to ride it! I mean, come on. That rules. That is hardcore. I don't want a shirt that is appropriate for going to play with toy ponies, I want a shirt I can wear into battle.
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.
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Saturday, January 31
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