Make it Rain!

Throughout March, as you may recall, we at Singularitee ran a contest for a free t-shirt. Our winner was frequent commenter and contest-watch featured designer, theinfinityloop. Her choice? The amazing Peachbeach tee Timberland, a shirt I can't recommend enough, especially for this season of cookouts and fireworks. Now, she's giving a little something back, and we'd be remiss not to mention it.

Ms. Loop set a goal for herself of a print a month, or 12 prints throughout the year, and much as this blog held a contest for our 25th Contest Watch Update, she is holding herself a contest for her 12th print. Details are at her blog: check it out and get tweeting about her on Twitter for a chance to win!

It comes at an excellent time, as today I would like to discuss her Rain Dance, a rare shirt.woot design that is actually brilliant, artistic, and widely appealing. With leaves sprouting from the border of the design and a faded outline containing the scene, the design fills the shirt expertly. The concept is stunning as well: the raindrops falling form two dancers. The rendering is spot-on... the drips and splashes look natural, and the bodies of the pair are as watery as the drops that form them. There is a great sense of motion caught here... the two dancers are caught mid-dance, frozen in the passion of their art, while also showing off a fluidity that echoes to the lithe bodies of dancers. It's one of woot's most impressive offerings to date, and also teetering on the edge of reckoning. If you're interested, now is the time to strike a blow for great design, support a friend of the blog, and possibly even give someone the chance to win a tee for free. As with all woot shirts, we can't guarantee how long this one will last: it may be gone by Monday, so hesitation is not recommended.

Contest Watch: Week of June 18

If there's one constant to rely on during what has become an at turns busy and lazy summer, it is the Contest Watch. The time when I tell you all about the awesome things you need to vote for. The time when I praise the people willing to take risks and be awesome instead of ride the waves of mediocrity. The time I talk about the following five shirts.

As today is the sale date of my Teextile pick of the week (Mitohapa's "Metamorphosis"), it seems fitting to start with a piece up for voting there: Julianglander's Battle At Sea. It's an easy pick for my tastes, marrying crashing linework waves with squids fighting whales, and with a simple color palette that nevertheless is an unsurprising choice for me to appreciate. The little bits here really do it for me, though. The main squid is so damn happy going to war against his whale, despite his brethren being defeated in ridiculous and humiliating manners. I also like the "ghosts" rising up, presumably representative of fallen soldiers on both sides, which create an interesting triangular feel to the piece.

Finding its way into the ol' CW for the first time in a while is ShirtFight. It's a bit ironic, really... the theme there this week was one I truly dreaded: ninjas, pirates, robots, and cowboys? Any time people actually BEG for the memes to come out in force, this little blogger gets worried. But like RIPT's concurrent "Robot Week," I feel I got far more than I bargained for for a theme that feels so entrenched in uncreativity. Probably my favorite is Robbielee's "Unplugged," and to me, the reasons should be obvious. One of the first things that caught me about the entry is the texture. The guitar has a faithful wood tone, and the robot gleams like the metal menace it is. I also enjoy the pun, with an electronic creation strumming an acoustic guitar. But even past that juxtaposition of plugged and unplugged, I enjoy the natural and synthetic interplay... the robot is decidedly bulky, especially compared to his instrument and the sounds which would come from it. Still, even his posturing shows him as shattering the stereotypes of his robotic past... I especially like the humble bowed head. And likely after that, he'll go shatter the last remainders of the human race. That's what robots do, after all, right? A very well-done character piece.

Off to Threadless, I can't say enough good things about Wah Wah Wahhhhh, a collab between Ivantobealone and Montro. A mix between a Debbie Downer sketch (hence the onomatopoeic title) and the Threadless classic "Spoilt," this gets a nod from me for being far more appealing than either of the two. Where Spoilt is chock full of words, this gives us far more to look at and appreciate. The shape is far more organic and wearable. And while the other tee relies on one caring about film, this revels in universal spoilers, branching to anyone who likes a little snark, dark humor, or bitterness in their day. It even seems a bit less dickish than ruining the end of a movie to tell someone that pandas will go extinct. I love the style also, with its old time nostalgia making a perfect fit for the barbed and factual humor, and the palette is perfection. With all due respect to Olly Moss and Rachel Dracht, it's simply far more appealing to look at.

I'm possibly alone on this next one, but for the few of you who will recognize just how brilliant k-proj's "Antlers Are In" is, I am quite happy to have shown it to you. The illustration itself is simple elegance, like it was snatched out from a sketchbook page. The animals selected are all recognizable, and the variety of poses adds a nice flow to the overall design. The layout itself works wonders also, creating an almost circle, almost swoop of creatures... all the branching and curving of antlers and horns only helps to tie the flow together. No lie, the inclusion of a jackalope here makes me smile, as well. The fine, penciled look of the linework makes the light blanks suggested a perfect fit, but even more so because both shades fit perfectly as the coloration of the woodland denizens inhabiting the shirt. Finally, I'm actually really jazzed about the small dots flecked about the design... they're dull against the white, but burn brighter on sand and cream, which lends even more visual interest to the whole piece. It might not make it to print, but I certainly would buy if it did.

Of course, if you enjoy your deer purchasable instead of hypothetical, do be sure to get in to vote for Grande Elusion, another collab, this time between the ludicrously talented buko and silverqe. The main illustration is wonderfully illustrated and ornate, while the glow elements make it magical. What I really love is that both designs relate to one another and yet stand seperately. Many specialty ink pieces only make sense in one light, or else need both to really keep the same appeal. This is two seperate and gorgeous designs made even better when taken together. It's really a must-see, so do go view the full submission... it explains everything far better than words can.

Slipping my mind

We at Singularitee would like to apologize heartily for the following mind-slip: Chow Hon Lam and William Chua's "Solar Power" printed. It was part of Threadless' second sale week tee series, and like everything else blog related, I was far too out of it to remember that this epicness was also a contest watch piece. As a result, the shirt stock became decimated. Again, I truly apologize, since this may have cost you some awesomeness.

It came out great, though, with all the mystical Asian beauty that it implied, from two of the best minds in the shirt world. You can tell their calibre easily, as it's both artful and wearable, to the point where it was such a familiar and logical print, I didn't even remember having written it up prior. Funny how that happens. If your size is still in stock, pick it up quick. If not, it is never too late to request a reprint. I bet we'll see this return by the year's end.

Contest Watch: Week of June 11

I'm really sorry to leave you hanging last week. There were a lot of SUPREMELY great Threadless subs, which I will happily tell you all about when they hopefully print. We do, however, have somewhat exciting news: contest watch tee "A Visitor From the North" by VonMonkey is up for support at Cameesa. $10 + shipping gets you a piece of the action, as well as residuals from every sale once it prints.

In what seems like deja vu, we start off with a Uneetee design by Againstbound. This week, it's Samurai Epilogue, a design I've seen make the rounds for a while now, and simply needs a good home. The more I see it, the more I want to own it. It's simple, but the flow is perfection, snaking up diagonally to the shoulder. It's also a brilliant representation of peace, with the instruments of war laying dormant long enough to become overgrown with life. It's stark beauty... help it gain a life at uneetee, and check out the end of their summer sale while you're there.

shirt.woot's theme this week was "the sun," and if that sounds like a boring theme, you'd be right. Most of the shirts did nothing but illustrate the theme exactly, which is why I appreciated Mitohapa's "Sunflowers: Vase-sized photon sources." A bit verbose with the title, but mercifully creative with the concept, the piece imagines literal sun-flowers, sprouting and exuding a sunny charm. Characterizing the flowers helps give them even more sunniness. The colors remain earthy and warm throughout, and the design makes great use of the blank, melding organically with the tee, and making the whole thing quite wearable. It's a piece that would make a great summer shirt. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see it around again next summer. I can't imagine the wearer ever being in a bad mood, and that's sorta what summer's all about to me: sitting back and simply enjoying yourself. And sometimes getting sunburned. But mostly enjoyment.

It's bird and music week at Threadless, I do believe, and to celebrate, we start with Song Bird, by quister. Like Sunflowers, the piece creates a great organic border with the blank itself, which helps it almost have a 3D feel... the outside layer of leaves pops off the background trees, with the focal image between them, as though it was all a diorama. That focal bird is one of the best re-imaginings of a music note I've seen... the plump little body is the perfect shape for both the note and the torso of a bird, with the stem making the neck and beak. While the stem itself makes the note visible, the body is bird-perfection, decked out in colors that shine and camouflage in equal measure, like an elusive bird of the jungle would be. One has to imagine this bird's song is a hell of a tune, as well. Great execution.

On the avian side, we're also given Magnitudinous Vocabulary, by Fleck. Taking inspiration from the loquacious macaw, which can produce a verifiable facsimile of human speech, it lauds the merit of grandiloquent verbosity. I'll drink to that! Besides its praise of literacy, which is something I can always get behind, I enjoy the use of the parrot to deliver the message. Its monocle and pipe don't hurt things, but the idea of an extremely well-educated parrot, instead of one who merely, well, "parrots" back, is both a natural choice and a wise one, meaning the bird doesn't need the accoutrement of the aristocracy to put forth that message. Besides the topic and choice of vehicle to convey it, though, the execution makes me quite happy, too. The lines build a very ably drawn bird, and the colors are spot on as far as what one would imagine for the breed, but I do quite like seeing the faded texture on it, as well. I feel fading out makes the bird more wearable for more people, instead of relying solely on a bolder wearer who can handle its equally bold colors. It also does wonders for the texture, especially on the branch. One could certainly do worse than promote themselves as a proponent of literacy and art, and they certainly could do worse than sport this shirt to do it.

Finally, for the music lover who doesn't love birds, how about an octopus? In an idea I'm sure must have been done already, orchard brings us Octopus Jazz, in which an octopus becomes a full jazz ensemble. As I said, I'm sure this can't be a first, but I still love the concept, but what I love more is the execution. The two color earth-toned print works great for a jazz-era concept, and minimal color schemes always look classy as hell when done right. The octopus' tentacles wriggle and writhe in a brilliant tangle, as they should: it's almost pointless to draw this sort of thing if you're not going to draw in the sinewy motion of those arms. But what I like best is the smart use of the blank. The linework is all blank space, and it creates some awesome visual draw, especially since the shirt and the color of the octo are similar foliage greens... the similar colors look great against each other. As a musician and lover of all things cephalopod, I am all for eventually owning this tee.

How Quickly Time Flies

I'd like to apologize, dear readers, for my extended absence this weekend. There are times when the real world gets in the way of blogging, and while I certainly missed you guys this week, some things are more important. That said, it feels like forever since I last chatted with you.

It is made to feel even longer considering that recent Contest Watch feature, Wotto's "Dark Side of Doodles," is up for sale at Teextile all week. It was quite a quick pick, so it serves to bolster the illusion of an even longer absence. It's also quite a worthy pick. It's distinctively Wotto, but also among his most fun and accessible tees... all the characters are charming and awesome, and the color scheme is classic and classy. I can't recommend enough that you pick one up. Today is the best day, as it's on sale for $12, but if you miss it, grab it at $15 any time for the rest of the week. Your chest will thank you for it.

Bull Shirt: Today Only

The new trend in tee sites seems to be the quick-n-dirty One Day Only site. TeeFury seems to be the pioneer here, but the basics are always the same: the site prints your shirt for a limited time, pays you based on what you sell, and then you get the rights back when the print run is done. It's the ultimate in impulse buying: often you literally have 24 hours before the shirt of your dreams is gone forever.

In case you need something else to get frantic over every midnight, I present to you RIPT Apparel. RIPT just started yesterday, so you really haven't missed much, but you definitely shouldn't miss this one: it's a rare print by Dave Perillo, known also as Montygog. The piece is A Bull by the Horns, and it is chock full of the fun, retro style the designer is known for. The bull is the obvious focus, being the "punch line," but there's plenty to see in the stripe of characters... each car almost has personality, and there are some fun sight-gags added in if you let yourself peruse. The throwback cartooning, however, is what you're really paying for with a Montygog piece, and he doesn't disappoint here... the colors, shapes, and humor all give a nostalgic feel, even for those of us who weren't born when the nostalgia was freshest. Personally, I can't help but remember the old Wacky Races cartoons just looking at it. How dastardly of the designer!

RIPT tees are only $10, and this one's only up until Midnight Central tomorrow, so if you're digging it, you hep cat, now is the time to grab it, and support a new site, a unique designer, and your wardrobe's right to some unique, individual tees.

Threadless Sale Continues!

For those of you not keeping track, Threadless' Summer Heatwave Sale is going on still, until 10am Wednesday. The experts here at Singularitee would suggest that it will probably go on until Monday, like Threadless sales normally do, but we would also suggest you wait at your own risk. If you lose out on some super awesome sale tees by playing Russian Roulette like that, it ain't our fault.

Much like last week, there are some epic prints rolled out for week two of the sale, including what I find to be easily the best of the bunch: Murphy's Law, by Alvarejo. Sure, there were some huge prints last week, and I'm definitely stoked about the six staff-and-alumni picks debuted throughout the week (dare we ask for six more this week?) but this one is the new shirt I want most. It might be hard to appreciate fully from the pic posted here, but this is absolutely epic artwork and coloring... the lines are flawless and the image all but shines. It's also brilliant conceptually... it takes the idea of Murphy's Law (that anything that can go wrong will) and carries it to the extreme. Your boat is sinking. That's bad enough without having a giant octopus dragging it down, or a sea monster rise up to destroy it, to say nothing of the griffin that has apparently decided to do battle with the two leviathans. The captain's loss is our gain, though, as the sheer imagination of the scene is captivating.

As with most new tees these days, this one isn't sale-priced, but it's certainly worth the full one if you can swing it. There can be no guarantee that shirts like this will last 'til the next sale, so I'd be sure to make haste. As for what IS on sale? I'd keep posted here: we'll be sure to keep you updated on Wednesday as to what changes.

All is Not Lost

A couple months ago, I had an idea all geared up for a weekend blog, and when I went to retrieve my info, everything was missing. The link was gone, the shirt seemed lost to the ether. It was a shame, too, because the site showed huge promise, and all for pretty cheap, too. Perhaps it was not meant to be.

Ah, but then I stumbled over it again, and this time, dear readers, I will not let it slip away before telling you. The site is called Scopial. It's an outfit out of India, and I honestly know very little about it past what the site states. For you designer types, it might be a good place to get in on: they offer $400 US for a winning tee, and as it's a newer site, the odds are in your favor. It looks like there are already some solid designers throwing their hat in the ring, as well: there are printed designs from Casajordi and The_JCW, and I found other familiar designs printed and in the running. It could definitely be worth taking a chance.

For the buyers among us, however, they already have what is shaping up to be a solid early life. The prices are cheap (the equivalent of $10 US), and the shirts are by all claims top notch. My main caution with a new site like this is Shipping Time... International Shipping doesn't always take into account how damn long things will take to get to you, so it could be longer than the higher shipping cost would imply. There are definitely designs worth taking the risk on, though. My pick of the bunch is the one I originally found when I first saw the site, Predator. If you liked Charybdis in my last Contest Watch, you'll probably dig this one, too... while it lacks the visceral punch of the other design, it revels even deeper in the predatory, giving us a lion and a pretty vicious looking snake, among other creatures joining some denizens of the deep. There's some amazing vector work here... it's smooth, but it doesn't feel cloying like some vectors can. The colors are skillfully used as shading predominantly, and they look gorgeous against each other and the tee. There's some serious art going on here, and it fills a tee brilliantly. Even the model of the tee has to hold onto her head to keep it from spinning at how cool this piece is!

I'm hoping to pull out some more varied shops now that t-shirt weather is officially here just about everywhere. I obviously can't place a firm recommendation without having an example in my hands, but if Scopial's quality control and customer care are anything like their eye for art, I think they're a great option if you want something a bit different to sport this summer. Definitely worth trying out.

Contest Watch: Week of May 28

HOLY FREAKING LATE! Let's get right into this shindig! We might keep things a bit short this week. Deadlines Deadlines Deadlines.

We start at Uneetee. This is The Vinyl Frontier, by Againstbound. In many ways, it feels like a sequel to his awesome Kleptonaut, but I love both. This seems like the negative version: Klepto was bold reds and dark blacks, while this is on white, with faded, "transparent" reds and a purplish "black"... it's like the entire scheme was reversed. Also, while the former was built solely on the concept of space, this only uses the look of an astronaut... the subject matter is clearly all about rocking, rolling, plugging in and blissing out. I love a good music tee, especially when it's abstract and odd. That it's done in AB's distinctive style (one the tee world needs more of) is icing on the cake.

Past Uneetee, Threadless dominated in subs this week, as if designers anticipated the extra traffic of a sale while submitting. There were LOTS of great pieces, and shame I could not include more, but I feel I culled an interesting foursome of more overlooked pieces. Hopefully despite my delay, you will still have time to score things like cmdixon2's "Eureka!" Eureka is right! I have to quote opifan64 on this one: "I like how it implies an entire crazy world with its own internal logic and back story." It really does, and I couldn't sum it up better. To be honest, what makes this so great is that the story ends here. You know there's more to it, but this is all we get, and it's so cryptic and weird but charming and wonderful. The flip-top heads, the mountain of hair, the triumph of finding scissors... it's all its own odd little world. But story isn't all this has: it's got a unique style to go with its unique world, and a super bright, bold color scheme. To me, missing out on this for a print would be a shame... I can think of nothing else like it that I've come across, and so many reasons why something like this SHOULD come to pass. I would buy pretty much anything based in this world.
One piece that stood out to me for the sheer surprise I got upon viewing it was Earth Worm, by mstein05. It has what comes across as a "street" feel, to me. Please feel free to email me about my ignorance if I used the term incorrectly. Either way, the big, thick vectors and distinct cartoon style on this make it a simple wonder. The thing that sent me over the moon, however, was the texture on the "linework". The colors and texture are fresh and add a shine to the piece, but just the idea of texturing the linework made my eyes smile. It's different, at least to me, and simple, and has potential to be iconic. It's a long shot for a print, but I'm pretty sure I'd buy the hell out of it if it made that long shot.

A piece that SHOULDN'T be a long shot, but just isn't making the splash (no pun) it should, is Charybdis, by Dxtr. Setting aside for a second my love for ridiculous marine fauna, let's cite some awesome things about this art. The somewhat diagonal flow, for example, which sets it intriguingly on the tee. The shades of blue and red and gray are eyecatching and combine wonderfully. All that, and the layout is just totally visceral... it conveys the power of the subjects and of the sea... the ruthlessness and beauty of nature, especially in an environment where man is still totally foreign. The colors help that feel as well. But all that said, um, hello, crap load of awesome sea creatures! Whales! Squids! Sharks! I mean, guys, look at that sweet Hammerhead right up there as a focal point. That alone is worth the price of admission. But the skilled lines and wild waves of colors definitely don't hurt anything.

We end similarly to how we began: with another amazing music tee. Not that one expects less than amazing from Buko, who gives us this piece, Cacophony. There's a lot of obvious greatness here: anyone should be able to appreciate the amazing execution, the bold placement, and the wisdom of using the popular watercolor shading technique. So why talk about the obvious? There are three elements I'm digging most. First, the colors... the antiquated ink look of the main character is great, but the purple glow the whole piece has is wonderful and bold and different from anything I can think of in my wardrobe. Getting a tee that has both a new addition to the lineup AND awesome art I can relate to is not to be undervalued. The other two bits are secondary illustration pieces. While the main focus of the music man is his head, I personally love the more modern Compact Discyness around his midsection, which is severed and seperated for no reason. Frequent readers will know I love illogical details like this, especially when they're executed so well. Finally, though, check out that bat. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in that clutter of noise, making the art worth multiple perusals, but the bat counteracts the bird on the other side in a way nothing else does. It's a distinct reminder that this is not just beautiful music. Some is noise. Some is challenging. And you have to take the good and the bad together. It's rare to get something out there that shows off the beauty of even less delicate tunes. I feel that detail helps take this to that level.

Awesome. That wasn't so bad. Again, sorry for the lateness. Get some votes in, guys. This stuff deserves it.

New DBH print: Cornerstone

I love all my Contest Watch selections like children. I get excited about them as though I created them. Sure, sometimes a couple go ignored without my intending them to... it happens with lots of children. And sometimes I wonder how the ones who disappear to far-off homes are doing. But I love them all.

Like every parent, though, I have favorites, intentionally or not. Today, I'm happy to announce the graduation of one of those favorites: Cornerstone, by beecombs. It's Design by Humans' tee of the day, and it is absolutely gorgeous. To me, it hits the intersection of Design and Art perfectly. It's composed of textures from old books and other copyright-free sources, so it is arguably not "art" in the classic sense. The piece is composed in a very calculated way, with strips of texture stacked atop each other. It's clearly designed, clearly built as opposed to created. This goes against most of what I believe in artistically. Yet I can't get enough. The placement seems simple at first glance, but the strips seem to be arranged just askew enough to not come off as blocky or static. The colors flow in a homogenous way, as if all these pieces were meant to someday interact. The execution is simply too thoughtful to write off, the visual too appealing to not simply become artful. And then there are those strips themselves... each one is an artistic cliffhanger, teasing the viewer... what else is going on? How does the design continue? What sort of scene is being depicted in the full view? Somehow, these swatches capture the imagination by forcing you to fill in the blanks. It's a beautiful thing, and it makes for a beautiful, unique shirt.

Don't forget, DBH is running this at a discount for it's first 24 hours, so now is as good a time as any to snag one. The deal becomes even sweeter with code 4B8GLY: it'll save you 10% off this and all DBH tees until June 12. Which will also give you almost a whole summer to rock what will probably be the most unique shirt on your block.

Rocktopus

Following hot on the heels of the sheer awesomeness of Sunday night, Teefury is releasing "Man vs. Music" this evening. It's by Leon Ryan, and it depicts two of the best things ever: ludicrous rock and tentacles. I'm pretty sure there are Japanese movies that do the same, but less eloquently.

Leon insists that the inspiration is simple: imagine the 80s. Remember all the guitars with ridiculous numbers of necks? How cool would it be if someone could play them all at once? Exactly. And thus, Octoman was born. However, his monstrous axe seems to be pretty unhappy about his arm endowment, and has decided to sprout scads of tentacles to fight back. To quote the artist, "Duh."

Personally, I like it as an Alien Symbiote thing. Clearly this is Venom in a rock band, as evidenced by all the flowing arms that seem to come more from his back than the guitar. No, I swear, I was never a comic nerd. But since the concept is going to be odd no matter what, let's consider art as well. I won't discuss the colours: you already know my opinion. Slightly less documented is my severe love for octo arms... I could endlessly watch those lines twist and turn around themselves (my favorite one, and yes, I do have one, is the clearly guitar-grown limb around the mic stand). As for the rocker himself? He's got just enough grit and flash to make sense in his surroundings, with a totally rock-n-roll pose (is he jumping? kneeling? who cares, it's total rawk). That's part of why I read the tentacles as expected and not attacking... he's so into the music, he may as well be a snake charmer to all those arms!

Teefury, as we all know, is a "You Snooze You Lose" venture. You've got about 24 hours to snatch this up before it's gone for the foreseeable future or longer. I personally recommend adopting the mantra "You Don't Snooze, You Win" on this one. It may be a bit weird now, but I bet you'll regret missing it some day down the road.

Threadless Summer Sale: Summer Blockbuster

If you're the sort who checks my blog before Threadless (and God bless you if you do, because that's epic), you might not realize this yet, but there's this big "sale" thing goin' on. You know how it goes with them: one big blowout sale every season, scads of $5 and $10 shirts, inventory depletion, etc etc. While it's true that I've never seen a Threadless sale end when it claims to, as always I recommend getting the essentials now, even if a second week of deals surfaces. Sometimes, even less popular tees fly off the shelves when they're this deeply discounted.

Sadly, once again, the sale doesn't apply to the fresh meat, meaning that there are many more recent tees that won't be benefiting from the Summer blowout's dropped prices. Of course, it is also worth noting that Threadless dropped some seriously epic threads this week, and when you can get two shirts for under $12 a piece, it leads to already speedy sellers catching the sale wave. While the incredibly high scoring Heartless might be the catch of the week for many, I'm personally more intrigued by TGWA's "That Old Movie Magic," and not just because it's from the second woot-based designer to succeed over at Threadless. The illustration is simply beautifully rendered, and the detail shines... it's the sort of shirt that would immediately catch the eye of any film buff. OK, yeah, but it's still just a film projector on a shirt, right? Well, technically. But when the lights go down, the projector unveils the magic and the intrigue that has lured us to the silver screen over the last century. The shirt does the same... glow ink pays homage to the adventure and romance of the cinema, especially the classics, in a transformation that turns a stunning yet clinical illustration into a creative shirt with an appeal visible to all movie lovers. That subtle interaction, where the shirt creates it's world in the same method that its subject does, is a brilliantly thoughtful touch, and enough to make this my pick of the week in a week of some incredible picks.