Discounts Before Holidays

Design By Humans is running itself a lovely little holiday sale from now til the end of November. Shirts start at $15, or, put another way, you're saving four or five bucks a shirt. Approximately 20% off everything? Yeah, it's a solid sale for shirts this good. Hit. This. Up.

Specifically, if you don't want to browse the catalog, hit up tinhiati's "Fly!!" which DBH reprinted for the event. The white shirt is a perfect frame for the two bold colors. I love red and black together anyway, so this was custom made for me to begin with, but the elements strike deep as well... the paper lanterns sit perfectly above the hanging cages, and the strings from which they hang help pull the shirt together without being graphically in the way. That there are biplanes in the bird cages adds both subtle humor as well as a slight commentary on the freedom of flight... perhaps we shouldn't ensnare that which naturally embodies freedom: airplanes as well as birds. Or perhaps it's nothing more than that subtle joke. Regardless, it's still a hell of an attractive shirt, and if you're unsure what you want from DBH's extensive catalog, or have an aviation fan on your shopping list this holiday, you could do much worse than snagging a sweet print like this one on sale.

Contest Watch: Week of November 13

There are times when posting these things seems futile. When quality feels dead. When the icy grip of the ignorant seems to throttle everything pure and creative in the world. What good am I, but one blogger, against droves of vocal fools? If the goal cannot be education, though, perhaps it can be revolution. To join forces and fight for better. Tis the season for the Walmart wardrobe. We must fight to take back the avenues we travel. And that said, some of our warriors this week.

By warriors, of course, I mean adorable little things, such as Jacuzzeggs, by Lucky1988. This comes from shirt.woot's Miniature Worlds derby. I guess eggs would qualify? I'm not hugely convinced by the thematic validity, but I am convinced by the sheer joy on these little guys' faces. The colors are simple but just right, with the bluescale, the starkness of the white against the royal, and the coil of the burner adding a little more interest. I like the mix of style elements, the empty outline combined with the smoothness of the cross-section and the halftone shading on the eggs. The shirt comes down to a simple charm and cuteness, though, and shows just how to do it right.

If you're looking to see cute done more-than-right, though, Threadless would like to introduce you to andyg. Having left a long trail of adorable prints in his wake (and a handful of adorable disasters too), he has a near-surefire new one in Capistrano Spring Break. It is absolutely redolent of '50s cartoon charm, and the joke is so soft and subtle that it doesn't even need to be funny to add to this. There is such a mystique and even romance to the migrating swallows that them making love and drinking brews doesn't even seem out of place. They're just so happy! While you don't need to know anything about Capistrano to love this, the details evoke the intended setting well, and the colors pop like corn in a fire... the blues and whites especially, but even the more subtle red-on-red interplay. I know I say this often, but I especially love how this design inhabits the shirt. There's so much going on, and so much space used, but it's all contained and cohesive. There's plenty of canvas showing through, making the final print assuredly very breathable wearable, and all the elements draw your eye pleasantly... there's a lot of visual motion even in the fixed locale items. Simply put, if you cannot fall in love with this shirt, you may not have a heart.

I Have a Dream, A Song to Sing by Henna is not a shirt I imagine I'd wear (though I'd never stop the artist from sending me one to find out for sure). It feels just a shred too feminine to me. Still, it is one of those pieces you look at and are simply struck by, and not just because it's real art in a sea of branded nonsense at Design By Humans lately. The design works lovely as black-on-white as well, but white on black really captures the dreamlike nature. The lines are just beautiful to me, from the way the woman's hair cascades wavelike into the actual water to the dreamy spiral clusters embellishing the night sky. It is also worth noting that I normally dislike human elements in a design, but between the stark contrasts and restrained skill, the sleeping woman radiates. Throw in her wonderful animal and lunar cohorts and heaps of style, and you've basically got a single word: enchanting.

There are quite different lines to be found in A Low Owl's "Traveling Lines," which comes across with a very Warholbot/Zeptonn collab feel (with much speculation that it is indeed the former, hiding). Whoever the mystery owl is, he's put together a charmingly bizarre scene of grinning pyramids, vomiting hill-critters, walking buses? What I love most when I love something like this is just how much is happening... there's so much to look at, and it's all interesting, different, and eyecatching. It's about honing in on something you just love the sight of... for me it's that aforementioned smiling pyramid and the legs on that bus at the bottom, but also the beautiful illogic of the biggest guy's arm meandering along his body. Past that there's the style... even with similar flairs to other designers, it's still solid and unique, combining solid detail with cartoony weirdness. People often insist simple shirts with bad jokes are conversation starters, but to me this trumps those any day of the week... there's so much more to ask, and so much more to think about. Sometimes you just need a good, weird, yet attractive shirt, and for me, I'd be happy to make this one of them.

Finally, a piece that is just a great concept: Beelection, by Xzanthis. It's not perfect, to bee sure, but everything still works... any flaw is a matter of cleaning up alone. I love the election map, though the colors seem a smidge flat on it. I think it'd look better still without a frame, and a more built-up news room, but the hexagonal cell makes total sense tied in with the idea of a honeycomb. I wish the bee candidates looked a little different from each other, but bees are bees. Even if I'd change things, it could easily go to print right now. The concept, I state again, is stellar... the bee colony gives an excellent ability to play off the idea of districts/states going to one candidate or another, and the community that bees have going could reflect our own. I imagine this less with selecting a president, and more for selecting a queen (another possible switch-up?), with the workers and drones casting their ballots. Also judicious: a map that reflects our own nation, yet with a very close race, so as not to upset anyone who might get up in arms about fictional bees winning against their preferred party (seriously, we don't know bees would even have parties like ours). And while it's only a garnish to a quality idea, I love the news anchor bee. Not only is he nicely fleshed out in a somewhat flat world, but his hair, facial and otherwise, is simply made of win.

As to winning, I wish it on you, Threadless and DBH pieces. To the woot pieces, may you find your final resting place somewhere happy sometime soon. This is never the end. Regroup, rebuild, and launch the assault again elsewhere.

Til You're Blue In The Face

Here at SingulariTee, we are always excited to see artists we appreciate print. Almost as excited as we are when we refer to ourselves in plural. So it is with belated excitement that I present "You Don't Have to Know Beforehand," by ginetteginette, last seen written up a couple Contest Watches ago. As I said then, Ginette is a designer I appreciate for her continual envelope pushing... even when I don't love her work, I love the balls it takes to create it. That said, this is by far one of her tamest, and not overly representative, but it still captures that flame. There may not be diamond cats or anthropomorphic naughty bits, but each face captures the most charming and whimsical bits of her style. There may not be the same flashes of bold and bright colors, but there is the penchant for simulated process.

But it's not just the designer that makes this worth the money. The sole color at play brightens the overall piece while being subtle enough to feel natural. The combo of the cartoony with the real has long captured the imagination, even before Mary Poppins. There's a retro, kitsch feel to old yearbooks that goes great with the nostalgic trends of our current culture. It's a design that, by concept alone, is allowed to be "boxy." As to that concept, even if it's tame by one standard, it's definitely unique and multi-layered. It could be as deep as stating that a photo can hide the reality. It could be as simple as doodling over a yearbook... vandalizing your nostalgia if you will. It could emphasize the innocense of youth by pairing the seriousness of class picture day with clearly unserious, child-like doodles. The designer implies a bit of a magic camera feel... it's hard to say if the intention is a camera that exposes the truth, or one that obfuscates with a magical candy reality. It doesn't really matter the full truth of the meaning... it's a piece that could mean many things to many people, or just be appreciated as is, and that should find it a very appreciative audience. As for me, I'm just a little scared as to where she got the picture of me (bottom row, third). At least, I think it's me... that IS a guy with a horrible part, right?

Contest Watch Plus: Week of November 6

A little extra bonus this week from the fine folks at woot. First, the rest of the shirts:

Design By Humans is currently running a contest partnered with VonZipper, a highly branded sunglass hut which desires some art with their brand. DBH kills me with these partnerships, because there's only so many places you can wear a "Forever the Sickest Kids" shirt without being a fan of the band... to the same degree, I am sick of "Unity Through Art" submissions still getting printed. I want to wear a t-shirt without sporting their trademark, umlaut-ed U. It therefore should come as no surprise that I rarely if ever will be seen promoting work through a heavily branded company. Still, there's occasionally a reason to praise the work that tries to put function far ahead of brand. So it is with DCAY's "Baby Herman." I'm not entirely sure what the piece has to do with its title, but the concept is striking, and the black looks great against the Kelly-looking shirt. Most importantly, though, it doesn't overdo the brand. Sure, there's no good reason for a VZ to be on the side of the carriage, but the creepy visual and skillful illustration are the true draws, and make it wearable for anyone. Better yet, it would be an easy fix to get rid of the VZ logo for a post-contest print.

At Threadless, the ever-stunning Valorandvellum has provided us with one of her best. The piece is "Seven Swans," inspired by the music of Sufjan Stevens. While I understand it's a title based on an album of his, I'm pretty sure Stevens himself would have titled it "The Swans Blow Their Horns in Champagne-Urbana, the World Sails Adrift on Their Song," or "They are Night Swans! They are Hornblowers! They Have Come to Launch Ships Upon Color!" If I'm not serious, though, it is not to slight the serious skill put into the design. This would have been an excellent design if it was left with the ornate swans and their trumpet bills resting atop the subtle shells in the background, but the simulated process color drips, while still natural and often subdued hues (seriously, this is unintentionally a perfect shirt for the fall season) really make this bold and bright and colorful. Even that alone would make this ideal, but the individual ships and critters swimming and sailing in the waters of sound are the sprinkles on the whipped cream on the sundae. I wish I could hear this when I heard Sufjan. I wonder what I listen to that could evoke an image like this... Stars? Anoice? Andrew Bird? It definitely wouldn't be likely from my mid-90s collection. I have but two minor critiques, though. First, I wish there were a few more creatures in place of a couple ships, and second, I wish it was on me. Like, now.

It's about time for a new entrant into the canon of sites I write up, and this week it's Itself. Again, it's a small site with a small collection, the perfect sort of place to help shape the flavor of the brand. Againstbound holds his second third-writeup position in a row with his entry there, Schrodinger's Fish. The concept is off of Schrödinger's Cat paradox, meant to be a critique of quantum physics. It's like the tree-falls-in-forest question to a degree... the paradox basically states that a cat left in a box will either be alive or dead, depending on events that may or may not happen. Duh, right? The confusing part is the idea that until observed, the cat is both alive and dead. While logic states that's fully untrue, this design evokes that idea with its fish, shown both in a state of vitality in its "boxes" of water, while also revealing its skeleton, dead in a box which has sprung a leak. It's not a joke for everyone, but the design is attractive enough to be worn anyway, with its contrast between life and death, distinctive looking fish, and deep, perfect blue (complete with skillful water texture).

It has been a while since my last somewhat controversial suggestion here at Contest Watch... not that any true conflict came up, but that the piece in question was of a very specific taste. Allow me to bring you another one. "It's Raining, I'm Bored, and I'm Drunk" by Whysogreen isn't your standard shirt, especially given its very amateur look. It has a definite indie flair to it, though, and it has struck me ever since seeing it... I've dubbed it "Lo-Fi Art." It's the idea that with the right mood evoked, the glitz isn't needed. This is too well planned to believe that it's near as amateur as it looks. It's too right... the hand-drawn imperfection, the transparent overlaps of the cups, the offhand text, all comes together into something subtly magical. The splashes of color in the three cups attract the eye, the sparse, lazy fill of the bottle draws back to the idea of rain, and the whole mood of the piece evokes that sort of lazy dreariness. Even that offhand text is placed thoughtfully. I look at this and feel like I've been there... not even the empty, imperfect inertia of the soul, but also the lazy, laid-back drunken get-togethers. It's the essence of that dull, warm comfort that can be found in wine, in solitude, or in vegging out casually with some friends... much more than just some imperfect doodle, and something that I had imagined Threadless would be just quirky enough to still understand and appreciate.

Finally, for the first round, a style I know Threadless is still in love with... the example shirt. Things that Glow. Keys for Everything. Scare Lists. It's a concept I'm normally not in love with... the designer grabs a handful of things, illustrates them, slips in two or three jokey examples, slaps some tags and a header on, and it's a done deal. Yet I cannot get enough of WanderingBert's "Not Safe For Work!" It's two main reasons, I'm sure. Where most such concepts stick to a melange of literal items with a couple subtle stretch-of-the-imagination jokes, here the joke runs through the entire piece, right down to the both literal and absurd interpretation of the NSFW tag. It's also a matter of characterization... each entry onto the shirt has personality (if all evil), which makes it in some ways akin to Threadless's very sold-out League of Cliché Supervillains shirt. Not to mention that, for whatever reason, I find the whole shebang quite funny... my favorite titles include the "Stapler of Suffering," "Desk of Doom" and "Wheely Chair of Woe."

The Wheely Chair of Woe, by the way, is where 108 shirt.woot designs are sitting right now. They just managed to lose two of woot's weekly derbies, thanks to this week being a "Double-Take" derby. For the uninitiated, that's when woot avenges a group of shirts they liked that didn't get to be printed the first time around, and lets the same people who got it wrong the first time get it wrong the second time. In all honesty, the fog is more satisfying than I'm used to this time, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a whole bunch of designs that deserve love in the form of a grand, and come Sunday, there will be one more tossed onto the pile of repeat losers.

Welcome, then, to the bonus portion of this entry, and what may be a happy truth for four designers. See, woot knows the dangers of a pure democracy getting in the way of printing the derby designs they love most, so next week, after the winners print, the editors will choose four designs to print, regardless of votes, for the love of the design. It's a hard road for me, personally, as I would feel my hands were tied even if granted twice the leeway, but I tried to play printmaker anyway. Above are the pieces I would like to see next week, based on a combo of my purchase likelihood, their print likelihood, and inherent print worthiness. I would willingly sport any one of these, and regret I don't have the $40 to do so in the event of predicting a sweep. Without further ado, the shirts are: "Music Industry," by Radiomode, which I spoke of in my first contest watch; "ATAK!," by Damiendone, a sticky situation and snappy side-print; "Fiction vs Non-Fiction," by EdgarMcHerly, arguably one of the most printable shirts woot has ever shirked on; and finally, lunchboxbrain's "Take a Picture," a charming chuckle of a concept. I'll be on top of the results next week... until then, make it so, woot!

Local Selections

Threadless has made an interesting announcement this week: apparently they have now broken their site up into three distinct lines, with three distinct sites. Threadless will remain the center of all operations, and all shirts will be searchable from there, but they have created individual sites for their other lines. People looking for their curated, unscored selects can find them at The Select Series, and those looking for their slogans can head to TypeTees. I see it as a bit of a pointless split, but hey, good luck to them. So long as there's some high-quality shirtprinting coming from the good folks at skinnyCorp, they can split up any way they wish.

An interesting side effect of the split is what seems to be an influx of select "collections," as opposed to the single selects we normally get. Since selects are commissioned and/or curated, as opposed to voted on, this could easily lead to some very offbeat and challenging shirts, which I am all for.

Also interesting to me is the lead-off collection comes to us from the Rhode Island School of Design. I have roots in RI, so having the biggest little state in the union show up on the biggest shirt site in the country feels like something to cheer for.

In particular, I'd like to cheer for Randy Willier's "Ouroboros '08," my favorite of the selections. Willier is a professor at RISD, and his write-up is appropriately artsy, with his past taking him all around the globe. His design isn't simple to explain my appreciation toward... it's not so much the theme, with the classic Ouroboros snake twisted into a figure-8 (presumably the meaning of the title), and the elements of new life and nature surrounding and being surrounded by it. It's the colors, and how much texture they add. It's the style the scene was brought to life in, with all the fine detail fleshed out of dots... it gives the whole piece a certain vintage feel, not like distressed images or worn out graphics from the '70s, but like illustrations from older texts or tapestries. The wind cloud is probably my favorite element, adding definite whimsy, but the whole border, with its delicate embellishments showing the merging of land, sea and air, is wonderful, and those aforementioned embellishments let the design gracefully blend into the shirt itself. The toughest part of explaining what I like about this shirt, however, is trying to say it in a way that won't make me look like an idiot to an art professor. As a safeguard, lets say I wrote this in a "post-modern deconstructionist" manner. And pray I never have to face that microscope.

Contest Watch: Week of October 30

This week was all about voting, and doing so in ways that matter way more than just some silly shirt contest. Still, while our national choice is very instant-gratification, the world of shirts takes far longer for our choices to be heard. With this in mind, some pieces I hope to see elected into office soon.

In times like these, it is important to have a solid military, and so I elect Sokowa's "Knight in the Style of Renaissance Etching" as my secretary of defense. It comes from shirt.woot's recent Video Games Through Art History derby, a trainwreck topic that produced some solid work. This particular piece is based on the not-so-classic game Joust. I love the color combo and the artwork, but particularly I love the game's concept showing through. Joust is a game of, well, jousting. On ostriches. As odd as it sounds on paper, the image makes it look so right. The other thing I really dig about this design is that it works outside of its theme... it has that historical heraldry going on, so it feels like an offbeat take on that... it's become its own art, right down to the egg at the bottom, and can be appreciated by anyone, whether they know the game or not.

One of the things America cares most about is having representation that is just like the common man... someone folksy and patriotic. I feel "Timberland" by Peachbeach is a great nomination. Besides the red white and blue colorscape on this Threadless submission, it's got a totally charming folk-art feel. It's very pattern based, but not annoyingly so... the patterns add appropriate textures, and are not so disparate that they clash. Indeed, the patterning really helps the two color print and its background to seem like much more... they help create visual lines where none exist, and the line and dot thicknesses make artificial shades. Below these patterned treetops, there is a mother lode of great creatures. The style on the creatures is very simple and whimsical, with added flourishes knocking home runs... I love the burrowed critters, especially the fox, which has a total "how the hell did I get here" look on its face. Then there is the mustachioed sasquatch-antelope, which is plenty odd, but also plenty awesome. He's brilliantly out of place, but with the overall charm of the piece, he's also totally meant to be there. It's a totally wonderful scene, and one that should make a wonderful, random shirt.

I'm promoting Againstbound to the department of environmental management based on his Uneetee sub, "Heading South for the Winter." It's a great, imaginative piece, taking trees from their normal, rooted-down status quo, and allowing them a personality... even the bend of the tree seems to be a personality call, to give the feeling of being hunkered over the handlebars. The bicycle gives the tree a youthful freedom, as well as a nice splash of color to the overall beige-scale offering. For those of you who thought that a cycling tree wasn't offbeat enough, there are even bizarre leafmen shedding from the bare branches as the trunk departs the oppressive winter. It's just a huge pile of creativity that, ahem, branches out in many directions.

Back to Threadless, it's still important in today's modern age to be on top of space exploration. I'd be happy to have someone like Thunderpeel advising me there. As seen in his submission, "Walkin' on the Sun," we have now created space suits that can withstand such brutal temperatures. This finding will be vital to future exploration. As for his design, at first blush it's somewhat everyday... very clean lines, and while the space suit is nicely detailed, the stars and flames are a bit too neat. The overall implementation, however, is what makes this so nicely done. The huge, allover print of the sun looks incredible on the mock-up, and it cuts off at just the right place on the chest to really allow full impact without taking up too much room. I'm a little worried for the ink thickness... I trust Threadless, and have never felt their shirts were overly inky, but that risk remains in my mind with such a sheer sheet of ink. Still, there are ways around it... I'm not about to let uncertainties get in the way of praising a shirt that has come out as striking as this one has. Very different work from what I've seen in the past, and different in a way that deserves a printing.


Finally, I've always been fascinated by animals. My picks surely often reflect this. As such, someone who can help in matters zoological would be a personal concern for me. Shirt.woot's tgentry is tempting my nomination with his "Dangerous Creature in the Style of Durer." Every bit of this piece is utterly perfect. Durer is not an artist I know many pieces from, but I knew his style as soon as I saw this piece... it's spot-on as homage goes. The lines, both as tgentry drew them and as Durer would have drawn them, are gorgeous. The anatomy of the turtle is highly realistic, especially as relating to this species, Koopus Paratroopus. I also love the take on the flora of the turtle's natural habitat. It's rare that I absolutely need a woot shirt, but this is certainly one that fits the bill. It's simply too perfect.

I'm hoping to celebrate a print on a few of these some day in the future. Yes we can wear them! These shirts go against the grain with their maverick styles, and I am certain their designers will be proud to serve our wardrobe. They are a change of clothes we can believe in. Let's hope they find themselves where they belong in the future.

Birthday Cake

Today is a bit of a milestone over at shirt.woot... Sunday and today marked the anniversaries of the two longest-selling shirts on their reckoning charts, each a year old and somehow still kicking ass and taking names, if now in the lower reaches of the charts. This is a big deal for woot: fewer than ten shirts in their year-and-a-quarter lifespan have made it for even half as long as these two. Many shirts have outsold them, gotten more votes in their respective derbies, debuted above them, but nothing has kicked them out. A toast to you, invincible threads!

Above is my favorite of the two, and the one whose birthday it is today, Geekfactor12's "The Cake is a Liar." I have the dubious honor of having been the first purchaser on this little orange number, and I'd like to note why. When I first voted for it, I didn't get the layers (lol cake humor). I saw a unique, underutilized color, a clean and simple design, and a very straightforward, very absurd joke: A piece of cake talking, lying about its nutritional qualities, with a matter-of-fact disclaimer below. I highly enjoyed the humor as it was. If anything, finding out later that it was a joke from the game Portal made me feel awkward about it. I haven't played the game to this day, and didn't love the idea of potentially being seen as a gamer nerd (not that most wooters are concerned with this portrayal). It clearly didn't prevent me from clicking hard and fast for it when it went on sale, though. My rationalization at the time was that the joke was universal. It was funny whether you knew the game or not. Years from now, I posited, kids who never played the game would still laugh at the concept. Adults would chuckle thinking of their own battles against the persuasive pastry. It has appeal far and away past some video game. And a year later, one day behind the title of longest running woot shirt ever, I feel that belief is totally justified. If the shirt was nothing more than a quick homage to a video game, it would never have lasted as long, and as a fan, I wish it many more weeks of hanging on in the fray.

As a bit of a side note, for those of you who may both read my blog and design shirts, today's shirt's designer is also the maven of Compete-Tee-Tion, one of my favorite shirt blogs, and not just because we often agree from week to week. It's a great read for buyers who want to catch up on the week's releases, but it's a stellar resource for you designers, collecting stacks of contest sites to try your designing hand at. I will be sticking a link to the blog in my sidebar for easy reference, as well.

The Great Update: Entry 1

To say this has been a solid week at Design By Humans would be understatement... all five designs have been quite wearable and worthy prints. What is less safe to say, however, but will be said anyway, is that they have apparently been reading my blog, as I just recently commented on the excitement of someday seeing one of my contest watch choices finally print. Just days later, we see Ellsswhere's "Ekadanta" print. Whether DBH is consciously toying with me or not, consider this the first in what I hope to be a lengthy series of print updates. It makes me wonder if DBH plans to print more of their 10K bottom-five, as they did with the original top-five. I don't really have a lot to say that I didn't when I first reviewed it, except that it looks gorgeous in real life, and as late I have heard nothing but good things about DBH's discharge printing, so I'm stoked to have this in my cart.

Contest Watch: Week of October 23

While you're all prepping the last touches on your costumes for tomorrow, here are a couple pieces that may someday make a good addition to your more legitimate wardrobe:

We'll start with a new addition to the Contest watch, an apparently totally new site called Chimpogo. The site seems to have no affiliation with monkeys or bouncing, and their current offerings are rather slim, but they do offer a contest to change that, and among the people expressing early interest is one a.mar.illo, contest entrant extraordinaire. El Pulpo is featured above, and what can really be said about it that isn't obvious? It's an octopus in a luchador mask shooting lightning and wearing cowboy boots, while a bird perches on its head and sings of fire. All this, with only two colors. I should not have to convince you that this is awesome. Then again, with a.mar.illo's distinctive style at the helm of the design, most of you probably knew it was awesome to start with.

Pushing the bar higher with lower, Threadless has been running one of their unofficial Alumni contests lately: a one-color wonderland dubbed "I've Got Mono." The early entries have been extremely solid, but I'm really loving ISABOA's entry, Monocosmic. With one color at your disposal, often it's a matter of bringing the detail, and this one delivers, with plenty of sketchy style offset by some well placed planetary patches of solid color, which give a bold contrast to the finer lines of the piece. The alien, or space traveler, or whoever/whatever this is is well-rendered, and I feel he's set well against that space backdrop, helping give him even more of an otherworldly feel... as if the elongated torso, shrunken-looking head or octopus buddies aren't enough to prove this guy is a little left of ordinary. The sketch provides plenty of intrigue in its details, and the size of the print makes sure you'll be able to see every last one of them. Not only that, but its coverage of the canvas draws the eye in easily, meaning that you won't even really need any color to make a bold statement.

To end the unintentional tentacle-fetish portion of this review, we bring out "You're off the edge of the map, here be monsters!" by Demented, who apparently loves FREAKING HUGE TITLES! That's fine, though, because he also loves freaking huge sea-beasts. I love the bold colors here, with the green and the tans and the grays all popping off the bright, warm blue of the sea/shirt. I dig the placement of the sea serpent and the giant octo, just off the edge of the map... the octopus even looks to be rolling it up as the ship departs, signaling that there is no return... it speaks well for a designer when even secondary characters can be so well planned. The true focal point, however, is the ship heading toward the massive whalemonster, which I find a very nice idea. Not only is he posing innocently as an island, but his mouth opens up as if to lead the ship into a grotto... it's a small but important detail, since the ship's going blissfully straight into it, and it looks ever so nice.

But what if you were more drawn to El Pulpo's bird buddy than Pulpy himself? For the bird faction, especially those who love birds-on-heads, enjoy some ginetteginette. "Hey, I'm sorry but I'm not impressed at all" is a sarcastic tell-off to critics, one of a couple of designs she created based off actual comments she'd received. In fairness, her work is much more avant-garde than most. She loves the weird, and is unafraid to dabble in themes that are far from family-friendly. This particular piece combines many of her more charming themes... cats with three eyes, simulated process, and of course, a party hat made out of a bird. I think this is probably one of her most accessible pieces, for sure, and outside of just appreciating her work to start with, I like the ironic text and the colors and love the bird-hat. But mostly, I love the designer's willingness to push the envelope of shirt design. For me, there are many ways you can impress me artistically, and while I love any designer putting out undeniable quality work, the ones I find myself being most excited about are the ones that don't hold their ideas back... I am always excited to see more from Ginette, no matter what it is, because I know I won't have seen anything quite like it before.


Of course, maybe you like your cats a little less friendly toward their normal enemies. If so, we go to Design By Humans, where herdofbirds' "Clockwork Cat and Battery Mouse" delivers just that. No letting the little guy perch on his head here... clockwork cat puts the kibbosh on BM. Clearly he wasn't sporting Energizers. I like the concept and the colors, and vicariously the cut-away. It reminds me of a book I had as a child. The whole thing is probably the most whimsical take on killing something that I've ever seen, and that disturbs and elates me.

And with that, I hope you all have a disturbing and elating Halloween. That's the whole point, ain't it?

The Probable Consequences

As any critic must, I have begun wondering what happens once the critique filters out. We're a somewhat egotistical breed after all, presuming our tastes are worth reading... one wonders what Gene Siskel or Roger Ebert thought the first time their praise adorned a film poster, or their panning led to a financial flop. I'm personally biting my nails for the Holiday Season, the earliest I expect to see my recommendations pan out. A new blogger cannot expect to wield mass influence, but the chance to see how my tastes match up with the big boys is still exciting... it's a bit like a child at Christmas, excited to see what they got on their list.

I was already excited when Design by Humans printed one of my first reviewed designs, but the circumstances were such that I didn't get that glow of predicting it correctly. Yesterday's DBH, however, did excite me... it was one I voted for long before I began blogging: Wotto's "The Seasons of My Life." It's exactly the sort of piece I look for in my searches, and would almost assuredly have gotten a write-up. This one is largely about the colors, which are bold and season-appropriate. Spring is abloom with life, summer a tribute to the beach and lazy days, with autumn and winter reveling in their respective beautiful decays. No season seems under-represented, which means fans of any season will have plenty to appreciate. I'm drawn to the back half of the year, with their colors popping bold against the black shirt, but a fan of spring or summer would surely have their eyes drawn to the details there first without feeling the other seasons got more effort. It's really the ultimate seasonal shirt, and while it is a stylistic departure from much of the designer's other work, it's one that will garner fans from all over... it's a totally inclusive design that just about anyone could enjoy.

As if to blow my mind, Threadless countered with a print of their own... one I'd forgotten all about until seeing it again, but know I'd have blogged had I been blogging: The Northern Black-capped Gumchewer, by Laser Bread. Threadless is kind enough to let you know what you scored their prints way back when, and this one registered a much-deserved 5. My enjoyment of this one is pretty basic. I love the style of the illustration. The sketch is clean and crisp and looks like it belongs in a nature journal. I almost wish there was a "Fig. 2" underneath the illustration, with the title following. It's that brilliant title that creates the second layer... the layer of bizarre. The "Gumchewer" title still sounds like it could be an honest-to-goodness species... a woodpecker of gum-trees, perhaps... but we get a more literal take. The gum looks perfect, though... just the right shade of pink, a great translucency to the bubble, and a realistic, humorous pop... really, what else can you expect with a pointy beak? It also adds a needed splash of color to the proceedings. A definite addition to my ever-growing shopping cart.

As exciting as this all was, though, it brings up another thought, too... there may come a time when I will have seen an entire week's worth of prints in scoring. It's a little frightening, in all honesty. Nevertheless, I cannot wait until the day when I can announce a success... I'm not overly easy to please, so for a design to warrant a write-up, I feel the designer quite deserves the recognition of a print. Rest assured I'll let you all know ASAP.