Lately...

I haven't been able to show anything.

Most things I'm working on right now I can't show on here because of the buyers so I've been having to post random other things. But I've been working on funny fruit and animal designs for Delia's, Urban Outfitters, and some other apparel stores. I've been having to research for these projects. I even used a drawing from my friend's 6 year old son.

So anyways, here are some that I found funny.

project 2

Messy Mouse - Project 2.

more inspiration

We're taking it back...

I've been so into 80s design lately. It is so cool to look at. The typography, the colors, everything. I'm not even sure how they went about designing in the 80s. Photoshop and Illustrator didn't exist. I guess they were just actually GOOD. I kid. Kinda.

None of these were done in the 80s but still, they are influenced by it.

Here are a few to peep.

This clashes very much with my current projects, but I'll be able to get to something like this soon!

Pricing.

A lot of new artists don't know how to go about pricing their work. Or even selling it for that matter. I thinking knowing somebody in the industry is the easiest way to get started. Of course, that may be out of the question, in which case, I would reach out to another artist to get a contact or two that you can show your portfolio to.

Selling your designs can be hard in the beginning. I started out selling stuff for $50. Once that grew it went to $100, then $200, and so on. When you build up your clientele to where you can pick and choose work, then you will be able to charge a little more. It's really important to keep in touch with the people you work with and build relationships. Don't annoy them though!

Length of time per design.

Really depends on what style you're trying to get and who you're working for. If its for a pop band that is reaching 14 year old girls, then I'd say don't spend too much time on it. Visualize your work before you start trying to get too far. If the job is for something more mature, you might spend a few more hours on it. I try to work as fast as possible so I can get them on their way and happy with what I've done.

But overall, simple designs - about an hour. More detailed, up to 8 hours. My work usually takes me about 2 hours per design from concept to finished product. Of course, that can change majorly if I'm having an off day!

Finally...

Don't be afraid to ask what you think you are worth. You want to do a good job, of course, and your pay should reflect that. Don't get pushed around!

Change it up!

Sometimes it is fun to sketch things by hand. Usually, I use a Wacom which is pretty much just a tool you use to sketch straight onto your canvas in Photoshop or Illustrator.

I would recommend these to anyone who is looking to do any type of illustration. Scanning pencil and pen drawings will give a textured look that is hard to get rid of unless you live trace the image in Illustrator.

Research.

This is super important and may seem like a waste of time. It all really depends on who you are designing for. Sometimes you will have to research your project and other times you wont. If I am working on a project for Sesame Street, I'll have to research fresh ideas. If I am working for a band, I can usually just do my own thing.

If you research public domain images, you can find a lot of cool stuff and change it up to make it your own. Getting sued for using an image is pretty unlikely. Instead of suing you, they will order a cease to desist, which means they will just put a halt on production of that piece. You still shouldn't just steal art and try to use it though. Once people get wind of that, you won't ever have any work ;)

Artists.

I want to pose a quick blog about artists I really like. Sometimes it is fun to pull inspiration from all kinds of different areas whether it be music, film, photography, or illustration types of art, it can all impact the way you execute a work of art.

Here are a few artists I really enjoy! Take a look at their work.

Chris Sandlin - sockmonkee
Mark Ryden - website
Michael Michael Motorcycle - website
Dirk Mai - website

Out of inspiration...

I have to rant a little.

I love my job. It is so fun most of the time and allows me to have a lot of freedom during a work day to do other things like play video games or eat but sometimes it wears me out!

Coming up with who knows how many designs a week (probably anywhere from 7-15) gets pretty rough. Each of them have to be different. Most of the time they are for very different clients. Like today after class I'll be working on Warrior Industries which is a UFC clothing brand. Then I also have to work on girls tees for another clothing line. Talk about a switch of direction. Maybe I'll just listen to Slipknot or Disturbed to get into the mind of a dude who wears UFC clothes... or maybe I wont.

But really, I do like it.

It's pretty nice to have research as part of my job. I have to look online a lot to get the latest trend or whatever. I think most of the "trends" now are growing old.

Girls who have VISIBLE extensions in their hair? Like anyone wants to see your fake hair pieces poking through your real hair. Guys who look at the cast of Jersey Shore and say "I want to be that guy." The girls who wear short skirts with Ugg boots but walk kind of crooked so they are actually walking on the side of the boot. Really?

Obviously I don't help to stop these stupid trends most of the time because I have to design something that feeds these people's bad image. But sometimes I get to do something that will hopefully pull them away from looking either like a dirtbag or a polished dirtbag. There isn't much difference except for their tan or hair product.

Rap stars have merch?

I had to do a few pieces for Eazy-E, Flavor Flav, The Biz, and Notorious BIG. Doing art for 13 year old girls is super easy. Turns out rap merch can be pretty easy too.

Go big and bright.

Bright colors. Oh yeah, and as you would think, these aren't only for male buyers. Because these will mostly be sold at Hot Topic or Journey's, girls and guys will both buy them.

Oversized prints are going to be popular. Gotta be bright to match that sweet Kid Robot or LRG hoodie and Nike dunks. If you're into that.

Anyways, here are some examples I did.

Inspiration!

Here are some websites that I really like.

abduzeedo
shorpy
thegiantpeach
karmaloop
urbanoutfitters

Do your research.

It's good to know what your client is going to like before you spend time on a project. It's also good to take a little time to sit back and click around online to find inspiration! New things that spark interest or new trends.

Spend time on your sketch.

Make sure that you have a good idea of what you're going to do if it is a design that will take a long time. Sometimes clients ask for very specific things and you spend hours and hours and then you show them and they hate it. Sometimes, that could have been helped by showing them a few ideas before you start! If it sounds like they are going to be impossible to impress, then it may be smart to pass the job along to someone else.

POP.

What makes a design appealing to someone? Why do people buy t-shirts that have graphics on them? Obviously because they can be cool, but why are they drawn to them?

There are a lot of things that go into the composition of a design. And as boring as that sounds, it is something you have to understand very well to succeed in that kind of business! Knowing your buyers. You want to know if a guy or girl will be buying this, or both. What colors are "in" and also the demographic of your buyer. Are they teen or adult? Hipster or teenybopper?

Unisex designs

We can start with this design for my brothers band, A Rocket to the Moon.
This is a good example of a unisex design. Both guys and girls will like this. It has a pretty wide age demographic, too. It isn't very limited as far as buyers go. I didn't plan it that way, but I guess it just worked out, ha.



And ladies...

Here is one that is much more limited with age and gender. I did this one with a younger girl crowd in mind. It really is easier to design for girls. You just need bright colors, hearts or swirly text, and a cute subject. This shirt is obviously aimed towards the young to teen girl market. The "juniors" market.



Gotta draw 'em in.

Guys are much harder to work for. A good example for this would be a shirt I did for a UFC line that was focusing on different countries. This is pretty obviously pointed right at the male market. Black shirt, strong brushed metal texture, and strong colors. Since guys typically shop less than girls, as a designer, you have to make dudes want the shirt.



That is a pretty easy overview of guys, girls, and unisex design.

I guess we'll just jump right in to it.

When a client hires a designer, they usually give some type of direction to work off of. This can be fun or suffocating. Luckily, I have never had too much to do with suffocating direction. Sometimes they want things that just don't make sense. Other times it gives you full creative freedom.

Lets start with something everyone should know!

Sesame Street! I started doing licensing designs for Sesame Street earlier last year. That means that when a licensing company hires me, they have the licenses for those brands and put their merchandise in stores. This was the last name I thought I would be working for. I loved it.
Ever seen that SNL short "On A Boat"? That was my direction for this design. The Cookie Monster tee is based off of the MTV show, Jersey Shore, with a "fist pump" parody.

These types of designs have to hit a person's funny bone. These shirts are targeting a 13-25 year old age range as those ages most likely know what the shirts are referring to visually. They are also unisex tees.

Freedom!

Lately I've been working on a line for a company called Rock Renaissance. They gave me total creative freedom with a style I love most: LA edge. Here is a picture by a friend of mine named Dirk Mai.

This fits the LA edge style in the ways that it has blacks and mild color. It kind of gives the bohemian vibe that Rock Renaissance called for when I heard their vision.
Here are some examples of what I came up with for that specific look:

I love doing these styles because it is right up my ally. Things that I would wear. That makes it a whole lot easier to design! These are also all unisex designs. I'll go into further explanation on how to really go about making a design stand out to a guy or a girl or both.

I started designing t-shirts to save money.
In 2006, my band Brighten started touring and instead of paying a designer to design tour merchandise, I learned how to do it myself.

Long story short...

Brighten did a walk through at Fueled By Ramen records (FBR) and met some of the staff while we were in Florida. Our friends, This Providence, had me do some designs earlier for that tour. Their merchandising manager talked to me about doing some more work for FBR bands. Four years later, I'm still working with that label and have been lucky enough to grow outside of that too!

It isn't easy.

I started out doing small jobs that didn't pay anything. This is a very competitive job! Companies will sometimes have 10 or more designers to work on the same thing. Those 10 designers come up with designs for the client to look at. Out of those designs, the band should choose 1. You can see how slim the chances are of getting a bands approval in the beginning, right? It takes time but after a while, you start getting high approval rates and then don't have to compete for jobs. This is when things get real fun!

So here we are...

My job is great now. I set my own hours and am paid to draw. For a college student, or for anyone really, that would be a blessing. So I don't take it for granted and I work really hard! Currently, I've been working on designs for anyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd to David Bowie, Paramore to All Time Low, or from Bruce Lee to Notorious BIG.

Now that we are caught up, next post I'll go on with pictures.
This wont really be a text blog. I'm not really into that. I like looking at pictures! Who doesn't?

On to the next...

This is a blog I have to do for a class I'm taking and thought that I could kill two birds with one stone. I need to post more anyways. So this will be good.

Focus.

I'll be focusing on merchandising apparel. Aside from going to school full time, I design t-shirts (and other kinds of clothing) for merchandising and licensing companies like Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic, Wet Seal, Warner Brothers, blah blah blah. Yes, I said t-shirts. People don't usually think about it, but it really is one of the most common clothing items worn after socks and underwear.

Designing is a really fun job, but takes a lot of thinking and study in areas that you would not normally look into or care about. For example, what color shirts are selling really well this year? What types of designs will girls be looking for in 3 months? Where in the world do the designs you buy in stores even come from? We'll go into all of that.

I'll be posting pictures of illustrations and art I like as well as art that I've done.

Hopefully this turns out well!