Creating a T-Shirt can be fun and the end result will keep you warm and less naked!
With this noble goal in mind I set out to invent a design that would serve this practical application while also elevating the wearer to unfettered new heights of nerdy cool.
Step 1: The idea.
Soon after discerning your basic need for warmth and fashion I hit the sketchbook to knock around some ideas. This was done from the comfort of a lazy swinging hammock with a hot raspberry tea next to me. It's good to surround yourself with inspiration for the act of creation, in my case the walls were adorned with black velvet art and multiple paint-by-numbers of "The Last Supper" (I kid you not).
Then I drew a bunch of shitty doodles. (see above)
Step 2: The Rough Design
Transforming my crappy drawings into something worth consideration was a challenge. Developing an image that's iconic and pleasing to the eye took a few scribbles. When I came up with the rough image above I saw some potential. The characters personalities are there but something needed work.
Then I thought, a-HA - it sort of looks like a heart shaped tattoo! So with that in mind, I played with the drawing - getting some negative space around the characters and bending them to fit a heart shape.
Step 3: Clean Up & Picking colours
I scanned the rough and cleaned the artwork in Flash so I would have a sharp vector line to make separations from.
Originally I was going to make it a one colour print with the second colour made up from T-shirt colour showing through the black areas. I thought I'd make the whole image pink, but when I accidently clicked a section green - well sir! My one colour print had to become two colors for sheer awesomeness!
Step 4: Screen Printing
After calculating the pre-orders I sent off the artwork to the good and fine folks at East Coast Cresting where each shirt is lovingly hand screened on a rotisserie style table and then baked to mouth-watering perfection on a conveyer belt. Man, I'm totally craving Swiss Chalet now.
Step 6: Indentured Servitude
Each garment has been tagged by an elite staff consisting of myself, a lovely assistant and child labour.
Step 7: Fashion Models
The true reward is seeing your creation adorning the Greek God-like physique of the local bohemian or draped over one's own cherub faced offspring.
Step 8: To the Fans
Shirts are being packed for shipment as we speak! I'll adopt the usual 4-6 weeks disclaimer on these but I hope you get them sooner then later. Thanks to everyone who ordered one!
Step 9: Overprint!
Thanks to the gracious number of pre-orders the print run was bumped a little higher! Missed out on getting a shirt? Crawl out of that corner and wipe those tears because you can find me at TCAF May 8-9 and pick up one then! Any remainder after that will be available on my website: www.meanwhilestudios.com
