We Have A Sale!

Well I have the confirmation on the tee shirt printing I got announced a week or so ago. Here are the particulars:

This shirt is a previous Woot! entry... my first Woot! entry. Ript Apparel will be selling it for 24 hours and 24 hours only! Here are the details:

WHEN: Friday, February 4th

WHERE: www.riptapparel.com

WHAT: Tee's, Hoodies and Kid's Sizes

HOW MUCH: $10 Tee's, $38 Hoodies and various prices on childrens sizes

WHO WOULD WEAR THIS: People who love my work, pirates and octopai!

The marketing begins now! It will be brutal and furious but we are hoping for lots of sales! I want to spot someone on the street in my tee! So stick around for more updates. This is my first printing so I am very excited.

It Would Be Epic If...

Well, the hard work is over! My octopus tee-design is done!!! I have submitted this guy to the staff over at Woot! with hope that it will run as one of their daily tee's. I thank those of you who have been with this one since day 1 following me from sketch to finished product. And if you haven't, then please read back in my previous several blog posts to see get a glimpse at my design process. Maybe you'll get a clue as to what makes me tick since I sure as hell don't know what does.

This shirt has been a special project of mine. This was an idea for an illustration I had a few years ago. I did like a 6x9 ink and water color sketch and filed it away forever. I never knew I would be resurrecting it in this forum. I'm so much happier with this final design.

This design is also different for me in the sense that I'm not submitting it as a derby entry. Instead I'm sending it to the staff at Woot! directly in hopes that they'll love it and run with it. The pay would be greatly appreciated as well as any royalties if this design would sell. I know I would rock a shirt depicting a giant octopus terrorizing the Empire State Building... wouldn't you?

I'd like to thank Natalie for bearing with me as this design ate away of my time and attention, and for convincing me to change the color scheme last minute. She is my best critic when I get tunnel vision.

Here's the tee comp I submitted to Woot! This is really my "pitch" for them. Let me know what you think! As always, comments and shout-out's are welcome.

Because It's All Been About Business Lately...

Because it's all been about business lately here on my blog, I figured I share a cute little doodle I did last week that still makes me smile. It's the reason marshmallows can't go tanning. They tend to get to close to the flames and the end result is inevitable. Thanks for stopping by!

An Update on the Octopus!

I put a lot of work into the Octopus Disasterpiece design tonight. I finished the inking layer and even began to color! I've laid down my flat colors and am calling it quits for tonight.

I need to do all my fancy half-tone screens, background, transition back into the shirt and lay it out on a shirt before I submit it to the all-knowing art directors over at Woot!

to see if they would like to run it as a daily tee.

Here's where I'm at:

Right now we're at 4 colors, black, whitish color, pink and cream; all on a light blue tee. I may add 1 more color, a darker pink to screen into the shadows of the octopus for more depth.

As always, I want to hear what you think! Drop me a shout out! Let me know if you have an ideas for this piece also!

The Latest Project

If you know me personally, you know I love Octopi. I think they're very cool looking, very alien, and extremely intelligent creatures. On my back left shoulder I have an octopus drinking beer and eating sushi tattooed. It's my avatar image.

Any way, this design has been an idea of mine for years. I did a water color and ink sketch of it 3 or 4 years ago and sort of left it at that. Well, from out of retirement comes this:

My idea was to have the giant octopus attacking the Empire State Building much like King Kong. He will be encircled with attack helicopters and wreaking havoc on New York City.

I re-drew this pencil sketch yesterday morning. I took my time and used many references to get the anatomy right. There are a few anatomical issues that are getting corrected as I progress.

And speaking of progressing, I have some progress on the inking:

I've been inking this guy most of the weekend. I'm known for my love of crosshatching in inking. I'm looking for a certain edgy level of detail in the finished piece. I want the building to be un-deniably the Empire State Building. i also want to do a feathered skyline in the back.

I see this on a light blue tee. The building will be a cream color, the octopus will be a pinkish color. The image would dominate pretty much the whole front of the shirt. I think it's gonna be really cool when it's done and I would love to wear one. I'm sure others would too. What I'm really trying to say is I think I have a marketable design, and in my current financial situation, marketability is important.

As usual, click any one of the designs for a larger image with more detail. Drop a comment and let me know what you think, if you have an suggestions or if you would wear this shirt upon completion.

As always, thanks for reading and coming back. I hope I can post a finished piece this week! Till next time...

The Derby Results

Well, the derby is over and done with, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners have been announced. I'm not one of them. Right now I'm pretty disappointed. I guess I really hoped to win this one as I did SO much better than I ever have.

Well, it's over. I guess I need to move on and try again next week.

The Derby is Over

Well, after an exhausting week of living on the edge of my seat and promoting my maze design like crazy, the voting has finally closed and the winners are being announced. 1st place was announced this morning at 1AM Eastern Standard Time. It was a goblins design that I was sure would come in first. It's really a fantastic sketched piece utilizing great detail and a great sketchy quality that makes it feel more organic and artistic.

Second place will be announced again at 1AM tomorrow morning, and 3rd place at 1AM Sunday morning. I think I've bitten my nails to the bone. I know I'm in the top 9, and judging by the voting patterns I was watching, I think it would be safe to say I'm in the top 7.

A win would be huge for me. Coming in 2nd or 3rd at this point would mean $1000, plus $2 for every shirt sold after the first day. If the shirt does good in sales, this could mean a nice little royalties check every month until the shirt is retired. I could catch up with the bills I'm behind on, and with the royalties check, put money aside for the vacation in May, and start putting some money aside for a down payment on a house.

I started this year with 1 resolution, to make an extra $10,000 this year with my illustration work. I think it's both a modest and an ambitious goal. Totally achievable I think.

Also, more big news! A certain well known T-Shirt company has contacted me this week to inform me they want to print one of my designs! I don't think I should discuss the details of this little transaction yet. I will say, it's a design we've all seen, and it will be on sale for 24 hours and 24 hours only with very little hope of a re-print from this company. During that 24 hours, I will be making $1 for every shirt sold. This would make a nice little paycheck for the few hours work it took to design. I will update when I have anything official to say.

I'm working on a couple illustrations this weekend that I think are absolutely hilarious and have gotten great responses from the people I've told the ideas to. So, with any luck, by Sunday I'll be able to post sketches and finals in a new post.

The Final Hours Within the Fog of War

Ah, the fog of war. The fog of war to Wooters is a very special place. For those of us who enter the weekly derby, the fog of war is right where we want to be. The fog is place reserved for the top 9 shirts in the derby according to votes. The reason it's called "the fog" is because these top 9 shirt scores are hidden from view. Since I started entering derbies, I have dreamt about entering the fog of war.

Since day one of the maze derby, my street signs design has been in the fog. It's more than I ever could have asked. It can be a double edged sword though in the sense that I am on pins and needles all day. I'm terrified to click on the page and find that I've been knocked out of the fog. Luckily, this hasn't happened.

I've tasted the fruits from the top of the derby tree and now I want more! I want to win this derby so very badly. Should I lose though, sure I will be disappointed, but I will mostly be thrilled that I came so far this derby.

In any case, if you are reading this, I need your help! With the game this close, and only 36 hours left in the voting, every single vote I can get counts. Please, follow this link

and vote for my design. There's something important you need to know before you can do this though.

In order to vote on Shirt.Woot.com, you have to have previously purchased an item from Woot! If you have done this, then you fit all the required criteria! Just follow my link, sign in to your account and leave a vote by clicking the "I'd Want One" button in the upper left above my shirt submission. Also, as long as your there, why not drop a little comment to show some love?

Sure, this is shameless promotion, but I gotta do what I gotta do. I would hate to lose and think that I didn't do everything I could have possibly done to promote my shirt to a win. Thanks for voting, and as always, thanks for reading.

A Meeting of the Minds...

12:52PM:
At 2:00, I have a meeting at the Spot Coffee a half a block from my house. I'm meeting a gentleman who made a post of Craigslist looking for an artist to make comics from his stories. I responded, he visited this blog and we setup a meeting.

Today's meeting is really gonna be about feeling each other out. See, this project is a non-paying project. He needs an artist, and though I don't really need a writer, I don't have the time to write.

The only way money would come into the picture is if by some miracle, this comic was a masterpiece and gets published. In that case, royalties would be split 50/50. This is a big "if."

Like I said before, I don't need a writer. In fact, I have 7 or 8 different stories in my head and various notebooks just waiting to be developed. But, as I said before, I don't have the time right now.

When I think about 2 guys taking a chance on something that could easily become a waste of their time, I think, "Isn't this how the greats started?" All of them I'm sure. I bet Stan Lee himself took a chance and stepped out onto a ledge. Now look at him.

I should say though, this is just to feel each other out. I don't hold much hope here. If I consider his stories particularly amazing and I'm confident I can do them justice and find the time to do it, then we are golden. Other wise, it's no big deal. I'll post an update after the meeting.

UPDATE! 3:26PM:
Well I'm back from the meeting. I gotta say, I think this guy had 2 very interesting ideas. I don't know where I stand on whether I will be able to do them or not but I have something to ponder. I'm going to get a transcript from him to read, brainstorm and doodle from. I will decide from there.

All in all though, he was a great guy with the unique kind of mind writing something unbelievable would need. He's got promise and potential and no matter what we decide, I wish him a lot of luck.

Derby #181: Mazes and Labyrinths

Throughout human history, fear at the prospect of getting lost has been pretty influential in culture: the Minotaur, wandering the desert aimlessly, and of course, The Shining. This week we want to see your designs inspired by mazes and labyrinths. Maybe it's a layout of your inescapable byzantine basement, or a send-up of famous maze-inhabiting monsters or villains. Maybe it's just a pathetic cry for help to stop feeling so lost in life. You decide.

No text.

No bunnies.

No Star Wars.

No axe murderers. A totally random rule from a totally random Woot staffer totally randomly-named Travis.

Perhaps I shouldn't be releasing my derby entry 14 hours before the derby starts, but I just finished it and I'm damn happy with it! Sure, it's simple... but sometimes simplicity is a good thing. I did terribly in the last derby and I was drawing blanks on this one but this is my idea:

And some close-ups for detail:

Follow this link to vote




Wish me luck on this one because the last derby really kicked my ass.

Cloud Toys: Threadless Submission

My cloud design has been tweaked thanks to some great advice from fellow artists at Threadless.com. It has been submitted, approved and is up for a 7 day vote on Threadless!

Time to market this design! I need your votes my dear readers. So please, visit the link below, or click the link on the right hand panel. Register with Threadless, if you haven't already, and give me a 5$$! In the mean time, my fingers are crossed.

"Not So Cleverly Disguised"

In a moment of artist's block I came up with these guys.

Clearly the monster R&D department needs to get back to the drawing board when it comes to blending in among the humans.

In any case, I just submitted this to the staff at Teefury.com so keep your fingers crossed that they will be interested in printing.

Derby #180: Complimentary Colors

Some things just GO together, y'know? PB & J, Bert & Ernie, and New Year's Day and 4,000 college bowl games no one cares about and will continue to refuse to care about until they get off their stupid corporate welfare and implement a playoff system. Oh and colors. Complimentary colors. So for this week your design must be made of two colors paired up in the list below. Before you freak out: no, the shirt color doesn't count. So yes, Mr. Smarty Pants cracking your knuckles in the forums, technically it could be a three color Derby And we don't care, because we make the rules up as we go, so get over it. Now for the rules:

* Your design MUST be comprised of ONE of the following color combinations: blue & orange, yellow & violet, or red & green. No black & white, Mr. I'll Just Make It Look Classy.
* No video games.
* No Star Wars.
* No text.
* You MUST use two ink colors, and ONLY two ink colors. It can be a shade of blue and a shade of orange, though. Don't sweat trying to perfectly match the standard "blue."
* Yes, your shirt can be a third color.


So after a 2 week hiatus from the derby world of WOOT!, I'm back. This was a challenging derby, as they all seem to be. It's tough to only be able to use 2 inks to get a point across; especially if you like working in a simplistic cutout style.

Believe it or not, this isn't really my style but I feel like it's more marketable so, here I am selling out. Oh well, I like the art anyway.

This was the original concept for this derby. I decided to go with purple and yellow as my 2 colors. After banging my head into a wall for about 2 hours, I couldn't get the words, "Purple Mountains Majesty" out of my head. So I decided to take the phrase super literally and here's what we ended with:

I've actually been a little busy this week and seeing how hung-over I am right now, I plan on being busy with art and promotion the rest of the weekend. I've also got my cloud design waiting approval on Threadless.com before it goes up for voting. On top of that, I have a cute monster shirt I've been doodling with. I have an awesome looking monster, but no concept. It's really a design that doesn't say anything yet so I'm waiting till I have a stroke of genius on that design before I blog it and submit it.

In the mean time, I need your votes! If your reading this, and you've purchased from WOOT! in the past, then follow the link and vote on my design! Thanks in advance and have a happy New Year.

http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=48581