Anyway, please check this dude out:
S.Britt.com
His flickr
His Blog
Friday, 8 August 2008
My New Fave Illustrator
After the long and boring Marx-and-Engels-go-tee-shopping substandard political tract of the last post, here's something more fun. I just fell in love with this guy! I mean seriously, his work is glorious; a retrotastic children's book paradise fusing Richard Scarry everytowns with Topsy and Tim cuteness and a menagerie of adorable monsters. Love it. The style is gloriously old skool; I think his process must be digital (I need to find out) but if so it is an absolutely perfect rendering of screen printing and pen and ink illustration- it puts any of my sorry attempts at capturing a similar look (I experimented a little a coupla months ago) to absolute shame.
Anyway, please check this dude out:
S.Britt.com
His flickr
His Blog
Anyway, please check this dude out:
S.Britt.com
His flickr
His Blog
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Cameesa!
Here's another old design that I've sent to another design contest
Take Me To Your Reader
Enough about me though, I want to talk about cameesa (the site I've subbed to) I love the idea of this site, it's like a co-op for t-shirts! Basically, you submit a design and rather than going up for voting (a system that is often rendered obsolete unless you have a big enough community, like threadless, to prevent vote rigging) here people place a speculative pre-order for your shirt. So they pay $20, and if 49 others do the same, then the shirt gets printed with the proceeds, everyone who invested gets a tee (with free shipping) plus a small cut of any subsequent profits made from further sales. The artist also gets $500 (so half of the initial outlay) plus $2 from any subsequent sales. Lovely.
I might be making it sound a bit too utopian, as the company obviously make some money from the sales too, but I think they've really thought out a fantastic community-driven business model where people are essentially putting their money where their mouth is in a way that "Awesomeeee tee $5" can't quite manage (that's not to diss the threadless model, which is superb, but I think it's great to see something different).
Of course, you might be wary of a site that asks you to make a purchase without any guarantee that the product you pre-order will get made, but unlike "real world" speculation this is pretty risk free; if after a month the design does not have fifty "supporters" (pre-sales), the investments are refunded. What is there to lose?
But I think the potential for the site is huge. Those who do pre-order are incentivised to promote the design to others if they actually want a chance of wearing it, incentivised to get others to actually go and "buy" a shirt. On the threadless-style sites few voters (I imagine) really feel impelled to get their friends to vote too, and even if they do, this isn't necessarily generating sales. Cameesa also, shrewdly, offers the opportunity to essentially buy more than one "share" in a tee; by placing multiple pre-orders (say, purchasing for friends and family) you increase the chances of it printing and thus of ever being able to wear it. Customers (during the "voting" stage anyway) are being actively encouraged to consider ordering more than one tee, buying more than one slice, so that they can see their favourite designs printed, and wear them.
There's also the actual share factor. "Supporters" do get a cut of the profits, albeit a tiny one (3 cents per slice owned for each shirt of that design sold). That's actually pretty good when you think that means $1.50 per shirt is going to the people who made it's printing possible. It's not going to make anyone rich (as far as I can work out), but a shrewd investor- especially at this early stage in the site's life- could pre-order a couple of shirts by a big artist which ends up going through multiple print runs (think, using Threadless as a model again, of something like Flowers In The Attic which must have sold squillions over the years). You'll be racking up six cents for every sale, and over the years, if a big seller like that emerged, you could be raking in a healthy return (enough to buy a tee every now and then, anyway!). If you invest in a few tees at this early stage and the site continues to grow, not only will you have a some cool shirts but you could end up with a nice little source of spending money. Especially if you were also willing to do some promotion of the designs you've invested in (perhaps the guys and girls who run the big tee blogs should consider making some investments- would that be corrupt?) Something to think about certainly, especially if any of the big tee names decide to sub anything.
What I like most about the site, however, has nothing to do with earning. It is that it is truly democratic in a way that none of the other sites, despite all their web 2.0 posturing, really are. The decision about which tees get printed rests solely with the consumer, there's no deciding panel who have the final say and who are ultimately (to a greater or lesser degree) driven by profit. For this reason I think the site could be a godsend for outsider artists with niche markets and a loyal fanbase- I would love to see some of my favourites subbing there. The element of risk is removed, because if a tee prints it means that there are already enough sales to cover costs, and I'm sure it will turn out that demand for some of those artists is far greater than just the initial fifty.
Anyway, that was quite long, but I hope I've persuaded you to check out the site! I really hope this one takes off, because I think they've got everything right!
Take Me To Your Reader
Enough about me though, I want to talk about cameesa (the site I've subbed to) I love the idea of this site, it's like a co-op for t-shirts! Basically, you submit a design and rather than going up for voting (a system that is often rendered obsolete unless you have a big enough community, like threadless, to prevent vote rigging) here people place a speculative pre-order for your shirt. So they pay $20, and if 49 others do the same, then the shirt gets printed with the proceeds, everyone who invested gets a tee (with free shipping) plus a small cut of any subsequent profits made from further sales. The artist also gets $500 (so half of the initial outlay) plus $2 from any subsequent sales. Lovely.
I might be making it sound a bit too utopian, as the company obviously make some money from the sales too, but I think they've really thought out a fantastic community-driven business model where people are essentially putting their money where their mouth is in a way that "Awesomeeee tee $5" can't quite manage (that's not to diss the threadless model, which is superb, but I think it's great to see something different).
Of course, you might be wary of a site that asks you to make a purchase without any guarantee that the product you pre-order will get made, but unlike "real world" speculation this is pretty risk free; if after a month the design does not have fifty "supporters" (pre-sales), the investments are refunded. What is there to lose?
But I think the potential for the site is huge. Those who do pre-order are incentivised to promote the design to others if they actually want a chance of wearing it, incentivised to get others to actually go and "buy" a shirt. On the threadless-style sites few voters (I imagine) really feel impelled to get their friends to vote too, and even if they do, this isn't necessarily generating sales. Cameesa also, shrewdly, offers the opportunity to essentially buy more than one "share" in a tee; by placing multiple pre-orders (say, purchasing for friends and family) you increase the chances of it printing and thus of ever being able to wear it. Customers (during the "voting" stage anyway) are being actively encouraged to consider ordering more than one tee, buying more than one slice, so that they can see their favourite designs printed, and wear them.
There's also the actual share factor. "Supporters" do get a cut of the profits, albeit a tiny one (3 cents per slice owned for each shirt of that design sold). That's actually pretty good when you think that means $1.50 per shirt is going to the people who made it's printing possible. It's not going to make anyone rich (as far as I can work out), but a shrewd investor- especially at this early stage in the site's life- could pre-order a couple of shirts by a big artist which ends up going through multiple print runs (think, using Threadless as a model again, of something like Flowers In The Attic which must have sold squillions over the years). You'll be racking up six cents for every sale, and over the years, if a big seller like that emerged, you could be raking in a healthy return (enough to buy a tee every now and then, anyway!). If you invest in a few tees at this early stage and the site continues to grow, not only will you have a some cool shirts but you could end up with a nice little source of spending money. Especially if you were also willing to do some promotion of the designs you've invested in (perhaps the guys and girls who run the big tee blogs should consider making some investments- would that be corrupt?) Something to think about certainly, especially if any of the big tee names decide to sub anything.
What I like most about the site, however, has nothing to do with earning. It is that it is truly democratic in a way that none of the other sites, despite all their web 2.0 posturing, really are. The decision about which tees get printed rests solely with the consumer, there's no deciding panel who have the final say and who are ultimately (to a greater or lesser degree) driven by profit. For this reason I think the site could be a godsend for outsider artists with niche markets and a loyal fanbase- I would love to see some of my favourites subbing there. The element of risk is removed, because if a tee prints it means that there are already enough sales to cover costs, and I'm sure it will turn out that demand for some of those artists is far greater than just the initial fifty.
Anyway, that was quite long, but I hope I've persuaded you to check out the site! I really hope this one takes off, because I think they've got everything right!
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
More loverrrly stuff
Some more t-shirt designs that I'd love you all to check out, and show your appreciation/disgust for.
First up:
This footy-mad chappie at a brand new British fairtrade site called Fair and Bare (check out the awesome Wotto tee for sale). Jumpers for goalposts!
And then two at DBH, one old, one new:
This one for the office:
http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/21898
And this one for the roller disco:
http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/21738
Funkaaaaaaay!
First up:
This footy-mad chappie at a brand new British fairtrade site called Fair and Bare (check out the awesome Wotto tee for sale). Jumpers for goalposts!
And then two at DBH, one old, one new:
This one for the office:
http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/21898
And this one for the roller disco:
http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/21738
Funkaaaaaaay!
Friday, 18 July 2008
New stuff, and some old stuff to vote on
I have sorely neglected this blog of late, having been concentrating on nomadding (not, I suspect, a word) and doing some writing, but I've just put some old illustrations up at some t-shirt sites if you fancy having a look.
First up, this bit of psychedelic nonsense at Design by Humans, inspired by a diet of sixties lithography, awesomely trashtastic album sleeves, esoterica, an unhealthy dose of Pink Floyd and, especially, an amazing iconic design outfit who went by the wonderfully florid name of Hapsash and the Coloured Coat. Anyway, if that's your bag and you wanna prog out in this tee (I really understand if you don't...) then you can vote for it
here
Next up is a little piece of Victoriana with a creepy undertone, called "Family Time". Also at DBH, you can show your love here
Finally, and on a similarly morbid theme, is this old favourite resubmitted to threadless. Fuelled by Shakespeare and flowers, with an Edwardian slant, you can vote by clickity-clicking on the thumbnail below:
And, to stop this blog being purely a "Vote for ME!!" extravaganza, here are some new character doodles. You can see more on my flickr. As always, any comments, requests, questions or abuse should be directed to thisisjonturner@gmail.com . I will try and remember to reply.
Cheers then, yeah?
First up, this bit of psychedelic nonsense at Design by Humans, inspired by a diet of sixties lithography, awesomely trashtastic album sleeves, esoterica, an unhealthy dose of Pink Floyd and, especially, an amazing iconic design outfit who went by the wonderfully florid name of Hapsash and the Coloured Coat. Anyway, if that's your bag and you wanna prog out in this tee (I really understand if you don't...) then you can vote for it
here
Next up is a little piece of Victoriana with a creepy undertone, called "Family Time". Also at DBH, you can show your love here
Finally, and on a similarly morbid theme, is this old favourite resubmitted to threadless. Fuelled by Shakespeare and flowers, with an Edwardian slant, you can vote by clickity-clicking on the thumbnail below:
And, to stop this blog being purely a "Vote for ME!!" extravaganza, here are some new character doodles. You can see more on my flickr. As always, any comments, requests, questions or abuse should be directed to thisisjonturner@gmail.com . I will try and remember to reply.
Cheers then, yeah?
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Philosophy 101
After "A History of Western Philosophy. With Owls" I wanted to make another philosophically minded design, so here it is, my very own introductory course. 101 philosophical movements, all building up to one big question. Why? Exactly.
All the lettering is hand drawn, and I tried as far as possible to have the style reflecting the nature of the concept. Well, sort of. For bigger images see my flickr (HERE)
If you like it, please go and vote for it when it goes up at threadless.com, if you fancy strutting along the left bank in your own high minded t-shirt, preferably teamed with jaunty beret and worn while puffing elegantly on a gauloise.
I also have another design on the way at Threadless; just a bit of fun with some ancient yetis, vaguely inspired by Lost Horizon, one of my favourite books.
And here's a quote from that book, which pretty much sums up my own philosophy:
"It is significant," he said after a pause, "that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?"
Well said, that man.
All the lettering is hand drawn, and I tried as far as possible to have the style reflecting the nature of the concept. Well, sort of. For bigger images see my flickr (HERE)
If you like it, please go and vote for it when it goes up at threadless.com, if you fancy strutting along the left bank in your own high minded t-shirt, preferably teamed with jaunty beret and worn while puffing elegantly on a gauloise.
I also have another design on the way at Threadless; just a bit of fun with some ancient yetis, vaguely inspired by Lost Horizon, one of my favourite books.
And here's a quote from that book, which pretty much sums up my own philosophy:
"It is significant," he said after a pause, "that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?"
Well said, that man.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Tee for Sale! LeFluff!
For one day only- and just ten dollars (well, you can buy it after but it'll cost you more)! Also, they've just started international shipping, so you can buy from anywhere in the world! ANYWHERE!
Go here http://shirt.woot.com
After today it'll be found at http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=5633
The shirt it's printed on isn't as yellow as that, though. This is for ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY, dammit
Save him from a torrent of abuse- "WTF is that? A blob in a hat" "French? Yeah right?" "Nazis?!? I hate these guys" etc- Merci!
Go here http://shirt.woot.com
After today it'll be found at http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=5633
The shirt it's printed on isn't as yellow as that, though. This is for ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY, dammit
Save him from a torrent of abuse- "WTF is that? A blob in a hat" "French? Yeah right?" "Nazis?!? I hate these guys" etc- Merci!
Monday, 19 May 2008
When I grow up I want to look like this...
It's true.
I spent my Sunday morning monoprinting. Here are some more:
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