This Is Jon Turner

Boxing Day Sale on etsy!

2011-12-26T13:49:00.004Z

Merry Christmas! Everything in my etsy shop is currently 10% off when you use the code BOXING. As always, if you have any requests just get in touch. Currently available are original pen and ink drawings, limited edition prints and posters (including my Doctor Who inspired designs), hand-made jewellery and cufflinks, and assorted other oddities.

Thanks!

Stuff on Etsy

2011-12-11T19:22:00.002Z

Sorry, no updates for a long time- here's some of the stuff I have for sale on etsy at the moment! Just let me know if you'd like to see something else on there. Hope you have a magical Christmas, see you in the New Year!

New stuff available over at Etsy!

2011-06-28T15:31:00.006+01:00

Well hello!

If you feel in the mood for buying some handmade bits and pieces, then please do take a trip over to my etsy shop, where you may or may not find a veritable cornucopia of prints, drawings, cards and jewellery. I've just added some new one-of-a-kind hand-drawn pendants

and, among other things, I have limited edition letterpress prints of The Seven Ages of Mandelion available to purchase now!

Anything you'd like to see in the shop, just let me know and I'll do all I can to oblige. Probably.

Treeangles up for voting at Threadless!

2011-05-25T12:24:00.003+01:00

So, i submitted my first design for over two years over at Threadless- I miss those guys! Hopefully it doesn't get ended early!

Please head over to threadless and vote for this little slice of arboreal geometry!

Doctor Who "Who?" and "Rose" Prints Available and Ready to Ship!

2011-05-11T19:20:00.000+01:00

Well hello!

Excitingly I received the litho prints of my Dr Who inspired designs "Rose" and "Who?" today, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out- they look especially good framed (they're A3 size so will fit a standard shop-bought frame, but unfortunately I didn't have one to hand, hence the white spaces at the top and bottom of mine!). The sturdy recycled card gives them a lovely feel and look, and they'll be signed and numbered to the reverse (I can sign the front too if you specifically request it). I still have a few available, £10 each or £15 for the two (each is in a print run of 25). Shipping will be £2.50 to the UK and Europe, and £3 to the rest of the world, and they'll be sent in sturdy cardboard tubes.

If you're interested just send me an email to thisisjonturner@gmail.com , and payments will be via paypal to the same address. I'll be shipping these as soon as they're paid for, so they can be with you very soon!

If I have any left by the end of the week, they'll be up for sale in my etsy shop- www.jonturner.etsy.com
Thanks!

Prints available to pre-order! (Mandelions and Dr Who)

2011-05-07T11:24:00.005+01:00

Hello Everyone, I've finally got around to getting some prints made up! I'm beginning with three designs: The Seven Ages of Mandelion, and two Dr Who-inspired images, "Who?" and "Rose".

The perennially popular Seven Ages of Mandelion is being re-created as a very special letterpress print; it will be hand-printed on a vintage letterpress machine , which means that the print will have a lovely old-fashioned debossed look and feel and be a really special piece of art- I'm excited. These will be smallish prints, size A4 (210 × 297mm, 8.3 in. by 11.7 inches)- though I may have a small run of larger prints made in future if these are successful, on soft white 300gsm Somerset 100% cotton paper. The print run will be 250 copies, each one hand-signed and numbered in pencil by me.

These prints will cost £15 each, plus postage (hopefully shouldn't cost much at all). I'm taking pre-orders/reservations now; that is, I'm not taking any money, just putting the reservations list together. So if you'd like to register your interest (no obligation), then please send me an email at thisisjonturner@gmail.com . I won't be taking money until I have the prints in hand and am happy with them; I can let you know the exact postage cost then. I will of course ship worldwide, and will happily take payment via paypal when the time comes. I'll get some photos up of the prints when I have them, but this is the design in case you're unfamiliar:

This design has been printed as a t-shirt design by Threadless; there's also a copy on permanent exhibition at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

The second run of prints are Doctor Who based, the "Who?" eleven doctors question mark design you may have seen as a very popular t-shirt at riptapparel recently:

The other, "Rose" is based on a quote from Christopher Eccleston's tenure as the Doctor:

"Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it, no one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on, and the box will be buried. And if you wanna remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life. "

Both designs are being lithographically printed as premium art prints on heavyweight white flecked recycled paper, 300gsm, at A3 size (297 x 420 mm, 11.7 x 16.5 inches). They will be available at £10 each, or £15 for the pair, plus shipping (if ordered together they will be sent in the same tube, to save on postage, unless you request otherwise). They are being printed in very small first-print runs of just 25 copies each, many of which are already reserved, so it's first come first served. If you would like to register your interest please email me at thisisjonturner@gmail.com . Again, I won't be taking any money until I have the prints in hand and can show you the finished product, but I'm confident they will look great.

Any leftover prints will eventually go up for sale at my etsy shop www.jonturner.etsy.com , and look out for more prints very soon!

Little hand-drawn curio pendants available at Etsy!

2011-05-03T12:52:00.003+01:00

Good afternoon, my friends. I have some little vintage pendants filled with weird hand-drawn goodness available at my etsy shop, please take a look. You'll look well cool and that, yeah?

"Who?" Doctor Who T-shirt available on April 30th

2011-04-25T10:21:00.005+01:00

Enter, stranger.

Depending on you level of geekiness (if it's anything like mine, you'll be fine), you may be pleased to know that there is a rather nerdy shirt celebrating a certain mysterious Doctor, which will be available for one day only at www.riptapparel.com on Saturday, April 30th. Celebrate the new season in style! Wear it to your next meeting with Jim the Fish! Enjoy the silents!

Perfect when worn with a long woolen scarf, Edwardian cricketing outfit, frill-fronted shirt, or a fez. Fezzes are cool.

And here's another little picture for you:

VWORP...VWORP...VWORP!

Etsy Store!

2011-04-18T16:10:00.003+01:00

Well hello again bloggerites! I just wanted to let you know the exciting news (well, I'm excited anyway) that I now have an etsy store open for business! Currently selling many of the original pen and ink drawings for my illustrations, some at bargain prices, soon you'll be seeing a whole world of hand-made wonders, including (hopefully) posters, prints, tote bags, cards, badges... everything you've ever wanted, and a whole lot more that you never did!

So head on over to http://jonturner.etsy.com and take a look at the multifarious wares on offer. if there's anything particular you'd like to see available in the shop, either prints or originals, please do let me know and I'll do my best to oblige- and, of course, if you'd like to commission anything, you only have to ask.

Thanks!

Bonsai Design- Shirt.Woot Derby

2011-04-08T22:44:00.003+01:00

Well hello there! If you're feeling arboreally inclined, then perhaps you'd care to pop over to the shirt.woot derby and vote for a new design I have in the running over there? You're a star. And you can always catch up on other things I'm doing at my flickr stream, if you feel so inclined. Thanks and stuff!

A Visitor From The North- Limited Run T-Shirt at Tilteed!

2011-04-04T13:24:00.004+01:00

Greetings Earthman! (or Earthlady)

Just a quick note to say that I have a robot-tastic t-shirt available for THREE DAYS ONLY from the mighty Tilteed. It's one of my favourites, only costs $12 , and is available in guys and girls sizes for worldwide shipping (if you have a robotic titanium barrel-chest, just order a 2XL). In the words of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation complaints department, Share and Enjoy!

Also, I'm submitting a few greetings card designs at Chirply, so feel free to check those out when you have a moment (you can vote using your Facebook ID). Thanks and stuff!

The Binary League- please vote!

2011-03-20T12:15:00.004Z

Hello chaps and chapesses!

I have a robotically-inclined design up for voting at the shirt.woot derby, featuring The Binary League, a crack team of Edwardian automaton alien-fighters. It's currently "in the fog", which means it has a chance of being printed next weekend, but it won't do so without you help. So if you can spare a moment to pop over and give it your vote, it would be mightily appreciated. You can only vote if you've previously bought something at a woot website, but even if you haven't then please perhaps pop over and leave a comment, or maybe repost/reblog/facebook/whatever it is you newfangled young whippersnappers do nowadays to tell all your lovely friends. Sir Titanius Cogg has promised to host a celebratory soiree at Coggsturn Grange if this one prints!

New Blog!

2011-03-13T22:19:00.002Z

Ok, so it's been forever since I posted an update- galaxies have formed, civilizations have risen and fallen, and many, many cups of tea have been made since my last post.

BUT, here's a little update to tell you about a new blog, which will be being updated EVERY DAY. Really, it will, I'm not just saying that.

So, if you like robots, head over to Robots of the Ancient Worlds for some nerdtacular automatonic action. And if you don't like robots, then, well, I'm not sure I want to be your friend any more...

Things to click and do

2009-06-08T14:45:00.000+01:00

Oh, hello again! Just wanted to say hi and stuff, and y'know, whatevs. Anyhoo, just to let you know that I'm currently working on setting up my proper website at http://www.thisisjonturner.com, so feel free to bookmark it now, even though there's currently nothing on it, just so you can say that you were there from the beginning, before it all got too commercial and I sold out, and it wasn't about the music anymore etc etc...

Elsewhere, I have a t-shirt design up for support (pre-ordering) at cameesa, once it reaches 50 orders it'll be printed, so get yours in now! It has robots on it and stuff (well technically just one robot, but isn't that enough for you people!?). Tell all your friends! Except Shirley, don't tell her, and then we can all point and laugh when she's missed out on her awesome t-shirt

So, until we meet again (and believe me, we will...WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT):

But, in a nice way, obviously...

Robotical Machinations!

2009-05-13T09:55:00.000+01:00

IT HAS AWOKEN.

IT HAS BEGUN...

Yes, for one day only (and, at a slightly pricier price for a while after that) you can grab yourself a monstrous Atlantean leviathan for the bargain price of just $10! Free shipping in the US, rest of world $5- pretty bargainous. Many thanks go to shirt.woot and their friendly editor's picks, and to the folks who voted for this in derby after derby. This'll be my third shirt at woot, and probably my favourite (actually, this shirt almost didn't see the light of day, thanks to old tardy tardysson here deciding that last week was a good time to go on holiday, not realising that the lovely printmeister Barbara was not in possession of the final artwork...)

And for anyone who happens to be visiting via the shirt.woot site this morning, hello! Feel free to check out earlier posts for other t-shirts available for your buying pleasure, and if you like what you see you can check out more work by me on my flickr page. As always, I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to drop me a line - thisisjonturner at gmail.com - and I'll do my best to remember to reply.

It's like the twilight zone!

2009-05-01T20:42:00.000+01:00

Ever get that feeling of deja vu? No?

Well, how about this? Both these designs are up for voting once again in the shirt.woot Double Take Derby.

Please give them your votes/ sycophantic praise/ vitriolic abuse (just clicky von clickheim on the images below)

We're through the looking glass here, people.

Some new t-shirts to buy!

2009-04-29T10:02:00.000+01:00

Righto, this is just a quickie to let you know about a couple of t-shirts you can buy from a couple of disparate outlets scattered around the globe: one from the Blade-Runner-esque neon-drenched cyberpunk streets of Korea, the other from the dusty, gazelle-strewn savannah of South Africa. These are my mental images of those countries, please don't feel the need to shatter them.

So, first up it's this old knickerbocker glorious fella, now available to buy from SPRINGLEAP, South Africa's premier shirt-fest. Actually this one has been up for sale for a while- I was going to wait til I got a real life copy I could show you, but I got impatient, and I thought I better mention it before they all sell out. They ship worldwide.

And then, cross a continent into Asia and newly launched company Culture Twist. They've got a fantastic website (though a lot of it is a little bit in Korean), and some great pieces by some other familiar faces (oh yeah, you get to see faces... though I at least had the decency to wear sunglasses). Anywho, how could you resist the adorable allure of the funkmeister 3000? Available on grey, white and navy blue.

Umm, my knowledge of Korean script fails me at this point, and I'm not sure if the deliver to the wider world, but I will endeavour to uncover the truth and get back to you about that. If not, then while we're in shameless plug mode feel free to still buy either of these:

STUFF!

2009-04-18T12:57:00.000+01:00

Oh yes, stuff. I love stuff, don't you?

Anyway, there is a specificity of stuff to which I would like to call your attention. First up, I decided to try my luck once again at the shirt.woot derby, after many dismal failures in the past. I would love it if you could vote on this dismal-failure-in-waiting, and then get all your friends to vote, and your grandma, and your Uncle Colin's milkman. If you, or indeed your Uncle Colin's milkman, are unable to vote (you have to have bought something from there in the past), then leave me a nice comment over there instead, saying how nice I am and stuff, yeah?

In other news, I've got two fairly ridiculous designs coming to threadless very soon, so you can vote on them too, y'know, if you want... No pressure or nuffink...

Laters, yeah?

Adventures in Colour!

2009-03-20T17:47:00.000Z

...Or color, depending on your regional variant of choice!

Oh yes- it's the THREADLESS ALUMNI COLOURING BOOK! Adventure- A Coloring and Activity Book is 56 sweet sweet pages of lush black and white goodness just crying out for the gentle caress of a loving crayon. Would you deny them that? WOULD YOU!?

Ahem. Anyway, it features many of my favourite illustrationistas and some really glorious pictures, and it's available to buy exclusively from LULU.COM, for just seven of your English quid, or ten US dollars (plus shipping). I bought two!

Oh, some drugged-up joker did this pic for it as well, just begging to be psychedlicated with your help:

Crazy.

Oh and if you do buy it, please send me a pic of your coloured in version- I'd really love to see them!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

2009-02-27T19:32:00.000Z

Another bleedin robot? It's like bloody Buck Rogers around here. Anyway, please vote or comment over at shirt.woot (click the pic)

Bleebloopbleepblipbleepbloop

Those Mechanical Men and Their Flying Machines!

2009-02-24T10:57:00.000Z

Yes, it's a robot. On a bike. A flying bike.

Also, it reminded me of this:

In a bold move that has stunned Hollywood insiders, newly-divorced comeback-kid Troy McClure has turned down the supporting lead in McBain IV to direct and star in his own pet project: The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel. Will the gambit pay off? 20th Century Fox is betting... it will.

As always, just send me an telegram (or email, I guess- what is this, like, the future or something?) if you have any comments, questions, complaints or death threats (preferably none of the latter)

The Man Machine

2009-02-16T00:22:00.000Z

As everyone's favourite Krautlectro pioneers Kraftwerk once said: "We are the robots (bleep blee blee bleep)". These guys are also robots, great hulking metallic men of mystery, gleaming in the light of a thousand distant stars... but really all they want is a big robohug. Could you deny them that? Could you?!

The Runaway

The Awakening

He Came In Peace

The Juggler

Until tomorrow, goodbye...

The Monster of Moonstone Ridge

...I thought not. And now that I've got you in a particularly benevolent mood, feel free to head over to threadless and check out these robotically-inclined t-shirts. And if you'd like to read some short short stories about the above plastic pals it's fun to be with (though I think these guys are probably metal), then check out their respective flickr pages.

Awful, isn't it?

A Visitor From The North

2009-02-03T12:40:00.000Z

Across the arctic wastes he came, striding over frozen lakes and snow-capped mountains. Where had this visitor come from? Who had created this hulking man of metal? And what did he want with us?

Monster Mash wins Bestee!

2009-02-02T20:41:00.000Z

Huzzah! Awesome work everyone, especially Joe AKA Isaboa (who I also nicked this image from- thanks Joe!)
Does this mean I can call myself an award winner?

Stuff, stuff, glorious stuff!

2009-01-07T11:40:00.000Z

Oh, hello there, happy new year and all that! Let's make 2009 as good as it should be- I'll start.

So this is an update, as we haven't had one in a while, and, as indicated in the title, it may indeed bring forth a wealth of glorious stuff- no promises mind.

First up, this t-shirt is available to pre-order from South African design powerhouse Springleap (they ship worldwide)

Springleap

Here's a little something I put together for Gareth Aidan, a wonderful indie folk singer from Minnesota- go and give him a listen. Don't ask why keys turning to trees, it just seemed to fit:

In other (rather different) musical news, there's another opportunity to get your mitts on this (rather different) design, which has been picked up by the All American Rejects for their band merch. Not available online at the moment, but you can pick it up at their gigs. Rawk on.

Erm, what else? This t-shirt is available from startup company Esau Apparel:

All these (rather old) designs should be coming to a t-shirt near you (the actual proximity probably depends on whether you buy one) very soon, more info when I have it:

(...probably not in those colours, I'm just too lazy to use anything other than what I already have on my flickr, for which I heartily apologise...)

So, yeah, that should probably do for now. More on the way, but I won't bore you with it right now. Thanks to everyone who supported me in 2008, as always I'd love to hear from you so please feel free to get in touch. Laterz!

Monster Mash!

2008-12-08T23:02:00.000Z

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to threadless

Seven Ages of Mandelion at Threadless

2008-12-01T14:14:00.000Z

Only $15 in the threadless sale, right now! Do it, before it's TOO LATE!

Reindeer

2008-11-15T23:56:00.000Z

Christmas is coming! Look at the size of that goose!

Hello Mister Magpie

2008-11-07T14:30:00.000Z

How's Your Wife?

All right, stop! COLLABORATE and listen...

2008-10-29T13:43:00.000Z

Oh yeah, it's a collaboration! Two collaborations in fact. Collaborations on a massive scale. First up it's the one day only birdalicious spectacular over at teefury. Featuring the avian creations of 72 (count 'em) artists, including lots of names you're sure to recognise, all giving their individual spin on the teefury logo, the shirt actually looks amazing, so be sure to snap one up (only $9!):

And here's my contribution to the project, The Rt. Hon. Mr T. Fury, Esq.

Lovely.

And now for something completely different, or at least with rather more gore, it's the Emptees Anniversary Zombie Tee. Yep, it's like a whole graveyard just rose from the dead and crawled onto one t-shirt, available to pre-order now. Tasty.

Here's my undeader, a charming fella

Get your hands on these you damn dirty ape!

2008-10-26T10:04:00.000Z

I'm an apeman, I'm an ape ape man, oh I'm an ape man- and if you are too, perhaps you'll want to show some kindred spirit and sport this tee. Yeah, I've already told you about it, but I just got my grubby mitts on these pics of the real thing, courtesy of wooter extraordinaire monsieur thejakeyl88 (known as "thej" to his friends). Looks like they did a sterling job with the printing, and I wanted to share. So to get your little monkey paws on one of these BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!! go HERE, there's a good chap/chappette. They will, unless we see some strange reversal of fortunes, be gone after tomorrow, never to return 'til MONKEYS ROAM THE EARTH*

*technically, monkeys already roam the earth, when they aren't preoccupied with swinging upside down from coconut trees. But I mean when monkeys roam the earth looking like rubbery Roddy McDowalls. Help me Dr Zaius!

Some new stuff!

2008-10-24T20:42:00.000+01:00

Oh, hey, y'alright? Yeah, I'm fine, y'know, nothing special, but thought I ought to make a new post. So, here's some new stuff, as promised in that alluring title. First, this is a design commissioned by a tee company called Esau Apparel- maybe not the sorta thing I'd normally do, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'll let you know how to get hold of it when it's printed.

Oh, and here's an alternative version, with a lovely dove from above...coooooooooo.....

Keeping with the avian theme, inspired by that design, here's a bird in a hat (yeah, I'm clutching at straws for things to shove in this post...did you notice?):

Oh, I also have this simple little design in the shirt.woot Derby this week. If you feel a kinship with bloodthirsty but ultimately remorseful robots, why not give it your vote?

So that completes this week's edition of "some new stuff". I liked it, I thought it was good.

Another day, another tee

2008-10-15T10:15:00.000+01:00

What's this? More t-shirts?! It must be Christmas (only 69 shopping days to go- why not buy your loved ones an oversized stippled businesslike monkey and beat the queues?)

Yes, head over to Woot for this little slice of monkeyania- $10 today, $15 tomorrow, shipping all over the world!
Couldn't do it in it's original massive print glory, but the woot folk'll do a great job printing it (I'll be honest, I sold out a bit and went for highest price over biggest print- does that make me a bad person? Probably just a bad artist)

Bananarama.

Tee Available- For One Day ONLY!!!

2008-10-08T12:13:00.000+01:00

Roll up, roll up, check out my t-shirt available for just $9 (that's, what, like 50p?) and available for ONE DAY ONLY at teefury. Yes, like a DFS sale, this MUST END AT MIDNIGHT. But unlike a DFS sale, this actually will end. So buy it while you can, I implore you! But only if you live in America, cos that's the only way you'll be getting your hands on this bad boy, unless you have some very friendly Usasian friends willing to buy one on your behalf.

So yes, here it is, a macabre ode to the drudgery of work, or something:

Oh, and I apologise for the lack of recent updates. I know you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting to see what I would come up with next- I know I have! But rest assured, there's more to come- two more shirts on their way in the next couple of weeks, in fact. Huzzah!

Cameesa photo fest

2008-09-14T17:47:00.000+01:00

Saw these product pics over at Cameesa and thought they were so awesome I'd post 'em here too- hope they don't mind! Shirt available here

Tee for sale at Cameesa.com!

2008-09-10T11:32:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone! Just to let you know, my t-shirt design Take Me to Your Reader is finally available to buy at cameesa.com! How exciting. It's the first community-funded print on the site, and will no doubt go down in history as a monumental event on the scale of the signing of Magna Carta. Possibly.

Anyway, go and buy it then you fools! Become a footnote* in history!

*a very minor one

Interview! And some other stuff

2008-09-03T13:34:00.000+01:00

Oh, hello! So anyway, my good friend Mr Terry Fan AKA igo2cairo AKA Igo the Terryble, as I sincerely hope no-one has ever called him, set up a little INTERVIEW with me over at Threadless. You can find out all about me, learn all my secrets, and then stalk me (y'know, if you wanted...no pressure...). I can't guarantee a scintillating read (though personally I love reading these kind of things about any randomers), I can't guarantee a life-changing experience, but what I can guarantee is a gratuitous scone shot. Oh yeah, this is hardcore.

And, As promised, Some Other stuff:

My shirt.woot design Sundae Best came fourth in the derby, missing out on a printing by TEN (1-0) VOTES- BURRRRRRRN! I'll try and get it printed elsewhere. And I'll see if I can return to the cut-throat world of the derby next week.

These crazy skullmeisters are going up for votes at DBH (RIGHT HERE)- a bit different to my other stuff but hey, everyone's gotta do a skull and/or CMYK based design at some point right? RIGHT?

Check out my DBH profile to see my other designs up for voting right now, and shower them with love.

I also have a new header, cos I didn't have one. I'm gonna make an EVEN BETTER one soon. I know what you're thinking, how could it be better than that? Well, imagine that one with RAINBOW GRADIENTS. Now you're impressed.

Umm, that's about it for other stuff at the moment, cos everything else I'm doing is either half-finished or half-baked, so instead, here's a hairy purple monster. He's gonna eat your legs.

This week's Woot Derby entry: Sundae Best

2008-08-22T18:32:00.000+01:00

I'm going to do my best to enter the Woot Derby every week, 'cos it's a good way to force yourself, to draw something, dammit! And I thought I'd get in a bit quicker this week. the theme is desserts, and here is Signor Gelato in his finest Sundae attire:

Clickity click to vote

Woot Derby entry, and Cameesa news!

2008-08-18T20:13:00.000+01:00

I've never submitted to the woot derby before (though they've printed a tee of mine on commission) but thought I'd give it a go this week (albeit last minute) as the theme was chemical elements. Frankly, I don't have a chance in hell of getting near the top, but I thought this old design of mine could feasibly pass as helium themed... You can vote for it HERE

In other news, my tee at Cameesa is now fully supported- WOOOOOOOOOO! Thanks to everyone who ordered one. This means that it'll be for sale VERY SOON! How terribly exciting!

Just Called... at LaFraise

2008-08-16T00:01:00.000+01:00

Well, could you really say no to that face, you heartless fiend? No? Good. So click the pic, dammit!

Dee do day-day, dee do day-day, I don't have no time for no monkey business...

2008-08-12T11:10:00.000+01:00

Alright, how's it goin'? Just wondering if you might spare a moment to help a monkey in distress. Well, he's not really in distress, but I think he may be rather suffering from the rigours of everyday existence. On the plus side, he's doing quite well over at Design By Humans and your votes would doubtless go a long way towards cheering him up.

God only knows, as the Beach Boys once said, how printable this would be, and whether he'd look any good blown up to epic tee size proportions, but we can worry about that later, right?

And in other news, my design at Cameesa has reached 58% support. If it reaches 100% in the next twelve days then it gets printed and everyone gets a t-shirt- huzzah! I spoke to the guys at the site, and if the tee doesn't get fully supported the money gets refunded to your paypal account, there's no "lock-in", so really you've got nothing to lose. Assuming you want a t-shirt that is. So what are you waiting for, go and support, dammit! $20 for a tee, including shipping, sounds amazingly reasonable to me, plus all the shares and stuf outlined in my earlier post. Oh, and yeah, I'd quite like it to be printed, of course. Also, check out Mr Pimpant's design on the site- that definitely deserves your support too, because, well, it's awesome.

Monster Mash: The Most Fearful Collaboration since Jagger met Bowie

2008-08-10T18:44:00.001+01:00

In preparation for Halloween (it's only, what, two and a half months away?) check out this amazing community collaboration of doom over at threadless

This is what I love most about that site; not the tees (though there are plenty of awesome ones), not the lure of however many quid in exchange for your doodles, but the fact that it feels like a real community and everyone is always willing to get involved. Next step should be the threadless village fete, complete with cake train, jumble sale, and one of those stalls where you throw wooden balls at old china...

Anyway, this mighty mashup features the work of 67 artists (that's gotta be a record for threadless, surely?), an array of GRUESOME monsters executed in a variety of HIDEOUS and TERRIFYING styles. And more, much more than this, it actually looks amaaaaaaazing:

This was my sorry addition to the project, the venerable doctor jekyll esq. A bit rubbish, on reflection, and in comparison, but in my defence I think I was probably the first to submit a monster, so I like to feel I was setting the benchmark which everyone else had to leap past and trample on.

Anyway, it all looks fantastic. Massive respect and admiration go to Joe AKA Isaboa who got the whole thing started and put his soul into the project, and, along with a few other awesome folks, used their alchemical prowess to turn this all into t-shirt gold. I urge you all to vote because, frankly, I can't wait til Halloween to be doing the Transylvania Twist in this t-shirt. Oh, and did I mention it glows in the dark?

Now, get your ghoul on and let's ROCK:

But not to this:

That's just a little bit too scary...

My New Fave Illustrator

2008-08-08T11:39:00.000+01:00

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

Cameesa!

2008-07-26T09:47:00.000+01:00

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!

More loverrrly stuff

2008-07-23T22:04:00.000+01:00

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!

New stuff, and some old stuff to vote on

2008-07-18T11:51:00.000+01:00

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?

Philosophy 101

2008-06-11T14:10:00.000+01:00

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.

Tee for Sale! LeFluff!

2008-05-21T06:55:00.000+01:00

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!

When I grow up I want to look like this...

2008-05-19T10:23:00.000+01:00

It's true.

I spent my Sunday morning monoprinting. Here are some more:

Yayart!

2008-05-16T19:52:00.000+01:00

I have two designs through to the finals of a new art competition rather brilliantly named "yayart". They'll pick twenty four winners to be made into awesome prints to adorn your walls- take a look at my finalists here:

http://www.yayart.net/vote/474/

And here

http://www.yayart.net/vote/368/

So feel free to yay or nay them as much as you like (well, you can only do it once... but you can leave lots of nice comments/ hideous abuse!) I have a few other designs up there too, but I think they must be out of the running now. Yet you can still vote on them, so take a look here if you feel so inclined. Check out some of the other great art on there as well (yeah, there's lots of junk too, but there are some really fantastic pieces if you can wade through the sea of bad photoshop filters). The awesome Wotto AKA Craig Watkins has put together a blog which showcases the threadless community's contributions to yayart, featuring some great stuff.
Thanks!

An introduction

2008-05-14T18:24:00.000+01:00

Hello blog, I'm Jon.
Hello Jon, I'm blog. Pleased to meet you.
The pleasure is all mine, Mr blog, I assure you
Ah, you flatter me
And very soon I will scribble all over you! Bwahahahahaha. I will cover you in all kinds of skag, and write nasty things all over your face
No, please god, noooooooooooo!!!
Sorry blog, I have no choice....

-------------

And so it begins. If I can find the requisite strength (it's unlikely, let's be honest), this is where I will be keeping you (yes, you, hypothetical Reader) up to date with all my art and illustration work, hopefully keeping you in the know about places you can buy my stuff, and maybe, just maybe telling you about other exciting people that you really should know about (all the cool kids do).

What this blog will not be is a place where I share with you the details of my sordid sexual escapades, because, well, because I'm not that good at lying. Sorry.

In the meantime, check out my flickr:
www.flickr.com/vonmonkey

Maybe go and vote on these lovely t-shirt designs at threadless, if you're feeling in a particularly beneficient mood

And finally, marvel at this wondrous casket of delights AKA some of my junk: