So this is the first time I\'ve done something this elaborate in Illustrator. Several days work on and off. (Plus I learned a lot about Illustrator in the process.) Having said that I still expect to make more tweaks before I submit it. Thanks for the crits! :)

Its cute=)



About the text: if you need it, i think it would be nicer on the bottom of the tee, maybe smaller and a more discreet color. Right know its taking away the attention from the pig.



if you have time:

http://www.threadless.com/critique/15025/Chocolate_Innocence

Thanks Dungeon :)

I really like this shirt. The guy on it could use a little work, but I'd buy it.

yes i would buy this, but without the text.



awesome job!

So 2 votes for minus the text. :) thanks guys :)



Wendy: anything in particular about the guy that seems off-center?

I agree, the text is unnecessary at this point. I would also try putting the person's leg behind the wing.



If you have time:



http://www.threadless.com/critique/15195/Prism_Jungle

funny concept. you might wanna make the boy;s hands a bit less globular. maybe put a saddle and/or bridle on the pig to make it more resemble Pegasus, and put a more exciting look on the pig. it's like he just doesnt care.

thanks too :)



bio-bot: Tiff says the pigasus looks "stoned". The intent was to make him look "wistful" -- like, he's enjoying flying, but in a "listening to some good jazz" way, not in a "Yankees win the World Series!" way. That's why he's got the toothless smile. I figured an animal with wings can't be terribly excited about flying most of the time -- much like I'm not terribly excited about walking most of the time.



And always kind of imagined Pegasus as being ridden bareback, though I also thought I remembered reading somewhere that the Greeks at the time had just a heavy blanket they laid over the horse's back rather than a saddle. I can't place the memory specifically though, so it could just be a false memory.

lol i like the concept. but yeah i agree. try it without the text. idk it seems a bit too...stuck on.

Love it. I'm always game for plays on words, and pigs are inherently funny animals. I also say do away with the text, but other than that, the only thing I can think of is to maybe try and rotate the rider a little bit so he's facing the EXACT same direction as Pigasus.



Sweet design, brother!



Check out Paper Beats Rock!

if you're tied to the text, you could always integrate it into a clouds, so it'll be more subtle, but there.

I like it! I agree the guy could use some work, but it's great so far!



if you have a moment let me know what you think...

http://www.threadless.com/critique/15223/Pour_my_heart_out

Fantastic. I'd ditch the text and submit it.

Several big changes - head and arm placement, widened the pig's smile, shortened the kid's hair, replaced the kid's mouth, bigger pig, altered the text - lots of smaller tweaks, mostly involving changing the shading to make it more 3-dimensional



Thanks for the crits! :)

I love the changes!

Much, much better. I say lose the text altogether, unless it's an integral part of the design in your mind.



If it wins, I want one. Sub!

Now with 20% more pig! :)

Opened the left side of the snout, so it doesn't have that thick black line all the way down -- I think it's an improvement, interested to know what everyone else thinks. I'm also being really finicky with the half-toning. You can't really see the difference much here, but I've gone through 3 different half-tones for the inside of the shirt where it's shaded - this one is small dots like zip-a-tone.



Thanks for the crits! :)

it's cool but i think you could do with out the text

Thanks Storm! :)



Well I've gone from "Die you text-whoring FASCIST" to "you could do without the text", so that's a step up! :) (j/k -- massive over-exaggeration for comic effect) :)



I do think it's twisted, ironic and something of a "mixed message" that there is such a devout following of the Curch of No Text here and yet, this design which I would have rated very low myself not for the use of text but simply lack of imagination, actually got printed.



I could'a just thrown that together in 5 minutes in Illustrator and put it up on a free store on CafePress if I wanted something like that. But hey, what do I know? I'm just one guy, right? :)

Definitely without the text. But not because it doesn't need to be there, just a different typeface. Also, the wings are confusing me. It might just be me, but the left looks twisted or backwards. Try having his hair a darker brunette too or even black. The idea is fun!

I agree with pandorabox, the wing does look sort of ackward. I like the hair idea too. Great artwork though!



If you have time.

http://www.threadless.com/critique/15336/Don_t_Cry

Lol, I guess this is the design you thought mine was!



I agree the wings need some work, maybe the kid's face too. I love the idea, and think this shirt has some great potential!

thanks guys. :)



pandora: The wings are an exaggeration of the angle. You're seeing the underside of one and the top of or back of the other wing -- so the feathers both fan out to the left, even though they kinda look like they're facing opposite directions. Here's a better example of something intended to be more realistic.



I'll see what I can do about the left wing, maybe just making it thinner will help.



rAmpant: yep, this is the one I thought I might have duplicated. :)

Mind if I ham in :P



When text is part of the concept it's cool; like when it's on the fire box that says "break in case of hunger" and there's a Snickers bar inside, or a sign on a door that says "closed" but you see shadows inside holding rifles at some guy or when it says "Acme" on a crate delivered to Wylie.



In this case "dream" robs the audience of their imagination and makes the graphic less interesting. Meaning, I want to see this and interpret what's going on in my own head. It my be the boy that saved the flying pig form the butcher, or the boy that tricked the pig into helping him run away from home. When you put "dream" over the top, it's like See N' Say, you're telling me rather than engaging me. Anyway my opinion, sorry about the rambling.



I'm with Pandora on the black hair, it will synch better with the black outlines. Besides, I think you're going to need another color, grey maybe, to get the wings to work.



The pig and boy are nicely drawn, great job on the hooves and the hands. The wings are not like the eagle you put up at all. The pig's right wing has open feathers in the front, I think you flipped it around. Try putting the eagle right next to your illo as you're drawing it. I usually place the reference in illustrator while I'm drawing just to keep eyeballing it as I go along. Anyway, great start . Cheers!

When pigs fly is an old saying, been around for years. I just googled it out of curiosity after seeing your V. I got to tell you there were about 12 pictures with pigs with wings. Don't worry, not one looked anything like yours. There were realistic photoshop versions, cartoons, line drawings, etc. So, I think you might have to put a new spin on your version to stand out.



How about hang gliding. The pigs front hooves look like they're in the right position and a glider can hold 2. Anyway just a thought.



5th picture down on this site.



http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.healthdiaries.com/ms/sylvie/archives/sylviesmilingallset.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.healthdiaries.com/ms/sylvie/archives/2005/09/achieving_my_hang_gliding_dream.html&h=525&w=700&sz=104&hl=en&start=40&tbnid=FkD8iJMVqwDT3M:&tbnh=105&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhang%2Bglider%2Bpeople%2Bposition%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

OOPS!

text seems like total contradiction.

comment mine?

http://www.threadless.com/critique/14973/S0_Where_do_we_go_now#v6

gave the kid a Super Boy quaff so I could get the extra gray color for the wings. (Thanks btw quister & pandora -- I'd wanted gray for definition on the wings before but had given up on it when I ran out of colors.) Adjusted the forward wing some and added lines underneath to try & make it look visually more 3-d & angled forward.



Thanks to everyone for the crits! :)

Oh and I brought the red for the shirt & shoe into gamut for print. :P The bright red that was there before only works in RGB for digital. This is better anyway I think -- the red before was awful bright.

I like this! You've made it even better!

This is awesome! My friend Debbie would love this!



If you have a moment, I've made some changes and would love your advice...

http://www.threadless.com/critique/15211/Puppy_eyes

Cute idea! I do think that the dream text placed within the cloud feels a bit awkward.

Remove the text or make the clouds into the word "dream." I love the expressions.

this is looking better! i still think the dream could be changed or taken out. i think people get the idea without the text.

i think his face is a bit awkward.

i wouldn't know how to explain why though.

I love the look on the pigs face, but I am not a fan of the text in the cloud I think the image is strong enough not to need it.

thanks all :) uploading a new version now

Added some shadow to the clouds, got rid of the larger text. There is actually text here, though it may not be large enough to read in the sample pic -- not sure how that would come out in print on the shirt either. I like it conceptually -- much more subtle than the last version.

Sub it!

I think it's ready!



Check out my newest design!

I'd def. buy it for the wifey... if i ever find one...

Thanks for the help everyone! :)



Unfortunately the link in the critique that says "push this version into the running" isn't working for me. When I submit the form from that page, it doesn't give me any confirmation that it's been submitted. Anyone else having that problem?



So I had to go submit it separately from the critique. So here's the final submission with a new thumbnail.



p.s. nicke: thanks. they were looking flat to me before, glad someone likes it. :)

Argh! Apparently when I was having the problem with submitting from the critique page it actually did submit, so now I have 5 nearly identical submissions sitting in their queue... and I can't find any way to retract or remove any of them! I used their contact form to send them a note about it and ask them to keep the last one that I've already blogged about. I guess we'll see if they check the contact emails before they reject the duplicate submissions.

I liked the "DREAM" text. I miss it in this version.

Yeah!

looks great! i hope it wins...i'll vote for you $5



vote when it's up!

http://www.threadless.com/submission/152952/S0_Where_do_we_go_now

I like this alot - I can see how it improved through many versions. I like the way the text looks, but I don't know how "readable" (legible) it is. I think the swirls add to the design, though.

thanks Squiddo :) I guess if it gets printed then the folks at Threadless HQ will have to figure out if the text needs to be made bigger or bolder for it to print properly on the shirt. Which should be fairly easy for them to do in Illustrator, but I've never done any of the printing myself, so I'm not really familiar with that part of the process.



And thanks to Wendy, Veronnie & Karebear. :)

The wings are an odd shape and do not have any thing on them that looks like feathers

your guy and your pig are a tiny bit too happy.

i would say sub.



critique mine?

www.threadless.com/critique/15137/Mikey_and_the_Monster

looks good man, the lonly thing i might change is the pigs dreamy look, to more of a hero look, proud and happy.. and maybe go for a cloud wrap around..

mine is up for voting!



http://www.threadless.com/submission/152430/READ_A_BOOK

It got approved for voting today! Woohoo!