This is a work very much in progress. (I hope this post isn't a duplicate; Threadless keeps going completely blank on me.)

Based on an illustration I did about four years ago for a friend's RPG (alas, never published) and patterned after the matryoshki set I had as a kid. Thought I might be able to re-work it for Threadless. It's frustrating the hell out of me.

The 5-color thing is killing me; right now the t-shirt color is the color of the faces, wood, and highlights (when I add them); this isn't good as it prevents me having a more interesting shirt color than natural, but I don't know what color I want to lose.

Also considering doing some cross-hatch shading, but not sure if it goes with the look.

Any and all comments, suggestions & opinions appreciated.

I'm not sure they'll print another nest egg dolls design. I like this, but I think you could work on the black coat guy's hand holding the gun (it looks like his whole hands is wrapped around it... put a finger sticking up like it's on the trigger) and since the inside of the dolls are black, it took me a minute to figure out what exactly the white coat guy was doing (since his pants and the inside of the egg are the same color).

Cool! I like your idea. I think I would want to see a bit more texture, or rough it up a bit so it has a more retro feel, since it's kind of harking back to the cold war days.

Its pretty, but i agree with Stardance i dont think they gonna print another mytriosky set...

Use the white t-shirt color to add a shine to the dolls. That will make them pop more.

Hrm. Kojima, doesn't everyone tend to hate white t-shirts?

Stardance, good point; in the original, the insides weren't black, and they probably shouldn't be. I was trying it out to see if it would work because the insides needed *some* kind of variation between the insides and the rims... but you're right, the black doesn't work.

I don't really like the rims being yellow, either, but again, running out of colors...

Should I lose the green or purple, maybe, in favor of a wood-tan color to go inside the dolls? Or just leave them white too, maybe give 'em some cross-hatching?

Update coming soon... I think... if I don't have too much work to do today. Any more suggestions before I dive back into this one?

I think you could easily replace all the gold with white or purple to give yourself more shirt color options...since you indicated you wanted to do that.

Gyah, the empty box thing that happened to someone else happened to me. Take note: when Threadless gives you some bizarre error message instead of the "you have submitted" page, check to see if it really submitted before trying again. :/

Anyway, please see above for version 2 and my comments.

Your comments are welcome!

Oh... my comments *didn't* go through. *sigh*

Kinda by accident I had an idea to let the t-shirt color do a bit more of the work. It forces a dark t-shirt color, but I like that and I think it fits the design better anyway. And it expands my choice of shirt colors.

I'm aware that the lines need cleaning up; the color layers were choked up behind the outline layer. This is a rough draft still, to see how this version strikes people.

Also fixed the gun (google image is the ultimate reference tool) and the gun hand.

All your comments are belong to me... er... are welcome!

The gun hand looks great now :D And I like the wood feel of the inside of the cups. I think this would look good on chocolate. If you want something to work on besides the lines, the hand that isn't holding the gun? You might want to make it look like the other guy's hands only flat, if that makes any sense. It looks less unfinished than any of the other hands and that strikes me as a bit strange.

I'm undecided on this new version. Without the black and white it doesn't pop as much. My only suggestion would be that the inside of the dolls would probably look better as shirt color. Let just the rim be that cream color.

New version... more detail on the hands, and fixed the placement problem on the climbing spies hands. Some lines smoothed out.

Trying out suggestions about the inside of the dolls (I like) and the background on chocolate (hmmm.)

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Oooookay, not quite sure why v3 got labeled as v2. Maybe I clicked something wrong?

I'm particularly wondering what shirt color would be good. I'm not as pleased with chocolate as I was with green... I tried others of the dark colors but I'd like some input on that.

Great colors.

Thanks!

Anyone else? Hmmm? Also: placement thoughts?

I have one of these dolls and I've thought about stuff like this, I would totally get this as a shirt.

Hm. I think I need a more interesting title, while I'm at it...

Last version, I think, before I go ahead and submit. Brightened up the colors, refined a bunch of lines, fixed perspective error on the left hand doll, did some little nitpicky things. Last chance to put in your two cents!

Also, a website how-to query: does anyone know, if I click "push this through to submit" from here, will it allow me to change the title? Or do I have to do it as a fresh submission if I want to change the title?

I like this version. The one issue I had with previous versions was that Green Spy's leg was blending with the flower a bit, but it looks like you've either improved the contrast, or widened the gap. (I'm not sure which.) I think this is ready to go.

Without seeing the other matryoshki design, I can't say whether or not they'll print this one. It's possible that it's different enough that it will be printed.

I'd say, go for it.

This is the other one that was mentioned, if you're curious.

Removing her clothes, her skin, her muscles, her bones... and then she's a ghost. *I* certainly think it's pretty different. :)

People around here like to cry foul when even the most basic of elements in two designs are similar. As in "Ripoff! There was another shirt that had people on it already!"

I certainly think those are different enough. I really like this picture.

i love it! i love the colors and i love the concept on the V1. it made me giggle.

i just read some of the other comments and i don't think it is anything at all like the ghost nesting dolls on. for me it was a surreal hiding places or perhaps madcap spy vs spy - i think yours is truly clever and fun.

I love this most recent version...the brighter colors on the dark background look great!

fresh sub if you wanna change the name. . . I donb't understand the spies.

i understand the spies and like this design alot, i dont like the middle spie in the new version, i like the original layout, version 1. colors do look better in the latest version. It might even look better on the black tee and not green. You should try making the spy on the far left a red jacket and the spy on the far right red pants... Commie spies like red ;)