thanks frank. i dunno , but its all good

Honestly, there is probably better Art (with a capital A) on Deviant Art because it's an... Art site!

Threadless is a t-shirt design site. It is geared toward selling tees to the masses.

I think if you can take your Art and make it marketable as a tee, more power to you! But not everyone's Art is marketable in that way. And that's probably a good thing.

kate is right

$1500...sorry i thought it was older, especially since i have seen a lot of your work and it looks as though you have grown a full foot since then.

and i agree about art based shirts... the concept of the site was for threadless to give their DESIGNER/ARTIST pals a go...and then more people started submitting...and back then it was very "electronic" based imagery...and gradually but rather quickly it became all cute FWF and lame junk for girls and kids...the few that make it through with harder design like FRANX and JOHN2 are blessed! but then there's pop culture and good art like Travis76...it's good, but it relies on a pop gag. and that is often too easy, just look at Glennz's "instruction manual" style art and jokes...it' sall very accessable.

but to whom? the "market"...it seems the intended market was not the FWF sort...rather the people that threadless was built for in the first place, not weekend designers and doodlers, but real struggling artists...to perhaps help them not struggle so much anymore...alas, it's not seen very often...those that deserve (by art alone, eff ego and personality) to be printed are tossed...

anyone heard of LUCA TIERI? nope? he subbed once...he's one of the best illustrators out there...hasn't subbed since...

and ZACH TROVER...check out the tinymeat blogs to see his great art! but a lot of the community and voters ran him out on a rail...and his art is entirely accessable...

it's a weird weird place this threadless, and it doesn't inspire "art" much.

that said, it did get me designing more frequently, but tinymeat got me really serious about design again...so...thanks threadless?

I just voted for a reprint of this design:)

i think tee shirts are perfect for art.

Robotic - why is computer-based imagery (such as the cute one below - #5 in the catalog) any more high-brow than fwf?



Yes, Art can go on t-shirts, but frankly, that's not the stuff that will sell most of the time to most consumers.

The people who started Threadless are still the head honchos - if they wanted to turn this into a high-brow artistic t-shirt design site, they could have done that - and still could do that. They might not make much money overall, but... still, it's something they could do if they wanted.

The design I saw on Threadless that first caught my heart was 'Ambition Killed the Cat.' Hardly high-brow art, but I think it makes for a great design. It's also one of the tees I get complimented on the most. Since being on this site, I've developed a taste for more complicated/artsy designs, but sometimes the simple ones still become my most beloved tees.

i didn't say it was high or low brow i didn't state a preference on that art..but FWF isn't often a desirable thing for me to wear or like...although there have been acceptions.

and high brow like picasso or whatever...eff those guys...art like that of tim bisckup or carter burwell or Gabe Swarr , hell, "the (hardly) high brow (but definitely qhigh quality)" art of Meg Hunt has been commissioned by threadless for their SELECT which costs more for us to buy, and it sold out rather quickly and she doesn't even submit to threadless! so why not raise the bar and let more of that quality art though on a regular basis? that's what i am saying...

look ar Ray Frendedn's art, it's not HIGH BROW but it's badass...and was poopoo'd but the staff gave him a select anyway! so why not print the good stuff???

that's what we're on about!

and stop saying highbrow i didn't say that...josh didn't say that...blech

Sorry, I was trying to find a word to differentiate the simple, cute designs from the kind of stuff you guys are talking about - "Art" or whatever that is. I didn't mean to offend by calling it highbrow.

"high-brow artistic t-shirt design site"
im not looking for that/\

im looking for insentive for good artist to stick around.
to grow the art community. to make the tee shirts of higher quality.

im trying to rally people together.

im not saying that there is ANY problem with the way the sight is, im just asking for people who are looking for more diversity to help me with this idea.

and threadless IS an art community as far as im concerned. i've meet so many people that i would now call collegues as well as friends, set up plans to do art and projects together, done critiqueing and and revisions through the site.

most of the designers that i spoke to about why they are on threadless is because of the artist community. and it is in the interest of threadless and the bloggers and the users to try and grow that.

because i dont wanna anyone else who passes through here out of discouragement.

IT HAPPENS ALOT

thats my beef. not trying to be negative at all, or say anythings shit.
im trying to help out my homies, this is a compassionate argument.

not a complaint.

because i dont wanna anyone else who passes through here ** to quit** out of discouragement.

also i dont see anyone adressing this problem. and it is a problem

pimping the pimpaint.

Down with FWF!

down with having a threadless look

down with losing the text

down with icons indise of speech bubbles.

down with comformity for every sub

down with kiddie stuff for adults...


that's what threadless kids is for...

alright on a serious note:

God knows i agree with you josh, isnt really a single thing you said i disagree with. And i know many many GREAT artists that have stayed away from threadless because as one of them so bluntly stated: "its impossible to get anything printed there"

which is true in a sense, it is very hard to just walk in a get something printed, especially when most designers love text in a design and the freedom to draw what they like. Once you enter the threadless house and everyone shouts... lose the text, as an artist that whats some street cred around here and 2000 dollars its hard to say fuck you client (threadless voters) and continue to create imagery they dislike.

Which i think is really what is at the heart of the problem... its not the artists or the voters or the staff, its all of them in combination realizing what prints often and makes the most cash money. As starving artists as most of us are, we have to collectively decide to disregard what the consumer is saying for awhile until we see a shift in opinion...

So let us stop complaining and shit-chatting and set up a blog or something along the lines of what you are doing with the 15 subs in a month thing but make it a no holds select-ish thing where the voter is not even considered

so basically everything you already said but with the added, its going to be hard to convince all three parties here that they all need to get their shit together and realize what is good art and not just funny jokes and cute stuff

"which is true in a sense, it is very hard to just walk in a get something printed, especially when most designers love text in a design and the freedom to draw what they like. Once you enter the threadless house and everyone shouts... lose the text, as an artist that whats some street cred around here and 2000 dollars its hard to say fuck you client (threadless voters) and continue to create imagery they dislike."

I can agree with this wholeheartedly, ellsswhere.

it's a good thing you brought this up, josh. I see threadless more as a design site than an 'art' site. if you look at designs threadless has printed the most, you'll notice they're kind of simple, have a clever idea or visual pun and most of all, are easy to 'get' quickly. it's a bit like marketing, at least I like to think of it that way but that's just because of the medium, the tee.

I'm not saying threadless ain't a art site, not at all. they've done great things to make it more art-oriented but they are, after all, business-driven. because of this I understand why they've made the choices they have.

I love threadless and that they've printed two of my designs is awesome - designs by me, a hack amateur. I really appreciate the fact that you don't have to be pro to be printed.

yeah i agree with mikko ... a lot of "art" doesnt work on a shirt because of teh medium .. I dont want people staring at my chest trying to figure out what is goign on on my t-shirt. most people dont hence teh somewhat simpler stuff that goes on threadless shirts

Mikko Terva you are not a hack amateur...the "prize" is often more than any t-designer makes per design...so that makes you a pro...and that they count it as art on hire...threadless is actuall a SPEC site...which is lame for the full on pros on here, which if you are serious about your art and continue doing the quality that you do, makes you a pro (that and a client base)...freelance is still a profession.

So let us stop complaining and shit-chatting and set up a blog or something along the lines of what you are doing with the 15 subs in a month thing but make it a no holds select-ish thing where the voter is not even considered

i dont get what you mean by this? set up a blog challenging people to design something diffrent?

What I mean is:

Post another blog in these forums, the alumni forums, br, etc... with a title along the lines of Threadless Revolution - Artists for Change, or whatever.

As we know from the chi-town trip, we just need a motivational speaker and doer' to get us moving, the light hearted discussion in a blog doesnt do that.

Call out artists to create a design a week/every other week that they have no expectations to win, rather something they are proud of. Set dates, maybe have each designer assigned to a day or a week so they must have something up.

Just motivate or force people to have a design/deadline and they will do it because its part of a collective effort. I will start it if you dont want to, or any other designer... k'naw mean dog?

Mikko makes a great point about this being a 'design' community. I think Threadless has the right balance at the moment. I personally don't like a fair amount of the printed designs, but I realise a fair few people will hate the designs that I have had printed. I think it's a talent in itself to be able to recognise what works on a t-shirt and what will appeal to Threadless (HQ) and the Threadless voters. I can think of a pretty solid list of artists here with a distinct style, who demonstrate the ability to adapt their style in order to appeal. It's not 'selling out' and their work is no less artistic.

It sounds a bit like you're saying Threadless will never be a credible artistic community until they start printing 'real' art on t-shirts. It's a balance betweeen printing popular material, and - as the artistic community grows, more 'art' based material. I've noticed this happening much more in the year or so that I've been here - and I think this is a great example:



I don't think this would have scored quite so well last year, but the community has definitely evolved, and with Dustin at the helm of the Select designs, I think there is a genuine culture change afoot.

i just dont wnat good artist to leave.

i miss bananaphone i miss jess fink and everybody else who just gave up

we cannot be friends anymore

is it the bannanaphone

uhh if you don't want it anymore i'll take it. haha.

this is terrible