Profile for pyr4lis - Stay Sharp

pyr4lis aka Lori is a 31.69 year old girl, has been a member since October 14, 2005, has scored 8,738 submissions, giving an average score of 1.06, helping 102 designs get printed.

URL: http://www.threadless.com?streetteam=pyr4lis
AIM: pyr4lis

Dec 23 '11 by pyr4lis
44 Comments
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Stay Sharp - Very last hours

Very last hours for my most recent sub. Scoring average seems a bit lower than I expected.
But such is life. :P Anyways very last ditch effort to try to get a few more scores and comments before the end!

Stay Sharp - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever

I've also got it up on my tumblr if you'd like to reblog I'd appreciate it!

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Ok after my last submission dropped early and the one before it is tanking badly too... I'd like a little feedback or suggestions before I go and submit another idea. I'm feeling good about this but would like your suggestions.

Does it need anything else? I'm thinking I'd like to add some "etched" looking squirly curly-q's above and below the illustration but am concerned that it might be a bit too busy.

Do you hate the pencil drawing? Is the layout ok? Should I change anything??

I think it would look best on heather grey. But am open to other suggestions!

spacesick on Dec 23 '11 at 12:52pm

I think it's cool!

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 1:23pm

Really Mitch?? Or are you just saying that cause I've got boobs ;) Not that I mind heheh but I'd be crushed to have another sub drop early

SuperRyan on Dec 23 '11 at 1:27pm

What about making it darker? Or bolder? Or whatever the right word would be. On the mockup you have it starts blending into the shirt...not sure if that was desired or not.

I feel like there should be a certain 'sharpness' to it - pun only kind of intended.

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 1:32pm

I do agree. I'll try to adjust the curves to ramp up the black in the mock up.

I was trying to avoid using a white or creme tee since I dislike buying those colors because they ruin so easy. But if you think it might show better on those colors I'll try a mock up on one of those.

aNonnymouse on Dec 23 '11 at 1:38pm

To be honest, I don't really get why "stay" is so curly. But then again, I don't get typography, so my opinion on the subject isn't the most informed. Maybe the razor could be splitting the S, just so it's doing something? I like the scattered shavings idea, but it might sound better than it looks. Aaaaand Ryan makes a good point about contrast.

aNonnymouse on Dec 23 '11 at 1:38pm

Oops, should have refreshed.

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 2:00pm

Sharper Heather Grey Version:

Creme Version:

Silver Option:

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 2:02pm

I made stay curly as a contrast to the bold sharpness of the word sharp.

I'm pretty new to typography myself but I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely a challenge to choose how to appropriately illustrate words.

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 2:05pm

Oh the artwork in sharper contrast... if you click the images I'm linking them all from my flickr so you can see bigger versions there.

SuperRyan on Dec 23 '11 at 2:10pm

i like your heather grey one

spacesick on Dec 23 '11 at 2:12pm

wait wait wait

you have BOOBS?

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 2:32pm

Thanks Ryan. I appreciate it. It's really hard to step back and look at your own art subjectively. And most of my friends are all going to just be like "it's awesome" with no real critique or suggestions or feedback.

digsy on Dec 23 '11 at 2:36pm

i'd like to see some colour in it - i'm not saying it'll definitely be better, but i would like to see it as an option. i think the handle is just drying out for colour
i like the idea overall and the type is great, but it needs to be bolder somehow I think.
good work otherwise

pyr4lis on Dec 23 '11 at 3:30pm

Color??

soloyo on Dec 23 '11 at 4:56pm

I don't know i have mix feeling about this one...

SuperRyan on Dec 23 '11 at 4:59pm

what if "sharp" and "stay" were the dark grey/blackish color and the handle was the only 'color' part?

wanderingeye on Dec 23 '11 at 5:01pm

I dig the color, but here's an idea if you wanna stay B&W. What if you did either of the words so they looked like shaving cream and as contrast kept the other one sharp-looking? Otherwise, I dig.

Manupix on Dec 23 '11 at 5:13pm

I agree with comments that the type for 'sharp' doesn't look sharp. I just googled 'sharp letters' and I think some interesting ideas come up (not saying you should copy any of these as they are).

Typography is fascinating but devilishly difficult! at least for me too :S

Also, I don't have a specific reason to link this, just so you know:

Ockham's razor - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever

5 days later

pyr4lis on Dec 28 '11 at 6:51pm

Ok other updated versions with darker lines and "sharper" SHARP lettering. Still working on shaving cream lettering but haven't gotten anything to look decent.

Handle with Color:

All black & white & grey:

pyr4lis on Dec 29 '11 at 11:26am

ibyes on Dec 29 '11 at 12:16pm

B/w version for me. I like the hand drawn vintage feel to this.

I actually like the original version of the word sharp.

Try going back to the old version and making the surface of the letters look like a razor.

pyr4lis on Dec 29 '11 at 12:44pm

better??

I personally kinda liked the original as you put it "hand drawn vintage" feel since that's sort of what i was originally going for. A kind of vintage look. But then again my scores have been taking badly recently and I tend to be unable to step back from my own work and look at it objectively.

[+duracell-] on Dec 29 '11 at 12:56pm

The "sharp" still needs work imo. When its colored like that it appears outlined. It gives it an embossed/rounded feel.. which you don't want. How to make it look Sharp? I don't know. Maybe use serifs or make it look like mirror glass or something.

pyr4lis on Dec 29 '11 at 12:58pm

ahh yeah i was going for a "razor edge" sort of look. Where the top flat area is sort of dull grey and the sharp beveled edge is lighter color? Maybe its the hard black outline around the edge?

ibyes on Dec 29 '11 at 1:08pm

Check out this site for some typographic inspiration.
She is as she says... awesome

http://jessicahische.is/awesome/

pyr4lis on Dec 29 '11 at 1:34pm

I'll go take a look.

Version with duracells suggestion. Serif'd font modified etc. Stretched out the serif wings a bit to be more dramatic and added a very hard scratched distress.

nathanwpyle at gmail.com on Dec 29 '11 at 1:37pm

nice! I think the latest sharp is best - followed closely by the original at the very top of this blog

ibyes on Dec 29 '11 at 2:35pm

Yup, the new sharp is a nice improvement.

Ragnampiza on Dec 29 '11 at 2:43pm

Last version, ftw. Cool design!

Deathbycoleslaw on Dec 29 '11 at 2:51pm

I love the concept, and I'm placing my vote on the last incarnation. The letters keep their 'vintagey' appearance, and they look more 'sharp'. It's hard to describe a descriptive word haha.

I love the razor illustration as well.
The 'Stay" has to be that curly because it's like hair, if you made it any less curly (I think someone suggested that) it would lose that appearance.

Maybe some stray hairs near 'Stay'. If you add some more hair, don't go overboard, just a couple stray pieces I think would look alright. So far I like the heather grey best btw.

Bio-bot 9000 on Dec 29 '11 at 2:55pm

I think "Sharp" can be shrunk in all cases. I don't like how big it is compared to the rest of the text and images. The size difference seems to break up the phrase. Also, maybe you could have slice marks in the word "Sharp"

GyleDesigns on Dec 29 '11 at 3:12pm

Latest version, for sure. I'd just make sure the grays relate better, i.e., the word "sharp" is a different shade than the handle above it. It looks too separated that way.

Lookin' good!

pyr4lis on Dec 29 '11 at 3:57pm

thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I'll be landing on the last version. I'll tweak out the size of sharp and reduce it a little bit and adjust the grey color to better match the darker tones in the handle and "stay".

now i'll just have to anxiously wait for monday or tuesday for the thread-staff to get back from vacation before the sub will go up.

I really do appreciate the feedback. my last two subs did very badly (one even dropped early) so I'll probably be doing this going forward. I want to sub more but when you get a streak of "tankers" it's hard to stay motivated and guess what other people might see in my designs.