yeah people can be jerks.. Just remember most of the people making those comments probably didn't go to art school, and don't know how to give an honest well thought out critique. Not to mention they are thinking of you not as a real person, because this is online.

I really liked your last 2 entries. I actually like the sewing machine one a lot too, but I think that would be too much ink on the shirt. But it would be cool if that area was bleached out instead of ink being added on..

anyway, keep your chin up. a lot of people like your sub too.

i think there's good and bad. bad = it hurts people's feelings. good = as a designer, you're getting unfiltered criticism that only the internet can provide. that's insanely valuable! if i designed, i would take a lot of the obviously useless criticism with a grain of sand and find the useful stuff and learn from those comments.

then again, i don't design, so i'm not able to experience things in your shoes.

best of luck!

the average voter is much younger than yourself, im guessing by nearly 10 years, and they are by no means experienced artists, thinking the internet would bring about kind and courteous comments is your first mistake

oh it's you. i like your panty girdle design, if not necessarily the way it's coloured. the drawing itself is awesome.
i agree with you about peoples attitudes, but in any large online community there's always a percentage of intolerable arseholes. just try to let it wash over you.
good luck.

moar panty girldles plz

I honestly dig your subs. I've noticed those comments on your subs and some of those are from fake accounts so don't mind 'em much.

example

-versus-

REAL ACCOUNT

i dont understand, whats a fake account?

I completely agree with you--as an artist you want to put your design in the running, not only because there's a good chunk of $$ involved, but it'd be nice to see them in print and get some honest opinions on what people think--especially when you upload a critique!! I put one design up that was pretty weak, but funny and it got 10 don't subs but no comments on why! I do think, though, that when you are dealing with the internet, you invite a certain amount of morons to log on and vote low, not comment, or drop some bullshit comment because they think it 's funny--gotta take the good with the bad. Good luck with your designs!

fake accounts are jerks who sign up a second/third/fourth account with another name which they use a disguise just to be arseholes. it's unfortunate and i can never tell who's real and who isn't so i just take all comments with a grian of salt.

So by your logic, Ellsswhere, the average voter is 13 years old?

A lot of voters are teenagers. Especially the negative ones. The one's who comment with insightful stuff like "meh" or the oxymoron $0.

If I had a £ for every piece of annyoing, self rightous shitty critisism I've had on here I'd have about -
I dont know, I'd probably have about £15 or something.
I'm hoping somewhere down the line one of my designs wins.
That way they can stick their £15 and I can buy T shirts for everyone I know. We could start an army.
That'll show them and their opinions.

seems that the average voter's MENTALITY is between 13 and 16 yrs of age...and they often seem to be teenage girls vying for popularity points...and let's face it...most of the time people are not often nice, be it online or not. sad but true.


and by BAWDY do you mean you toss your TnA all over the place?

Well, if the purpose of art is to inspire debate/conversation/passionate responses, then you are successful. Your artistic style is great, it's the subject matter + the clothing aspect that offends or provokes sarcasm. Your style is sometimes grotesque and/or "uncomfortable", whether you're going for that or not that's what I see. I think that with t-shirt designing, it's a disadvantage to be TOO revolutionary or outsider or controversial, because not everyone wants to inspire debates about the meaning of art or invite questionable looks by what's on their chest. What looks good in a gallery, or in a magazine, or on album covers, or in various other media, doesn't always translate as a good t-shirt concept, and so that probably influences peoples' judgment.

Also- and perhaps you've already removed your critiques- but do you use the critique process?

I just checked out your website and there is a lot of really cool stuff there. Better than your Threadless subs, i think. in your other work I see more of a theme or concept implied that I don't see in your threadless subs as much (e.g. "Lean N Mean" and "The Swimming Dogfish". without an intuitive theme or visual association, the images feel empty. You should strive to tell a simple story or represent an identifiable emotion with each design. that's my advice.
keep it up!!!

bawd·y (bô'dē) Pronunciation Key
adj. bawd·i·er, bawd·i·est

1. Humorously coarse; risqué.
2. Vulgar; lewd.

To quote van halen:

"And I know, baby, just how you feel.
You've got to ro-o-oll with the punches to get to what's real"

Just suck it up and keep doing your thing.

Although I don't really know just how you feel.

grr.. freakin ir0ck0. thanks for pointing out that it was a fake account that posted, roadkill3d. i hope threadless would delete that person's account. :\

i'ma notta dicks!

"You can pull a man to city but that don't ensure civility." —Aesop Rock

I would say that the average adult is neither civil nor polite. I don't think it's rational to expect otherwise on the internet. And really, criticism will get worse outside of this arena. The public is harsh and unforgiving. BUT, in all feedback there is the opportunity to improve. It's easier to say that people are being pricks than to accept that perhaps your work is not as good as you think it is. See past the coarse presentation to the nugget of truth underneath. Observe and evolve. The only way to create something truly powerful is to sacrifice your ego and see things without obstruction.

i know what bawdy means...and it's often applied to those ribald comedies like TOM JONES (the story not the singer) or Fanny Hill in which the main characters ROMP about in various states of undress escaping one semi-comedic and semi arousing sexual situation after the next.

dur.
it's a like/hate relationship with the voters on this site. that's the way it goes.

your screen name is the best.

http://www.threadless.com/critique/12870/Ninja_Chicks_Need_Shirts_Too#lastcomment

young artists often thing any negative assessment of their work is incorrect...read my crit of "ninja chicks need shirts too". you'll not that it's not harsh, but honest, it's frank, but not rude...alas it is received as if i was being an asshole...

the crit board is where crits belong in my opinion...not on the submissions themselves...

thing = think

Mr. Dom i would say in most cases that is the truth but not with these subs. i've enjoyed most of them and scored accordingly and a lot of people have stupid reactions. Not even a decent "I don't like it" it's more like "i'm scared". WTF is that? The problem in my opinion is that people on threadless score and move on, or comment once and move on. No one bothers to check back on a sub or thread to allow actual dialogue. So a person could say something really off base and never read a response or reaction. And that's kinda chickenshit.
There's no real communication on threadless outside of a few blogs. But even that is really closed off. And the critique forum is is almost useless and only because the people that actually participate in the critique forum and offer good advice don't really post in the subs and vice versa. Most participants critique in the sub forum which is stupid as hell to me. I've seen stuff in critique for weeks. Then when it's in the subbed section everybody starts offering suggestions on how to improve it. And the designers is scratching their heads going "where were you when this was in critique"? but of course those people never come back to a shirt they've scored or offered suggestions on. So how would they know?

Your work is really quite unique, very interesting. The majority of commenters will comment with their opinion, trying to get it heard, while not thinking about how you'll feel about it. Don't take it personally.

don't Tony! Toni! Toné! it down. I like your weird-ass work. and the fact that you call people pricks.

meh, take a look at my early work if you want to see internet abuse =)

I wouldn't worry about your sub, for the boy, it'll probably get printed.

mr. domino, i dont have a big ego. i struggle everyday with whether i am a good enough artist. (and i dont mean good enough for threadless, i mean good enough for my own standards and to make a living) i worry about it so much i've developed a mean case of bruxism from stress. i dont say this to induce people to tell me how great i am or that they like my art, i say this because its the truth... i will never think i am good, and even when i think i am doing okay, it will never be good enough.
ps. those of you have said kind things about my work, thank you, its all very motivating.

hey there...the best thing to do is to aim for "good"...that's all i ever want to be with my own artwork...not "good enough" not better" not "bets" just GOOD. and the whole self esteem thing totally got in my way...i was like that ninja chick guy and thought that everyone that said "it could be a little better" was retarded and i had 'tude about it all...so eventually, like 5 years into my design career, i did away with my 14yr old ego...and i wasn't exactly arrogant, it just got in my way from growing as an illustrator. you don't need a BIG ego to have it get in the way...you know?

dont let those people get the best of you. seriously. just take their comments and move on to something else. you'll get that anywhere you go on the internet. just gotta keep your head up and keep on goin.

Don't let the bastards grind you down.