http://www.threadless.com/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:24:08 -0600 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:02:59 -0500
You see, apparently some of my work is already considered vintage because this individual at Etsy under the name "RabbitDogPrints" has no regard for my copyright because I'm assuming he believes I've been dead for so long?

A friend of mine alerted me to his Etsy Shop where he's trying to sell one of my most popular designs on S6, "Flight of the Elephants" as "Elephants In Flight Dictionary Art Print".

Here's a little quote from his shop:

"Many great old books are just sitting on shelves collecting dust. It's our great pleasure to rescue old books and give them a new life as wall decorations. We love finding old illustrations and combining them with book pages and transforming them into treasures. Keep in mind that many of our books are over a 100 years old…"

and a link to the shop if you wish to purchase one of these fine, old prints:

Rip-off Artist's Etsy Store

Not cool.

My design, the original "Flight of the Elephants"


RabbitDog's "Elephant in Flight Dictionary Art Print"
]]> Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:29:15 -0500
When I met Jake at the HOW Conference in Denver I was struck by his uncanny resemblance to the late grunge icon Kurt Cobain. Just look:


and Dustin… Jamie Oliver anyone? If Dustin died his hair blond they would basically be impossible to tell apart:


My brother Eric (opifan64) is Ben Stiller's "Blue Steel" all the way:


As for me, sometimes I get people saying Keanu Reeves, but I've found an even closer match. Could I be related to the great Houdini or perhaps even his reincarnation? "Rosabelle believe"


Anyway, what about you? Post some pics! ]]> Fri, 18 Mar 2011 02:58:49 -0500
I submitted this to the Threadless Japan and Pacific Relief T-shirt Challenge and it just went up today, but it's also the last day of scoring! So if you like this design and have the time please score it here

The Red-crowned Crane, also called the Japanese Crane or Manchurian Crane is often featured in myths and legends throughout East Asia and is a symbol of luck, faithfulness and longevity, sometimes even immortality. The estimated population of the species is only 1,500 in the wild, so to me this Crane is also a symbol of endurance and hope in the face of terrible odds. I wanted to do something with the theme of rebirth so I decided to use a Crane rising phoenix-like from the ashes, the life-giving sun rising with it. The crane also seemed the perfect choice because of it's strong associations with Japanese culture.






]]> Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:18:04 -0600

Man, I need the Rosetta Stone to help me to decipher YaaH's new scoring system, pretty cryptic stuff. I don't know about you, but lately I've been pondering the deeper significance of these symbols. Or in layman terms, what means a better or worse score these days?

Anyway, here's my attempt to decipher the new code. Please let me know if you've spotted other YaaH symbols not listed here so we can compare notes and solve this puzzle together. Disclaimer: I have no proof that these are the right interpretations. My theory relies on Jungian psychology paired with some general stats on the frequency these symbols appear and their probable real-life counterparts based on past scoring patterns. Of course I'm open to other well-researched theories that will hold up to scientific scrutiny.

In order to understand YaaH, you have to think like YaaH, and her mind is like a labyrinth. Three common YaaH symbols and their possible translations:

♡
Wanting to appear polite and friendly she displays the heart symbol, but it is an empty heart. This is a classic YaaH trick. Remember when she used to give out all those "4's"? Normally that's considered a high score, but for YaaH it was actually a sign of disappointment, even scorn. So the empty heart means there is something missing from the design and it's her discreet way of saying "this relationship will never work."

Score translation: 4

(●̮̮̃•̃) (●̮̮̃•̃)
/█ ♥/█
Yes, there's a heart in the middle, but notice the two people aren't even touching? This obviously represents respect and friendship, but nothing more so don't be deceived. This is YaaH's most commonly used icon lately. Think she's $5'ing that many designs? Dream on. Past scoring patterns don't support this idea and I'm a man of science.

Score translation: most likely a 5, possibly a $4 in some rare cases where the friendship has progressed to something more.

♥
This is the one you're looking for. Loves it with a full heart and would actually buy this. As rare as a Big Foot sighting so treasure them when they appear.

Score translation: $5

note: some of you may have noticed that the "solid heart" is smaller in size than the "empty heart". Well, nothing is as it seems in the world of YaaH, where paradoxes abound. My theory: the empty heart ♡ is larger because it has nowhere to grow and already reached it's limited potential as a design. The smaller, full heart ♥ on the other hand is like a tiny seed that will eventually grow into a majestic tree.

So there you have it. Hope this exhaustive, ground-breaking research helps some of you perplexed designers out there.

JAN. 12TH UPDATE: the "YaaH Code" has officially been solved. The truth is there is no truth. It all means nothing. Void, zero, nada. The symbols are completely arbitrary and have nothing to do with what she scores. It will be something cute, that's all you can count on.

In quantum terms the laws of probability state that you have exactly a 50/50 chance of either scoring a $5 or a zero when YaaH makes an appearance. So toss a coin next time you see one of her symbols, that's all the advice I can give you after my years of research.

But thank you YaaH for clearing everything up. At least there is some closure and I can move on with my life even though I'll need life-long counselling and a prescription for anti-anxiety medication. ]]> Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:21:45 -0600

This was pulled. :(

Vanished like a ghost. Not surprised considering the same thing happened to Bram's design "Medium Difficulty", but still, it was a bummer.

So I have one less hard-earned print on my sidebar and the person I collaborated with on this, Amber aka coffeecandle, will be heartbroken. This was her first print and she's such a sweet person, makes me so sad to think of it.

I also feel terrible for Threadless, who is suddenly stuck with all these tees they can't sell, in kid's sizes too. Wonder what they're going to do with them all.

DEC 14TH UPDATE - some good news because I received an email from Mimi saying that Threadless is trying to work things out with Namco and are hopeful they can reach an agreement. If they manage to, all the recently pulled pacman designs would go up again, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!



]]> Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:08:54 -0600






]]> Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:16:04 -0600

My older brother, Paul, is the bass guitarist, keyboard player, back-up vocalist and sometimes producer for the band Grant Lee Buffalo (he's the blond-haired chap on the far right). So he's asked me to do a tee design for their upcoming 2010/11 tour starting in December, which is a real honour. Family ties aside, this is a really great band with wonderful musicianship and an incredible, unique sound.

So, here's what I came up with, just wanted to throw it past you people to get some feedback. It's actually a re-working of an old design that I had submitted here, but thought it would be good for this because I think the imagery and aesthetic is along the lines of what he was looking for.

One thing I'm worried about - this would probably require sim process printing because of the textures and number of colours and I'm not sure if they'd be able to print it.

Anyway, what do you think of it?



Update: worked on simpler design based on Paul's idea of a log cabin and ufo. In a way I like the 1 colour because as my brother Eric pointed out, it has more of a retro feel, but most people seem to prefer the 3 colour.



]]> Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:50:50 -0600
Collab with Wences aka Walmazan, up for voting!


Collab with Brandon aka Noh_Bodly, also up!


10K submissions

Up for scoring!

Sequel to "Midnight Snack":




Sequel to "Memento Mori":




Pending:



Community Collab!


]]> Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:28:26 -0600
It's kind of a sequel to "Memento Mori", which would actually be a good title for this if I hadn't already used it.

TITLE UPDATE - I went with "Nature's Reign" by opifan64, thanks bro!

and thanks to everyone else for taking the time to suggest titles, many awesome ones to choose from. Also please remember to score and leave a comment when this goes up if you dig it.





]]> Sat, 06 Nov 2010 04:35:14 -0500


Special thanks to Nichole aka Ratkiss. The first design was originally intended for her upcoming Popcorn Community Collab, but I ended up doing a different character for it because I thought this worked better on it's own given the composition.

Evolution of Microwavolution

Here was my original crappy sketch:


I thought the basic idea and composition was cool though, so I asked Wences if he would be interested in re-working this in his awesome trademark style. Well, lucky for me he said yes, because he made solid gold out of my humble design:



This looks perfect on turquoise and would use traditional printing, I think only 4 colours. Wences is a master at gradients and makes the most out of a limited colour palette.



Anyway, it was an honour and a pleasure to work with Wences, hope I'll be lucky enough to collab with him again in the future!
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