Smuggling Operation





Submitted by:
More by spires

Average score:
1.78 out of 5

Number scored:
1,864 people

Scoring finished:
465 days ago

Comments:
38 comments

spires
   spires on Jan 28 '07
Links not working lately, so closeup is here:

http://www.threadless.com/profile/289796/spires/blog/185942/Smuggling_Operation
2 days later
aisforangie
aisforangie on Jan 30 '07
hmm...can't tell what's going on...
HiiHills
HiiHills on Jan 30 '07
YES! I love it!

haha, love that cute close up

$5!
nessness
nessness on Jan 30 '07
I'm stuck too - explanation please!
periwinklepixie
periwinklepixie on Jan 30 '07
an alien trying to steal a baby penguin?
gluttonY
gluttonY on Jan 30 '07
hm...the background kinda confuses me...i didn't see the penguin first, i think it's too small and the backgroung distracted me
spires
   spires on Jan 30 '07
who else needs a spoonfeeding?

http://www.threadless.com/profile/289796/spires/blog/185942/Smuggling_Operation
ohyoustealher
ohyoustealher on Jan 30 '07
It made me think of the Chipmuk Adventure where they rescue the baby penguin in a cooler. Not in a bad way. I love this design. It makes me want to watch that movie tonight, though.
Bisparulz
   Bisparulz on Jan 30 '07
nice 5$
.liz.
.liz. on Jan 30 '07
i'm not into the all the prints on threadless now being huge... they look so much more classy in a smaller size. sorry.
spires
   spires on Jan 30 '07
T-shirts aren't classy at all.
ohyoustealher
ohyoustealher on Jan 30 '07
I don't know. A nice black cardigan and a skirt. I would wear this to a dinner party. Then to break an awkward silence I could open my cardigan and be like "Surprise! it's not just a pretty snowy print, look at this sweet thieving ship!" Or, you know, that could just be me
firebolt816
firebolt816 on Jan 30 '07
^hahah, now that's classy
spires
   spires on Jan 30 '07
HAHA that made my day ohyoustealher
ohyoustealher
ohyoustealher on Jan 30 '07
I do what I can. Just don't tell anyone else. I like to stay low key
Drakyl
Drakyl on Jan 30 '07
The background is to loud compaired to the actual message. I love the design of the snowman and the cut penguin, but the eye has a hard time focusing on them when the background is shouting at you. After a little tweeking this could be a really great shirt.
TAZL
TAZL on Jan 30 '07
LOVE IT!! $5
Khol
Khol on Jan 30 '07
I love big prints! This is super $5
grypesagon
grypesagon on Jan 30 '07
it's a decent idea but the business of the image makes it hard to discern what's what. I didn't get it at all for a while. I still don't know what the red thing is. It's the pattern that really throws it all off.
newsername
newsername on Jan 30 '07
Sorta busy.
rudra
rudra on Jan 30 '07
i gotta agree that the background is too busy and distracting from the overall image :/
spires
   spires on Jan 30 '07
Prior to submitting, someone suggested that I dampen the background but I decided not to, why?

Perhaps you all should ask yourself what the real subject of this design is. What is being smuggled here?
Luke...
   Luke... on Jan 31 '07
nice use of pattern...
rusgoodman
rusgoodman on Feb 01 '07
if the real subject of the design is not immediately present (or funny in the fact that it is not immediately present) then it is a failed design. So that's what this is. Take the hits like all the rest and worry about making something that works.
spires
   spires on Feb 01 '07
the subject of the design is immediately present, but everyone tries to make it what it's not.

Fuck you.
spires
   spires on Feb 01 '07
Hey, I apologize man -- I got very carried away there.

But I still don't like the idea that I should crawl back into some box to cater to everyone else's comfort zones.
HiiHills
HiiHills on Feb 02 '07
You tell 'em!

:]
leahc860
leahc860 on Feb 02 '07
On first glance it appears that the snowman is giving birth to the penguin.
giraffehead
giraffehead on Feb 03 '07
I understand this site to be different, in that the shirts come from artists, and if you keep changing designs to please everyone this might as well become Walmart.

On the other hand, I think a lot of people are voicing real concerns...this shirt is just hard to get (and I think I get it...but I'm not sure)
doughball
doughball on Feb 03 '07
i don't get it.
ally902
ally902 on Feb 03 '07
It looks very cute and I like the colours, but the shirt isn't very clear. It's obviously very hard to figure out.
FRICKINAWESOME
FRICKINAWESOME on Feb 04 '07
eh...you've made much more inspired and easier-to-understand but-still-complex-and-more-awesome-with-every-glance than this one. I think most people are just confused with the perspective of what constitutes the closest piece and what is fading into the background. Good try on making something completely different, but that doesn't always fulfill the needs of the design the best than it can sometimes. If you don't yell something incredibly demeaning about my opinion in another post, I will be quite crushed.
spires
   spires on Feb 04 '07
FRICKIN, I'm gonna hafta crush you; there's no anger in spires on this lazy sunday :-D

I just had the most amazing sleep, so anyone could say anything right now.

If people don't understand this, because what's being smuggled is the background pattern. The cutesy nonsense like the snowman and the spaceship are meaningless on purpose. The pattern really is the most important thing here, and in my opinion the most beautiful. So, I made it the biggest and I also made it overwhelming.
spires
   spires on Feb 04 '07
it's because* -- yawn
iluvtees123
iluvtees123 on Feb 05 '07
ew. christams is over. stop making tees like it. its depressing
spires
   spires on Feb 05 '07
winter's not
ohyoustealher
ohyoustealher on Feb 05 '07
I feel like a stalker to this submission, but it's only because it's in my participated list. Anyway iluvtees239573129875120397504, despite popular belief, others besides Christians are allowed to have snowmen... and penguins. Not spaceships, though. We all know Jesus invented those...
spunky_laura
spunky_laura on Feb 06 '07
I have one more point to add to ohyoustealher's argument in reply to iluvtees123.

Penguins are from the South Hemisphere.
Down here we have Winter in July... therefore, when I see a snowy design I don't think of Christmas (unless it actually has holly or xmas trees or santa on it).

That's just my two cents on that matter.

And to spires, your design is nice. And I get it. But I wouldn't wear something that loud and busy on a tee.
I know it completely contradicts what the design is about, but I would only buy it if you toned down the background.
I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it seems like a lot of people are thinking this way. If you change the design to make consumers happy, then they are more likely to rate it highly, and its more likely to get printed. You need to decide what's more important to you: would you rather stick to your artistic beliefs and refuse to change the design, or would you rather have a tee printed? Just remember that at the end of the day Threadless.com is a business, and they'll only print something if they know they can make a profit.

Sorry if that sound really harsh, I don't mean it to come across that way.
spires
   spires on Feb 06 '07
Being 100% Anarcho-capitalist, I competely understand consumer demand. I'm sure one day there will be something both I and the masses have in common, that they will find enjoyable, and so will I.
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Update: May 12, '08
Update: David Thorley
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