Just some quick notes about this design:

1. This design went through 18 (technically 21) versions in the critiques (and at least 5 versions not posted in the critiques) before I submitted it.

2. I wasn't aware of "Dog Fight" until I was already working on version 9.

3. I chose to use a generic balloon animal instead of a balloon cow because it is more easily recognizable, helps get the point across better, and makes the design a little more silly.

4. The idea behind the shirt is supposed to be that the farmer is milking the balloon animal to get helium, but if you want to think that he is inflating the animals so his farm can have livestock, go right ahead. It works both ways!

5. If you saw this and thought, "Why is that animal not tied down if it is full of helium?", then you are thinking too hard.

6. I am fully aware that balloon animals do not normally contain helium.

Anyway, thanks for all the help in the critiques, and thank in advance for your votes, everyone!

I love it. Especially the silhouette animals in the background.

Its a lovely design, but if I were you i would have just submitted it to a different site.

god says you're a genius!
we want to get more of that!

hee hee! great job :D

brilliant concept. great and simple execution. Very nice job.

Great!

This is smashing.
Nice One!

Very funny. I think it is different enough to stand on it's own without comparison. Technically, you should make the balloon animal more transparent looking. But that's just a minor qualm. Not my style, but it's still good. 4

awesome concept, well done mate

i love it!!!!

At first I was really afraid it would be too similar to "Dog Fight" but after seeing it, I think its really good! Its definitely a solid design that I could imagine seeing on a t shirt (which is sometimes hard with subbed designs). $5

yay the voting is finally started! 12 positive comments is a great thing to wake up to!

nice job dude. great illo and I love that you already posted the answers to what would have been inevitably annoying questions and comment! 5 from me

thanks! i got the answers from all of the critique comments

very cool and well executed! $4

love it

great idea and design... very clever!

feels more like hes inflating it so i gotta agree on point 4 although the fill point is on his nose.

I'd buy it!!

Unfortunate coincidence. But I'm loving it. $5.

I think this is SO much more interesting and clever than Dog Fight. Shame it wasn't subbed before that one. Nice work here and there's room for both of these tees!

4$

Just love it!

lol evilMallard those notes were spot on! 5 to you sir!

5!
btw, as response to your #2 note..
ur balloon animal is better!!

nah, i wouldn't say it's better...just a different drawing style is all.

thanks for the overwhelmingly positive (for the most part) comments, guys!

...i've got a long ways to go before i can get as good as David T, by the way.

Beautiful. I've voted for so many shirts as a "I'll buy it, tell me if it wins" Have yet to see one go up. If this one doesn't get it... I give up.

5$.

i derno. i like the idea, but without the text it really makes the shirt ambiguous. like, what the heck is the farmer doing with the balloon animal. otherwise, its great

Lovely! Nice concept, nice illustration!...and above all, I like you being so conscious about the whole idea around your design.

$5. I love it. nice work!

vote on mine? http://www.threadless.com/submission/161890/The_Road_Less_Traveled

lol

^ best comment so far

the positive response from this design, in both the critiques and on here, is still very exciting for me

i just wish i had more places to promote it...

i want to start a balloon animal farm and all workers will wear this tee shirt! that means threadless really needs to print this. $5

$5 for me, great work.

As for #6, I believe all balloon animals SHOULD be filled with helium. $5

but...then they would float away :(

fantastic

omg this shirt makes me happy :)

yay 1000 votes...thanks again for all the positive comments!

Funny!

so helium comes from wanking off balloon dogs?

glad to see this one up! great job $5

2 more days! yay!

thanks again to those of you leaving mature comments!

Funny idea!

It's a fun idea and really beautifully executed. And while I love the colors you chose, I would maybe consider another color for the dog or tee, just to nudge it a little further away from the Dogfight design, which was also red balloon on light blue tee. I agree that your design is a totally different concept, but the visual similarity is still a little unfortunate.

this design is actually on Blue Jean, not Light Blue.

It's a 5 from me.

And sorry to repeat your point, but why isn't the animal tethered down with ropes? Some poor Brazilian priest could be milking this inflatable and then find himself on a fasttrack to heaven.... :-0

i wasn't exactly going for realism with this design

...and, as far as i know, cows don't get tied down when they are milked, and part of the joke with this design was to take a hopefully-well-known image (a farmer milking a cow) and replace one of the key elements (the cow) with something unusual (the balloon animal), without changing much else

i am glad to see that people are actually reading my points though!

evilmallard: Not only am I reading your points and annotating them, but I'm also reading all your blogs, and stalking you in real life....

that's fine with me

great idea... i always wondered how they got helium and bottled it.. now i know.. im helium intolerant tho..

critique my new designs

one day left!

vote vote vote! comment comment comment!

I will and I did. Nice job - crit paid off!

thank you kindly, sir

great job! 5

Totally different concept as I said in critique, beautifully rendered and looks great on the shirt. $5

yeah i think if lots of panda and rhinoceros shirts can be in the catalog at once, so can two balloon animal shirts

well, this is it! thanks again for all your votes and kind words, everyone!