As a rule I hate writing about my own work. I feel it is something that should speak for itself. So please indulge me a little here. I’m not used to it.

The first thing I should say is this: I spent more time on this design that anything else in my life. This is not an exaggeration. What you see here is the product of three weeks of solid work. Twenty one days of five to ten hour sittings. Four gigabytes of art files. I devolved into a Howard Hughes style parody of myself. I got sick. I didn’t sleep. I drew.

It is difficult for me to explain this satisfactorily, and there is probably a huge gulf between what I intended the design to convey and how many of those intentions are clear.

The first is that drawing is a challenge. Every drawing should be better than your last. I wanted to see how far I could push myself, both in quality and quantity.

The second is that drawing is also an exercise. I have been grinding pencils to nubs trying to improve myself. I wanted to work on a piece that would break me in and teach me new things as well as demonstrating how far I’ve come in the last year. Working on this design has taught me so much, and I feel I’m better for it.

The third is style. I wanted to mix rigid technical reference with the fluidity of free drawing. I wanted to make something that was both monstrously complex and deceptively simple.

The last is that drawing is, to me, intensely personal. That’s the subject matter: Friends, family, relationships and blood. It also explains the skull. It might be generic, it might not have been the best choice to win, but it is what I wanted.

The real explanation comes from Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida. He says that the logical implication of every photograph is death. I feel the same way about drawings.

He probably wouldn’t agree.


Thanks to all my friends who sent reference photographs and put up with my neuroses.

And thanks especially to Phil, who knocked it out of the park. Again.

nice job olly. it's a fantastic drawing!

Such a sweet job..

5!

I'm honored to even be a part of this.
Amazing work, amazing dedication, awesome result.

$$5!

this turned out so good! $5

totally fantastic and very showing of the amount of work you put into it. you did it, olly!

wow amazing.

nice work man. I know you put a lot of time into this.

Not only have you obviously put alot of time into this, but alot of passion too and it shows, really amazing work! 5$

zero because i'm not included. i imagine at least a thousand other voters are going to agree with me and this will get dropped early.

wow this is just amazing

you always pull out awesomeness.

my jaw dropped. amazing detail 5

I agree with d3d...

He says that the logical implication of every photograph is death. I feel the same way about drawings.


what does that mean?

great work, and the presentation is awesome too!, five five five!

it really turned out beautiful!

amazing! $5

Excellent work. I now offer you my 5.

Zkillzzzz...

I hope my face on the design. Good detail though.

That is quite simply an amazing drawing. For me it's really too much for a shirt though.... This needs to be huge and printed on a more ginormous media than a t-shirt....

This may just be me, but I'm not into skulls shirts. The poetry of the idea is not lost on me, however. It's a stunning peice. Slap it on a huge mural!

This makes me feel silly for previously giving other designs on this site a 5, because this piece bumps the scale up a notch. If I could I'd give it a 6.

Well done; I congratulate you on the courage it took to invest the blood, toil, and tears required to bring this one to completion.

very awesome

LOVE IT! $5!!!!!

this is nutz

amazing, great design -- love the style!
5 from me!

inflippingcredible. absolutely beautiful. it's quite possible that a t-shirt will not do it justice. maybe threadless can print queen-sized bed sheets for this, or make their prints mural-sized... it is amazing.

$5!!!

amazing. $5.

amazing details. good luck, olly!!

def. phenom, you have outdone yourself olly

Amazing!!!

outstanding. this is what i live for. this is the kind of ambition and dedication that inspires creation. only someone with this kind of talent and drive deserves to win this competition. i look forward to seeing this in print! and in Print for that matter!
excellent work!

GREAT $5

wow!

amazing.

Awesome AWESOME!!!!!

Fwah!!

You know I love this - it's all out straight wonderfulness. $5 with the $ on both print and tee... I also used to study a bit of Barthes, so I approve wholeheartedly of the concept :)

wow wow wow wow wow wowoooooohooooooo!

pure awesome! $$$$$$$$$$$$$55555555555555

holy bejeezus!

Amazing drawing. Stunning.

Deserves to be printed.

A...Amazing!!!!

labour of love and well worth the effort

this will be like a reunion tee for threadless gangster!

great details...

That hair is just plain magnificent. Top scores.

great stuff.

An epic accomplishment. Congrats mate! Would love to own it as an art print. 5$

Olly Sh*t !!! - This will get printed whether or not i am in the composition.

:$

An orgy of madness!
Well done mate, this is it!

no way are your legs that hairy moss.

tight as hell image though, 5'd

oh the detail!
5$

This is absolutely incredible! The time and effort that you put into this paid off in a huge way. An epic accomplishment.

Nice work man! Good luck to us. lol

very nice

fanfarkintastic!

Oh wow this is fantastic!

im speechless. this is insane. 5.

just about any critique i might've had about your design was answered in your opening statement. it's pretty obvious you've created the single best piece of draughtsmanship that has ever been submitted to this site, but i think you've succeeded in make the most distinct and all-inclusive description of what this site, and in fact anyone's life, is all about.

if ever there was a design that deserved to break a 4, this is it. you've done yourself and the entire community proud, olly.

sweet skull dude

nothing to say but "5".

WANT.

The liquefied hair tentacles are still quite impressive. So is your art stamina. You've outdone yourself, friend.

yeah i like all the hair. it makes me want to sing that song about long beautiful hair!

wow amazing work, only thing it is another skull on a tee and has many people I have no idea who they are, so i dont know if I would wear it as a tee, but it does make for an incredible piece of artwork, so I think would work better as a print, and that I would def buy, I still gvie this 5 plus $ for print, good stuff man keep u the amazing work!

I love the colors - the drawing is outstanding!

Amazing design even if I didn't know anyone in it.

You're dedication to improving your own skill set is both impressive and inspiring.

5

Oh my word. Everyone else loses.

r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

hahah
theres a guy dat looks lyk dat template model Ross, da one wth da eye-patch...

we should be friends...cuz you're awesome

This is nothing short of amazing.

riduclously amazing.

so ridiculously amazing i couldn't bare to spell it right the first time. $5

Great drawing - wish I were in it as well!

wtf does that quote mean??!!?!?

I probably didn't explain it very well. Go read Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes. It's basically how the act of stopping time in a photograph implies change due to change's unnatural absence, and that the ultimate form of change is death. He doesn't really talk about drawings of people, but I feel that drawings imply the artist as much as the subject, so his theory (loosely adapted) can also apply to portraits.

But that's just how I feel.

/pretentious bullshit

Oh and thanks for all the comments so far. This whole thing is a little close to the bone for me so I'm especially glad people are digging it.

extraordinary

dude, thanks for the explanation. that's really cool. i will have to read Camera Lucida for sure.

and as said above me, it's an amazing illo.

This is fantastic & I really appreciate all the hard work you put into this. You have mad drawing skills & I am insanely jealous.

I'd buy this, but what I really want is a list of who they all are. Eyepatch man is my favorite.
Very nice dsecription.

bravo! great colors and textures

Olly... most of Threadless Tees that I have.. was your design.
And I'd buy this for sure..
It's GREAT!!

It remind me about 'Good Blood, Bad Hands' also..
That I need it to be Reprint... because it's so Gorgeous!

You have the very very very good touch with this.
so you deserve for '5'

You're ridiculous. Nice work.

this has to be the most amazing thing i have ever seen on the sight. i love it. i will totally buy it. i will buy it. its INCREDIBLE $5

Amazing

sweet!

amazing effort and talent

WOW

thanks for including me and my wine in your desgin! it turned out absolutely, ridiculously beautiful. nice job, dude. 5$

i know the feeling. mine's taking so long i wasn't able to get it in on time... and still going. but this is way more complex, and an easy 5$

Well done 5$

mind blown.

impressive line work...

quite the gift to your firends

i've never heard anyone encapsulate drawing so beautifully. You will make incredible and important things. This is the most refreshing thing I have seen since mr.pimpant.

wow. this really is a masterpiece.
the amount of work you put in this must have been staggering, i am truly amazed.
5 no doubt

Clearly you have amazing skills as an illustrator. I agree with the folks that said that a Tshirt is not the right place to display this work. I think a lot of the intricate details would get lost; it would be best as a large print.

brilliant!

Insane drawing!

555555

great quote and great attempt. It feels like some areas are unresolved or unfinished compared to the upper right area though.

pretty awesome

wow... all your hard work really paid off. its amazing!! $100... hehe... $5

A very inspirational piece of artwork. I'd love to own a framed print of this. $5.

well impressive

you are truly an artist!

$5 this deserves to be printed.

this needs to win

this is really good

Forgive me if this was asked/answered already, but memento mori means remember you will die, correct?

Anyways, as said before, this is a phenominal design. A t-shirt does not give this piece of artwork justice as a way of being shown off to the public. It sets a new high in expectations for creativity, effort, and quality.

As I buy more shirts, I'm starting to stray away from the pun shirts and buy more artlike type. As a result, if this gets printed, it will be the first threadless shirt that I will have bought in months. Best of luck to you and if you truely follow by your statement that "Every drawing should be better than your last.", then I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for Woss.

$5

(ps sorry that this is so long but it just all had to pour out)

ROBBED!!!

Seriously, this should have at least scored a 3.5... no question.

Way underscored, but still within print range. This will print!!!

Wow, you got robbed with the score man.

yep, print!

:'(

It's an accomplishment, whatever happens.

wow, great details. sweet zoom option!

sorry I missed this one, woulda 5'd it.

ooh i voted $5. i can't imagine anyone would ifnd any reason to give this less than a 5.

Really suprised to see this score less than 3. The votards strike again. I'll say it again - amazing drawing.

you're a great artist!

2.68?! jeebus. still a print!

given how many 0's and 5 this must have received, it's almost certainly a print.

Again, another topnotch design pwned by the majority Threadless voters who cater to the likes of cutesy 7-yr old designs.

But for sure this will become a print anyway. Congrats!

2.68? I figured this would have easily been a 3 with no problem what so ever. *crosses fingers for a print*

2.68...what....

I really don't think the score matters in this case. This deserves more than just a t-shirt as a canvas.

Johntiki, "momento mori" means, more specifically, "Remember, thou art mortal."

this deserves the win

Missed this whilst scoring but it turned out so good. You've surpassed yourself. Great job.

WHY AM I NOT WEARING THIS ALREADY. PRINT PLEASE!

Can't believe this didn't get a higher score. I'm dumbfounded.

This is amazing :O
Why wasn't it printed?!?!?!

greats stuff.....any chance on elaborating how you made the flash presentation? ..that totally blow me away...sick zooming love it....