May 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008My entry for
Derby 28 (Quitters) was "Quittles". It did pretty good vote-wise and the nice folks at
Pooby5 liked it as well. So they have it now for sale for just $11. This is an image from Pooby5 of the print. I'll post some more pictures when I get my own.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Derby 44's theme was
Summer -- a nice safe and text-free theme after the disaster of the Slogan derby. Plenty of creative and interesting shirts submitted this time and, thankfully, not so many to browse through. Here's a list of the ones you and I liked. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Why Does The T-rex Always Sit Behind Me?" Award nominated by AttilaTheMom
Hey, even an internet meme likes to get out to see a movie once in awhile, and its even better when the movie is about them! This design is hilarious, well balanced and would be fun to wear out to see the latest comic book/pirate adventure/science fiction epic on the big screen.
Continue reading / Comment
Tuesday, May 27, 2008It's been 60 days since the Spring derby so there is a new batch of shirts that are available to sell now. Here's a couple that are planned to be put on sale eventually. If you have shirts that you'd like to sell from Derby 35, please
upload them and work with me to setup your artist gallery page.
Monday, May 26, 2008In response to Woot's Honorable Mentions, here's a few that I think they missed. Since these shirts will almost certainly NOT be in the "Best Of" derby, they are excellent candidates to be sold and printed by the artists themselves using
SpreadShirt or other such direct-to-garment shops. With Woot's HMs this week they finally admitted that the slogan derby might not have been the best idea. With that in mind, here are a couple that they missed that had what they otherwise seemed to be discouraging in this derby -- art.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Derby 43's theme was
Slogans. Woot finally opened the door and said you can put plain text on a shirt with no art required. I was mildly intrigued by the idea and didn't realize how bad this would be until the giant onslaught of shirts starting overwhelming the Woot servers. Many shirts broke the rules and existed somewhere else. Many others broke rules Woot seemed to be making up as the derby continued. I think most people see this derby as a disaster and are just waiting for it to be over.
That all said, there were a few bright spots here and there. The tough thing is without much art involved in these it really comes down to what strikes me or you as funny. Humor, even more than art seems to be in the eye of the beholder. But here's a few that me and those who chose to nominate someone thought deserved a mention. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Nothing Is Funnier Than The Truth" Award
LunchBoxBrain's "That reminds me..." is one of the few that truly made me laugh without trying to pull something from pop culture to prop it up. Great font and colors.
Continue reading / Comment
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
It's been 60 days since the Canada derby so there is a new batch of shirts that are available to sell now. Here's one available for sale right now. If you have shirts that you'd like to sell from Derby 34, please
upload them and work with me to setup your artist gallery page.
Monday, May 19, 2008In response to Woot's Honorable Mentions, here's a few that I think they missed. Since these shirts will almost certainly NOT be in the "Best Of" derby, they are excellent candidates to be sold and printed by the artists themselves using
SpreadShirt or other such direct-to-garment shops. Usually there is some significant overlap between Woot's HM's and my Loser Awards but this week there is none. That leaves me a lot to pick from so I'm going with two bold artistic favorites (one of which I didn't even award since I was sure Woot would reject it) and a couple that I think could sell really well.
Friday, May 16, 2008
IamBusyEating wins again! We first saw him in the Leap Year derby -- which he handily won. Here's the original
interview and an update on his stats.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
#30 (Leap Year) / 5 / 2. I've bought Tracking survival guide, Say no to Scurvy, Quoth the Raven, Mr. Toast, and Monkey Play. This is my second print. My first was “Do the Math� in the Leap Year Derby.
Anything else you'd like to tell the world?
Anyone who hasn’t tried the
Photoshop contest at Woot should check that out because it’s a lot of fun.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Derby 42's theme was
Join the Revolution. It sounded like a great theme idea but the lion's share of the entries were pretty similar. Is there something about revolution that requires a distressed technique? Here are some of the more interesting takes on the theme of revolution. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "You Say You Want a Revolution" Award
Riffmaster18, known mostly for a string of abstract designs that earned him several wins in the early derbies, is still plugging away. He's abandoned his easy wins for a continual experimentation with technique and style. This is one of his best with bold colors and a cartoony style that avoids looking silly. Look for his stuff every week -- not as recognizable as it used to be but better than ever.
Continue reading / Comment
Tuesday, May 13, 2008It's been 60 days since the Lyrics derby so there is a new batch of shirts that are available to sell now. Here's a couple of shirts that will soon be for sale. If you have shirts that you'd like to sell from Derby 33, please
upload them and work with me to setup your artist gallery page.
Monday, May 12, 2008In response to Woot's Honorable Mentions, here's a few that I think they missed. Since these shirts will almost certainly NOT be in the "Best Of" derby, they are excellent candidates to be sold and printed by the artists themselves using
SpreadShirt or other such direct-to-garment shops. This week, a spooky one that really has nice color choices on black and a couple of silly ones that were too cool to ignore.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Derby 41's theme was the
Alphabet. I loved this theme and the handful of shirts I picked here but it seemed the alphabet really got in the way for most artists or just repeated the
text derby. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Drink Ovaltine" Award
Artulo does an excellent job truly capturing the spirit of the theme, communicating a fun message, and creating a shirt that you'd want to wear regardless of the theme. Great color choice gives the decoder ring an antique feel.
Continue reading / Comment
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
It's been 60 days since the Line Art derby so there is a new batch of shirts that are available to sell now. I posted a picture of the only design that us currently available for sale (mine). If you have shirts that you'd like to sell from Derby 32, please
upload them and work with me to setup your artist gallery page.
I'm going to be moving this weekly post to Tuesdays to give artists more time to post their designs. Please
contact me to let me know if you've added a design to your store to make sure I mention it here.
Monday, May 05, 2008BestLosers finally has an RSS feed. Unfortunately, it only has headlines instead of the full article. Click on the orange button in the corner of the toolbar (
) to subscribe. If you're new to RSS and would like to know more, start
here. Please let me know if you have any problems with it.
Monday, May 05, 2008In case you missed it last week, I'm now doing weekly Overlooked Awards in response to Woot's Honorable Mentions. Since these shirts will almost certainly NOT be in the "Best Of" derby, they are excellent candidates to be sold and printed by the artists themselves using
SpreadShirt or other such direct-to-garment shops. This week, I went for the ones that truly amused me. Edgar and Rglee are experienced derbyists and will continue to do well without these shirts in the "Best Of" but I'd like to encourage them to consider selling shirts themselves as well.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Sparklzk27 has been around since the Line Art derby and this is her first win.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
#32 (Line Art) / 5 / 1.
What are you tools of choice?
I usually start out with pencil and paper and then scan it for editing with my tablet in Photoshop Elements. Sometimes I use Gimp as well.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
I write down 3 or 4 ideas and then pick the one I think will generate the best design.
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
I took some art classes in high school and college but took a "semester" off two years ago. Since then I have done some design projects for a local restaurant and started a website for custom holiday card and birth announcement designs.
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
I would like to get into art and design full time. My ideal job would be something more freelance -- I wouldn't want to work for a big firm or anything.
Any plans to sell your designs outside woot?
Not at the moment.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
Hmmm...I would have to say above all else, design something that you enjoy and can be proud of. As long as you're having fun the derbies are absolutely worthwhile even when you don't come close to winning.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Congratulations to SuperSpryte for her simple and bold "thumbs up" badge for BestLosers. She will be getting a $20 Visa card! You'll be seeing this badge here, in posts on Woot, and eventually on
ShirtDerbyStats with all your other badges. Thanks everyone for entering!
newer |
older
-6l1jx6-d.jpg)
