June 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010Derby 153's theme was
"Shakespeare". A pretty self-explanatory theme with text allowed as long as there was some graphic element. It's a niche subject but there were no restrictions that would stop a good artistic Shakespeare shirt. Here's my picks and yours. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Blood Like Lemonade" Award
DeadFrog's "Lord MacBeth" is a stunning moody piece of art. Fantastic colors and great vertical flow.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010Since I'm an amateur, I'm reluctant to give any actual
advice, but I think there are some things that are even more fundamental than advice that all of us have to remember as we make t-shirts:
1. Thou shalt remember your canvas is portrait and not landscape.
2. Thou shalt remember your canvas is not rectangular.
3. Thou shalt draw what you want to. Trying to draw what you think people will like is the path to the Dark Side.
4. Thou shalt realize nobody gives a crap about your shirt until you MAKE them give a crap with your awesomeness.
5. The shirt color is a whole 'nuther pen and the only one you're going to use whether you like it or not. Treat it that way.
6. Thou shalt design your shirt like you have to pay to print it. Reducing colors and using less ink is a skill with many benefits.
7. Thou shalt make it big and obvious. Your idea can be subtle but your design has to shout. Cut out everything that isn't necessary to communicate the idea.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010Here's your chance to have some influence on the Best Loser Awards. You can now post your image right here in the comment thread. Give me some reason why your favorite shirt is the greatest thing Woot will ever see and I'll include the best ones. Voting closes at midnight!
A few rules:
- Please don't nominate yourself!
- No more than 2 nominations per person.
- Please use the 240x240 design detail image if possible.
- Please include your email address in the appropriate field below.
- Please describe the REASON you like the shirt -- I need more than "I like it".
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Monday, June 28, 2010Here's some shirts from the past that are now available to be either submitted to another contest or sold outright via a print-to-order service. To be more specific, it's been over 60 days for these shirts and they're either free of Honorable Mentions or have already made their way through a Do-Over Derby. If you agree that you'd like to see these again, post your comment here to let the artist know!
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010Derby 152 is unique because not only is Devo going to pick one of the prints, but Woot themselves will pick another, leaving only a single print for the popular vote. Since having Woot pick an "Editor's Choice" every week is one of those frequently requested features that we never get, it will be interesting to see how this pans out and if Woot can be convinced to do this more regularly.
So, who do YOU think Devo and Woot will pick this time? I don't want to hear who you think will win the popular vote -- that's not nearly as interesting and it wouldn't be that hard to guess. Add your picks in the comments below and tell us WHY you think Devo and Woot will choose these.
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010Derby 152's theme was
"De-evolution". Woot was looking for examples of how humankind is devolving. That's vague enough that I don't entirely blame most of the artists for being completely off theme here. I was trying to only pick shirts that were completely on theme but analyzing each shirt for how well it lived up to the squishy theme was hurting my head. So I've at least left out the most egregious slapped-together logo or random art entries. Here's my picks and yours. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Jacked In The Box" Award
DeadFrog's "Tech-Junky" is perfectly on-theme and frighteningly chilling. He imagines a near-future purposeful and voluntary Matrix-like hell. Fantastic linework, colors, and flow on the shirt.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010Here's your chance to have some influence on the Best Loser Awards. You can now post your image right here in the comment thread. Give me some reason why your favorite shirt is the greatest thing Woot will ever see and I'll include the best ones. Voting closes at midnight!
A few rules:
- Please don't nominate yourself!
- No more than 2 nominations per person.
- Please use the 240x240 design detail image if possible.
- Please include your email address in the appropriate field below.
- Please describe the REASON you like the shirt -- I need more than "I like it".
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Monday, June 21, 2010Here's some shirts from the past that are now available to be either submitted to another contest or sold outright via a print-to-order service. To be more specific, it's been over 60 days for these shirts and they're either free of Honorable Mentions or have already made their way through a Do-Over Derby. If you agree that you'd like to see these again, post your comment here to let the artist know!
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010Derby 151's theme was
"Shirt You'd Wear to a Job Interview". Since Woot allowed all text entries for this theme, we have close to a duplication of the legendary disaster that was the Slogan Derby. The only thing worse than an MS Paint entry is a MS Word entry and there were plenty of those this time. After this, I'm really ready for a no-text rule to thin the ranks again. There are of course some respectable entries and we'll be focusing on those here. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Cthulhu, Jr." Award
Nice use of logo-style artwork mixed with very detailed and carefully colored halftones. I'd be worried about how this prints but this is CmDixon2's specialty so I'll trust him on this. PaulKremer adds "Cmdixon pulled out all the stops on this one. A very clever application of the theme, a funny joke, and absolutely top notch artwork. This is the type of entry I wish we saw more of!"
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010ThatRobert (me) has been participating in the derbies since the very first one. When I started doing interviews on BestLosers, I only interviewed the derby artist that came in first. Later -- as I started running out of new artists to interview -- I started interviewing anyone out of the three printed artists that I hadn't interviewed before. Because my previous derby wins were so long ago and I've never come in first, I've never had the opportunity to interview myself -- until now.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
1 (One) / 40-50 / 5. Don't make me count all my shirts! Most have been for myself but this includes all the ones I've bought as gifts and for my kids.
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010Here's your chance to have some influence on the Best Loser Awards. You can now post your image right here in the comment thread. Give me some reason why your favorite shirt is the greatest thing Woot will ever see and I'll include the best ones. Voting closes at midnight!
A few rules:
- Please don't nominate yourself!
- No more than 2 nominations per person.
- Please use the 240x240 design detail image if possible.
- Please include your email address in the appropriate field below.
- Please describe the REASON you like the shirt -- I need more than "I like it".
Continue reading / Comment
Monday, June 14, 2010Here's some shirts from the past that are now available to be either submitted to another contest or sold outright via a print-to-order service. To be more specific, it's been over 60 days for these shirts and they're either free of Honorable Mentions or have already made their way through a Do-Over Derby. If you agree that you'd like to see these again, post your comment here to let the artist know!
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Sunday, June 13, 2010
This is my 5th shirt printed at Woot and my 3rd Derby win. It has been a LONG time since I've won a derby -- about 2 years I believe! My shirt is now available for sale in the Reckoning list for the next week. Since I sold under 1000 shirts, it is very unlikely it will survive a 2nd week so get one while you can if you missed it yesterday.
If you're curious, here's the whole list of my Woot prints, from most recent to oldest:
Writer's Block,
Cat Carrier,
Dissipate, and
Sunset Tree.
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Wednesday, June 09, 2010Derby 150's theme was
"Intergalactic Cup". Amazingly, Woot was only looking for shirts limited to the theme "space soccer" with no other sports allowed. I really expected some truly awful entries (and I got them!) but I was also blown away with what some artists were able to do with this theme. Here's our favorites. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "I Walked On Your Face" Award
DeadFrog's "Buzz Aldrin Always Sounded Like a Sports Name" is a truly amazing take on a difficult theme. Everything works with this -- the action, the pose, the colors, the cross-hatching, and the layout on the shirt. I plan to buy this when it comes in first tomorrow night!
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Tuesday, June 08, 2010Here's your chance to have some influence on the Best Loser Awards. You can now post your image right here in the comment thread. Give me some reason why your favorite shirt is the greatest thing Woot will ever see and I'll include the best ones. Voting closes at midnight!
A few rules:
- Please don't nominate yourself!
- No more than 2 nominations per person.
- Please use the 240x240 design detail image if possible.
- Please include your email address in the appropriate field below.
- Please describe the REASON you like the shirt -- I need more than "I like it".
Continue reading / Comment
Monday, June 07, 2010Here's some shirts from the past that are now available to be either submitted to another contest or sold outright via a print-to-order service. To be more specific, it's been over 60 days for these shirts and they're either free of Honorable Mentions or have already made their way through a Do-Over Derby. If you agree that you'd like to see these again, post your comment here to let the artist know!
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010Aw man, I did it again. Every time there's a Monday holiday, all my blog entries get offset a day! Oh well. Derby 149's theme was
"Psychedelia". Woot was looking for 70s-style psychedelic posters. Of course, almost none of the entries would really pass for psychedelic posters and Woot was light on the rejectionator hammer as always. Here's a few shirts I really like even though even these might be dubious as true psychedelia. As usual, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size shirt and comments on Shirt.Woot.
The "Sesame Nagel" Award
Newcomer Genghis72's "Time Waits for No One" definitely captures the swirling/kaleidoscopic part of the theme but with its crisp lines it really feels like it's channeling the 80's much more than the 70's. That might be off theme but I really like it.
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010Here's your chance to have some influence on the Best Loser Awards. You can now post your image right here in the comment thread. Give me some reason why your favorite shirt is the greatest thing Woot will ever see and I'll include the best ones. Voting closes at midnight!
A few rules:
- Please don't nominate yourself!
- No more than 2 nominations per person.
- Please use the 240x240 design detail image if possible.
- Please include your email address in the appropriate field below.
- Please describe the REASON you like the shirt -- I need more than "I like it".
Continue reading / Comment
Tuesday, June 01, 2010Here's some shirts from the past that are now available to be either submitted to another contest or sold outright via a print-to-order service. To be more specific, it's been over 60 days for these shirts and they're either free of Honorable Mentions or have already made their way through a Do-Over Derby. If you agree that you'd like to see these again, post your comment here to let the artist know!
Continue reading / Comment
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