I appreciate the occasional romantic gesture just as much as the next girl, but by no stretch of the imagination am I a “sappy” sort of person. Thus, I’m having a hard time stomaching the numerous heart designs and overly sentimental imagery spawned by The Last Kiss Loves Threadless competition.

This is one particular design, however, that doesn’t cause me to gag. In fact, I find myself liking it quite a bit. The key is subtlety… the guy in the image isn’t acting frantic or desperate and demanding the viewer’s attention. Rather, his expression makes you look a little closer and think a little deeper into what the image is really trying to say.

Overall, it’s solid design presented in a creative manner with a very fresh art style. Kudos to the artist for conveying a touching message that doesn’t feel forced or nauseating.

Verdict: 5 (View Submission)

Site I’ve never heard of Juxtaviews let me know about their pretty cool interview with Jeffrey of Threadless fame (and lore).

It’s a pretty tasty interview indeed, and definitely worth the click if you want to find out more.

Oh, and they’re giving away a free shirt. So that can’t be half-bad.

Read The Interview

Monday’s may be hard on the credit card, but it’s certainly nice seeing new tees on a weekly basis. It keeps things fresh and happenin’ which is the way us Threadless junkies like it.

Two worthy winners of the Wired Nextfest Loves Threadless competition have been announced. City Lights combines technology and childhood wonder, while Timmy Wished for Ray Gun Eyes will make you simultaneously cringe and laugh.

Samuel Lara brings Breaking The Sound of Music to the Threadless Select line much to the delight of music enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the latest Type Tee “I love movies, long walks on the beach, and clichés.” should satisfy your slogan cravings.

That leaves just two competition winners this time around, both of which are hot designs. I may be a bit biased towards Our Radio, however, as DeadPoetic_Underoath happens to be one of my favorite Threadless artists. On the other end of the color spectrum is Paper Tiger which is equally awesome yet totally trippy.

Last but certainly not least, are two classic reprints: What Would Macgyver Do? and Vegetarians are Eating the Rainforests. And for those of you who just ignored the last handful of paragraphs, here’s a linear recap….

Wired Nextfest Winners:
- City Lights
- Timmy Wished for Ray Gun Eyes

Threadless Select:
- Breaking The Sound of Music

Type Tee:
- I love movies, long walks on the beach, and clichés.

Competition Winners:
- Our Radio (also in Kids sizes)
- Paper Tiger

Reprints:
- Vegetarians are Eating the Rainforests
- What Would Macgyver Do?

Enjoy shopping and remember those coupon codes! HUPDAWG saves three bucks per order.

What if 32 (+) of your favorite Threadless artists got together and decided to build a book? And what if they filled it with high quality shots of scores of their printed and unprinted designs? You’d love it, wouldn’t you?

I can tell you right now: You’ll love it.

Coming soon, a compendium of awesome, compiled lovingly by your favorites. It’ll be the ultimate Threadless-artist coffee table book. (Threadless themselves aren’t involved, so far as I understand, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they came up with something similar.)

If you’d like some more details, I might be able to scrounge them up for you. Post comments or questions here, and we’ll see what turns up.

It’s about time we broadened our narrow focus to another niche. In this case, that niche is stuff I eat. Introducing OMGFood.com.
It’s just an idea, but I’m very passionate about food (and occasionally overweight as a result of this love) and I’ll talk your ear off about how great the local whatever is. So there are a few things I’m planning to make OMGFood special. And also, just another blog. Because we need another in the blogosphere.

The site is being created these very instances. Put another way, it looks like hell. But I figured that letting you guys see the development process would be pretty boring, so what the hell. There ya go.

Oh, and I’ll be posting more here, too. And maybe launching another niche “blog about something that interests me.”

And a major shout to Stinger, who whipped up the awesomeness that is the OMGFood logo. (Follow the link for good times.)

That is all.

OMGFood.com

I have a thing for designs which juxtapose random foods/animals/objects/whatever in cute ways. This one is particularly silly and fun, which made me smile.

Personally, I like the plain pink pig with the upper right placement best. (I’m not too sure about the black and dark pink around the eyes on the two other options, although the shirt colors are preferable on those.)

I wonder what functions an electric pig would have, by the way. Would it warm you like an electric blanket? Or fry itself into some tasty bacon? The possibilities are endless… Zzzzzap.

Verdict: 4 + Would Buy (View Submission)

When I haven’t been in class, I’ve been sick (first with the flu and now a cold). And when I haven’t been sick, I’ve been working. So needless to say, I haven’t been a happy camper the last couple of weeks. The incompetency of my professors has only compounded the misery.

Anyway, those are my excuses/reasons for being rather quiet lately. I’m still planning on a contest soon and it appears that Chris is trying to get another in the works, so keep checking back for more details.

In the meantime, here’s a rad design to cast your votes upon. It’s delightfully weird and I’m loving the colors and patterns. It looks like something out of an odd children’s book… or perhaps a scene from some kind of folklore. Nice.

Verdict: 5 (View Submission)

Nothing like trying to get some work done on the blog whilst it reconfigures its backup configuration. Things are sloowwwww.

Ooh, and just as I write this, my cell phone goes off as things return to normal. (Since I admin the server, I get notices when things slow down a lot.)

A new contest is forthcoming, though I know I’ve been saying that for months now. It was going to be tied in with my company as a sponsor, but we’re having unfortunate billing system issues and any chance to capitalize on people looking for cheap hosting would be completely lost. Charming, I know.

Now just to think of one…

In honor of the Julian calendar-based Talk Like A Pirate holiday, we present two very available, very fashionable pirate-themed tees. Because even the pirate in you likes to look damn good.

Pirate-Infested Waters made its debut two weeks ago, ready and waiting for you on tasty banana (to help prevent scurvy, natch).

Meanwhile, perennial favorite Ask Me How I Became A Pirate poked its eyepatch in the reprints pile just for you.

If you already own either, today’s the day good pirates. And if you don’t, pick one up. You’ll be all set for next year.

Follow the jump for a keyboard just for pirates. And whilst you browse, bone up on some history while you’re at it. Arrr, indeed. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a bit of an odd week for prints, with a couple designs being pulled out of the archives (notably, We’re on the Same Level, which has a lot of people baffled), a design that scored under 2.0, and five designs being printed on yellow, orange, or white—colors which commenting voters are known to loathe.

This week’s winning slogan is I’d give my left arm to play drums for Def Leppard, and the reprints are Urban Camouflage and “Dad?“. Urban Camouflage sold like hotcakes during the last sale, so if you missed out on it then (and a lot of people did), be sure to pick one up now.

Jublin’s “How to Draw ANIMALS” is either a tribute to or a mockery of the plethora of “Teach yourself to draw!” books out there. Granted, he’s raking in the cash from Threadless lately, but if that ever stops panning out for him, it looks like he’s could have a pretty good future writing cryptic art/animation books. “Comin’ atcha!”

Click the thumbnails below to view the product page of each design.

Earlier today, Chris cracked our 300th post mark and I was thinking that the milestone deserves a little celebration in the form of a contest.

But what type of contest? Another big scavenger hunt like I hosted last time, or something a little more creative such as a photo or art competition? Comment with your ideas or send an e-mail to bree[at] lovesthreadless[dot]com (yes, you have to fill in the symbols yourself).

The prize(s) will probably be in the form of Threadless gift certificates and STPs, as usual, but along with contest ideas any original prize ideas are welcomed too. The contest is for you, the readers, so speak up with your opinions if you want to make this happen.

Thanks!

I know, it’s almost an event to have me posting here lately. That said, this piece came by way of electronic mail to me, and I liked it enough to point it out to all of you mythologically-inspired folk. It’s not at all what I’d term my usual style, but the strong color contrast and the shapes function well as a design, even at a distance. Add to that, the telling constellation, and you have a full bag.

I’m also a sucker for designs that appear to be more than 4 colors (without taking advantage of the underprint) at first glance.

Oh, and those of you who are wondering: Michigan was just fine. It sends its hellos. I’ve been busy working and avoiding work, on all fronts, but I want to get back in the swing of things here soon enough. A very special, warm shoutout to Bree who has been keeping it real and kicking ass during my absence. My travel schedule is relatively clear until next month, where I’ll be hitting up the Carribean, 7-day-cruise style. (Yes, I’m bragging.)

And I’m out.

Let’s, for a moment, imagine that someone would want to wear the Scarlet Letter on their tee labeling themselves as an adulterer. Even so, the execution of the concept is terribly boring.

Any number of stylized fonts could have been used (or the ‘A’ could have been drawn by hand for a more ornate look) yet the font of choice was Arial. It hardly constitutes a design, even if it does reference a classic novel. I don’t mean to be harsh, but it is what it is: just a letter on a plain grey shirt.

And don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against simplicity either. Reading some of the comments on the submission page, however, will give you at least a dozen great ideas for how the design could have been improved upon. (Such as using a red tee to make the ‘A’ more discreet, having it look as if it were sew onto the shirt, and so forth.)

It would have been nice if the artist had done similar brainstorming and taken the idea a few steps further. That’s why it feels so bland and unoriginal… not for its lack of effort, per se, but for lack of creative thought.

Verdict: 0 (View Submission)

Rarely do I focus on the artist when reviewing designs, but I’m mixing things up a bit this time.

On Friday, if you recall, I raved about Musical Meditation by a little known someone (at least to me) named “folo“. Two more of the artist’s designs have rocked the Threadless scene since then, and I’m equally impressed with these newest offerings.

I’m always pleased to see an artist exhibiting a consistent style. That’s not to say I’m against experimentation and that a designer ought to strive at making everything look similar. A person having the ability to produce one unique design after another that incorporates a very personal and distinct voice, however, seems decidedly more “professional”.

I can’t speak for everyone, but from my personal experience I’ve found it takes time and practice to develop consistency in any given field of art. I guess that’s why I’m so impressed with designers that have accomplished this… they seem to know “who they are”. So far, this seems to be the case with folo’s work. Aging Technology and The Conjurer are right on par with Musical Meditation. I can only hope that the artist’s future designs are just as conceptually intriguing but stylistically consistent as these first illustrations.

Has this individual struggled for years to discover their own artist voice? Or do they just have a knack for creating unique styles? Who knows. But whichever it might be, I’m digging it. I definitely think folo is a designer that we ought keep tabs on in the coming months.

With that in mind, I’m labeling this post as a “Designer Watch”. There are plenty of people that have already made a name for themselves at Threadless, but what about new users? There’s a slew of exceptional work circulating out there at the moment, and it’s worth a look-see even if the artist doesn’t happen to be popular among the blogs or an already established designer. If you’d like to see (or wouldn’t like to see) more posts of this sort here at Loves Threadless, don’t act bashful… leave a comment with your opinions.

This is my favorite design this week, and I think I’m going to gush about it for a while.

I was a fan of this submission, and I’m really happy that it was printed this week. (Admittedly, I’d be even happier if it were printed at a time when I had money to spare, but I’ll settle now for hopes of a reprint at a more financially luxurious time.)

This is a design that looks great on green (I’m beginning to think that I am more of a green fan that I have previously admitted), and it manages to completely rock the lower bottom (Edit: Redundancy is a curse) placement. Like one of Gringz’s latest submissions (click for more foresty goodness), this design doesn’t give the impression of “BAM! My tshirt has a picture on it!” so much as it works as a part the tshirt as a really cool piece of art. It’s subtle. And nifty. I am a fan.

I also really love the image presented. This is actually one of two Eve-focused designs that I noticed this summer. (The other one is by BasicShift, and can be seen by clicking here, although its score suffered mightily from the Nipple Effect.) I liked them both, and I am pleased that at least one of them was printed. The dilemma presented is a moving one: the perceived choice of knowledge over bliss, of humanity over perfection. It’s a very human moment in which we see Eve—probably the defining moment of humanity, actually.

The artist of Original Sin offered this explanation of the way in which Eve was drawn, and I think it speaks to the poignancy of the image presented: The decision to do the legs that way was a stylistic one, but the reason it made the final cut is that it subtly reinforces the idea the closer Eve comes to knowledge, the more complete and human she becomes.

Congratulations, tiphaine! I’m really happy that this shirt was printed. Good job.