Threadful

Some more "Less is More" submissions

2009-05-12T06:41:00.001-07:00

The "What" and "Why" owls make me giggle to myself. They are so baffled, and yet so nonchalant.

Neat idea, and really well done. The detail on the backpack is excellent, and I want that hat.

Disclaimer: Mine, again. But I'm excited about it, because I think it has the chance to do well. It's simple and funny and cute. And I guess it kind of goes without saying, because my last four submissions have involved some variation of this color scheme, but I really do like those colors together.

I had to give this a second glance—and a third—before I realised that it really did meet the Less is More requirements. I mean, that is one startlingly realistic four-color trash bag. It's funny, too. Overall, just plain enjoyable.

One of mine. I can't decide if I really like this or not. Sometimes I look at it and am quite pleased with it, and sometimes I look at it and am disappointed that it seems to be missing something important. I like that pirate ship, though.

I am such a sucker for a tangy bluish green. This is one of the designs that honestly made me nostalgic for the threadless of yore. I feel like a crappy vector design is much more readily identifiable (as bad) than a crappy rainbow watercolor design. I mean, this is neither. This is awesome. It just reminded me of Old Threadless, which I guess is the point. So, well done!

Great combination of simple lines and thoughtful detail. I especially like the middle color choice.

I am pretty much guaranteed to love any design involving the combination of astronauts and rainbow colors.

2009-05-12T06:23:00.001-07:00

I like these, and maybe you should vote nicely on them, because I think they are kind of neat:

If you don't like barn owls, you might be a bad person. This is one animal that just deserves to be on a cool tshirt, and this design fits the bill.

Chicken. Dinosaurs. I like these colors a lot, and the central chicken has a funny feather-do. I honestly can't remember the last time I wanted a shirt as much as I want this one. I would wear it everywhere. And everyone who saw me would be jealous. There's just no question.

I've had an internet crush on Bramish since 2005. But even if I didn't, I would still like this shirt.

I'm pretty sure I bought that cheetah a drink last night. You don't want to get on his bad side; he's a mean drunk. Tells great stories, though.

The orangey color option on this one makes me heart skip like a second-grade girl during recess.

Sweet romantic tee that doesn't rely on a tomato with a face. This reminds me of my first relationship. Long distance is hard, but this encapsulates both the loneliness and the happiness involved.

Giggles and smiles.

I once went to a rummage sale that was comprised almost entirely of owl-related things. Oven mitts, and knick-knacks, and framed pictures, and decoupage, and christmas ornaments, and shirts with appliques. My family still speaks of it: "Do you remember the Old Lady sale?" It kind of freaked me out at the time, but I think I'm starting to empathise. Owls are pretty freaking sweet.

Probably the best Glowing Werewolf with Bulky Orange Glasses design you'll see this week.

Scotland should hire this guy to design their tourism fliers. I've never given the place a second thought, but I am now compelled to visit it.

I like this, a lot. The little curlicues on the speech bubbles make me swoon. Plus, I would wear this to all of the Linguistics Department grad student events and be the talk of the town.

I'm big into orangey-red right now. Also I felt like drawing rats. Anyway, this is mine, so I guess you don't have to take it seriously. But I still like it.

Cautionary Tales

2006-08-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Children, ignore your cautionary tales of woe:
Before the phoenix rises, she must fall!

A weirdly eerie message and some great imagery make this one my favorite submission this week. The images by themselves look good, but are a little too piecemeal for me; the words pull everything (both concept and design) together. I just think this is really cool. Plus, the colors are great. I can only imagine how stunning this could look printed. Bright red and orange against faded green? Very sexy.

Sunshine Breaks for no one!

2006-08-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

Another yellow-and-pastel sub that I really dig. I love the randomness, and I'm not really sure what else to say.

Polka dots are kind of amazing. More designs ought to have them.

Submerged

2006-07-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

I really like Mindrenew's stuff. Lots of fun, asymmetrical critter designs. Cute without being sickly sweet good colors, a fun handdrawn feel.

My favorite part of this design is the turtle swimming upwards—the one whose entire belly we get to see. It's just...kind of..adorable. And I'm not a person who typically jumps at the chance to wear "adorable" shirts, but gosh darn it... I can't resist these little turtles.

Great intro comment, too: "No matter which way your turtles travel, they will remain submerged within your Pacific Blue shirt." It's like they're my happy swimming turtle buddies, and could magically move all over my shirt, like something from an old claymation TV show. I don't know where I'm going with this.

If you liked this but didn't have the chance to vote on it, there are still a few hours left on Orbital Tree House Disaster, so head over that way.

taekwondodo

2006-07-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I'm a fan of Ice Age, and the real reason I like this design might well be the rallying cry from the movie: TAE KWON DODOS--ATTACK!!!. But even so, this is a nice illustration, and the joke is there even if you haven't seen the movie by which it was inspired. Nice details on the wood, and the high-jumping flightless bird just cracks me up.

scarecrow on the scarecrow's head

2006-07-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of designs printed in the color of the shirt below them. Black-on-black seems to be the most popular on Threadless (there are at least two in the running right now: see le noir est le vieux noir, which I also like), but I could also go for a nice orange on orange or yellow on yellow. (Don't worry, I'm not holding by breath.)

This is a great illustration. Dark, creepy, detailed, and perfect for any fall day (or night). If you can't see it, adjust your monitor—it's hard for the artist to give the impression of black-on-black and still have a visible design, but it's made even harder by the different monitor settings out there. What's perfectly visible on one computer (mine) might be an empty black box on another (my dad's).

Or if you're too lazy to adjust your settings, you can just trust me and vote $5. =]

pirate infested waters

2006-07-31T07:32:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last couple years (it seems) staying clear of the Pirate vs. Ninja argument. Despite my longstanding stance of diplomacy, however, I was recently drawn into the fight at a forum I frequent, and my true colors began to shine. I must admit: I am definitely a pirate fan, and have been since my earliest glimpses of J.M. Barrie's Neverland. All other arguments aside, however, this shirt is pretty cool.

I was initally iffy about the shirt color (Yellow with light blue? Are we sure about this?), but despite its rather lackluster appearance on the submission screen, I am convinced that this would look utterly stunning in person. (Picture an actual light yellow shirt with actual light blue waves—I can hardly take the excitement!)

The woodcut/linocut look of the water thrills me; I love how detailed it looks. There's simply no comparison between this and having the same ships on a solid blue background. I love how the ships are all riding on their own little waves—it's something I didn't even realise at first, but it makes the whole thing so much better. I even appreciate the similarity of the ships: the colors breaks up what might otherwise be monotonous (har!), and it gives the design a cool sense of "Well, what makes this one different?" It's like a motivational poster, but without the cheese.

I would love to wear this shirt.

Everyone eat

2006-07-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I'm really digging the Little Miss Sunshine Loves Threadless competition. Of all the Loves contests that I've been around for, this one has probably had the highest concentration of designs I like.

What can I say? I dig yellow. =]

Anyway, I really like this design. Tea and toasted breadbus. It's such a perfect combination of the bizarre and the mundane, and it's pulled off without being obnoxiously "Look at me! I'm ironic!" I really appreciate the handdrawn look.

I also really like that this sub does something with the VW bus besides toss it into a mix of random stuff. This is one of the submissions that I could see myself wearing entirely apart from any knowledge of Little Miss Sunshine. At the same time, though, it still has obvious ties that anyone "in the know" recognises immediately. So it gets major props for that.

In conclusion, my favorite part of this is the smiling sunshine on the teacup.

Swimming in vinyl

2006-07-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

"Just your standard fat kids swimming in a giant record tee."

This is awesome. I'm not "into" music like a lot of people seem to be—I listen to the radio in the car, or when I'm cleaning the house, but I own a total of maybe (maybe) seven CDs.

And I'm not really into the whole retro music thing. It was only a few years ago that my family made the final switch from cassette tapes to CDs (although we currently cannot play either one in our vehicles), and when we were kids, we'd (often? occasionally? It's hard to tell; my childhood blurs together...) dance around to my mom's old records. She actually had a bunch of records that were specifically made for kids to dance to, things with names like "Clean up songs" and "Naptime songs" and "Songs for Spring." Oh, and we had at least one record with a bunch of Disney songs like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and The Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song.

I'm rambling. Sorry. My point is that while these things have a certain personal nostaligic value for me, that nostalgic value isn't something I need to wear on a mass-produced (and yes, even Threadless counts) shirt. So my real point is that most record/cassette shirts are dumb.

This, however, is not dumb. Or maybe it is, but if so it's a delicious, playful, summery kind of dumb, and that's okay. It's simple, it's friendly, it's funny, and I really, really like it.

Domestication

2006-07-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

This is killing me. The title of thhe submission is Domestication, and people are still complaining that it's a "flying hog" instead of a flying pig. Come on, people! Get with the game! You're missing the point of a great design!

Anyway, I think it's really clever. I like the way it sits on the shirt, the animals are neat and well-chosen, and it speaks of familiar phrases, to boot. Even without the title, I think people would understand what was going on if they looked long enough.

I'd like to wear this design.

Fantastic Typewriter

2006-07-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

I love typewriters. I use them to type letters to friends, type stories to myself, and type conversations (back and forth, over several days) with my siblings. They are fun, they are wonderful, they are old fashioned, and they click and clack with a satisfaction that cannot be achieved with a computer keyboard.

This design is everything I have ever wanted in a typewriter. It is lovely, heavy-duty, old-fashioned, and equipped with enough keys for a typing hyperactive squid. The line art is intricate and perfect, and the colors woo me with their dream-writing potential. Look at the birds! The spottings of color! The wonderful Seussian arrangement of the keys! Oh, heaven.

I would prefer this without the caption, since I think explicitly saying "dream writer" takes away from the fantastic possibilities of what the image could be. The artist has already commented that the text (and signature) are as good as gone, and I feel bad that people are still complaining about them after the fact. That is too bad, but hopefully it will not hurt the score too much.

The design is one that I enjoy on a white shirt, which is rare. (The artist has also offered blue and pink as colored-shirt options, but again, people continue to complain about the fact that the submission itself features white.)

Sheep Trick

2006-07-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is awesome. It's a wolf, it's a sheep, it's a wolf in sheep's clothing, it's a monster, it's a minotaur, it's a sheep trick.

Green on natural is perfect.

Conspiring Nuns

2006-07-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is creepy and I love it.

the last flight

2006-07-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Just the mention of "special glow ink" for the light blue color in this design is enough to make me squeal in delight—and I'm not a squeal-y person.

This is one of my favorite designs. The colors are perfect, the detailing is beautiful, and the idea is neat and well-executed (whatever that means), but what really hooks me is the story. Because there is a story, and it is amazing. What's going on? Are the people tiny, or is the bird giant? Why is the boy dressed in protective racing gear, and the girl not? Where are they flying from? To? And why, why,why is it "the last flight"?

I feel like a fool typing all those questions out, of course, because no one really asks those sort of things out loud. But there's a strange, sweet sadness that I see in this picture, and I love it very much.

daydream on spring street

2006-07-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

There's something about caterpillars that I just can't get over. I love them. The caterpillar in this design was the first thing that caught my eye, and then, having released my eye, it caught my heart. Or something. *cough*

Right, well, I like this a lot. The blue version is my favorite, because those colors are frankly awesome. Very springy. Or sproingy. Actually, both. I also like the brown-and-pink, and the white outlines make me happy. The straight-up silhouette versions I find boring—this design really needs the white outlines to give it pop and definition.

I like how helter-skelter the tree is, with branches (and light posts, and inexplicably giant caterpillars) coming off in weird places. It's strange, it's fun, it's a spring day in a giant tree. I love the tree sprouts at the end of a dashed-middle-line street, like everything that normally lives on that street just gave up reality for the day and decided to live in a giant tree, instead.

Seven Monkies

2006-07-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sock monkeys in miniature. Seven of them. There really isn't anything else that I can say about this that wasn't addressed in starr226's comment below:

without the girl, actually, it's just a bunch of floating monkeys. THAT's random. The whole image is supposed to be a little off, true. The contrast of styles and use of color. The girl shows the size of the monkeys in perspective. It's not about sock monkeys—it's about a girl with a handful of TINY sock monkeys in her hand. A sock monkey is just a sock monkey, but when they're 2 inches high in the palm of your hand...well, that's something different, isn't it?

bichos en mi ombligo

2006-07-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

"Bugs in my bellybutton"

This is awesome. I don't know a lick of Spanish, so I'm relying on someone else's translation (I never entirely trust other people to translate things for me, because I know that if I were them, I'd be sorely tempted to pull a fast one), but the idea cracks me up, and the little beasts in question are pretty darn neat-o.

I can't tell if the on-model version boasts one or two colors, but it doesn't really matter. I like the idea, I like the critters, I like the design-supporting placement—I just all-around like this design.

As far as I can tell, the only downside is that according to the comments, a wholesome girl like myself would be ill-advised to wear this in Puerto Rico.

The Chicken Dance

2006-07-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

This was part of the blogger-driven Pinche UNO! competition, and one of my favorite designs to come out of that. At first glimpse, I admit it's obnoxious, but it definitely grew on me. I love that the shirt is dark-on-light-orange. I think it's blinding and amazing, and a great tribute to the seizure-inducing colors that many formal dresses come in.

It's an awesome staged prom photo (the legs of the one girl are the crowning touch, I swear), and I love how the "personalities" of the dance-goers come out. Plus, the concept is bizarre enough that it doesn't scream "CHICKEN DANCE, I MADE A JOKE! HA HA!" It's more of a "What the--?" design, with an answer that makes you slap your forehead in righteous dismay.

I still think this would be a fantastic print. Coral for girls, and I would buy this so fast my bank account would spin.

The Way to Travel

2006-06-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

I hereby declare this design to be completely friggin' awesome. I didn't think it was that great at first glance, but at second glance it intrigued me. At third glance (okay, let's face it...if you get to three, it no longer qualifies as a "glance,") I was in love.

It's a guy, sitting on the back of a dragon, whom he is luring forward with a pineapple on a string. It's perfect. What other food (barring virgin princesses) could possibly lure a dragon forward? It's friendly, it's playful. It's fantastic. It's modern! It's got a pineapple on a string!

I love it on banana, and I love it on gold. The other colors are kind of blah, but those two blow me away.

Look at the dragon--he is so happy!

don't feed this t-shirt after midnight

2006-06-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

This submission is pure joy, cleverly disguised as t-shirt and cotton candy. The way the demon-shirt is hunched over and craving cupcakes--it just speaks to me, ya know? As a general rule, I hate shirts that reference the wearer, the reader, or themselves (they're presumptious and generally annoying), but this? This I love.

green trend

2006-06-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

I like this on the green. (What is it with green shirts lately?)

I love this because it reminds me of high school chemistry class. I loved high school chemistry class. Not really the class itself, or the teacher, or the material, but simply the idea of chemistry class. I sat in the back row, by the windows, and I'd often look out the window across the roof, across the parking lot, and over to the trees that lined the river at the back of our parking lot.

The linoleum in that room was a weird industrial green linoleum color (as it should be), and the walls were cinderblocks that had at some point in their existance been painted white. Everything was dusty, and the room smelled of pencils and chalkdust and old paper, and wafts of whatever chemicals had been last let loose in the lab next door. There was an ancient periodic table on one wall. It seemed like the epitome of the high school experience, something that students had experienced for generations, and will continue to experience for several more.

And that's why I like this shirt.

Reflection Nothing

2006-06-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

Most of the commenters seem to like the bright green version, but I'm going for the pale, minty color. The whole thing sends me an Alice in wonderland vibe, which is pretty cool.

I also like this exchange from the comments:

commenter: I like it alot, but what is the significance of the rabbits?
artist: rabbits= cute

Yes. Yes, they are.

To Know Good & Evil

2006-06-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Another weird, green submission. This is a little off-the wall (not so much as the rabbit one), and I just like it. The style is super appealing to me--little things like the crown above her head, or the snake scarfing down the apple, or her tiny red toenails. I am also totally digging the way her hair is done.

This is just really cool.

The rabbit who...

2006-06-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

"The rabbit who, while seeking its boomerang, found a carrot."

Okay, so this is awesome. Srsly.

I love the limey background color and the freakish one-eyed, sharp-toothed rabbit. The text is insane and delicious. I want to print this out and hang it on my wall.

This needs to be printed, because I need to wear it.

Defy//Destroy

2006-06-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

This isn't my usual style, but I like the way it looks. I actually skipped over it, and had to hit the back button when I realised it had a helmet on it. I guess I like helmets.

"Rome has fallen" is probably my new favorite phrase. I can't figure out if it's foreboding or upbeat, but I like it.

BIRTH

2006-06-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

This is probably my all-time favorite Threadless submission. Whenever I make a list or a mental note of my favorite submissions, this is the first that comes to mind. Not to say that there aren't others I like equally as much (is that redundant?), or even that if I were to choose a single design to be printed, I would choose this one (though the odds are good.)

I just think this is one of the most beautiful drawings I've ever seen. If I were to list the things I love about it, every possible feature of the image would be on the list. The soft brown colors. The tiny spot of blue. The short, sketchy lines. The expression on the girl's face. The way the hair is drawn, left undefined at the top of her head. Her large, careful hands. The fact that it is chilly--she is wearing long pants and a winter coat--but the insect has hatched and is alive. Her urban girl look, and the fact that she is so in touch with nature, with life. The contrast of her soft colors and sketchy lines and the insect's blue, mathematical look. The eggshells at her knees, and the question of the as-yet-unbroken ones. (Will they hatch? Is it too late? Is this blue creature the only one to survive?)

It's beautiful. I don't have any other word for it.

POP tART

2006-06-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's weird seeing old idea turned into other people's projects. Whenever I see one of those Dragonology-esque "fact" books about mythical creatures, I want to throw a tantrum right there in the book store, screaming, "I was going to DO this!" (Yes, my childhood plans involved writing and illustrating field books on mythical creatures. You have no idea how peeved I am that so many have been published now. But, this is an extremely rare (and extremely violent) case.)

Anyway, I felt that way a bit (much less so) when I saw this. At some point in high school, I had to do a research project on Andy Warhol, and a pop(t)art screenprint thing was one of the ideas I took to and jotted down. I didn't have the means to screenprint at the time, though (it was a painting class, and in retrospect Andy Warhol was not the best artist to choose), and aside from a few frustrated sketches, the idea was put on the back burner. And here it is!

Not that it was a particularly groundbreaking idea, or course. And I never did anything with it (although I'll confess I'm inspired to, now), so one might argue that I ought to have given up my attachment to the idea, anyway. And I have, but it's something for me to post about, heh.

Just an odd sense of deja vu.

king of the nocturnal's

2006-06-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

What I love about this shirt is what many of the commenters seem to dislike. the crazy (asymmetric!) swirls and details are awesome, but all the more so because of how simple the owl is. If the owl were more detailed, it would blend in with the linework, and the design would be ho-hum--just another swirly shirt.

But look at this. It's awesome. Bright yellow eyes, so bold that you don't notice anything else until you look harder. Then you see fancy, intricate linework all around, and in the middle, BAM. Nothing. Just barely there, an owl, staring with its huge empty eyes.

I think it's awesome. Very underrated submission.

motel

2006-06-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

I love this. No, I love this.

Maybe it's the horror-movie vibe. Maybe it's the oranges and greys. Maybe it's total ambiguity of the text. I don't know.

But I love this shirt.

The Midnight Armada

2006-06-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

I love the hugeness of this design. And the tall, narrow, remind-me-of-circus-tents-and-bowling-pins ships.

I like big designs. I think they're awesome. I don't know when I stopped thinking that everything ought to be smaller, but right now I am a fan of huge pictures on shirts.

The only probably with bottom placement designs is that my shirts tend to scrunch up around my waist, and that's kind of a bummer if there's actually stuff to be seen in the wrinkles. Hm.

Hug vs. I Love Anime

2006-06-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it struck me that these two were in the running at the same time, but it did.

In a weird twist of fate, I would probably wear I *Love* Anime before I'd wear Hug. I can rock Chinese Peaches with the best of them, but I don't think I could pull off Bony Geisha Being Eaten By Octopus.

Assuming the odd blob of a tentacle in I *Love* Anime were changed to a tentacular heart, I could probably swing that. Tasteless? Yeah, but at least subtly tasteless.

Life is Music

2006-06-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the title is kind of lame, but I think this is really pretty.

The way my monitor is tilted right now, it looks almost like the light pink (of some of the clouds, and also part of the girl's dress) is sort of a toothpaste green color, and honestly I like that even more.

The world needs more toothpaste-green designs, I think.

SPLASH

2006-06-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is awesome, and my favorite Threadless Loves Threadless submission so far.

If you don't want some punk kid with a hot pink a watergun shooting everyone who looks at your shirt, I think you need to seriously reevaluate your priorities in life.

Mr. Tee

2006-06-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

This made me grin. Nice presentation, too. =p

This brings up something that irks me about Threadless voters (well, commenters) sometimes. People sometimes complain that "no one outside of Threadless would get it. Well, no! And I'm oddly okay with that.

I don't know, maybe I'm just weird, but I generally buy clothes that I like... not clothes that I need other people to "get." If a shirt makes me happy, why would it matter if no one I know understands it? Yeah, there's the idea of "I'd have to explain it to everyone," but you don't actually have to explain anything. Someone asks what your shirt is about, you don't have to answer them if you can't be bothered to do so. I can think of a half-dozen responses to the question Who's that? about this shirt.

-He's the lead singer in an indie band. You haven't heard of him.
-It's my boyfriend
-Can't you read?
-He's running for President in 2008
-It's Dustin Diamond. You know, the guy who played Screech on Saved by the Bell?
-Okay, so that was only five, but you see where this is going.

I dunno, it just seems weird that people would only buy shirts that they knew their friends would like.