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Thursday, 1 November 2012

Big Day Tomorrow


As I mentioned in my first post here, I’ve decided to print my own t-shirts for fun at home and after reading many sites and articles on t-shirt printing decided to make my own screen and print using water based inks. However my next problem was how to approach it and where to get the materials. I posted up on Threadless and Creative Ireland and got loads of feedback. One of the members of Creative Ireland invited me to see their studio if I wanted to see how they print t-shirts, this was an offer I couldn’t refuse so heading up to Dublin tomorrow morning to visit and hope to learns loads. My youngest sister Roisin who wants to get into fashion design (she’s currently in a one year portfolio course) was also supposed to come up but has had to cancel at the last minute as she has to work she's disapointed as she really wanted to see the studio and would have learn loads which will help her too.

Its Happened...been a strange day


I’m so happy right now. Just checked my e-mail there and I had one in from Threadless which said 

Hi awesome designer, and congratulations!
We’re excited to let you know that your submission ‘Jump Into’ for iPhone cases has been accepted by our discerning panel of snobby judges. Your design is now up on the scoring block, and ready for voting and sharing. When the voting process is over, maybe, just maybe, yours will be the one! Aren't you just giddy with excitement? We are.
So good job… and good luck!
Love, Your pals at beta.threadless.com

I have been successful in my submission to the i-phone case competition, finally..lol. I've had a number of rejections, yes I know they weren't up to scratch but I longed for that first one getting in…but the wait has been worth it because I’m at a stage in life where I can actually make something from this great news and over the next few months the guys at Threadless will be bombarded with my designs. Its been a strange day for me, I was up at the Alcohol Action Conference today in Dublin, it was something I felt would help me to help others, I took time out of my job and life to attend but I have learned loads to bring back to my club where I’m the ASAP officer, plus I've met people today also from Cavan who can help us with educating the younger and older members about how to enjoy alcohol without doing damage both long term and short term. It made me feel good to think I was giving back, but when I got home I was feeling down a bit, brought on with things which have happened this summer, it made me question is what I’m doing here with the T-shirts worth it or just a fad that nothing will come from…amazing what a piece of good news can do to change your outlook on life. Funny thing is this morning on the bus up I got an e-mail from the minimalist website with their new essay on guess what? Overcoming Self Doubt…someday soon I can feel great things going to happen.

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Threadless I-Phone Submission


So finally got my head down and worked on an idea for a Threadless competition. There’s currently one running for artwork for an I-phone case. My idea is different from what I originally was going to do. Thought it would be cool to incorporate the slot for the camera into my design and was thinking of an American footballer stretching to catch a ball one handed. I don’t know how I got round to the idea of someone bungee jumping, maybe it’s me trying to express how I fell about life at the minute, that I've been free falling  I thought it would be cool to have it as a black line work and then have an almost offset line work in other colours to give it a cool effect. Its currently in for review so waiting to hear back if I’m successful in my attempt to get it published. Images attached below so hope you like it. 

White Version

Blue Version



The Start of the Journey


I've always had a grĂ¡ (love) for T-shirt art, especially when we go to try it out in Secondary school in art class. I thought it cool, and would be a great thing to do every day but had no clue about how to get started, was a bit naive in the world and was just floating along. Then in my last year of college in 2005/06 I stumbled across a site called Threadless and I was hooked. I loved going on the site and seeing the different designs and dreamed about entering the competitions but didn't know where to start, how would I know what to put on a t-shirt that would win. It was like that for years, some days I would take down the info of the various competitions and start thinking about it but usually they went nowhere. For a few years I just forgot about it, occasionally checking out the site and dreaming. The at the start of this year I decided I needed to do something about it and worked on a few submissions. First one got turned down and I forgot about it for a few weeks, but back I came and tried a design for the Sesame Street comp, again I got the needs more work. (Funny thing is I seen a design very similar to mine in a local music shop later in the summer). Anyway I sort of gave up hope and forgot about it, but then I had a life changing experience, my girlfriend of two and a half years broke up with me and I was just lost…I gave up on everything in life, pushing away design and other things, cleared any reference to design from my life, I read books, looked for inspiration, why had this happened, something told me when it happened it was for a good reason. Eventually I stumbled across a site The Minimalists with essays by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemustwo guys who had left their six figure corporate jobs at 30 to follow their passion. The next few weeks I had every different type of idea with what I wanted to do with my life flash up. Become a medical designer, maybe move to San Francisco to work for IDEO, forget design altogether and go work for a charity or a group working to make people’s lives better. I think at the end of the day I want to be able to say I’m doing something worthwhile with my life to make others better. T-shirts may not be the final part of the journey but a set in that direction, they may not help make people’s lives better like a well-designed medical device or a water pump in Africa or by working with people from disadvantaged area’s but when you see a great cool design it brings a smile to your face and makes you want to share it with the world, if you can make someone smile and be happy even if just for a moment then maybe it’s worth it. So I've made a decision, It may not become a full time job but always be a hobby but it will bring happiness to a lot of people’s lives I hope. I’m starting at the bottom, and have another design in for submission, fingers crossed it gets picks, I've plan’s to get my own screen printing frame made up by myself and have some fun printing t-shirt. But most importantly I know that it’s the journey that makes life worthwhile, not necessarily the end product and I've got to make every second count to get to where I want to be:)