Inspiration: Lotus - 5 designs by Giltlotus

Back from Hickory Fest - spent a few days recuperating (I'll probably be blogging about the weekend on the Insan Art Blog, sometime next week) and now my husband and I are headed out for some camping, hiking, biking and rock climbing, in-lieu of the honeymoon we're supposed to be on this weekend in Ireland (decided not to go this year because of the economy). But, before I go, I better throw down 5 new shirt designs! Being in a hurry, I'm doing a 5 design quick pick and as usual, a perfect candidate for this is Giltlotus, our resident Sensei of lotus and Asian inspired motif. Let's see what's she's been up to:

Chinese Peony Swag - one color & multi-color
This design is exactly the kind of shirt design that amazes me - Gilt (aka Amy) has got an eye for creating these lusciously intricate vector designs that still somehow meet Spreadshirt's design requirements. She must put a ton of time into creating these tasteful, yet technically printable motifs. I absolutely adore the multi-color Chinese peonies, but the one color version is JUST as striking!



Wave Kamon & Japanese Snake Kamon
If super intricate designs aren't your thing, Amy's got you covered, too! She's got an amazing line of Japanese Kamon style motifs (another I blogged previously) that are simple, yet striking. The wave kamon is a beautiful, clean example of a contemporary spin on traditional Japanese styling. The snake kamon is a bit more high energy with it's crisp repetition and tribal feel.







India Paisley
Amy's got quite the collection of paisley inspired designs, too - singles, multiples, one colors and multi-colors. She also has a number that are inspired by different regions. While I love them all, I had to pick the single India Paisley as my favorite to feature here!

Well, here's the part where I usually tell you, "Go buy these in my store!" Sure you can still do that - my store.....or make your own.

However, I wanted to put the link to Amy's designs she has available in the Spreadshirt Marketplace as well. She doesn't have a full store at Spreadshirt right now, so I encourage you all to check out her Marketplace designs here, if you see something you like, just click on "place the design on a product" to get started designing your own shirt.

You can also visit Amy's other shop, Ming Tees.

Gone to Hickory Fest!

Well, I was hoping to get a quick shirt post in for the week, but that's not going to happen! I'm way too busy getting ready to go to Hickory Fest - it's a bluegrass festival put on by some good friends of mine in Stony Fork, PA. My husband and I run the security team.

If you're in the area and like great music, check it out!!! Can't get there but still interested? I have lots of pictures from the past few years on my photo gallery:
http://pictures.insanart.com/v/hickoryfest/

I'll be back next week with more all new shirts!

NEW the Insan Art Store & Designs by Insan Art

Howdy!

The Insan Art Store is ALL NEW with a fresh new layout that matches my homepage, plus several new designs. This remodel has been needed for a long time. I originally started out with just the stand-alone Spreadshirt shop. Then, I upgraded to a premium account and started expanding - I used the PA State Store as a guinea pig to test remodeling options. When I had that squared away I went on to the Squid Shop. Then summer came - LOL. But, it's finally done. A few minor layout alterations to work on, but it's there!


The first new design that I absolutely love is Nigga, Peas. It's offensive, but overall it's funny. It's a parody straight from the actual Green Giant. I was going for a disco/pimp kind of look.






The next design, Will Thrift is one I've had started ever since I made Thrift Store Chic (which has been completely re-designed as well). It's a parody of the Goodwill Logo. I grew up on a healthy diet of thrift store visits and clothes with my mother being the thrift shopping queen (and I'm next in line for that throne), so I had both those things in mind when I created Will Thrift as well as Thrift Store Chic.




Another new design is I'm a ctrl freak, made with myself in mind, but I figured that plenty of others would get it, too. I'm an avid user of programs like Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver in which your productivity is greatly increased by using keyboard shortcuts - many use the "ctrl" key. But, even everyday computer use can be streamlined by using "ctrl" plus other keys for things like cutting, pasting, etc. If you're truly a "ctrl freak", you'll totally understand this.

So, check out the all new remodel of the Insan Art Store and check out the new designs. As always, if you don't see something you like, you can make your own with our t-shirt designer!

Skulltastic Spectacular from Tat2ts

If you've been following along with 5 Shirts, you'll know that Tat2ts (aka Vic) is the master of skull designs. Along with that, in a world with a sea of crappy digital t-shirt designs, Tat stands out.

I harbor poor feelings towards digital printing-on-demand since it's opened the doors for any old Joe to put any old crappy, pixelated digital image on a shirt, or even worse, a whole slew of other products! This is not the case with Tat - he sincerly puts a lot of thought and work into his digital designs and I really appreciate that.

So, on to the skulls!!!

Rising
For a while now, Tat has been experimenting with "trompe l'oeil" type designs (fool the eye). One of my first favorites of his was one of these (previous post). For this design he says he was trying to get the effect of the skull "rising up out of the shirt", hence the name.




Gone But Not Forgotten
In this Vietnam vet themed design, like many of his other recent designs, Tat's been playing with gradients and he's done a fine job with them! Overall, it's a nice combo of skull and nature theme. I like the design best on white, but it is made to work on all colors and would even look cool on black.



Dead Planet
Another technique Tat has been toying with is morphing multiple images. Dead planet is perfect example of this and he's done a great job combining the earth and skull images into a quite a thought provoking piece. It's exactly the kind of "environmental" design I'd expect to see from the (proclaimed by me) Master of tattoos and skulls.


Go ahead and grab one or all of these shirts today at the all new Insan Art Store, make your own in our t-shirt designer, or...

...check out all of Tat2ts products at his site:
http://www.tat2ts.com/