Friday, September 26, 2008

Jay-toberfest!

So, this is the 3rd attempt I've made at writing this feature...I first started it on Friday afternoon before some friends were coming over for some grilling and beer. Things (for this blog entry, at least) went downhill from there. We ended up having a little Oktoberfest - lots of dark beer and plenty of sausage grilled over an open fire! By the time the night was over, I wasn't really in any condition to blog, so I planned on finishing this on Saturday. Saturday rolled around, we did a nice 12 mile bike ride and then decided to have Oktoberfest, part 2 - more dark beer, plus TWO kinds of sausage this time (and some other assorted grillin's - that's the spread from Oktoberfest night 2 in the photo to the left).

Anyhoo, no Oktoberfest part 3 today - we need a break! But, that doesn't mean we can't have a t-shirt Oktoberfest, right?

It's been a bit since I've featured designs from a our cool German friend, Jay, from Van Tribe. So here's five shirt designs by Jay - a little something I'm calling, "Jay-toberfest"!

Triple Skull & Lucky Skull
I know I've touted Tat2ts as the Master of skulls, but he and Jay are both heavily into the skull genre (actually, they do designs for each others shops occasionally). Jay's got quite a nice collection of skull designs including the tribal reminiscent Triple Skull and the Lucky Skull: skull + lucky clovers = great, unique idea (not to mention the dropping leaf - a beautiful touch).


Fist of Love & Hate
Jay has a really great graphic style that carries through all of his work, whether it be tattoo, tribal or even /graphic slogan based. One of my favorite non-tribal/tattoo related designs from Jay is his Fist of Love and Hate design. The design is so simple and clean, but the graphic itself and the message are so powerful!



Breeding Demon

A number of Jay's designs are tribal inspired (or mixed with tribal elements). I really like his Breeding Demon design because, frankly, it's quite clever.


Twinkling Dead Flower
Yes...he even does flowers - Jay's got something for everyone. Of course, it's with his own personal touch, twisting tattoo and tribal elements into one sweet, unique design. The dead flower concept is morbid enough for men, yet feminine enough for the ladies (and it's featured on Spreadshirt's brand new unisex tie-dye).

Grab these shirts today in the guest designs section at the Insan Art Store, or check out Van Tribe to see more great designs from Jay and others...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Happy Campers by Gladditudes

So, it is officially autumn, but I'm definitely still trying to get outside for some camping - so what if summer is over!

These "Happy Camper" designs by Gladditudes are a perfect way to extend your summer (or maybe the perfect Christmas gift for your favorite outdoors-person - hint hint!).



Choose from 3 different Happy Camper themes: with pine trees and sun, with the classic tent/camping symbol and a very cute smiling Half
Dome!






Get these shirts by visiting the Guest Designs section of the Insan Art Store and don't forget to check out the rest of the happy designs at Gladditudes!

27 New Designs from Insan Art

Well well, it has been a month since my last feature and what a busy month it has been! Over the past few weeks I've been doing a number of things, first and foremost grinding the rust out of my Jeep and patching and painting it. That was crazy. Then, I've been working on a book for my good friend Van Wagner. In between everything else, I worked on a whole slew of new designs! There's 27 in all including 3 new slogan/text designs and the rest are symbols based on real signs. Here's a peek at 12:


Three New Slogan designs:

Give Me Unlimited Internet or Give Me DEATH - This design is for all of us out there worried about the recent news of caps on bandwidth usage.
WARNING: May Contain More Than a Trace of Nut: This one was actually overheard being said by a certain Colbert on his report - it's too funny and so true, I need one for myself!
BEER, Now cheaper than gas! "Drink, Don't Drive." - This one is pretty self-explanatory.



P
lus, new symbol designs:


Various Animal Warning symbols including Moose Warning (from Maine), Squid/Stinging Marine Animal Warning (one of my ocean/beach favorites), Giant Insect Warning (those skeeters are a bitch), plus Bear Warning and Croc Warning (not shown)...


...various sport/recreational symbols including Technical Rock Climbing (and not shown are Climbing/Mountaineer, Kayaking,
Biking, Swimming, Hang Gliding, Swinging, Skiing and Spelunking)...




...various "warning" symbols like Jet/Plane Warning, No Pirates Warning, Radioactivity/Death Warning and the "Crotch Fire" Warning (plus, not shown are Cliff, Shock, Thin Ice and Tsunami Warnings)...


..........plus, one very special symbol design (green shirt, bottom right) that is honestly from a real sign. It is a Japanese Subway

informational sign. Look at it briefly, what's your first impression?


OK, ready for the spoiler? From left to right it means: Person with injured arm, person with a child, pregnant woman and person with an injured leg.

Yes, seriously. Not what it looks like, huh?!?



Hehehehehe...

Anyhoo...click on any shirt to go directly to that design
section in my shop, or go directly to the Insan Art Store main page to check out all of the new designs!