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/

Summer Fun from new designers...

The blog is definitely due for a Summer feature and what better time than now to introduce 3 of our new featured designers? Here's a quick peek at our newest designers and a hot summer design from each...
- Summer: Everybody Loves the Sunshine by birdy27

Birdy27 (aka veggie27) is the master of slogan designs. I promised I would squeeze some in and check it out Veg, it didn't take me long! This summer design (which is available with multiple phrases), when paired with the chocolate ringer totally screams vintage. I think it just might be the 70's again every time I see it! The simplicity of the overall design and beautiful tri-color use evoke fond memories of classic iron-on designs.






- Sundown by lucentdesign

Although it's not a vector, I had to pick this one up - Sundown from lucentdesign. I love Japanese art and this design is a really nice twist on the good ol' "rising sun" motif, plus slap in the wings and you've got one hell of a modernization of traditional Japanese styling.
PS lucent, vector this puppy ASAP. It is such a nice design, I hate to see it ruined with digital printing.




- Bikini Girl by undrcentr23

Grab this Bikini Girl design by undrcentr23 and you can have a hot girl in a bikini ON YOU all day long. HA! But, seriously, this shirt is almost an instant beach classic, just add shorts, flip-flops and some shades and get ready for fun in the sun! To be completely honest, open this one up in the t-shirt designer (under "grabbed designs") and play with the colors - the design looks so neat depending on what color shirt it's on. Though I'm not usually into the orange and blue retro ringer, I absolutely adore it with this design - you can match the design blue color to the shirt, and the orange color shows through as hair - she's a fiesty redhead!!

So go ahead, grab one (or all) of these shirts in the Insan Art Store or make your own!

2x the Twisted Pleasure from Shivtees

If there's one thing I love about the designs from Shivtees, it's got to be the consistent theme of twisted sarcasm (I also dig the fact that ALL the designs maintain a very distinct style that is simple yet hugely professional!).

This first design from Shivtees is called "Gingerbread Cannibalism". The name alone is pretty catching. The design itself is SO simple, but has an extremely funny and hardy message. The gingerbread men make this shirt work for Christmas, but the sarcastic tone makes it a no-brainer for t-shirt loving jokesters to wear year-round.

This next design is "Freedom from Prehistoric Oil". I'm always looking for well-executed, environmentally-conscious designs, so this one stood out. However, I think that this design is perhaps a step above the rest of Shivtees' designs. The style is consistent with the rest of Shiv's designs, but rather than simply a play on words, Shiv takes this one and makes it a sarcastic view on a very real, very timely problem. As a design in the environmental genre, "Freedom from Prehistoric Oil" is SO timely and SO original that it stands out miles ahead of the rest of the "Earth Day" pack.

Catch one of these tees at the Insan Art Store or make your own!

Animal Double Feature by Aspa Shirts

Well, first I must apologize for missing yet ANOTHER week - I had totally meant to do a vacation post, but my lack of time got the best of me!

Of course, Aspa noticed I was gone - that's funny, Aspa is next up on the design feature queue!

So, my apologies for the wait and to make up for it, here's a double feature from Aspa Shirts.

First is the "Red Dragon" design (which I've changed to the green dragon since that's my favorite color). It was neat to see the development of this one - Aspa had posted several incarnations of it to the Spreadshirt Forum, knocking around different ideas and colors, while playing with the design requirements. I honestly love the wings - very batty! The fire is designed nicely too, giving it a very rich, dimensional feeling.

Next is "Crocodile" which comes in two versions: a "full" colored one (on the white shirt) and a "simple" colored one (on the tan shirt). Both designs are 3 colors, but the latter has much more of a minimalist feel.

I meant to ask about this, but the design immediately makes me think of the "Lacoste" alligator (or is it a crocodile?).

Both these designs are perfect for your favorite animal (or mythical creature) lover! Check them out at the Insan Art Store and as always, if you don't like what you see, you can make your own!

Love My Planet by Gladditudes

Well, it is a little late for Earth Day, but Spreadshirt already took care of recognizing "Love My Planet" by Gladditudes for that (this design was featured in their Earth Day 2008 promotion - congratulations Glad!).

This is a really wonderful design, and amongst the plethora of Earth Day designs out there, this one certainly stands out for a reason. Like most of the designs I feature, this one is simple and original. It states it's purpose without any fancy bells or whistles, and though it is available in 2 and 3 color versions, it works perfectly fine in one color (especially a green design on a green ORGANIC unisex jersey shirt!).

As far as I'm concerned, everyday is Earth Day - so grab one of these shirts today at the Insan Art Store or make your own on one of Spreadshirt's many organic products (or non-organic products if that's what you fancy).

Electrodynamics by Insan Art

Well, last week was a busy one again and even though I had figured out which five shirts I was doing, I didn't meet my deadline!

So, to start this week's five off is "Electrodynamics" from me, Insan Art.

This design was inspired by a book a friend of mine was toting around called "Principles of Electrodynamics". I thought that the cover graphic looked a lot like boobs, so I decided to do a design from it. I mean, what goes better together than geeks and sex humor?

Even if you don't think it looks like boobs, it does make a nice geometric/abstract design...lol. The design is also available with the text "I Love Electrodynamics".

So, check it out! It's available at the Insan Art Store and if you don't see something you like, you can always Make Your Own!

A Gilt Lotus Graphics Double Feature!

To round out the week, what better than a double feature from the amazing collection of Gilt Lotus Graphics? With so many gorgeous designs, I have been tempted for a while to feature more than one...

First, on the tank top is "Phoenix & Flower" (two color version). This design flows beautifully and I love how it isn't really constrained to any certain square or rectangle shape. It is a great design, as you can see, to be printed on the lower section of shirts (especially for the ladies).

Next is "Dragonfly Kamon", one of a series of Japanese Kamon (family crest) inspired designs by Gilt Lotus. I did a little research to find out exactly what a Kamon is, and Gilt's designs are a really nice take on the traditional Japanese styling, with a variety of Japanese icons, like Mount Fuji and Cherry Blossoms.

Grab the shirts in the Insan Art Store or you can always make your own.

If you are really interested in these types of designs, I highly recommend checking out Gilt Lotus Graphics!

More Chopsticks from Insan Art

Since I'm a busy bee this week (OK, always) I'm going to do two bulk posts to get five shirts up!

So - introducing the rest of my Chopsticks series! Now, along with the plain chopsticks (from last week) also available are chopsticks with either the Japanese or Chinese characters for the word "chopsticks" and chopsticks with a cute little shrimp! I had also planned to do one with a sushi roll, but my first attempt didn't look quite right, so maybe I'll give it a go some other time.

For any of you out there who are familiar with Kanji and other Asian writing, please let me know if you think that my characters are really, really wrong!

Also, guys, I didn't forget you! There are lots of men's shirts available in the store - I just really liked these 3 ladies shirts and I decided to go for a triple female feature! So, go get yourself some chopsticks (on a shirt, of course) at the Insan Art Store, or as always, you can make your own using our t-shirt designer!

Tribal Flower by Tat2ts

Rounding out the week is yet another beauty from Vic at Tat2ts, the Tribal Flower.

I really love Vic's digital designs and I was tempted to feature another, but I wanted to dig up something tattoo related from his collection. I'm not really into tattoos (I would never get one myself) but I do enjoy the art and design aspect of tattoos - so, I set out to find a design of Vic's that is tattoo is nature, but with a touch of elegance.

Tribal flower stood out to me as one of those designs. It would make a nice, fresh addition to a summer wardrobe (or any time of the year). I love the way this design pushes the boundaries of your normal shirt graphic and is just begging to be wrapped around the side of the shirt. It works nicely on a tank.

Get the shirt at the Insan Art Store or make your own!

Chopsticks by Insan Art

Just a quick write-up for this one since I've got 3 more versions of it coming ASAP - I'll spend more time on them when they're ready.

Until then, this is my "Chopsticks (plain)" design - the text is completely optional.

Check out the selection of Chopsticks shirts available now in the Insan Art Store, make your own OR wait just a few days a see what other chopstick surprises I have up my sleeve!

Right Hand by Van Tribe

Last week Jay (1/one) of Van Tribe Shirts announced to the t-shirt community that his design, Right Hand, was currently being sold in 725 Spreadshirt shops in the US and Canada! Better make that at least 726 since I just picked it up for this feature.

That is a pretty huge amount! Personally, I have designs being sold in 11 other shops at the moment - I'm getting there...

The Right Hand design is another wonderful example of a simple yet stunning design, without a single bit of flashiness. It fits many contexts or can stand on it's own and it is rather friendly and non-abrasive - I'm sure that's why it's been picked up by so many shops!

Grab the shirt in the Insan Art Store or hit up the t-shirt designer and make your own!

My Name Is (Earl)... by Insan Art

So, again, in the most mundane situations I come up with shirt ideas. I was washing dishes the other night and I thought to myself, "I wonder if my husband set up My Name is Earl to record?" (we have the Direct TV version of Tivo, I highly recommend it).

Anyways, since I had t-shirts fresh on the brain and I've been trying to think of creative uses for the Spreadshirt t-shirt designer (aka the Confomat), I thought of this one. It's the basic My Name is Earl logo, minus the "Earl" part.





You can fill in the blank using the t-shirt designer using any name you like. If you're really itching for My Name is Earl, go for it! (or maybe Joy, Crabman/Darnell or Randy). Or you can always put in your own name. (mine looks pretty sniffy! ---> )

The Spreadshirt font "Kabel" (in the designer) is nearly identical to the font used for the original design, so use that one if you're making your own and going for an authentic look!

Get yourself one right now in the Insan Art Store! (and as always, if you don't like what you see in the store, you can make your own!)

(live) evil by Insan Art

These days it seems like everywhere I look I see something that would make a nice t-shirt design. This design, (live) evil, was inspired by a wooden cut-out I saw at a friends house of the word "Live". Someone had flipped it over so that it really looked like it said "evil".

Translating this to a shirt design was too easy to pass up! It's simple enough, but it makes you want to look twice...

...so those of you out there who are dark and naughty, this is the perfect little design for ya'll.

Indulge your dark side and get yourself a "(live) evil" shirt at the Insan Art Store or Make Your Own!

(burning) Bush by Insan Art

So, as I was thinking about the first "Burning Bush" design (see previous post), I thought it should definitely have a politically related counterpart, thus the second design, "(burning) Bush" was born.

I hate George Bush just as much as the next person and love the idea of "Bush going down (or up) in flames"... As long as he doesn't take the rest of us down with him!

I'll also have to admit that I couldn't resist (and was partially inspired by) putting this design on underwear.
It could mean all sorts of things from simply "I'm hot" to "I have an STD" (and it really does burn down there!)...probably not the kind of thing you'd want to advertise on your thong, but funny nonetheless.

Note to anyone designing their own product with this design - there are two versions of the design, both are the same design, but one is smaller just for undies and hats. If you place the small version on a shirt, it will look grainy in the preview, but in reality the print will be fine...if in doubt, please use the large version on shirts.

Get the undies or shirt at the Insan Art Store or stop in and make your own!

Burning Bush by Insan Art

I mean to write this design, Burning Bush (by me) up right after Easter, but I was waiting for the other design that kind of goes with it (next post).

I was inspired by the movie, The Ten Commandments - I recently finished reading the Old Testament and I was lucky enough to catch only the parts of the movie that I really wanted to see, like Moses talking to God through the burning bush. I thought it would make a neat design. It was my first attempt at such a "complicated" vector design (or at least submitting a design that's so complicated).

Just a note if you want to make your own in the shirt designer - the default color shown for the bush/tree is black, but it is supposed to be brown. Either can work depending on the shirt color you're using.

Get the shirt at the Insan Art Store or Make Your Own!

Steedman's Powders by mjrproductions

Well, until I get some new designer submissions, we get to start all over again from the beginning, which is great since there are lots of other designs from these folks that deserve a feature!

One of those designs would be a newer one from "mjrproductions" called Steedman's Powders - it's one of a series of antique ad designs mjr added recently.

I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong mjr) that this is a spoof of an antique medicine ad from Woolworth's in the 1890's. Either way, very nice design idea - I love the fact that not only does it look vintage, but it is actually based on a real vintage design. Nouveau vintage. Hehe!

Get the shirt at the Insan Art Store or Make Your Own!

Popcorn Tub Death by Shivtees

Shivtees has quite the interesting collection of designs - many along the lines of whales brandishing homemade knives (very hilarious and strange) - but, I was absolutely compelled to post this design, "Popcorn Tub Death" because it is just the kind of sick-and-twisted little design that would catch my eye.

I could go on about this design but I think the artist sums it up pretty well in the description (and gave me quite a chuckle): "He watched in horror as his brother's buttery insides spilled all over the floor."

Wonderfully demented humor, Shiv.

Get the shirt at the Insan Art Store or Make Your Own!

Tribal Lion by aspa

Next is Tribal Lion by "aspa". I don't normally do it, but I had to include a design only image here since the t-shirt alone just doesn't do it justice (at least not at my screen size!).

Tribal Lion is one of a large collection of tribal animal head designs from "aspa" - others include the tribal lion from other angles, wild boar, tiger and more!

This design is gorgeously complicated with the spikes curling all around one another. The negative space is treated exceptionally well. I think this design is also quite reminiscent of Celtic knotwork with a bit of a tattoo-ish twist.

Get the shirt at the Insan Art Store or design your own!

Geek Ascii Art by SpokenVisuals

From the extensive vaults of SpokenVisuals' sweet collection of geek/christian designs is "Geek Ascii Art".

I'm not too sure about what to say about this design because it just rocks so hard! I wanted one the moment I saw it! When I have the cash, it's on my list of new shirts to procure.

If you're a geek and know some other geeks, you should definitely pass this one on to the masses for lots of tech-y enjoyment.

Get it in the Insan Art Store, or make your own! (this is a fun one to play with in the shirt designer - ladies, it looks great with pink on black!)