*Biggest* Fan Reactions

(Post last updated 10/30/2010)

Hey there. I just felt in the mood to post something, but not enough to get to my next "deviation" post, so I thought I'd go with something that I can wrap up quicker.

It's been about 2 months or so since I ordered a "*Biggest* Fan" tee of my own to wear, so I thought I'd share, briefly, on its reception by the "audience" that's been exposed to it.

Honestly, I had a doubt or two about this. But after seeing that 4 sold soon after I had made it available on Spreadshirt, as mentioned in the design's introductory blog, the doubt began fading a bit. So, I ordered my own and patiently waited until it came in the mail.

The reactions to it have been varied, but positive overall. One instance that sticks out in my mind was that of an acquaintance from school. When she initially saw it, her first reaction was to roll her eyes and say "Oh my god..." but it was followed by laughter, so I thought "Alright, that's not ALL bad, I guess." Later though, I ran into her again as she was talking to a group of her friends and she went, "Oh my god, y'all have to look at his shirt, it's *epic*."

..."Epic?", I thought, "Didn't she roll her eyes?"


I figured I'd just go with it though. I mean, it is pretty silly, so I suppose a roll of the eyes to the self-assuredness of a claim such as being the *biggest* fan is the appropriate response to expect (can you tell that I didn't ponder what the response to this would be as much as I did with my "Backstabber" tee?).

[1st Update, 10/30/2010]


Just a few days ago, I had a few more reactions to my *Biggest* Fan t-shirt that I thought I'd report, one being a reaction of my own. This first reaction might also be a "note to self", as this could be avoided in the near future (but would I want to?). So, I had some stuff to take care of at my apartments' leasing office, but as I began to state what my business there was, the lady just busts out laughing! So I'm standing there, giving her a bit of a confused look she goes "You are always wearing the funniest t-shirts!", at which point I look down and go "Oh...right. So, anyhow, as I was sayi-", but again, I was interrupted by more laughter. It took a few more moments of this, and of her asking which one I was wearing the last time (it was the "Meat Pyramid" one, by the way) before we could get to talking business. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I had a sense of urgency about things, I would have found it very amusing. I guess next time I wear this thing out, I'll try to keep the fact that I'm wearing it in mind, so there aren't too many surprises, which directly relates to this next "reaction".

The next reaction, which was more of a thought, came from myself. As the day went on, and I returned to my normal level of self awareness (contrast from self-conscious), again I found it curious that more people than normal (thus making me consciously aware of it) were staring at me with odd looks on their faces. I was having dinner with a friend that night, and after returning from a trip to the little boys' room I sat and told her "Y'know...I should probably try to remain more conscious of what I am wearing when I'm out and about with these on. I keep getting these funny looks and forgetting why..." She agreed.

[end 1st Update]

Most times the response is a smile with a shake of the head, but I haven't actually worn it very much, so I guess I'll wait and see some more. I think that's about all I have for that one. My next post should be on the next "deviation", and for those of you that keep up with what's currently up in my designer shop, the next design should actually be a digital direct design that'll be sure to flare up my phobia. So, until the next time, don't eat that, and carry on!

J, out...

1st Departure: Are Two Girls Better Than One?

(...many seem to think so)

But I'm not here to make a statement or to educate anyone on latent (??) sexual preferences (heh). This is about a deviation (sounds more fun than calling them "variations") born from another design, and the first of its kind.

This first one was born from a part of the Danger & Beauty design. One third of the design, to be exact. The following four deviations came from the "Beauty" design. Both the original one, and the negative space bikini one were used. They're no surprise, so I'll go ahead and show all four of these puppies, and then expound on how they came to be. I believe it will be easier that way...

(Click images for larger versions)

Unless you're half blind (or spatially challenged...), then you've probably noticed that the girl on the right of each of these pairs is simply a mirrored image of the one on the left. No voodoo magicks there...

The way that first pair (without the "Twins!" font) came about was from my messing around with combining designs to display as examples of what anyone browsing through my shop could arrange themselves, to put up in the shops "product examples" section. As I might have mentioned before, each part of my Danger & Beauty design is available to buy/use individually.

So what I did was take two and stick 'em on a shirt, then I horizontally flipped the one on the right and voilà! There it was! But...I noticed that the price on the product with two designs on it was too high for my linking, so in the spirit of keeping the cost down as much as possible for any possible customers who might like that arrangement, I went back into Illustrator, replicated what I had done in Spreadshirt with both the bikini and bikini-less designs, and uploaded each back into Spreadshirt as two color, single designs!

Next, during another session of messing around with the Spreadshirt product designer, I added "Twins!" underneath  the girls and placed it on a t-shirt to display on the product example window. As any of you who've gone and at least messed around on Spreadshirt know, adding font adds to the cost. Things remained that way for a while after...

Fast forward to this post, and while simultaneously messing around with my designer shop and writing the blog, finding the whole "Twins!" thing funny enough to keep around, it came to me that I should probably unify the two girl design with the text myself, and upload it all as a three color design (meaning anyone can change the color on either of the girls and the text independent to any of the other elements), thus what you see just above. Hm...

(stepped away and wrote down a bunch of new ideas)

Anywho, that's about it for how those designs came to be. There is no philosophy that fueled these designs, or any crazy revelations received while hanging out in a cave, simply opportunity, and my aim to keep my designs affordable. You can find these designs under "Twins!" and "Beauties", "Alpha" for the the ones with bikinis and "Beta" for the bikini-less. I'll have posts on other deviations coming soon. Stand by.

J, out...

Never Take Your Eyes Off the Goal

(And whatever you do, don't look down!)

It's been a while. Actually, I'm pretty sure this has been the longest lapse of time in between posts yet. I'd apologize, but I've never promised frequency or volume. Plus, it isn't like I've been lounging around this whole time, either...well, not all of it.

I've probably said it before, but my social life and school work take precedence, and the latter kept me very busy during the final weeks of this past quarter. Enough, in fact, to make me want to take a real break from anything art or design related for that whole week that I had off. And yeah, that included posting anything here. And, actually, the last design I uploaded to Spreadshirt was on the 19th of August, and it is the design directly related to this post, so yeah, it's been a while since I've designed anything.

And then, there's today! I recently learned that that "11.8inch x 11.8inch" size limitation only applies to flex printing. The size limit for digital direct printing is closer to 15inch x 15inch (or "3,000pixels x 3,000pixels" at 200dpi)! What this knowledge has done, is open the floodgates of my imagination, and I've got all sorts of crazy ideas spilling out. BUT!...that's an issue because I'm far from catching up on my "design journal" posts on here for what's already available.

So, I'm kinda having to rededicate myself to this blog again. As I've explained before, I'd rather be making designs than sitting and writing about them. But...it's why I started this blog, so I migth as well. Can't be going and half-assing things, it ain't my style. I'll start as soon as I can work up the motivation to. Until then, carry on...

J, out!