Reactions and Thoughts on the KA-BAR Backstabber

I thought it would be good to do a quick follow up blog containing a little more info, beyond that concerning the design itself (pictured left. Click the image for a larger version).

To start I want to say that the colors on flex print are very vibrant. The red "[Backstabber]" font on the front of my t-shirt contrasts so very highly with its blackness that it can't help but catch the eyes of anyone within viewing distance. With it catching so many people's attentions, a few things have been brought to my attention...some realizations.

First, is that the pop artist known as Ke$ha has a song titled Backstabber. But the way that this knowledge was made available to me was by way of being asked "So, you like Ke$ha?" That was an interesting conversation, and I found it highly amusing, but as those of you who've read my prior post are aware, this has nothing to with Ke$ha's song.

The next realization is that t-shirts with front and back designs, in which those two designs are dependent on each other for the complete narrative, are a type of special experience for those who are exposed to them and thus become its audience. The experience of those who see the KA-BAR and the blood before the text on the front is different to those who see the text before the knife and the gore on the back. And likewise, the experience of those who only saw the back, and the way it made them feel, is very different to those who only read the text on the front of the t-shirt, and how that made them feel. How exactly? I couldn't tell you. That makes me think about the next thing though...

A girl I see around often enough, but who's a bit of a stranger to me, commented on the t-shirt. She dropped me a "Well, at least now I know not to trust you!" with a smirk. I found that intriguing. I mean, I know it was just an attempt at flirting, but I took it and I thought about it for a bit. So I ponder "What does this t-shirt say about me?" What does the Backstabber t-shirt say about the person wearing it? To answer that, I need to take this back to its origin.

In Modern Warfare 2, the Backstabber title is earned by sneaking up and stabbing an enemy player in the back while playing in any of the online multiplayer matches, and while I play (Or more like, when I played. I just don't have the time anymore) it is a title that I wear out proudly. It was a badge of honor given for being a sneaky fuck. And, honestly, I like it. You could say that I like to think of myself as a clever, sneaky, fox type of person. But the type that stabs my enemies in the back because of my cunning, not the type that tabs my friends in the back through being deceitful. Does that make sense?

To round this out though, I'll speak about how I figured these design choices would be read, and you could say that what I was aiming for initially was some sort of irony. You have a t-shirt labeling the person wearing it a backstabber, and all the while the person has a knife in their own back...

That's it for that follow up on the KA-BAR Backstabber t-shirt. Expect Backstabbers featuring different...weapons in the future. They'll start coming along as soon as I get the next thousand things out of my head. Carry on!

J, out!

[Backstabber]

(These designs have been updated as of June 25, 2010)

Been talking about this one for a while, so let's get to it! To start, I'll give you a little bit of background on what brought about the idea...at least partly (I have so much going on in my head, and I take in so much stimulation from everything in the environment that either emits or reflects light  [is that impossibly inclusive enough?] that it's impossible pointing at all definite sources. I really don't know). Well, anywho, on to the story;

Basically, I enjoy playing Modern Warfare 2 as much as the next guy, and the manner in which I was playing (sneaking around then running up and stabbing enemies in the back) earned me the "Backstabber" title pretty early on. It wasn't until sometime later, when a friend of mine with a thing for violence and I were strolling through the mall, talking about my idea for the "Reload!" t-shirt that the vision came to me. A few more did also, and I even went and decided right then and there that I would call the line Blades & Blood, but this isn't about all that, so I'll move on...

From the start my vision was of a two color design, and I wanted it to be very...iconic. Do you get what I mean by that? By "iconic", I mean that I wanted the elements to be icons. To me this means simple, clean, crisp representations of the things depicted. Like the sign on a public restroom's door letting you know which gender it is for, or the sign that represents a person in a wheel chair over the handicap parking space. When you look at these, even though people don't look anything like how they are depicted, you know what they mean, almost at a primal level. I wanted the design to speak in the absence of any font or type...and yet, I didn't want it to be so simple that it would look unrefined. I didn't want the common representation of a knife people see everyday. Don't get me wrong, that plain old thing gets the message across, but I wanted something more. This had to be mine, I had to own it. With those things in mind, a vector design seemed like the best bet.

I began by choosing a knife with a powerful link to my past. The KA-BAR fighting knife. This knife - its pommel, hilt, and blade - are ingrained into the memories of my time served in the U.S. Marine Corps. The knife itself is iconic, and as far as I'm concerned (being a Marine, so I don't really know if the other services use it), it's a Marine fighting knife! So, now that I've given you the long back story, I can tell you about the design process...

 (Click the image for a larger version!)

First off, I don't have the image that was used as reference, but a look at any old KA-BAR will give you a pretty good idea of its basic build (so, yes, the blade is supposed to sit that far forward). Secondly, I want to make it clear that Spreadshirt has very strict standards on their "flex" printed designs, so these designs can be a bit of an undertaking (I got more stories, trust). The biggest restriction is that sections in a design cannot be smaller than 0.06x0.06 inches in size, and gaps between sections cannot be smaller that 0.04x0.04 inches in size. These restrictions in particular turn generating and finalizing these designs into some sort of artistic math problem!

Using Illustrator, I took the pen tool, set to stroke only, blocked out the sections that you see, selected it all, and then switched it all to fill with no stroke. The way that I created that oval with the negative space around it, on the spine of the blade, was by using the pen tool to shape out the form, set to stroke only, in a color different from that of the rest of the knife. I then went to the top menu, and under "Object", chose to flatten, checked the box that says "turn all strokes to outlines" and OK'ed it. After that I pulled up the "Pathfinder" window, and chose the "merge" option. This made it so that the part of the blade below the off-colored oval disappeared, so after that all I had to do was individually select the oval with the "direct selection tool" (shortcut key "A"), press "delete" and voila! An oval of sorts divided from the rest of the blade by a negative space.

Above and to the left you have the finalized KA-BAR icon design. That was about two thirds of the work.

My next step was to create a dripping, blood stain (I'm not sure how else to describe it) to stab  the KA-BAR into. It's kinda funny creating a design that you won't be using all of in the end...

To start, I free handed (with a tablet and pen) the blood with the pencil tool, set to fill, and used the eraser and such to refine it. Once I had its basic form down, I went and changed its aspect and size so that all of its parts fell within the 0.06x0.06 inch size minimum. I basically widened it a whole bunch. The initial design was much narrower. From there I took the KA-BAR and, like, castrated half of its blade (Did I mention how it bothers me that a part of the design that I am proud of isn't even being used?!) and messed around with its orientation until I got it to a place where it felt right. Below is the finalized "KA-BAR Backstabber" design, in all of its vectorized, digital glory!

(Again, click the image for a larger view)

So, yeah. There it is, boys and girls! Here's what one looks like on a t-shirt, in case you were wondering. I have a fellow "artist" friend who disagrees with the flatness of the KA-BAR, as he figures it would look more "dynamic" if it had some perspective to it, but the flatness and plainness is precisely what my vision was. So in the end his opinion, though appreciated, was kind of irrelevant. You can call it arrogance if you wish. I call it staying true to the vision and to the feel that I set out to achieve from the get go. This is meant to be an icon, not principled "art".

And....I think that's about all I have for this one.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, simply post them over in my comments and I'll see about getting back to you. Carry on!


J, out!