Fox Trap Tee

admin    T-Shirts     ConcreteRocket, Fox Trap Tee, Red Riding Hood, concrete rocket, girl's t-shirts, girls tees, graphic tees

Fox Trap Tee

This one’s for the girls, well one girl anyway. There’s just one Fox Trap Tee left at Concrete Rocket (although if there are three sizes I’m guessing a few). It’s one of the best Concrete Rocket have ever produced and a superb girl power tee for the ladies. Turning the ‘ol Red Riding Hood fairytale on its head, the design is more reminiscent of something like Resident Evil! Love the illustration style on this one, a totally classic design. All Concrete Rocket’s tees are custom cut to a slimmer fit btw so you will look snazzy. If you’re out of luck with the girls’ fit there are always the guy’s version here. Get it for $21.90 in either style (if you can!).

Concrete Rocket

admin    T-Shirt Designers     Budi Kwan, Budi Satira Kwan, art shirts, art t-shirts, concrete rocket, graphic tees

I received a comment on a recent post from Budi Satira Kwan, the guy behind Concrete Rocket, and realised I’ve never featured his label, which is rather insane seeing as he knocks out such great tees. he has a really unique drawing style, simple at a glance and intense on closer inspection. There’s something spidery about his illustrations that reminds me a little of British artists in the Seventies, almost a blend of styles by quirky characters such as Quentin Blake and Gerald Scarfe although most definitely influenced by far edgier street artists of more recent times. Lovely little airbrush bursts and some very fine stencilling on offer. Don’t expect much in the abstract department, he does produce the occassional vector beauty like the Colourful Morning tee at LaFraise but it’s a rarity.

Budi also steers away from the gags and puns of designers like Glennz, sharing more in common with artists like Rob Dobi of Full Bleed when it comes to sentiment, choice of subject matter and composition. There are a few stand out classics at Concrete Rocket that having been doing a good trade for what seems like years now, and a couple of newer additions in his collection that I’d like to share with you. With a little bit of luck I’ll see if I can’t wangle a discount from Budi and add it to our permanent discount code section in the sidebar. All the tees at Concrete Rocket are available in a wide range of sizes (except the ones that have sold out!) and most in cuts for both girls and guys. Here’s a few to give CR newbies an idea of just how well Budi does what he does…

Realism Tee

We all need a little more realism in our lives, I know I do, but this tee turns the premise on its head, a life imagined can be so much more fun. Available for guys and girls for $22.90 each in all sizes.

Peanuts Tee

“Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love” ~ Charlie Brown. I love this shirt, especially the idea of adding some realism to a cartoon character. Something along the same lines was doing the rounds on the Net a few years ago, it was a hand drawing of the kids from South Park as real kids and not imagined characters. I’d love to see Budi’s “real-life” interpretation of Charlie Brown ;) Peanuts is available for girls and guys at $19.50 each in all sizes.

The Great Plunge Tee

I might be one of the only people who never cried whilst watching E.T – everyone else at the local Odeon blubbed their eyes out for some reason. I loved Close Encounters as a kid and definitely wanted to see a sequel, this was about as close as you’re gonna’ get, packed full of sap and corny feel good moments, the E.T character sucked, even the fake Roswell video guys could have done a better job. For those who do believe (and happen to be carrying an alien on their handlebars) make sure to give the Moon plenty of space when you’re doing your wheelies. Get The Great Plunge Tee for $19.50 for guys and girls in all sizes.

Balloon Man Tee

Loving this one, a classic as far as I am concerned. It kinda sealed Budi’s fate early on as a top t-shirt designer. It’s almost like the “Banksy that got away”. Great piece of surreal illustration nicely presented on a t-shirt for all your delectation. Get this shirt for girls (S-XL) and guys (M-XL).

If you fancy seeing more checkout Concrete Rocket, and if you want to keep up-to-date with all Budi’s art then you can find him at Twitter, Facebook and at his blog.

The New Standard

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     art shirts, concrete rocket, graphic t-shirts, the new standard

I received a comment from Concrete Rocket the other day and thought I’d check out this Singapore-based freelance designer out, and I’m glad I did. CR offers up a fine selection of graphic tees, exuberantly designed and highly stylized tees that take a sly wry look at the world we live in. Taking influences from both traditional art and urban/street art Concrete Rocket’s style reminds me a little of graffiti artist Banksy from time to time, which is no bad thing! You can check out his store at www.ConcreteRocket.com where there are currently 7 shirts available for both men and women, reasonably priced at between $19.50 and $21 each. My favourites have to be the intriguingly titled Bouncing Off a Satellite T-Shirt and Balloon Man T-Shirt.

I love the style of these two tees, and the reference to American Gothic in the Bouncing Off a Satellite T-Shirt is a very cool touch. Whilst attempting to do a little research about Concrete Rocket I found more examples of their work at a rather intriguing artist’s collective called The New Standard, which as you’ve guessed by now Concrete Rocket is on their books. I couldn’t resist featuring a few fine examples from other artists at The New Standard. They make some rather bold statements of intent such as “New Standard is more than apparel, and more than an art movement….New Standard is art moving. New Standard has arrived.”. Fortunately the t-shirt art on offer, for the most part, definitely stands the test of scrutiny.

Check these out:

Le Chief  T-Shirt

A lovely piece of montage, very silly and just the way I like it. The Le Chief tee is available for men (S-XL) and women (S-XL) for $28. Yes, yes, this one’s by Concrete Rocket too :p

Hungry Like A Wolf T-Shirt

Inspired by the classic Duran Duran track? Who knows, but love that style. Very Fairey! Great colours and a clean cut design. This shirt’s by artist and designer Leon Vault and is available in sizes S to XL for men for $28.

Tree of Hands T-Shirt

Beautiful woodcut style t-shirt design by highly talented illustrator Lydia Oritz. A beautiful olde-worlde look to this one, it probably has some deep spiritual meaning to it but I just like the style. Very Aboriginal art for a Manila-born American artist? Get The Tree of Hands Tee that’s unfortunately only available for the guys right now for $28 in all sizes here.

Beautiful designs, the artists are top notch at TNS and the site reminds you that buying one of their tees will support an artist which is always a good thing. There’s some kind of CSS/Javascript pop-up that really annoys me though. It keeps making sure I know my cart is empty, not sure if that’s bad programming or a pushy sales technique, but it doesn’t work. Despite that one minor technical qualm I have a lot of hope for the future of  The New Standard. Definitely a label to keep your eye on, and of course all the artists on their books, including Concrete Rocket, who are doing such sterling work!