Even More Vicious History

admin    T-Shirts     art shirts, emptees, graphic tees, limited edition, t-shirt art, vicious history

It’s been a long old while since I first reviewed Vicious History, a distinctive label with a penchant for taking pops at famous moments and figures throughout the past. Their take on a rather haggard Napoleon is still indelibly marked on my mind. Before we take a look at what they’ve been up to over the past six months or so, (and yes they have been busy), I’ve managed to wangle a week long discount code for all you lucky lucky people. Just enter the voucher code buytees at the checkout for a very respectable 15% off anything you purchase. This offer lasts until the 26th of January 2011.

Atropos Tee

Featuring a beautiful rendition of the amazing Death Head Hawkmoth (aka “Acherontia Atropos”, this one is pure class. The vintage border really beefs up that gravitas. A lurverly design by the awesome t-shirt artist and familiar face at Emptees – PitchGrim. $24 but only XL left in this tee and Medium in this tank =0

Scholars & Thieves Tee

Again only available in XL again and seeing as this and all their tees are limited edition I guess there’s no chance of a restock :/ Ah well, hopefully VH will let me know pronto when their next collection is released! I’m not exactly sure what the Scholars & Thieves Marksmen Club is but it sounds dodgy to me. Luckily the design hits the bullseye :p Designed by Brazilian artist Gabriel Gozzer. Get it for $24 in black XL.

Dream Catcher Tank

Also available as a tee this rather Shamanic contribution is definitely on my level. Another expert design by t-shirt artist Craig Robson. Again only XL sizes left for the tee and the tank.

Wild Wolves Tank

Another gorgeous design by Gabriel Gozzer, even though Wild Wolves is almost sold out you’ll be glad to know there’s now a Wild Wolves II. The originals are available as a tee and tank in (you guessed it) XL only for $20 each. This all should be rich pickings for the super-sizers! Whilst the Wild Wolves II tee is available for $24 in ALL SIZES!! That’s S to XL.

Wild Wolves II Tee

Get them whilst they’re hot.

Let’s hope for a more timely Vicious History post next time!

Ride The Stormy Tees With Matthew Skiff

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     410BC, A Rocket To The Moon T-Shirt, Anticlothes, Dead Serious, Matthew Skiff, Medusa T-Shirt, Piknyc, RANDR, Shred Clothing, Skiff, emptees, t-shirt designer

I mentioned Matthew skiff in a recent news post on Randr‘s new limited edition tees and as soon as I’d hit the publish button I knew I’d need to blog a lot more about this designer’s particular talents. You can find Skiff just about everywhere on the net, if there are t-shirts involved he’s most likely been there, done it, designed the t-shirt, won the prize or commission, spent the money on more fuel (usually pizzas), and started on yet another superb illustration before sundown. Here are just some of the places you’re likely to bump into Skiff:- Emptees.com, Shred Clothing, Dead Serious Clothing, Mad Creepy, 410BC, Anticlothes, Pyknic Clothing and a whole load more, not forgetting the enormous amount of bands he’s worked alongside, producing everything from tour posters to tees to merchandising to covers. Check out his client list for some idea of how well respected Skiff is in this industry.

What’s more you’ll be able to seek out his work at Myspace, Flickr, Twitter, check out his boards at Popdeck, and even read his rather cool blog. So no excuses, if you can’t track him down for a commission or a little fan worship now I’d unplug the ‘puter and veg out :/ read more

The Temperature’s Rising At Hotlife

admin    T-Shirt Reviews     Frankie Says, MikeC, band tees, emptees, funny t shirts, hotlife, illustration, livingthehotlife.com, punk, skater, skater tees, t-shirt design

Recently MikeC of www.LivingTheHotlife.com contacted me and demanded to send me a couple of sample tees, as you might or might know I am one of the few t-shirt reviewers who doesn’t require freebies, but he was pretty insistent, he wanted to make sure I knew first hand exactly how high the quality of his products stands up, and I’m telling you, it’s up there with the best. It’s not just the100% organic fair trade tees he prints on, which are incredibly soft by the way, but the designs themselves are incredibly well drawn and fantastically ‘clean’. Mike is obviously an old hand at illustration, I took a peek at his biography on his rather hilarious FAQ page and found a few gems to help warm you to this relatively underground label:-

So HOTLIFE is designed exclusively by MCHC Art/Designs? Absolutely, 100% hand drawn by MikeC himself.That way you know you’ve got an 100% original design. Lots of “designers” like to take clip art and add a photo shop filter and pass it off as a design…we would rather make something thats unique and rad.

I’m pretty sure 90% of my wardrobe is made up of designs by MCHC already, what bands and such has he worked with? Thousands of bands, too many to mention, but Thinkfast! Records, Victory Records, Acacia Strain, A Day to Remember, Hawthorne Heights, Madball, All Shall Perish, Mychildren Mybride, Between the Buried and Me, Salt The Wound, Bishop, Emmure, Catch 22, & Kill Your Idols, just to name a few.

Now that’s a lot of bands! Hotlife have a strong connection with the music scene, if you fancy upping the stakes and making your own band’s image a little more hardcore then you can commission Mike’s talent as a t-shirt designer via his Myspace page. He even helps promote the bands he works with by graciously featuring their latest gigs at Hotlife’s news page.

It’s difficult to categorize Mike’s style, his illustrative style is strong, very strong, and even though there are reminders for me of punk and thrash, biker and tattoo imagery, there are two distinct qualities to his work that makes it rise above the competition. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, his drawing technique is fabulously clean, he actually draws everything by hand as you can tell, his line is fluid and flowing, the compositions spot on, I’m sure this guy must have been doodling throughout every spare minute of his life. Apart from the trained eye and hand co-ordination, there’s the humour, his sense of fun is infectious, one of the first tees to jump out at me was his interpretation of Frankenstein’s Monster in Frankie Says Relax. Which for me is hilarious, as was the original band that came up with that tune, although the latter wasn’t entirely intentional.

I’ll start by reviewing the tees Mike sent me, I’d have got my cute GF to pose but she’s up to her neck in work today, so I’m afraid you get the ugly guy instead of the babe. Still the designs should more than compensate!

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Top List of Threadless Clones aka T-Shirt Vote Sites

admin    T-Shirt News     Design By Humans, Threadless, dbh, designbyhumans, emptees, t-shirt ratings, t-shirt vote, t-shirt voting, t-shirt voting sites, threadless submissions, threadless votes, threadless.com, uneetee

Yes it’s another list, it’s not just the fact that ‘top lists’ seem to rank so well on Google but that this one has been bugging me for a while. I’ve been looking for the perfect t-shirt voting site for ages, something that offers high prizes, fair rates and provides most of the publicity themselves. There isn’t one out there, I’ve seen so many of these sites relying on popular members rather than fantastic designers to boost their profile. Besides there are so many good t-shirt designers out there not getting the kudos they deserve, it seems to make more sense to set up your own t-shirt voting/fulfilment site rather than submit your designs, which probably explains why there are so many on this list! read more