Phat Tees From Leino

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Chariots Retired, Hide Your Arms, Ian Leino, Threadless, designer, illustrator

Ian Leino is an indie graphic designer and illustrator based in Asheville NC who has for many sneaked under the radar when it comes to t-shirt visionaries, asides a great deal of respect at Threadless and the occasional if rather brief mention at various tee blogs like Hide Your Arms, so we here at Buy Tees think it’s about time the guy deserves to get the full treatment, a real review of his work to date, with plenty of visual goodies for all. Leino’s illustrations draw from a wide range of artistic styles and eras, he’s as adept at recreating the imagery of the past as he is at clean cut vector work, and more often than not, with a healthy dose of sass to keep his following smiling all the way to the checkout.

Leino is an independent guy, he doesn’t have a store, as mentioned he’s well known at Threadless, he’s also had a fair few commissions for clients including Cinder Block, Live Nation, Cotton Images, as well as other tee contest sites such as TeeFury.com and DBH. Leino, it must be stressed, is an all-rounder, he creates just about everything under the sun, be it CD covers, posters, calendars, however it has to be said that many of his t-shirt illustrations are stand out designs, and well worth checking out. You’ll have probably spotted many of the following in your time, such as a Collection of Flies and Vampires Beware, but what the heck, great tees are great tees, and besides this guy needs more exposure. If there’s one thing we can’t stand at Buy Tees, it’s great talent going to waste. Let’s take a look at what makes a phat tee in these lean times, over to you Leino… read more