UPC all gone!
3.05.2008
Well as you may have noticed, over the weekend I sold out of my first tee ever: UPC! Crazy. It's the 2nd most-viewed shirt on my site which is so weird to me. I really never thought it was all that spectacular, and as other designers have eagerly pointed out, it's been done before. So do I reprint it? Hm. On the one hand I've gotten at least half a dozen emails asking me to do it, but on the other hand I want to get new stuff in the store...
Help me out guys! To reprint or no? Another thing to consider is that I've got 2 more white tees in the queue, and one that's black on white just like this. I just don't know if it's a good idea to take a step back like this, even if it's a seller...
Labels: designs, linty fresh, reprint, tshirt info, upc, zebra
posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:35 PM,
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SURPRISE!
3.03.2008
They're here! Linty Fresh belts! This was just a test run to see how they sell, so I've only made 5 in each style (and I'm snagging the Smile one for myself I think!)... So uh, get one!
Labels: belts, designs, graphic, linty fresh, new products
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:11 PM,
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March 1st goodies!
3.01.2008
See! I kept my word!
This one turned out specTACular. The colors are a perfect match and I'm just nuts about my new custom tags printed on the inside! Anyhoo, this design is on sale now at Linty Fresh and I've even got a discount code for you guys: "SOFRESH". If you use it now you'll get 10% off your order, but every day it'll go up by 1% more. I'm not gonna say when I'm deactivating it, so either buy now and get a guaranteed 10% or wait a little bit and see what happens... ;D
Oh, and my board worked great! Despite the breaking it in pretty rough with bails, ice, tree-crashes, and other wear-and-tear, it looks fantastic. And the slopes were great, too. One of the employees there told us it was one of their best days there at Cataloochee. We had a blast!
Labels: designs, fish, new products, shirts, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 3:34 PM,
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March 1st!
2.17.2008
So in keeping with my goal to release new goods on the 1st of every month, the beginning of March will bring a new tee, "Fish, Etc." and some other goods. The new tee design looks like this:
It'll be the same colorway for guys and girls on chocolate American Apparel jersey tees, as always. This design is actually pretty old - a couple of years now. I submitted an earlier version of it to Threadless (which never won) and a second altered version (which lost as well). But both submissions scored highly and I received a lot of helpful feedback. The problem with the initial concept was that the objects weren't arranged in this shape - it was just all in a giant circle, which was pretty boring. The second version introduced the whale shape but it wasn't clear enough (in fact, most people thought it looked like a brain...).
Still, about half a year ago I got an email from a tshirt company asking to buy the design (version 2). I turned them down though, knowing that I wanted to release it myself. So here we are, in 2008, and it's finally getting printed! It's always exciting to see ideas go from paper to digital form to printed tee. It's a long and sometimes grueling process of sizing, color matching, and close communication with the printers, but in the end, when I see folks buying the tees and sporting them around proudly, it's totally worth it!
Now, as for the "other goods" mentioned... Well, you'll just have to wait and see. I imagined I've established a bit of a reputation for starting things without finishing them, so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut until they're in stock and ready to sell... But I will say that from the designs that have been submitted, I'm very excited with how it's turning out! :P
Labels: design, designs, Eric info, graphic, linty fresh, new products, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:04 AM,
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New shirts on their way in...
2.11.2008
Well last week I put in the order for a new print... Well, technically it's pretty old... I designed it almost two years ago as a threadless submission. It scored moderately but some suggestions were made for revising it, so I did, and resubmitted it. Again, just moderate. So I changed it one last time and instead of submitting it yet again I kept it in a file never to be seen again... Until now!
(I know this post is pretty lame without a picture of the design - I'll upload one when I get a chance)
In other news, the new shirt is selling pretty quick (especially in girls' sizes). So if you've been waiting, you may want to pick one up soon. Also, I'm in the early stages of getting things together for a mobile shop. I think I've mentioned this idea here before, but basically I want to deck out a minivan with decals and logos and throw in some shelves stocked with tees. Then I'll cruise around Atlanta and see if anyone's interested in making a street side purchase! It should be quite an adventure, and one I plan to go on again if it's successful.
Anyhow, that's all for now.
Labels: design, designs, new products, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 4:08 PM,
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They're here!
1.31.2008
Dude, guys, gals. It's so totally stocked. And looking rather awesome. Custom tags are SIIIIIICK!
I've got the feeling these are gonna go pretty darn quick...
Labels: designs, graphic, linty fresh, new products, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:46 PM,
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Oh snap, Jungle Book reference!
1.06.2008
Holy bajera this has been a sweet week! My Epic tee won Tee of the Day yesterday on Emptees and this morning in my inbox I had 3 cool emails: two were from apparel companies emailing me about some possible contract work. One's a Georgia motocross clothing line and the other is some NY-based thingy so that's cool beans! The third email (and probably the one I'm most excited about) was from Woot.com, a trendspotting/consumer reports type site that will be featuring me on their homepage tomorrow!
I asked how they found me and they responded: "We were looking." Ok then.
So '08 is starting off on a good foot I'd say! And I plan on really kicking things into high gear. I've got the next designs off to the printers as of this afternoon and once that comes in I'm going to load up my mom's van and camp out in some parking lots that get concert traffic. I always spot kids in threadless and the like, so I'm hoping they'll have it in them to support their local underdog. ;)
Anyhow, I've been getting lots of great advice from the other merchants and designers on Emptees and have even set up a trade with the guys that run Seibei and Carraway. I think that's been one of the coolest parts of running LF: networking. It's so inspiring to hear the stories of these small-time designers that found their niche, started a little following, and ended up making a living out of it.
See, I don't see myself as a fine artist by any means - I know I abandoned that path long ago by dropping out of my art major. But honestly, it wouldn't have suited me. Working for days or weeks on a single piece... ack. I'm way too impatient for that kind of long-haul discipline. But the process of being a small-time merchant/designer is so satisfying to me. The design aspect is awesome because I'm not answering to anyone but myself. No clients to make senseless comments and inconsistent decisions, no deadlines, no set standard of colors or styles. It's just whatever I feel like. And then the actual vending is super rewarding too. It's not the monetary thing at all really. Honestly, my profits this year are so low because of all my dead end LF projects, but still, it was a blast for me. Every time I get an order it's like the coolest thing - the fact that someone is willing to part with their hard earned cash for a chance to sport one of my designs is just the coolest thing to me.
Well that was quite a rant. So to contrast with all this upbeat crap, I have to announce some sad news - I totally ruined my Ponys tonight! I wasn't happy with the markers so I painted over them with acrylics. That was stupid because acrylics are basically liquid plastic, so once they dry, they only stick to things that soak them up. And my shoes didn't. So it's all peely and ugly now. My final plan is to spray paint them, but that could be even more disastrous. And this was totally a business write off, so there goes $25 in profits for '08... Lol.
I need to be more like corporate cat.
Labels: commissions, designs, emptees, printing, trades, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 1:06 AM,
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Consolation for finished sale
12.19.2007
These were made entirely in-house, from the initial design to the cutting of the paper to the pressing of the buttons to the packaging. And I gotta say, I'm pretty happy with these little fellas. There's something especially fresh about them. Anywho, you can get them on the site for just 3$ (for a 4-pack).
The sale is finally over, though. I let it go for a week longer than I'd planned because it was really moving some of the older designs. I've said it before, but it never ceases to intrigue me that designs seem to sell much better once a newer one comes out. I don't understand how it works at all, but that seems to be the trend with every new batch... Huh.
On a slightly different note, here's a preview of a little project I'm working on that may be available for purchase soon on Linty Fresh. It's a toy made out of paper (110 lb) and designed after one of the sailor buttons. This was largely experimental since I'd never done anything like it before, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, minus a few details that I plan to work out. Anyway, more on that later.
Speaking of side projects, if you're wondering what happened to the other toys, well... unfortunately I scrapped that project. It had been ages since I'd worked with polymer clay and my skills (and the materials) just weren't up to the task of the clean lines and sharp angles needed in the design. It sucks, but I'm constantly learning stuff with this little venture of mine, so I'm not too bummed about it. Ideally, one day I'll get a factory to do a little line of full fledged vinyl toys with my designs. That would be entirely too awesome. For now though, I'm sticking to the small stuff. ;)
Labels: buttons, designs, Eric info, new products, site info, toys
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:30 PM,
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Buttons/pin/badges
12.13.2007
I never know what to call these things, but take a look at the pics and you should get the idea pretty well...
These will hopefully drop at the end of this week but more than likely it'll be the week after; I still have to order the mylar plastic sleeves for packaging and then mini tyvek packages to ship them in. The buttons will be 1.25" and will be pinned to dryer sheets cut to match the size of the sleeves, so they won't slip around in transit. I'm probably also going to make up some generic LF ones to ship as freebies with orders. It's nice to have something small like this in between prints.
Labels: badges, buttons, designs, pins, site info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 12:17 AM,
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New stuff to land soon...
10.31.2007
Well after volleying emails, order forms, and pdfs back and forth with the printers, I'm pleased to announce that the order has been finally and officially placed! As usual, I'll be experimenting a bit with this batch of shirts by releasing not just guys and girls standard cut tshirts, but unisex long sleeve tees too!
I can't speak for your part of the globe, but over here in Georgia the temperature is starting to dip into the 30s (which is especially disagreeable for one originally from the tropics such as myself). So I figured it'd be nice to provide the option of a slightly warmer (while still suitably fresh) piece of apparel. (Next up, scarves... or leg-warmers...)
In addition to printing this latest design on three separate styles of shirts, I'm also releasing an exclusive, hand-sculpted collectible toy. These will be available at the same time as the shirts, and will feature the same character and style. I'll release more information on them as soon as I decide just what this information will be.
Labels: designs, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:14 AM,
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A plethora of blah
6.05.2007
So the sale's going well with an average of 2 shirts selling per day! I know that must not sound like a whole lot, but when you're used to that many selling in a month (the way it was about a year ago), it's a MAJOR deal!
Does it mean I can quit my day job any time soon? No. Not that I mind it a whole lot; the job I have is at a print shop and the skills that I've learned there-be it designing, doing layout, packaging, etc-have already proven invaluable to LF. Plus I'm only there part-time through the week and I enjoy the work (I get the warehouse to myself since we're a small company). So I'm not griping.
But the idea of running LF as my sole source of income is SUPER alluring. It's funny, I fantasize a lot about opening up an actual shop in Atlanta all the time. Whenever I'm down there and I see a vacant storefront I get all antsy and excited picturing a giant clothespin on the awning and "Linty Fresh" scrawled on the window. A good friend of mine even pitched a bunch of ideas to me about how the inside could be set up, complete with washing-machine window panels for shirt displays and a dry-cleaner type conveyor system constantly going with shirts... Seriously, how cool would that be?
In the meantime, though, I'm happy with just running this as a little venture from my closet. There's a certain appeal to the smallness of the operation at this point. Shirts are litterally designed, stocked, and shipped from one room-the same one I'm sitting in now, typing away.
ANYWAYS, my real reason for posting was to share some pics of these tags I printed up last week. I bought a fastener online for a few bucks and it just came in last night, so I was busy fastening tags to all the shirts. They look really cool! (Click the pic for more)
Also, new stickers are coming in mid-June. I never thought I'd see the end of the last batch (from September), but after these 40 or so, that'll be it. The new ones should be a lot better than the old. I designed them with bleeds (no white borders) and it's a completely new design, too.
Finally, there's a massive batch of new shirts currently being worked on by the good folks at CustomInk. It's the biggest order I've done so far, so I'm a little nervous about it... You'll see them in probably about 3 weeks. It should be interesting to see how they go over.
This is such a learning process...
Labels: designs, Eric info, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:57 PM,
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Vectored and colored
5.16.2007
I've been tweaking with the design, adjusting colors and what not. I've got four different colored versions up. This red one is cool, but I think my favorite right now is 1.2. Anyone else getting that Dr. Seuss vibe? It was totally unintentional; I mean, I haven't read a Seuss book in years. But yeah, it's strange how that stuff subconsciously comes out sometimes.
Anyone remember that one with the guy in the yellow jumpsuit with the big moustace, and how he ended up deforesting the entire town. It was a real downer, but probably my favorite. Green Eggs and Ham was good too though.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of art + flickr, I recently uploaded a bunch of watersketches that I did while abroad. Click the pic for more.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 2:18 PM,
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Tyrone the cyclone (probably not)
5.11.2007
Last night I decided that I needed to start sketching more often. Since taking art classes almost two years ago I haven't sat down too many times for the sole purpose of drawing. So I did. I ended up coming up with this bizzare cyclone monster that was devouring a guy in a rowboat. Somewhere in there I saw potential for something else (maybe a t-shirt down the road), so I made a more polished sketch tonight on Bristol board and inked it with a Micron.
I took pictures!
Input welcome, as always.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:40 PM,
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Hello fanbase!
5.09.2007
Man that week went by fast! I've been trying to update more often, but with time flying like it does, it's no easy task. Goodness, listen to me. I guess I'm getting old... or maybe just getting busy (synonyms, no?). Alright, enough existential drivel, let's talk TSHIRTS.
First up, the exciting news: the order for the newest LF shirts was placed yesternight!! That means that their ETA is somewhere within the next three weeks! Pretty sweet stuff. So start saving up kiddos! Like I always say, shirts do actually go pretty quickly, due in part to the fact that I print in such small quantities. In fact, for shirts like Once Upon A War and UPC, there's only like 1 or 2 shirts left in the XL or XXL sizes. So, in summary, don't delay. Especially since it's going to be a sale and all.
So what's the design, you ask? Well I've actually decided to keep this one under wraps until the official release on LF, so you'll have to wait a little longer to get the answer to that. But I realize it's a little cruel to leave everyone completely in the dark in lieu of your loyal readership (all 5 of you), so I did think it appropriate to give you a sneak peak at a piece of the design.
So, uh... Voila! Yeah I know, it's not a whole lot to go on, but... well, that's kind of the point really. I mean, you get a basic idea of the colors, right? So at least you can plan your wardrobe accordingly, or buy matching jewerly...ladies.
And, just to make this post deserving of a third meta tag, I've got some site related news for ya. Firstly, you may notice that the "Linty Quest" is no more. Or, more likely, you didn't notice. That's kind of why I took it down. :( I did, however, update the ever-intriguing FAQ for all your entertainment needs. I mean really, would you rather be scavenging for a 3 dollar coupon underneath some cruddy bridge or reading a captivating paragraph dedicated to the art of T-shirt maintenance?
Labels: designs, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:58 PM,
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Slacker
5.03.2007
Hey, it's THURSDAY! Sweet. Thursdays are always nice because they're kind of like the first free nights of my week. And today is especially thrilling because I had a few breakthroughs last night with old Tshirt designs that just never 'clicked' for me. Like I finally came up with another scheme for the "Mondays", a design that was simply too boring on black. "Radio" also got a makeover. Since Real Heroes I've come to appreciate how difficult it is to work with colors on khaki shirts.
Old "Radio" design
I've also been trying to come up with new shirt ideas. Yesterday I came up with a handful, some conceptual (like "War") and others more decorative (Uhm, "UPC", I guess). Right now I have a list of a couple dozen or so that I'd like to start woking on when I've got the time. I've also started a folder of reference images and styles to browse through when I need some direction and momentum. Often I'll be looking through photographs for some side project or commission when I stumble accross an image that really jumps out at me. Usually it's that image that evolves into an idea and subsequent design. Typically the end result looks nothing like the original.
I'm still having difficulty getting the printers to replicate the pantones I've given them for the latest design, but I have a feeling the error is on their side, the way they're processing the images they've shown me. I think my best bet is to let them go ahead with the screens and have them send me a larger proof format when that step is done... Yeah, just thinking out loud here.
Oh yeah, and I still have to get those product pictures up for the last shirt! Super slacking here!
Labels: designs, site info, tshirt info
posted by Mr. Linty @ 2:26 PM,
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What pays for LF
2.16.2007
Cuz it aint the shirt sales, hear you me.
If you thought LF was paying the bills, you thought wrong! Although things have really been picking up recently, I've only been out in the marketplace for seven months (I think I officially opened on July 19th), and these things take time! In the meantime, I've been living in a soggy cardboard box under a bridge in a park, peddling shirts on street corners and grabbing precious moments of wi-fi at the nearest Starbucks.
Sort of. Actually I'm working part time at a design & print shop in Atlanta. It's work to be thankful for; I dropped out of college to "chase my dreams" and was fortunate enough to still wind up with a job in the field I intended to pursue. Plus I'm learning the ins and outs of the business side of things, experience that has already proven invaluable. But it's actually not this income that's paying for my shirts. I try to set that aside for the essentials, like food and bills, and I meticulously save the rest of it. What actually funds the threads I print up is my freelance design, specifically, t-shirt designs (OH SURPRISES!).
You may have seen the one I'd blogged earlier-it was a commission from a parkour-enthusiast website based in the Southeast, Overflux. Well recently I got a couple more...
Design Concrete Commission
Best commission I've had, hands down. It was smooth from the initial consulting on. The client gave me clear direction on what he wanted and even referenced some artists he wanted me to check out. From the beginning the aim was to have a street art feel, something I've really been into recently. He maintained that clear vision from the beginning, although I was allowed to push the boundaries as I pleased. A fun project all around!!
Golson Family Reunion Commission
When I first got this commission I was shown an image of another Family Reunion/Tree shirt design that my client had found. It was a typical clipart + text design, the kind that could've been made by a robot. I dunno, it made my stomach uneasy. I told him immediately that while I'd maintain the theme, the style would get a major makeover and that I'd be re-doing the art to make it original. He agreed. Fortunately the result has broken from the wholesale stock image feel and even (I hope) hints at a bit of sentimentality... or hope... or familial pride, or something like that. Anyways, he was happy with it, so that was good.
In other news, confirmation went in today on the Beethoven shirts, so they should be in at the end of February or so! Oh, and I'm still open to submissions for the naming contest, although I'm very happy with the photoshoot idea: Congrats Vania! (Send me your size!)
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:05 PM,
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Name & Shoot Contests!
2.04.2007
Well, after much deliberation and agonizing second and third guessings, I'm happy: BLUE IT IS! Tonight I send the design file off to the printer and tomorrow I'll call to finalize it all. This'll definitely be on both guys & girls shirts, with a few hoodies as well, a la UPC. However, I've got a dilema...
I'm thinking that "The Beethoven Design" isn't going to cut it, so I'm looking for suggestions. What do you think the name should be? If I use the name you come up with, I'll send you a free shirt of your choice.
Oh, and the other thing is the photoshoot for the shirt. I haven't really come up with anything all that great, so give me some ideas! Be original and creative with it! Winner of this one gets a shirt too, k?
posted by Mr. Linty @ 8:09 PM,
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Beethoven design, EL FIN!
1.30.2007
Well I went back to having those little speaker things in the corner, just to have a little white up there. Also went in and cleaned up a few things, tightening the image here and there where lines were leaking into the wrong areas and stuff, really minor things. I've also got three colorways: red, the original turquoise, and orange. I'm pretty set on this being a bright shirt, as you can see. ;)
I'm personally really liking the red. Something about that red/green thing, it just really screams electronics which to me implies those giant mixer boards and other digital music equipment. But I could just be really sick of the blue...
Thoughts? Last suggestions?
Labels: designs
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:51 PM,
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Beethoven design, Part V
1.28.2007
Working night shifts KILLS. It's nice to be back in town (actually it's been a week), but still I'm having trouble adjusting completely to my regular routine. Once I got back in town I began work on some preliminary sketches for the t-shirt commission I mentioned in that last post. The sketches went over well and I was given the go-ahead for the vector art, so when I haven't been catching up with the work I was missing while I was away, I've been trying to get this commission done.
So as you might imagine I've had a pretty limited amount of time to actually work on my own designs, BUT:
Ok, so nothing too groundbreaking since the last version, just a few tweaks here and there. The microphone is gone completely now. I just wasn't feeling that stuff in the top right corner and the mic didn't look right at the bottom either. Another change I made is the incorporation of "Linty Fresh" into the design. I tried to get an even balance with the subtlety and readability, so let me know what you guys think.
Or if you can even spot it... Heh.. :]
By the way, those white concentric circles are still there, they're just really faint for some reason...?
And here's a mock-up of what it would look like on a shirt:
If there's one thing I've learned about doing t-shirt designs, it's that what looks great on a canvas or on a computer screen doesn't necessarily translate to a torso well. Most of this has to do with the four edges of a canvas. This creates a boundary that serves to contain and distribute the art. On a shirt, this changes since you've got to factor sleeves into the shape of the canvas, so that you're litterally working with a "T" shaped space. While I'm still no professional in my opinion at designing shirts, I've quickly come to appreciate how important it is to always keep a "shirt" layer in the artwork file to have something to view your art against, to be sure that it'll look right when it goes to print.
Labels: designs
posted by Mr. Linty @ 9:33 PM,
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Beethoven design, Part III
12.26.2006
- Made the crown more crown-like and put some of his hair in front of it
- Removed the blue swirly things by the crown
- Added a concentric pattern to look like vinyl records with some magenta to balance the color a bit
- Removed the bottom equalizer and replaced it with "Linty Fresh"
- Brought the mic up a tiny bit
- Added a pattern behind his face to give it more emphasis
- Changed the position of the plugs for balance
Adding "Linty Fresh" is a decision that's come after much deliberation. On the one hand, I've got this idealist side of me that wants to keep the company name off of the shirts. See, part of the reason I started this whole thing was because I was tired of wearing the usual brands that you see everyone else with. I wanted to do something unique. But the thing is, being too different is probably going to have the opposite effect on LF. There's got to be something there to tie the shirts together, to make them somewhat of a cohesive set. And it isn't going to be the style, because my goal in all of this is to work in a new style with each design. So it's gotta be the brand. Thing is, I don't have to do it as blatantly as I have with this design. More often than not, it'll probably be more like UPC, where "Linty Fresh" is hidden somewhere in the design, encouraging the viewer to take a closer look. It could be, like, the "Where's Waldo?" of aparrel...
But I digress...The Beethovan design still needs work. I'm not 100% on that pattern in his face and there's a few other things bugging me.
Labels: designs
posted by Mr. Linty @ 10:11 PM,
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