Monday, January 26, 2009

For some reason the Tee shirt world seems a little bit brighter today.....

Posted on/at 6:54 AM by Unknown





It's cold as hell today (whopping 10 degrees this am) but for some reason the sun seems brighter and the world seems a bit nicer...I wonder why...............oh wait, here's why - T-Shirt Hell Shutting its doors

I admit some of their shirts were extremely funny but many went waay overboard, I get the whole shock value marketing of it, but lets get real - who would wear a shirt that says “It’s not gay if you beat them up afterwards” or "What About All The Good Things Hitler Did” - they go past the boundaries of good taste and morality.

A quote from Mr. Sunshine himself...

"..to those who think I’m racist, promoting rape, a nazi, homophobic or just the world’s biggest asshole…well, at least you think I’m something, which means I’ve achieved what I wanted."

Thanks to Gary, Mika, Jacob, Greg, Bob, the black lady who writes our newsletter, and to everyone else who was part of T-Shirt Hell. Time to move on to even greater things. I’ll miss you (by miss, I mean, it’s going to suck not being able to give you my excellent reach arounds when you least expect them).

Fuck you,

-Sunshine Megatron

Saturday, January 17, 2009

More evidence mankind is doomed....The $3000 Tee Shirt !

Posted on/at 6:10 PM by Unknown





I figured I would take a short pause in between tutorials to bring you this deal of a lifetime! It all started with an idiotic $1000 Iphone app for the absurdly rich, now some dude has jumped on the bandwagon with a $3325 Tee Shirt! I for one find this despicable, at a time where 21,000 (Thats Twenty-One Thousand) jobs are cut in one day, and its even so bad that Google has announced layoffs - Times like these, people need to think of the overall picture rather than promoting that they have not yet been hit by the bad circumstances affecting us all.

Anywho, thanks for tuning in, i'll be continuing the tee shirt design series shortly.

This is an actual screenshot of my checkout page.


Saturday, January 10, 2009

It's my tee - Part DEUX

Posted on/at 8:04 PM by Unknown





When we last left our hero, he was in imminent danger! Gunmen in front of him and his back to the wall...........wait wait wait, sorry wrong blog :-)

Last time we were discussing this great idea you had for a tee and you were kinda stumped on that to do. So you have your idea right? ok if not, you can borrow mine - see I love this show called "Big Bang Theory" and there are many geek references all the time, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock is a MUST but too easy. So if you saw the last episode Sheldon had a hilarious comeback and it hit me, there must be a shirt made with this! - "I'm not insane, my mother had me tested" - ok ok so out of context its not super funny, but that will be the focus of todays post - to take that phrase and make it into something special.

In order to do this right, we need some images and a way to manipulate them. Depending on your idea, your shirt could contain just typography or images with type - that will be your decision. I have decided to use some images with my text. Now you just can't start doing an image search on google for what you want. For one, there are copyright issues and the printer will probably cancel your order for infringement - Second, the image will probably be too low a resolution to make it look any decent. So now that we have that clear, start by checking out a few sites that offer royalty free images - just check the restrictions on the image to make sure you are in the right (Also, I make this claim, I am not a lawyer and I like most people don't know copyright law backwords OR forwards so make do some research first - now that I have that out of the way, lets continue)

You can start by one of these sites:

Stock Exchange
http://www.sxc.hu

Clicker.com
http://www.clker.com

Clipart.com - Images are not free
http://clipart.com

Now that you picked some images to mess with, you need a way to create your image - first there are the online editors like found in last weeks link for 1800clothes.com, but for this post I want a little more control over my image - like gradients manipulating layers. Now working IT, I wear many hats at my job, one of them is a Graphic artist when needed, so I have the use of Photoshop - now many of you are thinking HEY you didnt say anything about needing an expensive application to do this, well your right I didn't. I may be using photoshop, but there is an awesome FREE alternative, a couple actually! so point your browsers to the links below, install some apps and get familiar with your tools.

Gimp - An opensource photoshop alternative
http://www.gimp.org/

Inkscape - An opensource Illustrator alternative
http://www.inkscape.org/

For now I would suggest starting with Gimp, and look for a nice beginner tutorials here:
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

To get your gears moving in that dusty brain, I have included my finished design.

**********WARNING SELFISH PLUG AHEAD*******************
If for some reason you like this tee, that means your just as crazy as I am - and you really REALLY want to buy this tee RIGHT NOW!
**********SELFISH PLUG HAS ENDED*************************
we now resume our regularly scheduled broadcast ......


So in today's post, we covered one idea, how to get images for your idea and what is needed to manipulate your images. This image is ready to be submitted, but to where? We will cover that next and we will also cover a little more on your design. Remember, above all, HAVE FUN - this is just a little peak into yourself - it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be something you will enjoy! If you have some designs you want to share, send them my way, I will include them in the next segment, and if you have gone through this before, share your story.

Well true believers, tune in same bat time, same bat channel!

nuff said

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Bi Plane T-shirt - as seen on Alter Eco

Posted on/at 3:08 PM by Web Thing





It's a bird, it's a plane ...it's a .. hey wait, it IS a plane!

If you're like me, things that move just kinda get you going. Electric Cars, Gas Powered or electric bicycles, airplanes, trains ... pretty much the next thing smokin' (or humming) ...Im not saying i'm getting on it, but I can daydream about it.

Now, I don't know if it's the fact that the shirt is eco-friendly (read locally silk screened, uses some recycled material, made in the USA, yadda yadda) or the fact that the t-shirt has been on a celeb, and seen on TV - (Adrian Grenier, Alter Eco on Planet Green TV)but this sucker costs $46.99. Can't it be cool AND good for my wallet? I mean, it's still just a t-shirt, right?

(Don't read this wrong, I'm all about the efficiency aspect of "going green" ... but costing more bread ... is that efficient?)

That aside, it really is a great looking shirt, and you get some major dogooder points for sporting it - yesterdays recycled pop bottle is today's fashion statement.

Um, when I'm done with it, can I turn it in for a refund? Hey, a nickle is still a nickle.

Anyways, it's on sale now at EcoZunu ..... BiPlane T-Shirt $46.99

BadTiki Picking Up The Slack for T-ShirtGuy

Posted on/at 2:22 PM by Web Thing





If you haven't noticed, I have recruited my good friend BadTiki to help me keep up with the t-shirt blog posts. Don't think I'm behind, um, well look below ... he's already posted 2 articles before I got a chance to introduce him!


In honor of "working" with your friends, this post also includes a t-shirt from Charm City Cakes ... who's TV show, Ace of Cakes introduction goes something like this " ... when I graduated culinary school...blah, blah, blah .... opened a bakery ... blah blah blah ... do it my way ... blah blah blah ... yadda yadda yadda ... MY FRIENDS!



Just as Duff Goldman gets up in the moring and spends the day "working" with his best buds ... that's kind of how I feel about bringing my man BadTiki into the fold. He's the Geof to my Duff.


Now, if there were just some ladies around here...


So, look for an interesting pespective of the t shirt world from my bud to compliment and contrast the usual goings on around here ... and I'll try to get my butt in gear.


... oh yeah, and get the charm city cakes t-shirt at Charm City Cakes for $22 bucks. Pictured here on the man, Geof. (c'mon, his witty comments make the whole show - sorry Duff)
.and thanks BT!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

It's my tee and i'll design if I want too!

Posted on/at 8:34 PM by Unknown





There are a lot of cool tees out there, from nostalgic to geeky, to downright nerdy (See above), but every so often don't you think HEY, I have a GREAT idea for a shirt! Then it hits you, wow I don't have the foggiest idea on how to start. Well today we are going to start a new series on what you can do and how you can do it - and what resources are the best.

Here is what you are going to need
  • A Great Idea
  • Some form of creative ability
  • If no ability - resources for legally free artwork
  • And some place to manufacture the shirt for you
The great idea part is up to you, all I can say is look around for some inspiration - dig from within, if you are a geek like me, look towards your daily content of video games and applications - if your a media junkie, think about your favorite artists or movies, anywho - that is your homework for today - Think of a good idea - a saying or a reference from your daily lives.

Today I will leave you with a link to start designing on your own - 1800clothes.com, a new site T.S.G. turned me on to - Next time we will start with the art portion and what you will need to do to make sure your shirt doesn't show up on your front door looking like something the cat threw up!

Thanks for tuning in! Oh and if you missed out on the geek humor from the top pick, its from an insanely creative and addictive video game called Portal, if you havn't played it - drop everything now and go get it - seriously...i'll wait.....

Friday, January 2, 2009

I yam what I yam, I'm the Tee shirt man !

Posted on/at 6:36 PM by Unknown






Greetings all, and Thanks T.S.G. for asking me to guest post!

Here is my quibble for the day, get ready all for a major influx of cartoon nerdvana, That spinach lovin' sailor 'Popeye' is soon to show up on tons of tee shirts and other memorabilia. What is the reason for this? Is it a new movie starring Robin Williams? a new raspberry flavored spinach (ewe)?
no no, our favorite sailors copyright has expired in the U.K. thus allowing anyone and everyone to freely use his image on Tee shirts and everything from Pet Clothing to (GASP! Blasphemy) new cartoons! The rash of retro shirts will hopefully spawn a new era of classic tees allowing us old geeks (34 seems ancient) to finally wear our geek pride in public!

But don't get your spinach in a bunch, this bluto hasn't rested on our shores yet. Yep, due to US copyright, we here in the states will have to wait a bit longer.

************ TV Show T Shirts ***************



In the meantime while we wait for the brits to start importing, check out 80's tees, they have some decent retro popeye tees, as well as 'teeshirtsrock.com' for this classic tee that reminds me of the old arcade game - gotta collect those hearts and save me' olive!