Christmas Is Coming

With less than two weeks to Thanksgiving, you know it is just a hop, skip and a jump before Christmas is not only coming...it's here.

This just may mean I will be putting out a few more blog posts than my weekly fare, 'cuz we do have some great designs here that would make great, unique gifts for someone on your holiday list.

Here's something else you may consider as a gift and then you have it out there for others to possibly buy, as well.

For example, my mommy had a coffee mug my brother gave her years ago that had a design whose gist was, "I love my mommy."  Said mug broke and I'm just guessing by her request, so did a little piece of my mommy's heart.  At least enough for her to mention it and mention if I found one to let her know.

Sometimes I think she forgets what her own daughter does and that's okay.  She's entitled.  Still, the lightbulb went off and I thought, "Why...I'll create a design inspired by her request and then get her that mug."  So, I did.  Before I display the design on a kids onesie (the mug photo doesn't show the design very well), I just want to make it a bit more clear that as a designer someone you intend to give a gift to may feel it is the ultimate gift that you have designed something in their honor.

Or maybe they aren't the least bit artistic, but have an idea and would love for you to come up with a design especially for them.  Variations on those themes.

Okay, so here is the design:

Please click here, to purchase items with the above design.

Here's @bryanbrinkman's 11th design.  I didn't get it at first, until seeing he refers to it as his "knife shirt".  The shirt reads, "cut ya later".  Enjoy.

Below is my official Holiday Design.  Enjoy!


That's all for this week.  Happy designing.  And as always, live creative and prosper.

BTW:  Marilyn Sane is still the hot T pick at MySoti for the past week.  Way to go!

Where the Wild Things Are

I love checking to see what @bryanbrinkman has created each week for his #DesignAShirtAWeek submission to the cause.

This week's submission is as creative and imaginative as all of @bryanbrinkman's designs have been to date, as you are about to view here:



His unipighorse, by some, might be "pooh pooh'd" since in our current reality there would appear to be no such thing as a unipighorse.  I would argue, "what is real in the realm of imagination and drawing?"  What if Maurice Sendak had felt that way and never wrote and created the "wild things" in his widely celebrated work, "Where the Wild Things Are"?

So this week I am just saying to feel free to let your self be unlimited with your creations and designs.  Let the wild things out...you know...as long as they aren't going to harm someone else.

Lest you think I forgot, I haven't.  Below is my submission for this week.



I went for the cute factor this week.  What's more cute than paws and babies?

Lastly, for the third week in a row the Marilyn Slade t-shirt is MySoti's sales topper.  Way to go!

Oh wait!  Now really lastly, as always, please consider this blog an open invite to share your designs or tips and the like.  We love hearing from you.

Happy Halloween and All Saints Day to all the sinners and saints alike.

#DesignAShirtAWeek 6

This week I'm writing about a resource for t-shirt designers, Rival Art.

You know, in high-end advertising agencies they have copy people and art people.  It's usually rare when one person does both.  This doesn't mean you can't envision an entire ad campaign or for our purposes what you may feel would be a kick-ass t-shirt design.  It's just that either as an art person or more of a copy person, it may be difficult for you to get your design into a usable format without a little help.

If you are more like me (more of the copy talent with less art talent), Rival Art may be just what you need to really take your t-shirt designing to a new level.  Rival Art offers clip art, templates or you may hire them to do art.

My design this week is my reminder to all and my self to be sure to include fun in my life.  You'd think we wouldn't need a reminder, but sometimes we just do.


Bryan's design is a delightful play on the word manatee, hence the holding of the sausage.


As a long-time David Bowie fan, this week's most wanted t-shirt from Mysoti is a clever play on two very iconic symbols merged into one.  Perhaps the shirt may inspire you to create something equally as awesome by combining iconic symbols.


May you continue to be inspired with joyous and prosperous creativity.

Going Pro

Welcome to Week #5.

Okay, still a little surprised that no one else is participating on Twitter #DesignAShirtAWeek.  Having said that, I am thrilled with @bryanbrinkman and @loribjork entries for this week.

Since I am @loribjork and one of my other great passions is spirituality and the law of attraction, I just want to share my belief that if you ever find yourself walking around and all of a sudden an idea pops in your mind that goes something like this, "that would be a great idea for a t-shirt"...well, to me, that really is all it takes to identify your self as a t-shirt designer.

There are tons of easy to use software out there to help you get the idea from your mind into a digital format.  And tons of web presences, including MySoti, that you can upload your design to.  Or if you don't have the use of software or the time or inclination to learn, you could always hire someone like @bryanbrinkman or @loribjork to create a digital representation for you and/or upload it to the various web presences.

For me personally, there was nothing more exciting than the first time someone buys an item with one of my designs on them.  And while I am not a dictionary, let's get real here.  If you get paid for doing something, you are a PRO.

Once you identify your self as a PRO, it radiates a vibration to the Universe that brings you more of the same.

So, if you want to be a PRO...be one.  Proclaim it.  PRO claim it.

"If you think you can't or can, you are correct." Henry Ford

Okay...@bryanbrinkman was obviously inspired this week by Halloween.  I love his newest entry.



@loribjork not so much.  I appear to be a little more inspired by the love of a tall, cool one.



Thanks for peeping this blog.

Remember, there is a standing open invitation to all who wish to participate via Twitter with #DesignAShirtAWeek.  We will shamelessly plug your design in this blog.

Below is one of the most demanded designs on MySoti this week.  Stuff by RikkiB, which is described as doodle-tastic!

Entry 4 #DesignAShirtAWeek

Okay, I have to admit I am a bit sad that of all the followers @bryanbrinkman and I (@loribjork) with Twitter (over 30,000 as I write this), we still are the only two put a design out there participants with #DesignAShirtAWeek.

That's right. No hand holding here, folks. I don't subscribe to a "this is how you blog" mentality. I just tell it like I see/feel it.

I would love more participation. I would love to share your design with the world. And here's the thing. If you put love in your design, even if only one other person...hell...even if you are the only person who thinks "it rocks!" that is enough. It has to be enough.

Take for example @bryanbrinkman 4th entry. Probably not for everyone. Reminds me of Chris Farley's "Fat man in a little coat" as it is entitled, "fatty fish". When you click to view his awesome design, you'll note he comments "this is a fat fish in a small bowl."

Personally, I didn't realize a fish could be fat or have fat on its body. But why not now that I am confronted with it? And perhaps that is the wonder of a great design, even if the designer simply thought what about a fat fish in a small bowl. Is the fish fat because there is little room for it to swim and thus, doesn't get much exercise and eats due to boredom. Or perhaps as Dorie, the forgetful fish in the Disney flik, Finding Nemo, there really isn't a need to put too much thought into it. It simply is what it is.

And simply is what it is, below is @bryanbrinkman "fatty fish" design.



Of course, not to be left out as the other #DesignAShirtAWeek participant, below is my week 4 design. Normally, I consider myself to be the spirituality queen. And yet, for many of my nb2c (not born 2 conform) designs, while I feel conformity is tantamount to the way Divine Love perceives us...in the past I had a lot of judgment about porn and violence and this and that that most would think I wouldn't include in my designs.

These days I understand that Everything and I mean EVERYTHING is considered divine (no judgment...for to judge something as divine and something else as not divine is the epitome of judgment). So...if you want to party however you want to party...technically, it can't ever make you less or more spiritual or Divine in the eyes of Divine Love. Of course, it may seem that way in the eyes of people who don't understand their true Divine selves, but...



So....if you had submitted a design, your design could have been "pimped" HERE. Since this isn't the case, I want to share my experience with threadless since I wrote about them in my last blogpost.

I checked them out further because of the "so far" seeming uniqueness that they actually will pay a designer before others have bought items with their designs simply based on votes about submitted designs from threadless website visitors.

I have to say that I felt a little weird that when I found out the only way I could submit a design was if I had Photoshop (which I currently did not have). Also, I felt a little bummed out that I was this t-shirt designer blogger and I didn't have Photoshop and really know very little about it and in a way am not that sure that I desire to spend my time learning more.

My inspiration to get more into the world of the internet and internet commerce is the book, "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss and instead, here I find myself spending just about 8 hours a DAY chained to my computer.

Okay, chained is an exaggeration. Sometimes I find I can sit at my computer doing this or that and especially if it is something creative that I sort of have in my mind and really want to manifest digitally and have it turn out just so...for over 8 hours at a time. And if you think I am exaggerating, I am not. Okay, 6 hours. And by that I am talking about no eating, no going to the bathroom, etc. I hydrate. Only 'cuz I keep a water filled container close to my computer. In other words, I can sit completely focused on what is going on with my computer for hours.

Now I am not trying to say this is a bad thing. Most spiritual texts will tell you that if you are doing something that you basically lose track of time doing, that is very in the moment being and one of the best things "spiritually" you can be/do.

So, again, technically it isn't bad and I don't want to put out that vibe. Not to mention that at this point in my life, I am in the process of letting go of any good/bad type of thinking/feeling. It's all good, eh?

It's simply that in the context of intention and preference, do I really want to spend at least 8 hours every day of the week at my laptop? And I would have to answer "no" if I'm honest.

Of course, for some of you, you might think it interesting to delve deeper to wonder "why?" Is this really my preference or is my feeling at least 8 hours a day on the computer seven days a week more something I think others would feel is loser geek-ness with a capital L and a capital G.?

And now that this blog post is getting long, long, long...why am I sharing this?

I felt weird about not having Adobe Photoshop and thinking how am I really going to be able to participate, when someone gifted me with Adobe Photoshop in the last couple of days.

Do what you love and the universe will support you.

Peace out my brother and sister t-shirt designers. And please, please, please submit your entries to the #DesignAShirtAWeek if you feel motivated to. Like my friend who actually wrote an entire movie script even though it will probably never, ever be made into a movie, I am going to love it simply because it was Divinely inspired in your mind and you were confident enough to put it out there in some way even if that is how far it will ever end up going.

Here's to inspiration. Here's to creativity. Here's to not letting anything excuses keep you from expressing your creativity.

Rock On!

So, I just wouldn't feel right...

if I didn't include @bryanbrinkman's first three #DesignAShirtAWeek submissions.

Week 1


Week 2 - Seriously, Bryan, my son, Chris, would love the description for this design.


Week 3 - Seriously, maybe my son and you share the same brain. Bravo!


I've also created a squidoo lens for nb2c and one nb2c 4 adults. Both are, yes, 1. dedicated to getting my designs out there, but B. also about sharing the design experience, inspirations, and possible ways we can help each other flow and circulate more of that green. I know you know what I mean.

Happy designing to all.

Welcome

Inspiration.

September 12, 2009 (technically...since it is on at 12:35 AM) I saw an episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The second one already with that guy who was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and hosted the VMAs. The first time he was on the show, as a Twitter experiment they picked someone out of the audience and encouraged everyone to follow him on Twitter and see how many followers he'd get.

The second time that guy was on the show, they again mentioned @BryanBrinkman and that everyone should send him a nice tweet...probably to be sure to watch the VMAs.

So I tweeted him. When I viewed his profile page to see how many followers he had and what he'd been tweeting, I saw a tweet for #DesignAShirtAWeek. Well, I design shirts and I wanted in. And then there were two.

What was fun about this is that Bryan uses a website called MySoti, which is blog friendly.

And so while I haven't really decided exactly what direction to take this blog in, my initial inspiration is to invite more people to tweet with the #DesignAShirtAWeek hash tag and then pick one or two or three to share their design for the week and their inspiration for creating the design.

So, again welcome.

I plan on most of my submissions coming from my nb2c or what I consider text-speak for not born 2 conform. To me this is the attitude where originality is embraced and uniqueness reigns. And if this makes me a dork (thus my MySoti moniker, nb2cdorkbjork), so be it. I figure dorks, geeks, nerds and the like actually have it best because we tend to shun the status quo, collective consciousness and think outside the box.

In this first blog, I include my week 1 design, which was my original nb2c design. And I'll be honest, part of why it includes a skull and crossbones is 'cuz that seems to be quite a popular icon with the younger crowd.



My week two entry comes from loving the lips and coming up with something that uses them and incorporates the nb2c attitude.



And even though entry three is a little early (we'll consider every Friday official entry day), this is also one of my favorite designs 'cuz I love the glasses with the tape on the bridge and I love the idea of those who buy it having the "stones" to put it out there and tell it like it is.



It was after a couple of days that I got the idea to create two web pages for each design. One I call BIG, which as you can see above puts the design out there on full display over most of the front of the shirt.

The one I call small. Not everyone likes a design that big. Some are more subtle and like the idea of smaller with placement over the heart. And that is probably another thing that I hope to come out of this are possible tips. So here is the same design as the one above, just placed over the heart.



So, I encourage you to submit your designs via twitter and I trust that if I check out your design and love it, you'll agree to allow me to promote it in this blog.

Happy t-shirt designing and wearing.