Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
I was hired by a new retail clothing company out of New Mexico called Bisagra to make designs for shirts inspired by Hunter S. Thompson's persona and books. The company is run by an old friend of Thompson's and wanted to make a special collection dedicated to him.
I was asked to make a design using elements from the first design I made for a Hawaiian shirt (Here) to be screen printed on a t-shirt.
I was asked to make a design using elements from the first design I made for a Hawaiian shirt (Here) to be screen printed on a t-shirt.
Initial Design
I started with my initial design for the Hawaiian shirt and began to cut it up digitally on Photoshop. I had decided I wanted a design to feature Hunter S. Thompson speeding down a desert highway, evoking one of his most famous works "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas".
I immediately settled on what I had designed at being finished. I added paint drip and brush effects on Photoshop and since I knew it was going to be screen printed and I have screen printed stuff myself, I designed it conducive to the screen printed look but I wanted some kind of background...
After experimenting with adding brush effects and shapes and smears in the background, I settle on this polka dot pattern and warped it to give the design a sense of space and perspective. The polka dots represented the dot grain of the printed word and that fit with the subject being a writer.
The Final Design
I showed this design for draft approval and the owner of the company immediately loved it and declared it finished. She wanted the t-shirt to have a back so she asked Thompson's editor Curtis Robinson to come up with a phrase. "Is it weird enough for you yet?" was what he came up with and I designed it.
FRONT:
BACK:
The t-shirt is currently in production...
