Archived Tee - 2012-06-08
We're always look for ways to get community involvement, so if you follow Teefury on Facebook, you'll often see postings which ask "Wanna See It Print?" If a submission gets enough Likes, if we're on the fence about it, your Likes sway our decision. Today's design got a total of 1975 Likes, so here it is. You liked it. We printed it!
Who is Jimiyo? The first shirt printed at Teefury was a Jimiyo design, and he's been printed over 40 times at Teefury. He started out as an artist, but Teefury hired him as an art director a few months later back in 2009.
Who are your favorite t-shirt artists?
When art is work related, I would say the reason someone becomes my favorite is because they supply great art and have a great attitude. Since my days are filled with emails, processing, processing, decisions, decisions, etc, the easier an artist makes my job the better.

My current favorite is Bamboota. She consistently cranks out solid, A+ professional level work, and hardly ever emails me even if she doesn't hear a peep about print dates for weeks. She's like an uber low maintenance alley cat that brings gifts of dead birds to the doorstep, but instead of dead birds, they are awesome t-shirt designs.
Follow her on Facebook. She puts out good content and interacts with her fans.
Of course, there are several other faves. These guys and gals are awesome as well. Being awesome, they are hot commodities and are typically busy working on their own projects or work.
Captain Ribman - Where art thou Captain Ribman? It's been a while... He's a funny dood. I love his jokes and cartoons on Facebook.
Missmonster - We used to print her alot more, but she's busy being a mega bad ass making art that has alot more street cred than t-shirts. I envy her drive. She will be (is) Legendary.
Megan Lara - 0 to over 12000 fans in less than year. Young and uber talented. I'm afraid so talented, she is being courted for artwork from everywhere else. We still have a few in the queue from her so no worries!
Karen Hallion - Ambitious and hard working! Formerly a school teacher/waitress, we have some great designs in the queue from this now mother/illustrator. She is a great inspiration and example for those wanting to re-invent themselves.
WinterArtwork - I remember seeing his work in 2009 while I was working as AD at designbyhumans.com, and thinking, awesome technical skills, content not marketable. And I think he and I even had an email exchange, and he eventually figured it out on his own, and now the man cranks out hit after hit. I heard he even quit his job and went freelance.
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists looking to get into the t-shirt industry?
It's a longterm investment that requires hard work and persistence, but it's not that "longterm".
Hear ye hear ye! It only takes 2-3 years to go from a noob artist to a refined, popular artist on the internet. (in the voice of Ben Affleck, "You need to learn this business, and this is the time to do it.")
I've seen artists go from a total noob, to internet popular and successful in a very short time frame. They go from a soul sucking 9-5 to wearing pajama pants working from home. The ones who make it, are the ones that work, not just hard, but smart.
Some artists make a few designs and try to sell the same designs over and over, schlepping it all over town, trying to cash in on a mediocre design. As a person behind the scenes, I notice this and secretly think, who's the sucker that's going to pick this?
Here are to 2 steps to success:
1. Make lots of designs.
2. Learn where to sell those designs.
Quantity will equal Quality... provided that you aren't just trying to speed through every design you make. Accept the fact that not everything you make will be great. I've made dozens of designs, some hit viral, some sucked it. You have to be willing to power through making a piece of crap to eventually get to the good one that gets Pancakes.
By quantity, you will learn what people want to see.
Don't listen to other designers *TOO MUCH* unless they are the right ones. They don't buy your designs, customers do. However, they'll have a ton of advice and opinions, and unless you have a high level of discernment, you won't be able to separate applicable advice from personal prejudices. For example, in designer communities, many designers will vehemently degrade the use of stock vector art, as it's not original, it's cheating, etc, but really, do customers have vast knowledge of stock vector art and discriminate? Nope.
Longterm success in the online art industry is about networking and relationships. Years go by quick and over time, your tweets, your posts, your replies, your submissions, your work, will form an image of who you are in the mind of people who work with you, so every little action counts.
Be Awesome.
Want to see more Jimiyo designs and interviews? Check here!
Be Awesome
About the artist
Art curated by What is "COMMUNITY APPROVED"?We're always look for ways to get community involvement, so if you follow Teefury on Facebook, you'll often see postings which ask "Wanna See It Print?" If a submission gets enough Likes, if we're on the fence about it, your Likes sway our decision. Today's design got a total of 1975 Likes, so here it is. You liked it. We printed it!
Who is Jimiyo? The first shirt printed at Teefury was a Jimiyo design, and he's been printed over 40 times at Teefury. He started out as an artist, but Teefury hired him as an art director a few months later back in 2009.
Who are your favorite t-shirt artists?
When art is work related, I would say the reason someone becomes my favorite is because they supply great art and have a great attitude. Since my days are filled with emails, processing, processing, decisions, decisions, etc, the easier an artist makes my job the better.

My current favorite is Bamboota. She consistently cranks out solid, A+ professional level work, and hardly ever emails me even if she doesn't hear a peep about print dates for weeks. She's like an uber low maintenance alley cat that brings gifts of dead birds to the doorstep, but instead of dead birds, they are awesome t-shirt designs.
Follow her on Facebook. She puts out good content and interacts with her fans.
Of course, there are several other faves. These guys and gals are awesome as well. Being awesome, they are hot commodities and are typically busy working on their own projects or work.
Captain Ribman - Where art thou Captain Ribman? It's been a while... He's a funny dood. I love his jokes and cartoons on Facebook.
Missmonster - We used to print her alot more, but she's busy being a mega bad ass making art that has alot more street cred than t-shirts. I envy her drive. She will be (is) Legendary.
Megan Lara - 0 to over 12000 fans in less than year. Young and uber talented. I'm afraid so talented, she is being courted for artwork from everywhere else. We still have a few in the queue from her so no worries!
Karen Hallion - Ambitious and hard working! Formerly a school teacher/waitress, we have some great designs in the queue from this now mother/illustrator. She is a great inspiration and example for those wanting to re-invent themselves.
WinterArtwork - I remember seeing his work in 2009 while I was working as AD at designbyhumans.com, and thinking, awesome technical skills, content not marketable. And I think he and I even had an email exchange, and he eventually figured it out on his own, and now the man cranks out hit after hit. I heard he even quit his job and went freelance.
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists looking to get into the t-shirt industry?
It's a longterm investment that requires hard work and persistence, but it's not that "longterm".
Hear ye hear ye! It only takes 2-3 years to go from a noob artist to a refined, popular artist on the internet. (in the voice of Ben Affleck, "You need to learn this business, and this is the time to do it.")
I've seen artists go from a total noob, to internet popular and successful in a very short time frame. They go from a soul sucking 9-5 to wearing pajama pants working from home. The ones who make it, are the ones that work, not just hard, but smart.
Some artists make a few designs and try to sell the same designs over and over, schlepping it all over town, trying to cash in on a mediocre design. As a person behind the scenes, I notice this and secretly think, who's the sucker that's going to pick this?
Here are to 2 steps to success:
1. Make lots of designs.
2. Learn where to sell those designs.
Quantity will equal Quality... provided that you aren't just trying to speed through every design you make. Accept the fact that not everything you make will be great. I've made dozens of designs, some hit viral, some sucked it. You have to be willing to power through making a piece of crap to eventually get to the good one that gets Pancakes.
By quantity, you will learn what people want to see.
Don't listen to other designers *TOO MUCH* unless they are the right ones. They don't buy your designs, customers do. However, they'll have a ton of advice and opinions, and unless you have a high level of discernment, you won't be able to separate applicable advice from personal prejudices. For example, in designer communities, many designers will vehemently degrade the use of stock vector art, as it's not original, it's cheating, etc, but really, do customers have vast knowledge of stock vector art and discriminate? Nope.
Longterm success in the online art industry is about networking and relationships. Years go by quick and over time, your tweets, your posts, your replies, your submissions, your work, will form an image of who you are in the mind of people who work with you, so every little action counts.
Be Awesome.
Want to see more Jimiyo designs and interviews? Check here!
Check out these photos of TeeFury fans from Twitter!

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