Teefury

This design was inspired by my undying love for my favorite blue superhero. His legendary battle cry, "SPOON!" doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers, but it is pretty darn silly. Being a huge fan of both the comic and the cartoon ( I don't really count the live-action catastrophe!) I have yet to find another series with the level of wit, clever humor and downright absurdity it has to offer. For all you Joss Whedon fans, Ben Edlund, the creator, also produced the entire "Firefly" series. Makes total sense.

I'm originally from the extremely small town of Fort Fairfield, in the Northern part of Maine. For the past few years I have been living in Marion, Iowa with my girlfriend, her two kids, and just recently, our 8 month-old boy, Draven.

I have always been passionate about 3 things: art, music, and movies. About a year and a half ago, a friend recommended a website to me, perhaps you've heard of, called Teefury. I had no idea that shirt-a-day sites existed before then. Browsing through the gallery I was blown away by the brilliance of the designs, and equally disappointed that I had missed out on so many great ones. I totally fell in love with the concept of the manifestation of all of my interests displayed on this new form of canvas: the t-shirt. Being an Industrial Design graduate, the style of art was so completely different than what I was used to. I'm still really trying to learn more about what works and what doesn't. I visit all the dailies and study the works of the seasoned pros. The first t-shirt design I ever attempted and submitted was picked up by Teefury, and I was hooked. Since then it has been an exercise in finding the proper balance between what's trending and what I'm into, and playing to my strengths as an artist.

I AM an aspiring designer! I'm the one in need of advice! Well, I guess one thing that I can say is that it's always a good idea to know your material. Fans can be violently serious when it comes to details! If someone tries to scrutinize your design, being a fan yourself and being able to justify why you referred to Luke as "Blue 5" and not "Red 5" will always work in your favor. Knowing your material not only potentially produces better, more clever designs, it also establishes credibility with the fans you are designing for.

If there's a job where I can design shirts during the day, and compose and produce movie scores at night, someone send me an application! It's a tough call. I'm equally passionate about designing t-shirts and writing and recording music. A buddy of mine from High School and I just completed a rock and roll project we have been working on for several years called Mondo Vessel. It's basically an assemblage of a dozen or so of our close friends, who also happen to be musicians, paying homage to all the bands and music we grew up on. The gratification of finishing a design I am proud of, compared to that of listening back to a track that I have written, performed, mixed and mastered is equally satisfying. So, if I could somehow fuse the two into one position, that would be my dream job.

I've always been a fan of the "misfit" super heroes. Most of the characters from the Tick fall into this category. The super heroes who have no powers or just really silly powers yet are still able to do extraordinary things (usually by accident) really appeal to me. If any of you remember the movie, "Mystery Men" this is what I'm talking about. I think we need more of these kinds of things nowadays. With so much effort put into "reboots" of EVERYTHING trying to veneer a sleek, cool persona, much of the quirky, campy qualities that made us love these things in the first place get stripped away and replaced with explosions and weak origin stories. 

Quite simply: having a room all to myself! I'm not talking a "man cave" or anything with neon beer signs. I would just like to have a room large enough to set up all of my audio equipment as well as a nice drafting table and all my art supplies. As it is right now, every time I want to print something, I have to get the printer out of the closet and hook it up. If I want to scan something, I have to put the printer back in the closet and hook the scanner up. Same thing for my keyboards and all of my recording equipment. It's pretty annoying and really hinders productivity. So, forget about the walk-in closet or the screened in deck. I just want my own room!

Spork will always win. When confronted and your opponent pulls out their pocket knife to dice you up, try pulling out a spork. It will confuse the Hell out of them, thus giving you the upper hand. 

As a young kid, I wasn't into comics much. It wasn't until I was older that I got into the whole mythology of the Marvel universe, as well as others. Cartoons were great; I mean, what kids don't like cartoons? Some of my favorites were The Drac Pack, Rocket Robin Hood, Blackstar, and Dungeons and Dragons. However, I'd have to say that movies were definitely my favorite medium. I know this is going to sound pretty generic, but when I saw "Star Wars" (it wasn't "A New Hope" back then!) in the theater when I was four years old, it really did sort of lay out the roadmap for the rest of my life. I got into art because of Ralph McQuarrie's brilliant matte paintings and concept art. I became a musician because of John Williams' glowing scores, and the way he treated music like spatters of paint on a big-screen canvass. I became an Industrial Designer  because of guys like Grant McCune, Dennis Muren, and Joe Johnston. I guess that I can safely say that "Star Wars" was, and still is, my absolute favorite.

I don't have much time to visit many websites, but teefury.com is set as my home page! Mondovessel.com, planetfuzzrecords.com, native-instruments.com, shirtoid.com, teecraze.com are among some that I frequent when I have time. It's kind of sad, but I was just looking at my most visited sites and they are mostly the sites that I pay my utilities to! 

First off, I gotta thank my girlfriend who encourages all of my endeavors. She's always on Facebook, twitter, tumblr, promoting my stuff. She's the best! David Benton at droidloot.com who is fairly new to the t-shirt biz, but super talented and extremely proficient. Jon Martin at shirtoid.com for all he does to promote all of our designs. David Eberhardt (kgullholmen) for giving me tons of great advice when I first started making tees. Chris, Craig, Mac, Kris, and all of my other friends who constantly give me great ideas. Finally, all the guys and gals here at Teefury for having the classiest of all the shirt-a-day sites, and for printing me again! Thank you!