Teefury

A word from wotto: HOGBOY needs no introduction.

Mr Hogg, I have long been a fan of your work, tell me how you developed such a keen eye for T-shirt design:

So tell us a little about this design, how did this one develop?
I think the core of this idea came from the first time I watched the South Park World Of Warcraft episode. I just loved the idea that there are all these geeky dudes in their parents basements all over the world playing out all their wildest fantasies as mountain trolls & paladins in a multitude of online settings.

If I remember rightly you have won 20 times at threadless, what's your secret?
Realistically it's 17 unique prints + a handful of reprints & posters. There definitely is a bit of a science to doing stuff that ends up in line for printing. I guess the most consistently printed stuff tends to be idea based. Some form of humor usually works well with the crowd over there as do twists on pop culture & the old Threadless staple, anthropomorphic food. I tend to change up my style fairly dramatically from one design to the next to fit the ideas I come up with & as such my scores are a bit hit or miss.

My favorite tee of yours is 'Pulp' but my girlfriend has 'Destroy NYC' and reckons it's your best. Settle this debate and tell me which you prefer?
Those are actually 2 of my faves too. I like them for different reasons. Pulp I dig because I love the whole pin-up girl genre & that simple 2 colour show poster print style + I like the modern twist & the fact that it was the first time I really drew a girl without any sorta reference. Destroy NYC I guess I like for it's surreal clash of the real & cartoon universes & the fact that I was able to create a successful Threadless design while sticking closely to what my natural illustration style is. I guess I'd have to go with Pulp as my pick of those 2 largely because I wear it more than Destroy NYC.

I am sure you have many artist friends, who would you most like to collab with?
I'm looking at collabs with Stef (Mezo) McFetters at the moment & Priscilla (Valorandvellum) Wilson so clearly I have a predisposition to collab with hot female artists... Sonmi & Jan (Funky Fresh) Avendano are both off the dial awesome, & hot too. Of course I'd also like to collab with Olly Moss, he's not a girl but he's kinda effeminate so I think I'd make an exception.

What can we expect from you in 2009?
I'm going to try & be more active this year, 2008 was fairly slow for me with lots of work in my day job & a move to Canada. I am going to really push the illustration side of things & am hoping to try & get enough material together for a show or 2 of limited edition screenprints back in NZ. I also want to expand on the design based stuff I produced early on for the Make Something Cool Everyday Flickr group.

Which artist do you consider to be 'top of the tree' in the illustration world right now?
Wow, thats tough. I have so many favorites I couldnt list just one. Heres a few illustrators & designers off the top of my head: James Joyce, Emil Kozak, Alex Pardee, Dan Funderburgh, Steve Harrington, Skull Dezain, Jeff Kleinsmith, Dan Sheffield (aka tesco), Aesthetic Apparatus & Eric Elms....the list could go on & on & on.

Who has been the best client you have designed for?
The most notable I guess would have to be Adidas. I designed 2 really random geometric yardage prints for them that I'm not even sure have ever made it past the sampling stage. Or R.J. Reynolds Tobacco for Camel Cigarettes, I had to create the look & feel of their indie music offshoot The Farm. They're being sued for some insane amount of money at the moment I believe because the agency assigned to look after that account stuffed up.... Yes, I will burn in eternal hellfire for that one.

How many T-shirts do you own and which one is your favorite?
Oh man I couldnt even count... Maybe 150. I have owned so many more but I tend to give them away once my drawers get too full. Fave of all time would probably be Smoking Hot by Steve Harrington.

Which website do you go to everyday?
There are several: www.ffffound.com to be inspired & overwhelmed, flickr to check on the Make Something Cool Everyday group, www.stuff.co.nz to see what has happened in the home country & www.surf2surf.co.nz to pine over my home breaks & the fact that I have surfed once in the last 10 months.

Want to promote a website/someone/yourself?
www.moadesign.net