Teefury

Words from the curator:

Apparently a new birdcall was recently recorded by the National Bird Call Institute of Bird Callology®. The correct onomatopoeia for it is not clearly defined yet, but I think it's something like, "nyuck, nyuck, nyuck."

Tell us about this design:

As a child I was a big fan of these three crazy dudes, had a great time watching them on TV. Some time ago I heart rumors about a Three Stooges movie and started so watch some videos on youtube, and this idea came to my mind. It's basically a silly pun replacing the word 'Three' by 'Tree', but I made sure to use birds related to craziness (like a cuckoo or a woodpecker) and also give them some characteristics from the trio characters.

What's a day in the life of Santiago like?

I live in Argentina and I'm the art director for an American agency based in Wisconsin. I work at home and have an small but talented team that I direct, everyone working at home too and we have occasional meetings when needed... So I spend most of my time at home always surrounded by my wife, my son, my daughter and my two dogs... all of them very respectful of my work space and really used to it because I've been working at home since like 10 years ago (as freelancer and/or for different companies around the globe).

Do you have any interesting hobbies or tales of intrigue?

Well... I'd say that my main hobby is drawing... My job is not focused on illustration and it's something I enjoy a lot but never really did it professionally.

What's your favorite thing to draw? (Animals? People? Landscapes?)

I'm actually noticing right now that I seem to like drawing animals more than anything... never realized it before.

What's your art process like, from initial sketch to finished product?

I usually start from a concept... it seems obvious but I know a lot of people that starts doodling and then figure out what to do. Concepts just come, so when I have one in mind that I like I start doing a very rough sketch... almost always is something small in a notebook just to make sure I won't forget the idea.

Next step for me is documentation, I like learning with every new design, so I search a lot of documentation... not only pictures, I also read anything I can find about the subject.

Then I work on the layout and create the final sketch. Once I'm happy with it, I do the inking... usually by hand using very thin pens, but also many times I scan the sketch and redraw it in Illustrator, and sometimes a mix of both.

Once it's finished and cleaned up, I do the coloring. Almost always I do it in PhotoShop and I'm a big fan of using halftones, it's a really cool technique and very suitable for tee printing. Hardly ever I have a plan for colors... just a vague idea that take form as I progress on it.