Saturday, March 6, 2010

Calling all T-shirt artists!

Ok the title of this post might be a little misleading…I am not looking to hire a full-time t-shirt designer...sorry to get your hopes up.

I do however, want to try out a little experiment and since a lot of you guys are talented creative artists I thought you might be able to help.

So here is the root of my problem…

1. I want to have some cool t-shirts that I can sell on the site (all to help keep the free forecasts flowing and to promote the blog).

2. I can’t draw.

(remember I am the guy that brings you gems like this one…)



So that is where you guys can help out…I would be absolutely stoked if a bunch of you guys put together some artwork for the shirts, hats, and other various swag that I might be able to stick it on.

I figure that you guys look at the Socal Forecast all the time…and that you probably already have a good idea what sort of “flavor” the site has (mmmm tastes like beer) …so who better to come up with some sweet imagery for the blog?

While this will sort of be a labor of love (or at least something to do while the surf is flat)…I don’t expect you guys to do it completely for free. My plan is to take everyone’s designs, load them into a store like cafepress or zazzle, and kick back a healthy share of the revenue to you when your designs sell.

Honestly I will use everyone’s designs (as long as they aren’t too offensive…I mean really who wants to wear a shirt with a giant set of “junk” on it anyway) so don’t worry if you aren’t a professional artist…anything you guys put together will be better than the lame stick-figures that I would end up creating.



If you are into it and want to give it a shot…there are a couple of ground rules.

1. All artwork must be original. Please do not use any material/creative that you don’t own the copyright to.

2. Along the lines of rule #1…please respect other people’s intellectual property. Try not to infringe on anyone else’s hard work.

3. Please include Socalsurf.com in the design.

4. Have fun and don’t take it too seriously

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Design Guidelines...

- Try and design with the idea of putting the artwork on both white and dark colored shirts.

- A .PNG file type (with a transparent background) is preferred

- The artwork loads into the store best if it fits in a 2000x2000 pixel square (you don’t have to use all of it…but the closer it is to those dims the better it looks).

- Please send all artwork to caine12 at gmail and make sure to include your contact information so I can set up the rev/share stuff.

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If you need some inspiration here are some common themes that get repeated a lot on the blog…they may or may not be a good day to start.

Today is a surf day
My ongoing grudge against dolphins
Stupid Eddy
High Tide Swampthing
Combo swell fun time
I love Santa Anas
Swell shadows
Extra-tropical

I know this is sort of a weird way of doing things…but you guys are such an awesome resource and a great community…it has been your stoke and support that has kept this thing moving along…I thought that this could be a cool way for you guys to get involved.

Thanks guys, I am excited to see what you come up with!

Adam

12 comments:

spencer said...

I think it would be rad if you designed the shirt with some of your famous microsoft paint artwork.

Kindon said...

I agree with Spencer. You should add some of your own stuff.

Anonymous said...

1. are screenshots of the CDIP maps you use in the public domain?

2. I agree, you should do some stickman surrfer shirts.

3. What's with the dolphins anyway?

laduke13 said...

I'm going to print that NW swell drawing up there onto an iron on.

Anonymous said...

adding to the pile. your 2nd grade stickmen drawings and swell blob characters are the only thing i would consider buying. they perfectly represent the simplicity of your reports and our excitement for "a surf day"

Anonymous said...

why you gotta be hating on the dolphins? what'd they ever do to you?

Anonymous said...

I agree, dolphins suck. They are like the popular snobby click in the ocean.

Louis said...

I'd say leave the dolphin thing alone but, yeah, def do the NW swell thing and some of the other swell model graphics if legal.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with the stick figure T-shirt which would be really cool, and as someone perfectly said, it shows how good and simple your forecasts are.

Something like "Socalsurf.com: stick figure forecasts to score more waves with your stick. Ages 4 and above"

Sorry but I'm a worse drawer than you are so I can't offer my skills when it comes to that.

Anonymous said...

100%. Just do the stick figure and the board with a title.

That would be perfect.

Blair said...

Adam,

If you're trying to get the word out on SoCalSurf.Com then I would recommend doing a couple generic "SoCalSurf.Com" URL blocks overlaid over a compelling surf shot. Maybe include a smaller font one-liner below it like "So. Cal's Premiere Surf Forecast" or "Surf Forecasts for the In-The-Know Bro". Then once you cover your bases on the brand awareness front, you can make a few shirts, caps, mugs, etc, for the fan base/shits & giggles. Probably going to do something like this for my site down the road. Good luck!!

t-shirt_guru said...

I assume from the portable network graphic requirement that this is to be a Digital print ?
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