Look, I designed a tee and its currently under critique over at threadless.com. What are your thoughts? It's not too late for me to change the design. v3 changed the angel balloon to look more like a classic balloon. Note: I tried Angel wings, it just cluttered it too much... plus it changed the focal. Spoiler v2: Should it be chosen to be sold by the doods over yonder, I'll get like two grand, that'd be awesome right? Help me out here. Many thanks.
It's not clear what's going on from the get-go. The thing that makes threadless (or any) shirts great is that you can immediately tell what's happening. At first I thought it was just a balloon, then I realized it was a dead balloon going to heaven or whatever. This of course took less than a second, but it should be instantly apparent. You can do this by making the "body" more noticeable. Your design should draw the eye from the "body" to the "spirit" not the other way around (which is how it currently is). It tells a story that way and gives people a reason to want the shirt. That being said, the actual colors, and the balloon itself are great. The body splatter needs definite work (as already mentioned in regard to drawing attention) because it just looks like a few geometric shapes thrown onto the ground. Maybe add a hand poking it with a needle on the left edge? I don't know. Something that shows you exactly what happened or gives you more of a sense of it than just a few shapes and an unconnected line.
You have a very valid point about the attention being with the "dead" balloon first, and that it should be the other way around... I'll try to think of something to make people realize the popped one first that doesn't distract from the overall image... Thanks.
I love it, but like sarge said, try and switch up the focuses. I love the simple style though, much like your other little drawings. Good luck on threadless!
Ohh, I thought that was glass on the ground :S I guess it's difficult to create a popped balloon effect. Good luck!
I thought it was clever, immediately... But the only thing tying it to a dead balloon is the halo. Some blue would be cool.
I thought it was a balloon being apathetic towards its balloon buddy being popped and even though I was wrong in noticing it, I got a little giggle out of it. I think if the halo was removed and if the balloon was sad (or just had a tear going down it's side), it'd be a bit more clearer. That's just one of my ideas that kind of went off on a tangent though...
I think the simple addition of a matching cartoony drawing pin next to the popped balloon, plus a few extra fragments of balloon strewn around, would do the trick. Agreed with Sarge both that it needs a tiny something extra but is a very solid design overall, I definitely think it's worthy of a tee.
I'd say make the balloon fragments red, that'd catch the eye first. Also, it doesn't seem too good of an idea, but maybe add some angel wings?
Thanks. Thanks, this is just my first edition, i'll be sure to refine it. What are you thinking should be blue? And thanks. Artwork is allowed to be interpreted in different ways, it's art. And while your initial interpretation isn't a bad one, I'm trying to stick with the general design that the unpopped balloon is the angel of the popped one. I shall make a version like this and see how it works out. I think it sounds good. I'll update tomorrow. I had a red version, but I just didn't like it, I really want to stick to the monochromatic colour scheme. And are you saying the design overall isn't a good idea, or the angel wings? Regardless someone on Threadless suggested the same idea. I'll give it a go and post that in here as well. Thanks guys.
In what ass-backwards reality do you live in where a balloon needs angel wings to fly, Camo? I think it looks fine, though the non popped balloon should be blue to symbolize his loneliness. **** WOULD BE DEEP, BRO.
Bro.. didn't you know when balloon die they lose their helium..? It needs wing to fly, plus it'll help symbolize the fact the balloon is dead.
If someone hasn't already mentioned this yet, maybe make the 'spirit' character a lighter shade, to emphasize the fact he is a 'spirit' (or whatever you want to call it).
You could try coloring the popped balloon, thus emphasizing that the spirit balloon is indeed a spirit. EDIT: *facepalm* Camo beat me to it.
I don't think it needs any color at all. Adding wings as was mentioned would definitely help in getting the joke across.
I really don't want to colour it in at all; especially to only one, that would convey the message that they're two different balloons.
Difficult idea: Add a basic background and foreground, (grassy hills and such) and color each balloon red. But, make the ghost balloon somewhat clearish, just lowering the opacity, basically. Easy idea: Thin the line around the ghost balloon, fix up the popped balloon's form, maybe add wings. Difficult idea: Add a basic background and foreground, (grassy hills and such) and color each balloon red. But, make the ghost balloon somewhat clearish, just lowering the opacity, basically. Easy idea: Thin the line around the ghost balloon, fix up the popped balloon's form, maybe add wings.
Thanks Kuroda. So it took me like a week to draw a tack that I was happy with, regardless, updated the OP. Thoughts anyone?
I say make the tack body black instead of red and change the location of the tack. It's parallel with string right now, but I think if you make it perpendicular to the string it will make the popped balloon pop out more. I'd say to make a version with wings and a version with x's for eyes. x__x