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Bad As Hell might not be prompt with new winners, but they’re definitely making the most of the winning designs they already have. The Story of Elano was formerly a stark one color print, now given a new life with the introduction of a colorful gradient. Similarly, Our Women Are Bad has made the leap from shirt design to zip-up hoodie.

In both of these new products, I appreciate the concept of using both sides of the apparel- it helps to make the designs feel more dynamic. What I’m less crazy about, though, is the huge branding- both designs now have the site’s name featured prominently. Maybe this is just evidence that I’m not the target audience, but I think the site name is particularly difficult to wear. I’m just some pale internet dork, so I can’t wear something proclaiming Bad As Hell. It would be too hilarious.

Winners at Bad As Hell earn $200 cash and $50 store credit.

Dark Samurai Warrior by Fenris is my pick for shirt of the week (though frankly, the pickings are really slim). Even as someone who isn’t much for Asian art, the brown tones and heavy detail pulled me into the scene. I think what really works well is that while the subject matter is samurais, the art style is all the artist’s own. This gives it appeal beyond its concept and helps it to feel more unique. I’m also enjoying all the angles- the way those weapons are positioned really helps to lead my eyes around the scene.

A Mad Beast by nicebleed kind of felt like some kind of cosmic joke when I first saw it- it felt like I had just finished writing about how ubiquitous and increasingly dull this trend was when Uneetee printed one, and then DBH goes and prints nearly the same thing. So disappointing! In its favor, this design is more easily readable than most of the competition- hinging the design on those gleaming white teeth helps it to stay recognizable. But it definitely doesn’t feel fresh at this late stage in the game, and it’s hard to believe that there’s still a splatter animal fan who doesn’t already own a shirt pretty similar to this.

Robots Can’t Smile by il_Mostro has a concept I enjoy, because who doesn’t like tiny grimacing robots? That said, for me the shirt itself isn’t strong. What’s kind of a bummer is that there are so few robots- they don’t cover much surface area on the tee, and on top of it the composition shape is odd. It feels like a good idea that hasn’t been fully executed, like it needed a couple more drafts to be truly wearable. That said, the individual robots are pretty neat characters- I just wish there were more of them!

Wild Paint by INDZ is another freaking splatter animal. Yes, seriously. It’s also distinctly less stylized than most designs in this vein, looking like a photo trace and a couple of paintbrush splatters instead of a polished, completed art piece. Mildly in its favor are the colors, which at least help it to stand out a bit (for whatever reason, most splatter animals are strictly black and white). But I just can’t get over the strangely bored look in that tiger’s eyes. Is he actually yawning?

Design By Humans is an on-going t-shirt design contest that prints new shirts every weekday. Prints are chosen from the shirts submitted by and voted on by DBH members. Shirt of the Day winners receive $500 cash and $250 DBH credit. Shirt of the Week winners get $1000 cash. Shirt of the Month gets $1500 cash and $250 credit. Winners also have an opportunity to earn residuals through the Rockstar Awards Program.

Edo Label is Japan’s entry to the t-shirt contest game, making their debut with a couple of nice logo tees. One is a Wotto design, which bodes well for the quality level of future choices. And this is definitely a great opportunity to design for the Japanese market.

Winners at Edo Label earn 50,000 yen (approximately $550) and 10,000 yen in store credit.

The t-shirt world rallied for a redesign, and that’s exactly what they got. This week The T-Shirt Vault relaunched with a new logo and a new look, conveying the professionalism and polish we’ve come to expect from top-tier contest sites.

As I mentioned in the previous post about this site, the prizes are pretty incredible- starting at $5000 for first place. And remember, they’ll be printing DTG so there are no color limits.

Enter before February 22nd for your chance at the first round of prizes. Sales will begin on March 1st, with highest sales determining the winners.

Shirt.Woot’s newest derby is getting underway, and this time the theme is Chinese Zodiac. Here are the details and additional rules straight from Woot:

According to the traditional Chinese calendar, February 14 marks the beginning of the year 4707. According to sheng xiao – the so-called Chinese Zodiac – it also begins the Year of the Tiger. In honor of this most auspicious portent, this week we want you to use any or all of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, and only those animals: no other animals, no humans, no other animate characters of any kind. You don’t have to relate your design to the Chinese Zodiac at all, but we’d get a kick out of it if you did (and, we hope, so would the voters). Consult that Wikipedia link, or the nearest Chinese restaurant placemat, and get to it.

No video-game references.

No text, including Chinese characters.

The derby opens to submissions at noon on Friday, with submissions continuing until Wednesday at noon. Voting is on-going from Friday at noon until Thursday at noon. Three winners will be printed the following weekend (as chosen by site members), with the printed designers earning $1000 for the first night of sales and a potential $2 per shirt sold on any sales after that date.

Threadless Loves Toms, you know, that shoe company with the policy of giving a new pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair purchased. That company also has a One Day Without Shoes event encouraging people to spend a day barefoot, which is where this contest draws its theme. The theme is It’s Hard Without Shoes, and though that’s a tough concept for a fun shirt, it should be interesting to see what people come up with.

Enter before February 21st, 2010 for your chance to win. One winner will receive one pair of Toms per month for a full year, the opportunity to design one t-shirt for Toms, and your tee promoted in conjunction with the worldwide One Day Without Shoes, April 8, 2010- all in addition to the customary Threadless prize of $2,000 cash and a $500 Threadless gift certificate.

The Hills are Alive!.. by Keith Kuniyuki (herky) has a pretty amazing vibe to it. The retro rustic, forest-y fun vibe is fairly unique in terms of Threadless’s catalog, and makes it the perfect choice as winner of the recent Throwback contest. These animals are having a rollicking good time in the mountains, and you get the feeling there’s a big vat of moonshine sitting just out of view. The range of animals shown is very nice, with classics like the bear and raccoon but also lesser-seen creatures like the possum. For me, though, what really puts it into the stratosphere is that twiggy boombox- imaginative and a great way to set the scene. Add to that the fact that this is all one color (super-impressive!) and it’s a shirt that’s not to be missed.

Rhinoceros Valley by Joe Carr (ISABOA) presents an interesting dilemma. It’s an amazing illustration, thick with detail yet still retaining the spirit of the animal. I was all set to make it one of my favorites this week. But then I looked at the product images. And damned if the thing isn’t printed too large- even knowing what the design is of, it is kind of tough to parse what is going on with the shirt because you can’t see the entire outline of the face. At 80% of this size I think it would have been a lot more successful. But it would be a breathtaking poster print, so I hope Threadless has that in the works.

What Did I Ever Do to You? by David Schwen (dschwen) pokes fun at when NASA bombed the moon. I’m not sure what took this so long to get printed, but luckily the art still holds up pretty well even if you don’t have that in mind because every time we plant a flag that could injure the moon, and god knows we’ll do something or other creepy to it again anyways. So, then, on to the style! I like the use of clean vectors over photography, it does a good job of applying some character to the moon and making it feel more childlike.

Power to the Mushroom by Budi Satria Kwan (radiomode) is a stylish video game parody- the kind with appeal that goes beyond gamers. To a non-gamer, it’s easy to read the scene as some mushrooms waging war for their own survival. The Mario aspect is added value, because gamers know that these mushrooms are used as a tool in battle. This is almost like body armor revolting and starting to plot against soldiers, a total game-changer. And the icing on the cake is how much sense it all makes, because of course mushrooms would be responsible for mushroom clouds… Overall, a very solid package.

The Robot’s Renaissance by Donald Lim and Evan Ferstenfeld (Pakpandir) is a good idea, but a little tough to read visually. In particular, it took me a long time to see the drawing in the robot’s hand. I think this is a symptom of having so many saturated colors, all of which are pulling my focus in different directions- I think a lighter touch (or even just a lighter shirt color) would have really clarified the art. At any rate, it’s a very impressive piece. I love the concept of a robot rebuilding the world, it carries this feeling of innocence that is very appealing. It also sparks the imagination, asking the viewer to consider how they’d rebuild.

London! by David Bushell (davertheraver) overlays line drawings of city scenes, creating some interesting intersections in all the geometry. Though I find the general look of the shirt to be fairly dull (the illustration is very straight-forward, not revealing much personality), it does do a good job of conveying the chaos of the city and the coolness of urban architecture. It also sits nicely on the tee, really filling the whole shirt.

Heartpipe by Attila Szamosi is this week’s Select, a nice choice for right before Valentine’s Day. As a non-skater, the halfpipe thing doesn’t really appeal to me… but luckily there’s more value here than that subject matter. I absolutely love the patterning of the halfpipe, and the stars within the heart start to tell a neat story of riding so high you head out into orbit. At any rate, it’s kind of a neat connection to make between the rush of nailing a trick (ok, I probably phrased that badly, but I’m leaving it). Not for me, but I’d think that skaters would get a charge out of it.

Everything is Exciting With a Countdown by Jon M. Wilson is the new TypeTee this week. Like a lot of slogans, I can see the appeal of the phrase but can’t help but question why anyone would want to wear them. Although this one at least has one clear application- New Years Eve. Anyway. The design is clever, realizing that there are a lot of other attention-getting tactics beyond countdowns and using those to pepper the composition. The hand-drawn style gives it some of the same appeal as vintage advertising.

Threadless prints new shirts every week, chosen from the designs submitted by and voted on by site members. Winners get $2000 cash and $500 in Threadless credit, with the possibility to earn more through Bestee awards, poster prints, and reprints.