Compete-tee-tion

Today’s Shirt.Woot derby comes at a pretty apt time for me, at least- a rainstorm knocked out power this morning, and when it came back on I saw the theme: Rainy Day. Spooky! At any rate, it should be a good week because this subject matter has resulted in some cool things in the past. Here’s what Woot had to say:

We’ve all had to endure rainy days (some of us recently-relocated-to-Seattle-types more than others) now and then. They can be exciting (OMG PILLOW FORT!!1!1) or they can be painfully boring (“It’s me, you, and this 5,000,000 piece puzzle, Grandma”) depending on your outlook. So show us how you spend rainy days. Or maybe how you wish you could spend them. Or maybe how you think other people spend them. Whether they’re wide-eyed odes to imagination, sullen depictions of living room ennui, or something else entirely we want to see how you spend the gray drizzly days. Because it seems like we’ve got a lot of them in store. Now for the rules:

No video games.

No Star Wars.

Incidental Text only.

No feather boas. A totally random rule from a totally random Woot staffer totally randomly-named Andrew.

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.

Mucha Lucha by matheus lopes castro (mathiole) was destined to be my favorite design this week. It’s the kind of tee that’s so perfect, you can’t help but fume a bit that it’s releasing right after the end of the sale. Style expertly contrasts with the viewer’s assumptions, and wrestling is made to feel soft and beautiful… even delicate. The scene reads to me as very bright, like when a day is so sunny colors grow pale. The women are giants, looming above the scene and commanding birds. It’s fresh, attractive, and fills the tee well- an excellent design.

In the Eye of the Aperture by Shawn P. Michael (Konfero) is a less successful shirt that I would have expected. On paper, it sounds like a slam dunk- a simple, geometric one color all over print that has special significance to photographers. But when I look at the actual shirt, I can’t help but think it looks pretty goofy. When worn, the hexagon at the center of the tee is awkward, almost giving the wearer a geometric Carebear effect because it’s so huge and so much on the stomach. This would have been infinitely cooler with a smaller hexagon and a more subtle feel.

Ocean Breath by Chalermphol Harnchakkham (huebucket) has a nice flow to it, with intricately lined waves that show the motion of the water. The coloring is really smart, minimal and used in a way that immediately recalls light reflecting on water. Conceptually, it’s an odd scene- there’s a woman wading through this ocean, and the wave towering overhead seems to be breaking apart into a flock of birds. The surreality of it makes the design even better because it gives you a reason to keep looking even after you enjoy the lines for the first time (something a lot of more purely aesthetic shirts fail at).

Northern Air by David Schwen is this week’s Select, and a really nice surprise. What appears to be a UFO abduction scene is rendered with crisply vectored shapes that snake around the focal point, a white triangle of light. With bright fluorescents set against photo-real clouds, the effect is spooky and very alien. It made me re-evaluate just how otherworldly some of things we take for granted are, like the Northern Lights. For finding so much beauty in such an unexpected way, this tee is a big success.

Canadian Goose by David Schwen (dschwen) is the sort of joke shirt that frustrates me to no end. Because it’s not really a pun, it’s just the exact name of the animal drawn in the way you’d probably expect. The thing I love about humor shirts is seeing the hand and mind of the artist in it, and that’s exactly what is missing here for me. It’s not badly drawn or anything, it’s just boring because it doesn’t show any personality. Maybe that’s why it feels more like something I’d expect see at Busted Tees than in the Threadless catalog.

Precious by Yeoh Guan Hong (yeohgh) looks from afar like an average nature shirt, just a branch of leaves centered on the tee. But when close, you discover its secret- all kinds of birds are hiding in the negative space. It’s especially clever because of how it mirrors the environment- realistically, these animals are very dependent on the trees around them, and this visualization of that message is a great reminder of that delicate balance. Each tree really does hide animals like this, if only more people bothered to look. Slick.

Map to Ghost Town by Esther Aarts (gumbolimbo) is definitely charming. It’s reminiscent of the kind of treasure maps you see in movies, where the island is mysteriously shaped like a skull and the X marking hidden treasure is a cave at the skull’s eye socket. Improbable of course, but that’s part of what makes the adventure to exciting. This is a great riff on that theme, with a nice, simple skull and bones graphic that is chock full of cool details in how things are named. If you’re the imaginative type, you’re probably already itching to go exploring and let your mind roam.

Pistols at Dawn by Leon Ryan (d3d) is a shirt I was really surprised to be disappointed by- I saw this one when it was in voting and thought it was a great hoodie concept, telling the story of a duel in a unique way. But man, that print just looks so small. I wasn’t expecting that, and can’t help but feel that this smaller scale saps some of the excitement from the scene. Since this is a story already broken into pieces (the girl with the lantern is all the way on the back), it hinders the connection between those frames. Of course, on the plus side, the artwork itself is absolute perfection. The stylization is funny and perfectly shaded, with some very attractive color choices. I’m guessing the print size won’t be deterring too many buys!

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.

Springleap, South Africa’s t-shirt design contest, has just given their front page a much-needed update. The page feels more streamlined now, with images of products for sale getting more emphasis and a cleaner, more cohesive sidebar. It’s a step in the right direction for Springleap, whose navigation and terminology can be a bit confusing (at least to this American).

While we’re on the subject of Springleap, they also have a themed contest currently open to submissions. The theme is Elements, so if you have a design featuring Earth, Air, Fire, or Water, you’re in luck.

Enter before September 7th, 2010 for your chance to win. Springleap will be selecting the winner from the top ten voted entries, and that winner will earn a cash prize of R4000 (about US $500) and four printed shirts. Runners up may have a chance to be printed as well.

Uniqlo is kind of like the American Apparel of Japan, know for putting out great quality, moderate cost basic clothing. But the thing that makes them really cool is their yearly Uniqlo UT Grand Prix, a huge contest boasting a $10,000 prize. This year’s is even more special, as they’ve partnered with Disney and are looking for artists’ takes on Mickey and Minnie. Uniqlo is known to be somewhat eclectic in their prints, so you might want to get a feel for the prevailing style by checking out the current Mickey By collection.

Enter before September 19th, 2010 for your chance to win. The Grand Prix winner will receive $10,000. 4 to 8 Special Prize winners will earn an invitation to Disneyland Resort in California and D23 Expo tour.

$15 is a nice price for some of DBH’s latest and greatest. Here’s a look at their new prints from this past week:

Light_Peace_Love by Studio8Worx kind of freaks me out in how much it reminds me of Uneetee’s Amazing Childhood. The structure in Uneetee’s design has always reminded me of a lightbulb (though I’m not 100% sure it was intentional), and it’s always been a source of some confusion for me- what about being a kid is lightbulb-like? I’m assuming it’s meant to give us the feeling of brightness or a new idea, but it feels like a stretch. So seeing another design make that same weird allusion threw me for a loop- do other people understand it? At any rate, it should be obvious that the concept isn’t exactly up my alley, but the coloring still makes it pretty appealing. It’s very successful in giving the feeling of a bright, free day.

Abyssus Abyssum Invocat by hafaell is my favorite design this week. It has a really interesting vibe, contrasting the creepiness of the way the figure is dressed (dude has a gas mask!) with the innocence of a bike ride. I mean really, no true villain could ever ride around on a bike, especially not one with a basket. It leaves you not really sure what to make of this character- is he riding his way through a post-apocalyptic landscape? The story you create to explain his oddity adds to the fun. And of course, it’s all immaculately drawn with thin lines and tight detail. A success on every level.

Lines of Tron by designbydisorder strikes me as being a bit silly. The Tron connection is not really needed, and to my mind doesn’t add anything. It’s an abstract, with a bunch of lines cutting across each other- it should either succeed or fail on those merits alone. I find it underwhelming, as the pattern of lines chosen doesn’t excite me. I keep wanting to see a huge 4 in the center, and my eyes rest there rather than being led around the scene. It’s not a bad idea, but I’m not a fan of the execution or the Tron crutch.

The Optimistic Bot by InnerMonster is a lot of fun, showing a huge robot (seemingly made out of skyscrapers) strolling high above the city. I love the restraint- despite the shirt’s title, the robot’s expression sets his mouth as a straight horizontal line. He might be happy as a clam, but his robotic inscrutability is intact and believable. It keeps the design from feeling cheap, and gives you more reason to invest in the character since he seems to be discovering the world (and how to express his emotions). There’s a weird black cloud towards the side that I can’t quite seem to make sense of, but otherwise it’s an excellent print.

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.

The Big Bang Theory by GUS is La Fraise’s newest print, and it is one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen lately. While the creation of the universe has been portrayed as artistic many times, presenting it as a series of mistakes is a totally fresh take. The triangle is a fun character, very easy to relate to in his concentrated expression and perfectionism. Earth is tossed aside, a crumbled piece of paper, implying that this dude’s creative impulses are going to lead to a heck of a lot more mistakes until he gets it right. After all, there are tons of planets in the universe!

Winners at La Fraise earn 1000€ when their work is chosen to print. Three to four designs are chosen weekly.

Rethink Clothing isn’t usually a contest site, but right now your votes could help determine which college artist is the next to get the opportunity to design for their brand! All four artists have portfolios linked, and I could see any one of them creating something unique and cool for the site.

Vote before August 31st, 2010 to have your say. After voting you’ll get a discount code for the site!