After the inauguration at Artopia for the t shirt battle with Fur Face Boy, the Pillow Monster design has been getting great reviews. Dallas Observer sponsors this annual event as their birthday party and I was proud to have their help bringing the Pillow Monster Lightning Strike design to life in the true nature of Frankenstein! So continuing with the success of the Behind the Design column for Hide Your Arms, I decided to share the whole design process for this new character. The Pillow Monster will be involved in another design this coming year, so I am going to show how the idea began from concept, then sketching, then inking the layout, then vector the art for production of the printing. The first step of the process is creating the concept. The Sleepy Dan branding has been so much fun to design for because there is a wide range of possible ideas that fall in line with the sleep theme. The Alarm Clock character was the beginning of the character side of the branding, reminding fans of our youthful side that used to be afraid of the dark and the possibility of things coming to life when you are unable to see them… Remember the clown doll from Poltergeist under the bed? Thanks, now I can’t even look at clowns any more! Illustrating a complete character design for the brand, is a more complex project than people realize. But it’s the passion for the brand that keeps me going! Pencil sketching the concept takes several attempts to get the look right. Keeping in mind that the design needs to have more of a vertical layout to take advantage of the printable surface area of the shirt. Making friends in the arts community is easy when you are giving back at the same time. Having friends with ill skills like Rico Ultraelectromagnetico to help with the character style, was the first step to the Pillow Monster. I want all my characters to have the same appearance so they are easily understood to be a Sleepy Dan character, even if the design has no displayed type. After making several sketches, better parts of the character will be remade in the next sketch. There is a constant improvement for the problem areas, till the whole design has the perfect layout. This is the fun part of the process but usually takes the longest, so you can’t get frustrated with levels of failure. Just gotta work thru them till you find successful revisions. Ask friends for constructive criticism, you have to learn to take the good advice with the bad, create a thick skin for necessary revisions cause this is the best time to make them… I am sharing less than half of the sketching process for this project, so you can understand there are so many versions of progression for this design you can almost look at them like a flip book! Eventually you get to a sketched layout that best suits your concept vision from the start. All parts suddenly fit perfectly into place, then you can move onto revising the smaller details thru the inking process and using Adobe Photoshop. Inking over the sketch allows you to see a clearer design layout, while creating deeper levels of detail. Usually after the first inking designs, you are confident to almost be there. But treat this stage just like the sketching stage, revision is still easily done now that details are clear, so get some more constructive criticism from your friends that you know will not leak the secret just yet… Making final inking revisions gives you goosebumps! You wind up staring at the design for a couple days, 30 minutes at a time to make sure there is nothing else that needs to be changed. Then you can decide how many colors you want this design to be printed with, then create color layers of detail for the character scene. Inking new layers can be done in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, I prefer to use Illustrator because it makes the color separation so much easier to manipulate and revise. Usually I start this stage, not by looking at the color I want, rather looking at the color details I want to involve, so use crazy contrasting colors… The Pantone colors used can be revised after the levels of detail are finished. The best way to decide colors of the print is to decide shirt color first. Figure out the background color of the design, then the character colors can easily be picked knowing what shirt trends are most successful. Research shirt brands over the web, see what colors are selling best for the season. You’d be surprised what a little research can tell you! Printing shirts for your brand in this economy means planning out the profitability of the design. The more color you print, the more the shirt will cost, and shirts just don’t sell well the closer to $30 each you get. I advise to keep even the most complex designs to a maximum of four printed colors. There is no reason for you to use more color than that, also fans will have a harder time matching up their gear to the shirt, secretly all guys love to do this… Any printer you use, will appreciate you color separating the art before you give to them. This means separating each color, so the printer knows what colors to put on each film layer they print, which will be used to make screens for your printing. Remove the questions from the process for the printer and your project will turn out the same way you give it to them. I prefer to have a design with the darkest color as the top detail. It’s easiest for the printing process to have the color layers beneath the darkest layer, that way the bottom layer edged are covered with the darker layer, insuring there will be no offset printing problems. Give the printer the exact Pantone colors you want used in your design, they will be mixing ink to match the Pantone colors you give them. If you don’t give them exact colors, then you are opening the possibility they will not mix the right color you want to use. For the Pillow Monster design, I had to see the shirt color to pick printing colors since there is one tonal color specified in the shirt. The print might have looked weird if the navy color was too much of a red tone rather than a blue tone… After the Artopia event, the extra shirts were added to the Sleepy Dan web shop. Check out the Artopia event blog posting and friends links on the posting to see lots of pics of the event! Maybe we will see you at Artopia 2012?
Last weekend Sleepy Dan took part in the Dallas Observer sponsored Artopia event, taking place at the Dallas Contemporary. With the help of Brian at the Public Trust, the second year event was even better than last year. Check out all the art on the walls!
This was the inauguration of the Pillow Monster character for the Tshirt Battle with Fur Face Boy! Shirts were printed and sold at the event, got some left after the event available in the web shop…
Our two shirt designs were displayed and votes were collected at the decorated news stand at the center of the event. Which do you like better? Still waiting to announce officially who won the event, all the ballots are being counted and will be posting the results soon!
The t shirt battle designs were being sold at the Public Trust pop up shop, along with some of our current line shirts and prints from Magnificent Beard. It was a blast to be involved with so many artist friends at this event.
Atama also had a pop up shop at the event, so of our favorite vinyl toys were on display too. So much fun to see the larger toys, gotta love the Sour Grapes custom paint design! There was some crazy lighting for the event that did not help for takin pics…
Lunch Buddies did another amazing job of captivating the crowd for some live printing. They helped a bunch of our artist friends bring their designs to the event by screen printing the night before, made extras to sell at the event too!
There was a photo pop up at the event with an Artopia logo screen, so everyone could take pics and get posted to the Dallas Observer event lookbook. Dallas has a rich arts culture, rich in the sense of a wealth of friends that support each other. Our passion is our work but love to have fun too. Thanks to Unkommon Kolor and Fresh Kaufee for coming out and making it fun! Loyal KNG again came out and took amazing photos, so I gotta share their Amazing Perspective of the event… Looking forward to getting a new camera for Christmas so I can compete with their photo skills!
The lounge layouts were great, making the large space of the Dallas contemporary very comfortable for the show. So much art to see and events going on, everyone was engaged with something the whole time.
It poured the night of the event, but there were still thousands of people that attended. Thanks Dallas, for showing love even in the face of harsh weather!
Mark the event on your calendar for next year, gotta see you there!
Turns out that Brooklyn has more style than NYC! There were so many indie shops spread out all over Brooklyn, there was no way I was gonna visit em all traveling by foot. I don’t even think I had all of them on my address list…
First stop was Skate Brooklyn not too far from the Flatbush / Atlantic Station. The guys at the shop were great to hang with, while we checked out their new setup.
Great to see Skate Brooklyn and other skate shops are picking up clothing brands with bad ass art to be competitive with the local indie shops. There are several other skate shops I didn’t get to like Homage and KCDC that I know are just as successful.
The most amazing shop I got to in Brooklyn was Vinnies Styles. Definitely gotta check out this new shop they just moved into on Flatbush Ave. It has a beautiful layout and tons of foot traffic even at mid-day!
The guys I talked with told me all about their setup and some of the events they recently hosted in the new larger space. They have a huge courtyard out back for hosting parties and cookouts so the shop is a bad ass hangout for all their fans and friends. Wish I could party with these guys for one…
The attention to detail and finding original product for the floor shows everywhere you look. They have a great balance between apparel, accessories, and arts that targets their fan base trends.
Custom designs on the walls show they support the local arts too. Like I said with my favorite NYC shop YRB, nothing screams NY shop style better than a graffiti sign! Vinnies had a couple custom door mats made up for the first and last thing you see stepping into the shop.
I spent so much time there I barely had time to check out the other shops, then the NY rainy weather started, so my pics got real crappy… But I gotta share links to the shops I planned on visiting!
A couple blocks away was Private Stock, then took a cab to check out About Time Boutique, then took another cab to The Brooklyn Circus which has a high style interior with lots of original apparel! Thankfully we had a couple umbrellas so we walked a couple blocks over to Rime. Great guys and the shop was packed full of customers the whole time we were there… Was great to hear their story too.
Then the storm got really bad, so we had to ditch the last several shops to get back to the subway. One of my favorite shops in Houston is Premium Goods, they have a second Premium Goods shop in Brooklyn I wanted to check out. But knowing my luck on this trip, it was probably better that I did not…
Several friends said that I should check out the DUMBO area, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. They described it as a beautiful part of Brooklyn with an amazing view of NYC, with this one shop Halcyon that I had to see. Guess it will have to wait till next time… Overall it was a great trip, thanks for going on vacation with me! Will be traveling to new cities soon.
Livin the life of a Sleepy Dan is up late all the time working on design and researching, which means sleeping everywhere you get the chance. Just gotta learn how to stay asleep thru continuous noise going on around you! So I guess I’m a pro if I can stay asleep on the train till the last stop…
Apparel shops all over the city are always packed out from floor to ceiling, with the newest lines from whatever brands they love. You just gotta know which shops carry the brands you wanna to wear!
Walking all over the city you run into buildings like this that scream out 100 year old history… I lived in NYC for a couple years after 9/11, in the quite side of the village. I can’t imagine the hell it would be to live above a fire station!
Or what it must be like to have neighbors like this! Lots of security out front…
Retail shopping all over the city is so much fun. The indie shops are amazing because they stock so much to the floor, people come from all over to shop this town so they want to see what’s for sale thru the front windows! The layout of the shops are so inviting, you just have to know where you are going so you don’t miss out on a gem around the corner like Blades NYC…
There are several Blades NYC shops in the city, this is a great skate shop that does stock several indie clothing brands, also has some great art on display.
Indie shops like Pemium Laces are a must see, they have a huge selection.
Cool guys, got to hang out and talk for a little while about how well their business is doing for the fall. Best wishes for businesses like Premium Laces.
Smaller specialty shops like Memes NYC are really cool. The manager always takes the time to say hello, tell you what is new to the shop, and make a friend.
Keeping it simple and carrying mostly smaller brands, makes shops like Memes NYC so cool cause they are not price competing with other local stores for the same product. You gotta take your time and check out everything cause they are all originals!
My biggest disappointment for my NYC trip was this shop Michael K. on Broadway. Several years ago this was my favorite shop, they carried the most original brands I had ever seen and the layout of the shop was so inspiring. There was a rotating chain in the ceiling with boxed cages attached, each cage had product inside it circling the shop up and down each aisle. I was so pissed to find out it was entirely remodeled and is now basically a Foot Locker… No cool brands, no fun shop to hang in… I talked to the manager to find out what happened, it was like discussing a death in the family!
Just goes to show you that trips like this are a surprise around every corner. Shops you thought were basic, turn out to be gems. Then shops you wait till the end of the day to visit, turn out to be a giant turd…
We traveled all over the village but didn’t have time to make it uptown to visit The Vault, Goliath, and West NYC. After an adventure like that I find my brain on sensory overload and wind up crashing on the train home just as easily as I did on my way into the city.
Tomorrow I’m gonna share the Brooklyn adventure blog posting, the last day of my trip. It was really great to hang with Billy and the Kid Robot crew for my NYC adventure!
The NYC adventure with Billy last week led us all around the village area. Had the time to check out some of the best shops in the city so we hoofed it all over and now I’m taking you along for part one the ride… Gonna visit my two favorite indie brand shops - Reed Space and Yellow Rat Bastard.
There are so many clothing brands that have a small shop displaying their current line, its like being a kid in a candy store… You just gotta check em all out and leave no stone unturned! Stussy recently did a Beavis & Butthead collab since the show relaunched in August, one of my favorite childhood toons!
Walking thru the Bowery to get to Reed Space, I was in the middle of telling Billy how this is not a great area to walk around at night. All the sudden… this guy riding a wheelie all the way down the street crosses our path! Like the circus came to town just in time to remind us how fun the city really is. He stopped at a light, then at green started up again and continued his wheelie uptown.
There are several other great indie brand shops in the village, but Reed Space is so unique because of the layout. It has a store front on two streets cause the shop runs thru the whole block to the other side! So much in store… gotta leave a sticker to show you were there!
Great layout and Billy would agree its worth the trek to find it… Great guys running the shop and so much more than just apparel & accessories.
Reed Space is displaying some of the best brands in the biz and some new ones I’ve never heard of… That’s what makes a favorite shop, bringing new creative playas to retail. It shows they are on top of what’s trending and being competitive with the other shops in the area.
Most retail shops in NYC have those old wooden floors, the creaking sound gives character to the space and shows they have been there a long time. Yellow Rat Bastard being one of the oldest shops I love to check out. They have been in the game for so long on Broadway and it shows they love their business.
They always have some crazy window displays, showing off the multitude of product the store offers.
The giant vinyl toy up front shows they love to bring style to their branding.
Custom designs on the walls show they support the local arts too. Nothing screams NYC shop style better than a graffiti sign!
The shop has a great layout with two floors and so much to offer, it’s hard not to leave the shop with a purchase… The deals are just too good!
So that is half of our trip around the city, starting with the two favs… Gonna share the rest of the shop visits in tomorrow’s blog posting. Too much to show, just had to split it in half!
Continuing the SoHo adventure with Billy from Regret Clothing, we walked and talked about everything that inspires us to create. Packaging always catches the creative eye, so when we got hungry I asked him to take me to his favorite local spot. Without hesitating he easily came up with Mac Bar which is right down the street from Kid Robot at 54 Prince Street.
It’s hard to miss Mac Bar with a giant letter “C” shaped like an elbow macaroni noodle jutting out of the side of its bright yellow exterior like a beacon of happiness.
With a menu of only 12 options, this still somehow seems overwhelming when it comes down to choose one. They serve every variation of mac n’ cheese you could possibly imagine. We settled on the Cheeseburger Mac and Margarita Mac, both amazing…
Suffice it to say, they had me at the packaging! I’m a sucker for branding and clever packaging, even though it’s not environmentally friendly. Just look at how this mac and cheese was served in a noodle shaped travel case! And you can take it home with you!!! It was presented like a gift of creamy perfection from Santa’s elves… Even the utensils match the container and snap together for easy cheesy mobility!
Entering what looks seemingly like a small restaurant, holds much more character once you’re inside and you realize you’re in a noodle shaped restaurant! The experience is made better when more fans come into the restaurant and share the same star struck enjoyment you do and can share a laugh about it… I would easily advise any friends to check this place out. My advice is bring a friend, cause you need someone to back you up when you tell the story of this gold mine!
Last week for Thanksgiving, I traveled to NYC to visit family and took the time to meet with some retail shops in the city. Great timing cause the weather was perfect for walking to every shop on my list, so I gotta share highlights of the travels starting with my favorite shop Kid Robot!
I just happened to be there on the same afternoon that Tristan Eaton was being interviewed by CNN for a spotlight interview into his background contributions as one of the original designing artists for Kid Robot!
This wall art started at the floor then up the wall two stories, across the ceiling, then the same art was mirrored on the opposite wall. One of the most impressive entry designs to a shop I have ever seen!
It’s been several years since I visited the NYC shop on Prince Street. I remembered it being alot smaller… Probably because it was! The shop moved about a block closer to Broadway to the new address of 118. The original shop was one story and very small, only able to fit about a dozen people at once. Visitors had to wait their turn just to get into the shop… Great to see such a modern expansion!
So many great vinyls to pick from and very cool to see they are accepting and displaying new artist contributions. After a great meeting with the manager, Sleepy Dan is gonna submit art for a collab design with Kid Robot for his coming Spring season. Hopefully there will be some extra surprises to hand out with Sleepy Dan purchases… They gave me some toys from the current lines, my favorite has always been the Super Mini.
My meeting with Kid Robot would not have been possible without the help of Billy who works there! We have been keeping in touch over the past several months because he is working on his own seriously bad ass clothing brand called Regret Clothing. He already has a blog posting up of our SoHo adventure…
He was such an amazingly cool character to meet me and hang out at the shop on his day off and introduce me to his coworkers. Handed out some Sleepy Swag then we walked the SoHo area for the rest of the day. The several blocks north of Canal Street, south of Houston Street, and between Broadway and West Broadway are home to some two or three dozen of the best clothing shops in the whole city. So we walked around visiting shops, discussed our backgrounds, and talked clothing and design shop…
It’s so much fun to share similarities with someone so far away. He is a big Johnny Cupcakes fan too, as you can see! I have been planning out my first Sleepy Dan tattoo for a while, seeing his life history on his arms gives me motivation to get my ink this winter! Johnny is an inspiration for everyone, it’s especially great when people can bond from sharing our experiences with the cupcake king…
Just had to leave a pillow sticker on the light post right outside the Kid Robot shop! Hopefully one day, fans can leave a sticker on the light post outside the Sleepy Dan shop… Will show you some more of the shops Billy and I visited in the next blog posting.
Come hang out this Saturday December 3rd, for Artopia at the Dallas Contemporary where the new Sleepy Dan Pilow Monster shirt will be released! This is the introduction of the Pillow Monster character, Artopia is helping bring him to life like Frankenstein!!! This Cyan shirt is a limited printing, so you better get there before they’re all nabbed up…
The new comer is up for the challenge to dethrone Fur Face Boy for the tshirt battle at the event, but I am gonna need all the fan help I can get. FFB has a huge fan following and been a favorite of mine for a long time! Come have a blast and cast your ballot for your favorite design at the event! We’re gonna party all night and sleep the next day…
Me and my screen printing pals are on the front cover this week!
Each of us made some art for the local Dallas Observer news stands, did you see any around Dallas lately? Share your pic of the Sleepy Dan news stand design on Facebook page and I’ll send you a free fan pack!
Before Sleepy Dan launched, free fan packs and shirts were shipped out to friends around the country to kick off the first season. I love the generous nature of the holiday season coming up, but surprise presents in the mail from brands doing the same thing is so much fun!
Gotta share this artist’s sketch book success… All Star Krew is making mini comics and I just got their care package this week! Special thanks to friends and fans that like to share as much as Sleepy Dan does.
Message or email me if you have a fun new project you want to share…
